In life, it helps to have someone who can hold you accountable for your actions. In the case of electronics companies, it seems that Greenpeace is their accountability partner. The organization has recently released the current company rankings in its Greener Electronics Scale. To find out how certain companies fared, get "green-minded" and turn to the full article after the jump.

Touch-screen and high definition display technology don't usually mix, especially in the world of gaming, but heading into the Consumer Electronics Show of 2008, LG.Philips will do what few other companies even thought of: A full-sized, touch screen LCD TV! It carries all the nice features that made the brand popular, and it will carry a new lighting technique as well. See the full article for more details.

The mere mention of the words "airport hotel" conjures up high-priced coffins where travel-weary zombies roost for a night to prowl the daytime. Add to that the mediocre food and you've got a recipe for unhappy travel memories.

Thankfully, consumer electronics giant Royal Philips Electronics N.V. (or Philips) is working on changing that image of airport hotels in cooperation with Amsterdam's citizenM hotels. The effort is called "One Star Is Born" and it seeks to bring high-tech comforts at a low cost so everyone can afford the accommodations. What's so special about this innovation is that it's modular and can be delivered on site for a customizable luxury feel.

For starters, this crib will be armed with a flatscreen entertainment center, MoodPad controllers to control the lighting and temperature, wireless internet access, and other high-end amenities. All of these are instantly operational with four cables once set up.

The project will be implemented near airport hotels across the planet, according to a press release from Philips which seeks to encourage hotel owners everywhere to adopt the project because it would lower costs into half of what it normally is. The plan is set to unfold early next year and we're all excited to see it happen.

A new, thinner LCD TV panel is being prepped for launch by LG.Philips LCD. This new 42-inch panel will reportedly be 40 percent thinner at only 19.8 mm and 10 percent lighter than conventional 42-inch panels.

Despite the slim frame, LG.Philips LCD still managed to cram a few impressive features into the panel. It uses 120Hz technology to eliminate motion blur and full HD resolution. Costs were also kept low with the use of a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) backlight.

LG.Philips LCD will launch its ultra-slim 42-inch TFT-LCD TV panel in the first quarter of 2008. The panel will be on display at FPD International 2007 in Yokohama, Japan, from October 24 to October 26.

Much had been said about the ongoing format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray. For one thing, it has caught the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the crossfire. Depending on what format you prefer though, all of this is going to be over soon, according Blu-ray Disc Association Chairman Frank Simonis.

"Due to the fact that we have some hard competition which sometimes makes strange moves, it's very unpredictable," said Simonis. "But I think in the next 18 months it will be very exciting to see what's going on"

Simonis, who is also Philips' Senior Director for Communications, further mentioned that consumers will be deciding soon because of all the new products coming into the market. Apart from the format war, there will also a battle between different brands for both the Blu-ray and HD DVD that will further cost "price erosion".

Definitely a good observation from Simonis part but in the end, he couldn't help but somewhat sell his company's preferred one. He commented:

We don't like to oversell ourselves, but we right now see that there is a major transition taking place from publishers who said they would initially go only for HD DVD and now make the move across the Blu-ray. [This is] based on the sales numbers of software happening in the Far East, US and also now in Europe.

The Develop Conference & Expo happens on the 24th to the 26th of July and developers are gearing up from all over the world to take part in one of the region's biggest developer gatherings to take place on an annual basis.

Headlining the shindig are top-brass companies Sony, Philips, Autodesk, and Nokia, who will be the prime movers and shakers in the event. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe will once again be the Platinum sponsor of the event while Philips and Autodesk are at Gold and Silver respectively. Nokia is the mobile sponsor of the gathering.

The event seeks to bring together the development community with European gaming market interests in a three-day conference where interests and demonstrations are exhibited for industry insiders, game media and the public. Top-caliber speakers from within the industry are invited to share their views and knowledge of the business.

Animazoo, artemdigital, Audiokinetic, Autodesk, Beyerdynamic, CRI Middleware, Develop Magazine, Emergent Game Technologies, gamesindustry.biz, Hansoft, IGDA, Instinct Technology, Mobile Entertainment, Nokia, Perforce Software, Philips amBX, Sony Computer Entertainment, Southampton Solent University, Tech Excel, Testronic Labs and Tiga will participate in this year's event to be held in Brighton.

