Stop the tyrrany of your shrewish wife by purchasing lady-appeasing gadgetry

A dopily titled blub ("The Wife Factor"?) in the New York Times Bits blog about the Consumer Electronics Show notes that TV manufacturers are trying to pretty up their wares so the ladies of the world do not exercise a spousal veto over their menfolks' purchase:

With TVs getting as large as some SUVs and no longer hidden in armoires, wives are putting their foot down when it comes to placing these in their living rooms.

Which is why this year's crop of flat panels features rounded edges, clear plastic frames, and, in the case of LG and Samsung, dark red accents burned into the bezel.

Riiight. Because if you slap a little embellishment on it, women won't notice that there's a fifty-inch slab of exhorbitantly priced electronic equipment staring at them when they walk in the front door. This is the problem with so-called woman-focused marketing and design, most of which assumes we're all awfully shallow and girly. If your product is ugly, has poor functionality, or costs more than I expect to spend this year on all utilities combined, the fact that it features "dark red accents burned into the bezel" (ooooh!) will not entice me to buy it. Or, excuse me, to "allow" my partner to buy it.