No opposition cropped up against mobile DTV devices without analog tuners, and industry remains united behind them, replies Friday and Monday in docket 10-111 to two waiver requests before the FCC show. Replies were due Friday. Industry executives have said such consensus augurs for quick approval of the requests, either by the Media Bureau or full commission (CED June 8 p3). It’s unclear if an order exempting the devices from requirements that they also have analog tuners will be forthcoming from the commission soon, agency officials said Monday. None appears to be ready for imminent release, they said.

LOS ANGELES -- The controller-free Kinect motion control system for Xbox 360, formerly known by the codename Project Natal, will launch Nov. 4 in North America, Phil Spencer, Microsoft Game Studios corporate vice president, said at the company’s E3 news briefing Monday. Microsoft didn’t give launch dates for other regions or release pricing for the Kinect controller.

Alticast’s tru2way middleware will be in 7-8 million cable set-top boxes by year-end, down from an earlier forecast for 10 million units, as some deployments were postponed to 2011, CEO David Housman said. The installed base has grown from 1.5 million units at year-end 2009 to about 2.5 million this month as Bright House Networks, Cablevision and Time Warner Cable continue to expand use of the technology, Houseman said.

LONDON -- “It’s very easy to make awful 3D,” but “making good 3D is hard,” said Jonathan White, director of sales at Sony’s Professional and Broadcast Division, Thursday at the U.K. launch of Sony’s 3D consumer product line. The Sony engineers who designed the 3D capture equipment being used to shoot the World Cup in South Africa, were on hand in a side room to showcase that equipment. They also showed us how the gear can be used to upconvert 2D to 3D “on the fly” when there are not enough 3D cameras to capture vital action.

LAS VEGAS -- As it expands sales of pico projectors to Best Buy, Optoma also will ship derivative models to Apple stores tailored to the iPad, iPod and iPhone, Jon Grodem, senior director of product and marketing, told us at Infocomm here. The PKA21 ($229) and PKA31 ($399) pico projectors, derivatives of the PK201 and PK301, will be sold in Apple stores and online, respectively, Grodem said. The PKA21 typically carries a $299 suggested retail price. Both projectors will have the 30-pin connector for the iPod, iPad and iPhone, he said. Apple, which carries other Optoma projectors, including the PK102 and PK101, was the first retailer to carry them last year.

Nintendo is expected to disclose details of its coming 3DS handheld game system and show it publicly for the first time at E3 in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The company said in March that its device will provide stereoscopic 3D effects without the use of special glasses (CED March 24 p1).

BRISTOL, Conn. -— The 3D learning curve took a big turn upward Friday as ESPN 3D debuted with the live 3D broadcast of the opening World Cup match between Mexico and South Africa, which ended in a 1-1 tie. “I'm encouraged by what we have to date,” said Chuck Pagano, ESPN executive vice president-technology, at a media event at ESPN’s headquarters. “It’s a pretty good opening salvo. It’s a new dawn."

The term, “certified electronics recycler,” is “generic” and shouldn’t be trademarked, the Basel Action Network (BAN) says in a lawsuit naming the International Association of Electronics Recyclers (IAER) and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) as defendants. BAN seeks a judgment ordering the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel registration number 2,679,182 for the “certified electronics recycler” trademark issued to IAER in January 2003 and transferred to ISRI when it acquired IAER last year, says the complaint, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

CULVER CITY, Calif. -- Trailing Panasonic and Samsung to introduction in the nascent 3D TV category, Sony is taking a holistic marketing approach touting its content, production, distribution and hardware expertise as an advantage over its rivals, senior executives said Wednesday at the company’s official 3D TV launch event at Sony Pictures Studios (CED June 10 p6). The company plans to lead the industry in bringing the best 3D experience to consumers through its focus on quality from the camera to the display with the promotional tagline, “Getting 3D Right,” Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow told reporters. “Other manufacturers may share that goal, but only Sony can achieve it by marrying content expertise with our hardware innovations,” Glasgow said.

LAS VEGAS - Sanyo North America is curbing expanding distribution of its front projectors at retail as it sharpens focus on AV dealers and VARs selling them to businesses and schools, Sam Malik, vice president and general manager of sales and marketing, told us at Infocomm.