Will my local movie rental shop ever become a "content hub" like Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes hopes ? Perhaps. But his transformation of the company has certainly improved sales of one item.

Hats. Movie-themed hats. Go ahead and chuckle, but in the name of weekend family fun, I considered buying one after I saw "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (I didn't -- more on that later).

Remember, Keyes is the former CEO of 7-Eleven, so he's very familiar with merchandising. Here's Keyes at Blockbuster's annual meeting today in New York, talking about a marketing change the company has made and the Porkpie payoff:

(Indiana Jones writer and producer George) Lucas came to us, and said 'would you be interested in participating in the theatrical release', which traditionally we wouldn't do, because we would wait until the DVDs came out. We said sure.

So Blockbuster did, and is now selling a bundle DVD set of "Indiana Jones" films. And...

...even the fedora. I'm pleased to say, we have sold thousands and thousands of these fedoras at $19 each. It's not about renting or even retailing DVDs, its about being in the retail entertainment business.

It's true! I wanted to catch up on the series. Immerse myself in "Indy." Here's the problem with my fedora fiasco:

Me: "Do you have a copy of "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark"?

Well meaning employee at my local Blockbuster: "No."

Oh well. No flick, No fedora.

(Photo: Harrison Ford at a screening of the "Crystal Skull", Reuters)

Top executives from many of the world's biggest consumer electronics retailers took the stage at the Consumer Electronics Show on Tuesday to hash out tough topics like the troubled U.S. economy, the Blu-ray - HD DVD format war, and the coming U.S. analog TV cut-off. The lineup ranged from stoned-faced Circuit City CEO, still smarting from a December shortfall, to Chen Xiao of China's Gome, who looked relaxed as he forecast double-digit growth.

Here is a sample of their comments:

Gary Shapiro, CEO of CEA:
How important is the economy for consumer electronics sales?

Phil Scoonover, Circuit City CEO :
We are concerned about the economy. People that are getting their first oil bill at $3 a gallon...are just realizing the implications of the energy costs. Of course the subprime issues have haunted us for some number of months, and the share of mind that the "r" word is getting in the media today has us concerned. At least in the first half of the year we are going to take a cautious approach to expenses and try to make sure that we are being prudent given what we believe to be more difficult economic headwinds.

Steve Eastman, VP/GMM, consumer electronics, Target:
Big items that people really want they are still buying in droves. We had several gadgets through the holiday that we had people lining up at the stores to come in and buy. I think the consumer is a little more empowered, in a tougher economy they are going to be more selective.

Chen Xiao, CEO, Gome (China's top electronic retailer):
Our growth is many times faster than the overall economic growth.

Shapiro: Will the next-gen DVD war go on now that Warner Bros. has sided with Blu Ray?

Schoonover: We are very excited to see progress of any type and we see this as significant progress.

Brad Anderson, Best Buy CEO: It makes it a lot easier to see the likelihood that we get to one format, and it makes it easier for us as retailers to help push it to that one format. It's time to get that (problem of movies not being on one format or another) solved.

Shapiro: The transition to digital television comes in 2009. How do you see that playing out?

Anderson: This is one of the biggest risks our industry has. The number of converter boxes that are going to be required, the potential impact on television manufacturing in such a brief window of time could put tremendous pressure on all of us trying to solve those problems for our customers.

We are very nervous about the potential risk. the more we can handle this up front for customers, the better, because once it gets turned off it could be interesting. For all of us in the industry, we have a vested interest that this be a smooth transition for the customer. This industry would be damaged if we don't do a really good job.

Vishesh Bhatia, Group Director, Electronics, Engineering & Technologies Division, Al Futtaim:
The learnings that we will see from you gentlemen here, we will bring to the Middle East when it happens there.

After talking to Amazon.com's Vice President of Consumer Electronics & Wireless, Paul Ryder, you get the feeling he's kind of like Morgan Freeman's character in the classic movie "The Shawshank Redemption." He's the guy you go to get anything you want. Except, well, Ryder's not, you know, in prison. But you get the point.

Like Freeman's "Red", Ryder (and Amazon) is aware that people want many and varied things, but doesn't carry much inventory. He doesn't stock any 150-inch TVs but if you want one, talk to Paul. (If you want one of Amazon's popular (read: sold out) Kindle reader, well, the line forms over there....)

Here are two videos with Ryder:

Comments about 2007 holiday season:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=3fdO DLul1s4[/youtube]

Comments about 2008 CES:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=CJNU YqAyGX8[/youtube]

They call it a “hit record,” but these days vinyl has nothing to do with what’s hot in musical entertainment.

Recording industry bible Billboard this week said it will supplement its “Hot 100″ singles chart with information about songs streamed over the Internet. That’s right — songs not bought at a store or downloaded onto a digital music player or heard on the radio. These are songs available through Web sites like Yahoo Music or AOL Music.

The move comes two years after Billboard succumbed to the 800-pound gorilla called iTunes and baked digital downloads into its charts.

“In the new Billboard Hot 100 formula, radio audience will average about 55 percent of the chart’s total points. Digital sales will account for about 40 percent, and streaming media will determine 5 percent. Physical singles — in line with the music industry’s retreat from that product over the past decade — will account for less than 1 percent of the chart’s new formula,” Billboard said.

You’d be hard pressed to find a physical copy of Rihanna’s “Umbrella”, Plain White T’s “Hey There Delilah”, or Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls” in a record store, since big music knows there is big money in digital media, including the next medium Billboard may start to track — ringtones.

This makes me wonder. When is the last time you bought a physical CD or a single? (I’ll answer first: I bought a CD this year — one CD.)

Here’s a tip — if you only want one iPhone, and don’t care to wrestle with a giant blue-nosed mole (on the far right), head to an AT&T store.

So far it appears that Apple stores are developing into local meccas of the Apple faithful, the media savvy and those with lots of time on their hands. On the other hand, AT&T stores, where the phone will also begin sales at 6 P.M. locally, are well, home to the lonely.

At around 7 a.m. this morning in midtown Manhattan, here (above) is the Apple store, with a line 200 deep, not including at least 6 TV news trucks, an army of reporters and one, um, giant… animal…thing:

Contrast that with the handful of iPhone hopefuls at AT&T’s store in Times Square (below), so-called, “crossroads of the world.”

Contrast that with another AT&T store, on Manhattan’s ritzy Park Ave., where of the 5 men waiting on line at 7 AM EDT, none planned to keep the iPhone. Oddly enough, the first guy on line, Steve Millei, 35 (below, on far right) — there holding a place for a friend — said: “I don’t want one. I like the Nokia phones better.”

Read Reuters full coverage of the iPhone launch, with pictures, video and more, here.

Will you buy an iPhone? Tell us why, here.

Gizmodo, in a kind of music video post — replete with Public Enemy’s “Don’t Believe the Hype”, notes that the other media story of this media phone is, well, the swarm of media covering the launch.