We’ve been thinking for a while now about creating an official Street Tech Sucks Less Award to honor those tech companies who show some true design intelligence behind the products they foist on a gadget-weary public. We probably wouldn’t call it the “Sucks Less Award,” but you get the idea. Until we do the official roll out of such an award, we’ll be handing out some mini virtual trophies now and again.
Today we’d like to hand out a suitably handsome little statue to the HP Pavillion HD DLP TV. Not for the TV itself — we haven’t seen it in person yet — but for how they handled the A/V input/output. You can’t see it on this photo, but if you pull down the access panel at the bottom of the TV console, ALL of the A/V I/O is on THE FRONT of the set. The cables all come through a channel around the side of the TV and are connected through this hidden LIT console. No more needing to borrow the local rugby team to help you wrestle your gigantic TV set from the entertainment center so you can plug/unplug a component. What a concept!