Natural Resources Canada rejected a proposal by TV manufacturers to accept the FTC’s proposed energy use label for TVs instead of its own. Sets will resemble bulletin boards if countries and jurisdictions mandate their own energy use labels for the sets, TV makers told NRCan. The Canadian agency is proposing an EnerGuide label for TVs along the lines of the EnergyGuide label being considered by the FTC. Besides the FTC, California is requiring its own energy use label, the manufacturers said on a conference call. Since what Canada is proposing is similar to what the U.S. is considering, “we question the reason for having two labels,” a Sony representative said.

SEATTLE -- The 3D consumer market will grow rapidly the next three years, fueled by an array of devices and content that tap into consumer interest, Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow said Monday at the Society for Information Display/DisplaySearch business conference.

Many of the 122 questions total the FCC posed to Comcast and NBC Universal on their deal to combine broadcast, cable and online programming assets signal a keen interest by the agency and Chairman Julius Genachowski in Internet video, experts observing the review said. The queries, many with sub-questions, were released by the commission Friday afternoon. They cover VOD, online video distribution, set-top boxes and Internet video that can be seen using the devices. Queries on carriage deals show an interest in program access, industry lawyers who reviewed the data requests said.

CE makers are seeking a blanket waiver to exempt mobile DTV devices from FCC Part 15 requirements that all TV devices include analog and legacy ATSC DTV tuners. Dell and LG filed a joint petition, seeking a waiver for battery-operated mobile devices. Separately, Hauppauge Computer Works sought a broader waiver to cover any “television receivers capable of mobile use by consumers” that has a mobile DTV receiver. Comments on both requests, which the commission will consider together, are due June 4 under an accelerated process. Replies are due June 11.

Dell CEO Michael Dell played down the significance of the iPad’s popularity and rival Hewlett-Packard’s plan to buy Palm, in an earnings call. He also sidestepped a question on whether Dell plans to make an acquisition in the mobile device space. Instead, Dell said, “One of the most immediate opportunities we see with all of the users coming online is the tremendous build-out of the data centers to feed all that data."

Pandigital is plunging into the e-reader market with a two-pronged strategy in which it will field LCD- and electrophoretic display (EPD)-based models, retailers told us. Best known for its digital photo frames, Pandigital’s PRD07T20WBL1 Novel e-reader ($199) is expected to hit retail shelves around June 10, featuring a seven-inch color LCD with 800x600 resolution, 220 nits brightness and WiFi for connecting to Barnes & Noble’s eBookstore. Assembled by Foxconn, the Android-based Novel e-reader contains an 800 MHz Samsung Arm-11 processor, 1 GB of internal memory and an SD slot for storage of up to 32 GB. Novel contains 1,600-milliampere lithium ion battery with a six-hour run time, Pandigital Assistant Vice President Jason Topel told us in an interview.

Tech and advertising groups prefer the Senate financial overhaul bill passed late Thursday to the House version, they said Friday. The groups have voiced concerns about the FTC expansion envisioned by the House bill, among other things (CED May 5 p5). But so far, few Capitol Hill legislators have commented directly on the tech community’s concerns.

TV makers, not retailers, should be responsible for affixing energy use labels on products, the CE Retailers Coalition told the FTC. The commission has started a rulemaking process on requiring EnergyGuide labels for TVs and other CE products.

Intel is “putting all our energy” into “working with Google on enabling” Sony and Logitech TV products based on the Android operating system (CED May 21 p5) to be sold at retail this year, Eric Kim, senior vice president and general manager for Intel’s Digital Home Group, said on a phone and Internet briefing for investors Friday. But he said, “We are also very deeply engaged with many other major CE OEMs, so you could expect there to be many additional CE products -- TVs, set-top boxes, media players -- hitting the retail shelves in spring of 2011.” He declined to name other OEMs, citing “very strict confidentiality” deals, but said Intel is “definitely putting a huge amount of energy to scale this out very, very rapidly."

Wal-Mart is identifying suppliers “instrumental to our sustainability progress” based on responses to questions sent out in the development of a Sustainable Product Index, the retailer said in its 2010 global sustainability report. Suppliers were asked to respond to 15 questions in areas such as energy and climate, natural resources and material efficiency, it said.