“Wii have a problem but we have a solution,” jokes the Panasonic engineer. The problem is that gamers using the Nintendo Wii are smashing plasma TV screens if the remote slips from their grasp mid-game. The company’s answer is to reinforce the screens by applying old-style TV tube-making technology.
Old-fashioned cathode-ray tubes contain a vacuum, so they have to be made from a thick toughened glass to ensure they don’t implode. Modern plasma and LCD screens have only a thin glass faceplate because although the cells inside the screen have to be protected from the air, they do not need…