Sony has unveiled their answer to the OLED displays that Samsung and LG Philips were touting last week. Yeah, this 2.5-inch, 160 x 120 pixel bendable OLED display set on a piece of flexible plastic film isn't an OLED TV, but it sure does have some impressive numbers.

According to Engadget, this organic TFT is apparently the world's first OLED display to boast 24-bit color depth. It also boasts 16.7 million colors and is only 0.3 mm thick, making it thinner and having a greater range of colors than its Samsung and LG Philips counterparts.

The only area where the Samsung display beats this baby is in the contrast ratio department. Sony's display has "greater than" 1000:1 contrast ratio compared to Samsung's 10,000:1 rating. Still, it does some damage to those who doubt that Sony will be delivering OLED monitors to consumers this year.

Imagine a totally wireless future. We're not just talking about wireless internet and stuff, too. When we say wireless, that includes the power cords that are connecting your PC to your electric socket, giving it power so that you can read these words on this website right now.

It sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie, but startup company Powercast is already starting to make leaps and bound in this field of research. According to a report from CNN Money, Powercast and its first major partner, electronics giant Philips, are already set to launch their first device powered by - brace yourself - electricity broadcast through the air. Here's how it works:

It may sound futuristic, but Powercast's platform uses nothing more complex than a radio--and is cheap enough for just about any company to incorporate into a product.

A transmitter plugs into the wall, and a dime-size receiver (the real innovation, costing about $5 to make) can be embedded into any low-voltage device. The receiver turns radio waves into DC electricity, recharging the device's battery at a distance of up to 3 feet.

The first joint product from Powercast and Philips is a wirelessly powered LED light stick which will hit the market this year. Powercast says it has also signed deals to develop products with more than 100 companies, including major manufacturers of gadgets ranging from cell phones and MP3 players to medical implants.

PCs and laptops could also be added to the list of Powercast-powered devices in the future. Right now, PC power consumption is still too high for the Powercast to handle, but these consumption rates are rapidly dropping.

October 31st. This is the date that will mark the end of the first wave of Blu-ray Disc Players. Particularly, this date officially marks the mandate of the Blu-ray Disc Association, which will have all hardware streeting capable of playing back picture-in-picture video, thanks to the BD Java Interactive technology.

Cool, then. We're gonna have more Blu-ray options. But that isn't exactly bringing in good news for us consumers, and especially not the manufacturers. The thing is, there's only a handful of Blu-ray players currently out in the market that include picture-in-picture capability. For example, Sony's PS3.

The dilemma here rises from these stand-alone models not being able to play these newly-formatted Blu-ray discs because they lack this feature. As such, a disc with this picture-in-picture feature might not be able to play at all in these current models. Sony, and Philips as well (who also has a stand-alone Blu-ray Disc player model), would then have to find a workaround in order to get these discs working universally.

Well, they don't necessarily have to hold up the whole sky by themselves. But if they don't want to be left behind in the race by coming out too soon than the Association's mandate, then they'd have to have a good headstart brainstorming that workaround. And they better get to work now. Especially Sony, lest they get their hopes dashed of boosting the PS3 sales with the Blu-ray. After all, we doubt if those after the Blu-ray capabilities of the PS3 would be so enticed to get one if its features would turn out to be near-obsolete.

This is definitely for the food and music connoisseurs out there. Enter the Philips DCD778 Docking Entertainment System. Perfect for your posh kitchen.

The Philips DCD778 Docking Entertainment System features an 8.5-inch widescreen LCD display, where you can watch DVDs, MP3 CDs, and VCDs. It has a ATSC/NTSC TV tuner, AM/FM tuner, plus it's compatible with fourth and fifth generation iPods - along with iPod mini and nano - to play both audio and video.

Since it's bound to be mounted underneath one of your kitchen cabinets, it also sports a cooking timer and clock (just so you don't lose track of time and burn whatever you're cooking), wireless remote, and two 2-inch speakers.

Anyway, the Philips DCD778 Docking Entertainment System starts shipping next week and will retail at around US$ 400.