Taoyuan, Taiwan - U.S. customs has inspected some HTC smartphones to ensure they don't violate an Apple patent and have released some of them to U.S. carriers, HTC said.

"Some models have gone through inspection and been released to our carriers customers," HTC said. "We don't have the status of each specific device model at this time, but we are working closely with customs. We remain confident that this issue will be resolved soon."

A request to the company's U.S. subsidiary for more details has not been answered.

Tempe, Ariz. - Rockford Fosgate announced it will time a promotion with its sponsorship of the 2012 Vans Warped Tour.

The promo, which launched April 30 and will conclude on Aug. 5, features a $25,000 grand prize, entry tickets to the tour, gift packs and exclusive promotional items.

Baltimore -  Speaker maker Definitive Technology promoted technical director Matt Lyons to the position of engineering VP.

Lyons has been with Definitive since 2007.

Warren, N.J. - Virgin Mobile's no-contract PayLo cellular service launched its first plan with unlimited data and messaging.

The $40/month plan, designed for use with PayLo's feature phones, delivers unlimited voice minutes and messages, including text and picture messaging, email and IM. The plan also throws in 50MB of web access.

It joins two other payLo plans. A $30 plan offers 1500 minutes, 1500 messages and 30MB of web access. A $20 plan offers 400 minutes, 15-cent messages and web access of $1.50/MB.

City of Industry, Calif. - Sceptre unveiled Monday a compact 15.6-inch 720p LED LCD TV in its 16 series, offering the ability to plug the display into a wall outlet or a car lighter for tailgating or camping.

The E165BD-HD ($199 suggested retail) features 1,366 by 768/60p HD resolution, a built-in DVD player and ships with a car power adapter for use on the go. It also offers two HDMI ports.

 Boston - Electronic program guide (EPG) developer Rovi and voice-activiated software creator Nuance Communications are using the Cable Show here this week to announce a collaboration on voice-activated discovery and guidance applications for cable service providers and CE manufacturers.

Secaucus, N.J., - Panasonic introduced Monday the standard zoom lens Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm/F2.8 ASPH./Power OIS (H-HS12035) for its Micro Four Thirds compact system camera (CSC) line.

The lens, which will ship in August at a price to be announced, is part of Panasonic's premium lens brand X, which is compatible with the Panasonic Lumix G series and complies with the Micro Four Thirds system standard.

Mooresville, N.C. - Lowe's reported solid gains for its fiscal first quarter, ended May 4.

Net earnings rose 14.3 percent to $527 million, sales increased 7.9 percent to $13.2 billion, and comp-store sales edged up 2.6 percent year over year.

Gross margins slipped from 35.4 percent to 34.7 percent for the three-month period,   possibly due to product mix shifts and a more disruptive than anticipated transition to everyday low pricing, Credit Suisse retail analyst Gary Balter suggested.

NEW YORK – As in most industries, the drive to ever greater efficiencies in a free-market economy has led to consolidation within consumer electronics retailing.

While the list of departed dealers grows longer each year, the CE retailers at the top of the heap continue to increase their hegemony by taking market share from the smaller players below.

NEW YORK – According to the TWICE Top 100 CE Retailers rankings, reports of the death of the big-box store have been greatly exaggerated.

Despite the inexorable rise of Amazon.com and Apple to the top of the charts, and the impending demise of the big-box store as predicted by bloggers, pundits, and other prognosticators, the category killer still reigns supreme.