Obviously, one of the biggest advantages to owning a flat panel TV is that it is usually light enough and thin enough to be wall-mounted. It reduces clutter and it makes the TV less of an eyesore when it is placed in a tastefully decorated room. For those reasons, I prefer a wall-mounted TV over one that is mounted on a stand, but its not something that everyone is set up for. So, I am curious to know whether your main flat panel TV is wall-mounted, on a stand or tucked away in some sort of media cabinet.

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Fujitsu Siemens' latest line of LCDs will have a standby mode that draws no power, compared to the 1-6 watts of power competitors' monitors draw in standby. According to BIOS Magazine, the technology will be included in the 20-inch P20W-5 ECO and 22-inch P22W-5 ECO, and consists of a switch in the power supply breaks when the connected PC goes idle, and powers back on when any key is pressed (essentially, your keyboard acts as the power button).

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Funai, whose subsidiaries are more familiar to us as Sylvania, Symphonic and Emerson, is planning on selling LCD HDTVs with Blu-rays on-board starting summer 2009. The company's previous successes in recent years with combo units (TVs with VCRs and TVs with DVDs) totalled up 40% and 20% of their sales in the US respectively. So how much will this low-end brand charge you for the all-in-one experience? CrunchGear says the target price for a 42-inch will be between US$1100 and US$1300. Keep in mind that's a price for something launching a year from now. [CrunchGear]

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Here's something that you might miss among all the crazy junk at SIGGRAPH. It's an interactive aquatic life table called Oasis, by designer Yunsil Heo, that is completely covered by fancy black sand. Why is it covered, you ask? Well, that's what makes it interactive. By moving the sand so it will show the LCD screen below you begin to grow aquatic life. At first only little guppies appear, but over time the guppies start to grow into fish and other crazy aquatic creatures. Make the sand-less hole bigger and it starts to populate with more life. Then once your little fishies are all grown up, just cover them up with sand and they'll be dead. [Oasis]

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Seiko Epson has designed a new glasses-free display that really has the potential to bring 3D-displays to mobile phones and PMPs sooner rather than later. It's a bit similar to the old kid's classic lenticular images (you know: they come with a lined plastic face, and when you twist them you see a changing picture,) and in this case a complex array of convex lenses is combined with a high-res 3-inch LCD display. An object is photographed with up to eight cameras, a compound image is created, and when displayed each lens sends a slightly different view to your eyes. Because your eyes see different views of the object, just like in real life your brain reconstructs a 3D image. Sadly, the effect can't be captured in a single image of the screen, but you won't have long to wait: Seiko plans to commercialise the tech in a few years. [FarEastGizmos]

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Depending on your definition of "cheap," Sharp may or may not be releasing inexpensive SB Series LCDs, but their prices aren't so bad relative to the market. Their new line of 52, 46 and 42-inch 1080p televisions will feature a decent 6ms response time and run US$2,300, US$1,700 and US$1,400, respectively. But since these figures are retail prices, don't be surprised to see the displays around for plenty less. All televisions are available now save for the 42-inch, which will be around next month. Here are the full details:

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One would think that if a restaurant wanted to lure people inside with the smells of delicious food, they would do so by cooking delicious food. Not necessarily! In Tokyo, a company called Recruit Co. Ltd. is using scent-emitting LCD displays to entice people into eating at restaurants in the mall under Tokyo Station.

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Bless Brando for coming up with something that sounds amazingly useful at last: a "replacement LCD Display for your iPhone 3G." That's all the info there is, strangely, but assuming it's a good quality LCD with touchscreen, it'll no doubt be massively handy if your new toy has had an unfortunate screen-snapping incident. There's also the "iPhone Opening Tools Kit" with screwdrivers and prising gizmos which will certainly help you out. The screen costs a cheap-sounding US$85, while the toolset will set you back and extra US$11. [Brando via Reg Hardware]

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Samsung's criticially acclaimed LED-backlit flagship LCD just got an overhaul: The all new Series 9 950 will come in 46-inch and 55-inch sizes, 120Hz motion-blur reduction and a whole bunch of eco-friendly attributes, like paint-free "Touch of Color" and absence of mercury and other toxic chemicals. They will range in price from US$3,200 to US$4,200, but if the reviews of their predecessor are any indicator, this will be one brag-worthy TV. More details and pics below.

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Going for thin and pretty, Samsung launched its Series 8 LCDs—the 850 and 860 models—with new bodies that are just 4.8cm thick at the middle, and thinner on the ends. The 120Hz sets also come with a "Touch of Color" thanks to injection molding—rose for the 850 and deep blue for the 860. A USB 2.0 jack lets you decode images and videos (including XviD and MPEG4) stored on hard drives or cameras. Connect the TV to your LAN via Ethernet or optional US$35 wireless adaptor, and you get access to DLNA content plus Samsung's new InfoLink RSS service, with news, stocks and weather info from USA Today, in "adjustable overlays". No word on when Giz would appear. Also, we're still waiting for the next gen LED backlit LCDs. Jump for more pics, plus specifications and pricing, which range from US$2,700 to US$3,500.

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