Yeah, this sounds exactly like what people need in their retail experience:

"At Sony Style Comcast Labs, trained staff show consumers how to unlock the full potential of their devices by demonstrating how Comcast's advanced delivery services integrate beautifully with Sony's hardware products and entertainment content." —Stan Glasgow, President and COO, Sony Electronics US

Anyone who is feeling masochistic tomorrow and wants to check this place out, please let us know how it is. It's located on the ground floor of the Comcast Center at 17th and JFK Boulevard.

Update: We have some pics from inside:

SONY ELECTRONICS AND COMCAST UNVEIL CO-BRANDED RETAIL STORE: SONY STYLE COMCAST LABS
Interactive Technology Lab will Debut a Live Demo of 100 Mbps

PHILADELPHIA – March 16, 2009 – Sony Electronics Inc., a world leader in consumer electronics and technology, and Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), the nation's leading provider of entertainment, information and communications, are partnering to open a unique retail experience in the Comcast Center: Sony Style Comcast Labs. Sir Howard Stringer, chairman and CEO of Sony Corporation, and Brian L. Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast, conceived the idea as a destination where consumers could learn about emerging technologies and experience new digital devices.

The co-branded retail store and technology lab, which opens to the public tomorrow, will showcase the latest innovative products and services from both companies and preview future Comcast technology, products and services.

"This is another great example of innovation and consumer technology being showcased in Philadelphia by Comcast. Comcast has attracted great partners like Sony that continue to benefit our citizens with cool products," said Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

Of the many future technologies on display, the following will be unveiled to Philadelphia consumers for the first time:
1) The Future of High-Speed Internet: 100 Mbps surfing and downloading live.
2) The Future of Home Phone Service: the enhanced cordless telephone – forget smart phones, this one is a genius with email, IM, text and Yellow Pages.

"Consumer electronics are becoming increasingly advanced, and the strategy behind the Sony Style stores has always been to create a comfortable environment where consumers interact with and educate themselves about the latest technology," said Stan Glasgow, president and COO of Sony Electronics in the U.S. "At Sony Style Comcast Labs, trained staff show consumers how to unlock the full potential of their devices by demonstrating how Comcast's advanced delivery services integrate beautifully with Sony's hardware products and entertainment content."

"Innovation has been the cornerstone of all that we do at Comcast and this new interactive space is the perfect showcase for our current and future technology," said Tony Werner, Comcast's chief technology officer. "We're thrilled to have this unique space anchor our corporate headquarters as a clear demonstration of innovation. It's also a terrific, hands-on way for consumers to experience how all our products work together."

Sony Style Comcast Labs feature the best of Sony's electronics and the most innovative service offerings from Comcast. Sony Electronics offerings include BRAVIAÒ high definition LCD televisions, VAIO® PCs, a (alpha) DSLR and Cyber-shotÒ digital cameras, HandycamÒ camcorders, PSPÒ and PlayStationÒ 3 game consoles and emerging technologies like OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) TVs. Comcast will showcase all of its products and services from voice to video and Internet and demonstrate how they each work together seamlessly for the consumer.

Shoppers will have opportunities to make informed purchase decisions about what best fits their needs via personalized service and product demonstrations from in-store Sony Electronics and Comcast representatives.

The Sony Style Comcast Labs is located the heart of The Market at the base of the Comcast Center in Philadelphia at 17th and JFK Boulevard.

It's amusing but, to be honest, its not much weirder than some of the real convergence devices out there (See exhibit A and exhibit B.) [EyeShots via Dezeen via Boing Boing Gadgets]

At this stage WARP won't be intended as a gameworthy replacement for dedicated graphics cards, but it could help avoid another "Vista Capable" type debacle by standardizing essential graphics capabilities across virtually all hardware. That said, it's not that slow: Microsoft reports that when paired with the rather awesome i7, it runs Crysis faster than Intel's integrated DX10 solutions. Like, 42% faster. Granted, that's still only 7.36FPS on the game's lowest settings, but don't miss the point here: Windows 7 will run Crysis—or any other game—without a video card. [CustomPC via Slashdot]

It'll pause your tunes automatically when a call comes in, so be careful about singing along with that hot new Britney Spears track when your mom calls. Due to come out in Singapore next month, it's priced at S$139, or $94 USD, or 4 cans of beans PEC (post-econopocalyptic currency). Oh, and it's really, really sparkly. [PMP Today]

The question here is: Why the hell would anyone want to build such a device? Microsoft's justification for the project is that PCs can often do the same things that dedicated devices can do (like cellphones), but there is a learning curve involved :

User studies carried out on a number of users have shown that entertainment, communication and information retrieval are the three main motivating factors for people to use devices like a personal computer. However since a personal computer is a general purpose device, some amount of learning is associated with achieving the same task as compared to achieving the same task using a special purpose device like a telephone, a music player, or the like.

For example making a telephone call using a computer involves knowing what application is used on a computer to make a call, starting the application and figuring out how to use it using input devices attached to the computer like keyboard and mouse. Instead if the device had a hardware keypad that is normally used in a telephone, along with appropriate software then dialing a call would just involve pressing “Dial” button, followed by the numbers to be dialed on hardware keypad and the required software will come up and complete the call for the user. In this way the interaction of the user with the device would be the same as the interaction with a special purpose device for making a telephone call.

So, instead of focusing on user friendly smartphones and portable PC software, they have basically duct-taped a cellphone to a laptop. The future is here...today! [WIPO via Unwired View]

Okay, so it won't blow you away on the specs, but it could be a handy device, especially when you consider that the pocket-sized photo viewer can be removed from the base for easy transport. No pricing or release date information has been announced. [WinWin via Coolest Gadgets]

The idea is that you can do more detailed work with your information using the laptop, but access that shared info using your handset while on the go. While there are currently plenty of ways to sync info between mobile devices and computers, the Couple-IT promises a more thorough coupling using twin SIMs and software. Perhaps a concept like this might be able to hold the fort while we wait for handsets to become more robust convergent devices. [Alloy via 3g via Core 77]

Product Page [Via Nerdapproved]

DVD Player/Projector combo for the blissfully lazy [SCI FI]

So is it designed with the small apartment in mind? If so, LG may want to think of dropping that price. My poor, studio-living, tuition-paying ass will never buy a $150 combination appliance. Even if it is the most beautiful bagel-toasting, Hot Pocket-nuking, coffee-brewing, stainless-steel appliance ever. Oh, who am I kidding?/me gets out credit card. –Travis Hudson

LG Combination Microwaves [Apartment Therapy]

MugMouse is a mouse full of coffee [newlaunches]

The PowerFM is what I would typically call a pretty useless product. It's a silicone case, an FM Transmitter and a back up battery for the iPod Nano & fifth-generation iPods. However, the three features have been combined well enough to make this into potentially a Tri-Force-like gadget. That's right, finally someone had enough foresight to think that we don't want to carry around 50 extra gadgets just to make our iPods do what we want.

Here's hoping that the battery actually lasts, the FM transmitter creates a decent signal, and the case keeps the scratches off. Otherwise we've got yet another wasted attempt at a potentially useful iPod accessory. The PowerFM will go on sale in December for $80.– Ben Longo

Product Page [Via Tech Digest]

Gorenje Smart Table has a cold heart [SlashGear]

Nothing special here, folks. It's pretty pricey for $2700, considering that you can get a LCD TV that's this same size and resolution for $1500 less, and then hide a cheap networked PC behind it running Windows XP Media Center Edition. More capabilities, $1000 less. HP must be aiming this MediaSmart product at the MediaDumb. Nice try, HP. – Charlie White

Product Page [HP, via Sci Fi Tech]