CNN's Hi-Def channel looks a lot like a pinball machine.

[Bozita]

It's the busiest screen I've ever seen. Blue dots of varying shade on the left side. Red ones on the right. Pie charts and miscellaneous chatchkes on the bottom. And the stuff keeps changing.

I'm going back to Olbermann.

[burythehatchet]

1. It's to distract. To keep the mind occupied so you won't notice

that you're being lied to every day.

[Wilms]

2. .

[Bozita]

3. Yes, they need to add some of those!

Put one in each corner.

[AdHocSolver]

4. Sell the sizzle, keep the steak.

Most of the technology is designed to sell useless junk, not real value.

The advances in electronics, for example, are mainly used to sell gimmickry in the form of throw away items of little utility. By design, practically nothing is repairable. It is also designed to be so flimsy, that normal use will cause it to breakdown and fail early on.

The latest gimmickry is high definition digital television. The big box stores sell 32-inch, 46-inch, and 52-inch LCD HDTV sets. These sets range in price from about $700 to $3000. Having worked in the electronics business for several years, I am sure the markup on these items is astronomical. The cost of manufacturing the 32-inch HDTV set is, I am sure, less than $100. The cost of the 52-inch HDTV is more, but I would guess less than $300. Being first on your block to buy one of these sets means you are parting with a lot more cash than you need to.

In a year, the prices will drop substantially, to "normal" markup values. Beyond that, I can't see the point of buying such a large screen TV anyway. Even with cable, there isn't a whole lot worth watching on TV. To get the few channels that we watch, we have to pay for access to many more that we never watch. And, most cable channels have so many advertisements, the mute button is the most used control on the remote.

Then there is the modern hi-fi stereo system which is certainly not high fidelity, has many more "channels" than are useful, and is way over priced for what they give you. The speaker system is the most critical part of a high fidelity system and the most difficult component to design and build. What they sell for big money is a joke that can't possibly produce a wide frequency range at low distortion. For quality low frequency reproduction, you need a 10-inch or 12-inch high compliance woofer with a cast frame and a sturdy enclosure. What they give you for a woofer is a small box with a 4- or 5-inch driver. No way can this junk reproduce quality low frequency sound.

Then they sell you a 600-watt to 1000-watt 5.1 or 7.1 channel amplifier. Solid state high power amplifiers are cheap to manufacture. It tells you nothing about the quality of sound that they produce (not very good with the cheap speakers that they sell you). The small speakers that they give you don't need more than 20 or 30 watts, unless your goal is to melt the speaker voice coils. So you're shelling out money for a power rating that you can't use anyway. By the way, more than four channels in the average size room is an absurdity.

One last gripe about stereo junk. There is a recent ad for a pair of weather resistant speakers to use by your pool (if you can afford a pool). The brand has been around for years and at one time had a reasonable reputation in hi-fi circles. Nowadays it makes a lot of overpriced junk. These two relatively small speakers are on sale for around $250. I have no doubt that, with a little searching, you could get something as good quality for half the price, even at the same store advertising this stuff.

My point is that you can sell over-priced junk to anyone that doesn't have at least a small amount of technical knowledge. In the "good old days", there were hi-fi magazines, electronics magazines, and photography magazines that discussed the technology in meaningful, informative ways. Today, these "hobby" magazines are nothing more than shills for the manufacturers, to hype the overpriced junk that they sell.