Features of the APEX DT150 DTV Converter Box with Smart Antenna and S-Video. NTIA Approved CECB.

There’s renewed drive in the cell phone industry to eliminate the multiplicity of cell phone charging connectors that results in almost every manufacturer—and sometimes every model line or even model— requiring its own charger.

That lack of standardization is a confusing hassle for multiphone families—and for engineers here at Consumer Reports, who test phones by the dozen for our Ratings of cell phones and smart phones (available to subscribers).

It’s also a growing environmental issue. Chargers discarded due to switching phones create an estimated 50,000 tons or more of landfill every year, according the Global System for Mobile Communications Association, a trade group representing some cell phone carriers.

The good news: The CTIA, the primary trade association for U.S. cellphone carriers has endorsed an initiative to standardize the multiplicity of cellphone connectors to one design. According to PCWorld, that design will likely be based on the micro-USB connector now used in the Motorola Razr, several phones from HTC, and the BlackBerry Storm and Curve 8900. The proposal also calls for charging at a standardized voltage, using chargers that are themselves more green—by, for example, being more efficient in standby mode than some chargers used by today's cell phones.

Companies on board for the effort so far are AT&T, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and T-Mobile. The CTIA endorsement will bring in support from CDMA carriers Verizon and Sprint, as well as phone makers such as Research in Motion.

But—we’re moving to the bad news here—that’s still leaves some manufacturers, some of whom may never join the effort. Topping that list, according to Wired and others, is Apple. Switching to a new a USB-based charging port would make iPhones incompatible with the billions of Apple-dock-equipped accessories already on the market, which isn't likely to make anyone very happy.

Then there’s the planned date for the transition: 2012. By then, the choice of a micro-USB connector may seem a little quaint. The upcoming Palm Pre, for example, uses something much cooler: a magnetized inductive charging platform called a touchstone, which charges the Pre when it rests on it. Such platforms have been available for some time as aftermarket devices, but haven’t yet been offered by cellphone manufacturers as the standard charger for a phone.

For more coverage of green electronics, check our previous posts, and visit Consumer Reports' GreenerChoices.org —Mike Gikas

If you gambled on HD DVD in the high-def DVD war and came up a loser, Warner Bros. is giving you another chance to break even (well, almost). Its new Red2Blu program lets you exchange old Warner HD DVDs for a Blu-ray version of the same movie.

The swap-out isn’t free—it costs $4.95 per movie, plus a $6.95 shipping and handling charge per order (so it's $6.95 even if you exchange more than one DVD). Just go to the Red2Blu website, choose the HD DVDs you’d like to exchange, and use a credit card to pay the fees. You then print out a pre-paid, pre-addressed shipping label, which is sent via a confirmation email, and mail the original cover-art packaging sleeve from the old titles (you actually get to keep the HD DVD discs themselves!) to a processing center. Within four to five weeks, you should receive the replacement Blu-ray discs.

You're allowed to swap up to 25 HD DVD titles, and there are well over 100 titles from which to choose. The complete list of terms and conditions for the program is on this part of the Red2Blu website. —James K. Willcox

General Electric today announced a storage technology breakthrough that they say will allow a standard DVD-sized disc to hold 500 gigabytes of data—the equivalent capacity, with current storage technologies, of 20 single-layer Blu-ray discs, 100 DVDs, or the hard drive for a large desktop computer.

The breakthrough, GE says, is based on holographic storage technology that uses the entire volume of the disc material, rather than only its surface, as today's optical storage formats like DVDs and Blu-ray discs do. However, the company says the new storage formats are similar enough to current optical storage technology that drives that can read the new discs will also play CDs, DVDs and other discs encoded with current technology.

The takeaway: A significant development, this promises eventually to replace memories of three-dimensional photos as the main association when people hear the word "hologram." It also promises to add to the already-dropping price of digital storage media—something anyone who's recently bought a memory card for a digital camera, or a new computer, already knows.

However, don't dump your Blu-ray player yet. As analysts quoted by The New York Times, which first reported the story, note, it's as yet unclear when new drives and, say, movie discs that use the technology will reach the consumer market, and at what cost. The first adopters are expected to be commercial, including the entertainment industry and the health-care sector.

We've been waiting for news of Samsung's replacement for its flagship A950-series LCD TVs, which was one of the top-rated LCD TVs in Consumer Reports' LCD TV Ratings (available to subscribers). Samsung has now confirmed reports that the new Series 9 sets (which will use the newer B9000 designation) will, like A950 models, use full-frame LED backlighting with local dimming. The recently announced 6000-, 7000- and 8000-series sets use edge LED backlighting, which doesn't allow for local dimming.

Also, the sets will reportedly use a two-piece media system, with a separate media module that contains the TV tuners, so that signals are beamed wirelessly to the TV. We also expect the TV, offered in 46- and 55-inch screen sizes, to include Samsung's Medi@2.0 Internet suite, which uses Yahoo's Internet Widget interface to provide access to online content, including news, sports, weather, Flickr and YouTube. The TVs are expected to be released late this summer, although final pricing and availability haven't been determined. —James K. Willcox