Philadelphia Daily News Plugged In column: Plasma hits a new high on Wall Street.

Byline: Jonathan Takiff

Apr. 26--THE GIZMO: Panasonic Takes Lower Manhattan.

The irony of introducing the world's largest, 103-inch plasma TV at the New York Stock Exchange was lost on the folks at Panasonic. Until yours truly reminded them of some techno history.

Back in the early 1990s, the Stock Exchange was one of the very first purchasers of super-thin, color plasma screens - a 21-inch model from Fujitsu - and installed the panels at numerous trader's stations. After two years of continuous (never turned off) use, the stock brokers started complaining about a fading picture and ghostly after-images (aka burn-in) lingering on the screen.

And that, friends, is where the legend that plasmas are inherently unreliable was born. Oh, and it's also where the idle speculation that plasmas "leak gas" was spawned.

Now, six generations of product later, much improved …