Despite a weak economy, Flat-panel sets are selling like hot-cakes. And Vizio is in first place among LCD TV manufacturers. The folks at DisplaySearch have some interesting new numbers on the flat-panel TV market, which has surged over the last year.

About 7.2 million flat-panel sets were sold in the first quarter of 2009, which is a 23% increase over the numbers from the first quarter of 2008. The numbers show Vizio’s market share at an impressive 18.9%. Higher-end brands like Sony and Samsung didn’t fare as well during the economic downturn and they saw their sales decrease compared to the same period last year.

If you’ve been paying attention to the gadget world you know that we’ve featured many turntables. Companies are making more and more. Seriously, people are spinning more vinyl. And according to the New York Post, Best Buy is thinking about selling vinyl records in their stores. Yes, it’s hard to believe.

Vinyl albums’ sales are growing. As much as 15 percent in 2007 and 89% more in 2008. The 2009 forecast is even better. And so Best Buy has started a pilot program in 100 stores. The results were good. So good that they are thinking about using as much as eight square feet in each of their stores to sell vinyl records.

The T-Mobile G1, has quietly hit a milestone. It has reached over a million units sold in the US alone, which is really saying something since it’s only been six months. It’s great news for the upcoming G2-HTC Dream Android-powered handset.

Sure, that’s nothing compared to the number of Blackberrys, iPhones, and Windows Mobile devices, but you can bet they have their eye on boostig that marketshare number.

The economy may be in the crapper, but Apple hasn’t really noticed. They just keep on keeping on, selling iPods, iPhones and Macs to a hungry public. Apple just reported a $1.21b profit on revenues of $8.16b, making it another record quarter.

This when Mac sales fell three percent compared to last year. Luckily for them it was offset by a three percent increase in iPod sales (mostly the iPod touch), while iPhone sales jumped 123-percent.

People really really love the Mushroom Kingdom. In the first week alone in the US, the big N managed to sell a whooping 435,00 DSi handhelds. Here’s something more amazing. In the month of March Nintendo systems accounted for just under 60 percent of all video game hardware sold in America.

This during a 17 percent drop in Wii sales during the same month. The news definitely gives Mario and Yoshi something to get excited about.

LG is proudly announcing that they have successfully made a lot of money off 20 million QWERTY cell phones around the globe. We don’t have any other breakdown on the data, like how many candybar, clamshell or slider form factors sold the most.

The most successful QWERTY devices include the enV series that sold over 8 million units in North America alone along with the Rumor series that sold 6 million units in North America. It’s quite a milestone for LG. You might say that the QWERTY bird gets the worm.

The unthinkable has happened. For the first time in 16 months, sales of the PS3 in Japan jumped 80% in the last five weeks of March compared to a year ago. At the same time, demand for the Wii went down by almost 63% to 99,335.

You can chalk up at least part of this to the release of a few new popular games like Resident Evil 5. Which helped up the PS3′s sales figures beyond the Wii’s for the first time since November a few years ago. It should also be noted that nearly everyone in Japan seems to already own a Wii.

That’s a lot of rockin’. I hope some of you are taking it easy now. As things stand right now, Rock Band has 614 songs available from 269 artists, 11 full albums, and a buttload of revenue. More revenue than all other games in 2008.

For those of you keeping score, we are talking $1 billion in total North American retail sales, with 40 million tracks sold. Plus Rock Band and Rock Band 2 have won 50 industry awards. Frankly I’m surprised you can’t all hear each other rocking all over the continent.

This weekend marked the biggest game of the football season, the Super Bowl. The Steelers came out on top of the game and the commercials were decent this year as well. CEA says that the game drove 2.6 million HDTV sales as fans geared up to watch the big game in HD resolution.

Despite the economy, the CEA says that 2009 will be a record year for HDTV sales with 29.8 million HDTVs expected to ship. In 2008, 26.8 million HDTVs shipped and one of the things that have pushed sales of HDTVs in 2009 is that the average wholesale price has fallen by 50% to $849 this year.

I have been using Logitech products for years now and I am particularly fond of the gaming peripherals and keyboards that the firm makes. I type everyday on a Logitech Illuminated keyboard and game with several Logitech products.

The firm announced its financials for Q3 fiscal 2009 and as you expect in the poor global economic climate, the numbers aren’t good. Logitech has posted sales for the quarter of $627 million, down 16% from the $744 in sales in fiscal 2008.

You knew it was coming. They’ve been dumb for too long. But it makes perfect sense for cash registers to get an IQ upgrade soon, and that’s what the Intelligent Cash Registers concept is all about. They are supposed to remember who you are know what your interests are.

Intel is going to release a prototype at the National Retail Federation show in New York on Sunday. It’s actually a collaboration between Intel and Frog Design. Frog Design will handle the hardware end, making sure its 3″ touchscreen terminal functions with Intel’s latest processors. The device will feature RFID card compatibility and rely on the Internet to up-sell and appeal to your impulse buying.

This is hardly shocking news, but according to the Wall Street Journal, both Nintendo’s Wii and the Xbox 360 clobbered the PS3 in holiday sales. U.S. sales fell nine percent from this month last year. During the same period, sales doubled for the Wii and were up eight percent for the Xbox 360.

That’s what happens when you fail to cut prices on your system, and the lack of exclusive game titles didn’t help either. Not to mention a bunch of inexpensive Blu-ray players. The end result is that the PS3 was the least attractive option for buyers. Apparently, it’s not even fit to roast a decent weiner.

Nintendo’s Wii has now surpassed the Xbox 360 as the leading console in U.S. homes among the latest generation of video-game players. As of June, U.S. consumers bought nearly 10.9 million Wii consoles since it’s introduction, which makes Nintendo top console dog. In fact, the Wii has been the top-selling console in all but one month in the U.S. since it launched, according to research firm NPD Group Inc.

Nintendo is projecting that worldwide, the Wii’s annual sales will surpass the number of consoles that Sony sells for the first time this fiscal year. The formula seems pretty straightforward. Get people actually in the game with motion control and Miis, appeal to all ages and keep the price somewhat reasonable.