Many manufactures stopped making the devices in January, expecting the demand to peak around the original Feb. 17th shutoff date. Therefore, the extension kind of leaves them with their pants down—so to speak.

The trade association estimates U.S. retailers have 3 million to 6 million boxes at hand.

“The worst case is that there are only 3 million boxes,” Petricone said. “Retailers would then run out of inventory by the end of February.”

Throw that on top of a huge waiting list of 3.7 million rebate coupons, and you have yourself a powder keg of problems. The stimulus package that is currently in the works could help diffuse the situation to a degree, but the bottom line is that this is never going to go down without people being left out in the lurch. They should have just pulled the trigger on it this month and got it over with. [Physorg and Getty Images Photo]

The bill (a rewrite of the Obama-supported Sen. Jay Rockefeller plan) doesn’t look to provide more funding for DTV vouchers—it’s more a slam on the brakes manoeuvre to buy everyone some time. The most important point about the bill, however, is that it leaves broadcasters the “option” to still make the DTV switch on February 17th.

On one hand, that’s the only fair plan that the government could leave broadcasters after forcing them to make major internal technological revisions. On the other, viewers who weren’t prepped for February 17th could still lose some (or even all) channels in spite of the formal delay. [WSJ and Getty Images Photo]

Old-style player pianos, which rely on rolls of dimpled paper tablature to cue a piano to play music, have been helping their owners cheat for the better part of two centuries. For 108 years or that, QRS Technologies was a leading manufacturer of the song rolls, the production of which has ceased as of this week.

Analog player pianos had a certain charm. You could watch them deliberately plunk out just about any tune like some kind of outsize music box, and the bare mechanics of the whole affair were as honest as they were tacky. QRS has apparently moved, with some success, to digital player pianos, which rely on servos and disks over braille and gears. The most profound difference, though, is one of identity: Where analogue player pianos were a fascinating predecessor to MIDI synthesisers, digital pianos are MIDI synthesizers, something which Bob Berkman, the company’s music director, seems to grasps, sadly:

“We’re still doing what we always did, which is to provide software for pianos that play themselves. It’s just the technology that has changed. But I would be lying to say [the halting of production] doesn’t sadden me.”

[Buffalo News]

That group, which accounts for 3% of all TV-owning households in America, will be giving up on broadcast TV entirely, and it’s probably not because they don’t like watching stuff. It’s because they have a bunch more options now than they did when they picked up their old sets. Now they have DVD players, they have the internet and they have game consoles that can download and play video content. Really, broadcast TV is the least-convenient way to watch video content, what with it coming on only at scheduled times and being littered with ads. With other methods you get control over what you watch and when.

I guess it’s only a matter of time before us gadget hounds catch up with these backwards-thinking folks. After all, with our HDTVs, DVRs and AppleTVs, we’re already set up to get the most out of that lifestyle, if we’re not already there. [TV Predictions via Crave]