If you’re a Houston resident like myself, you can follow the tracks of NY Times reporter Constance Hayes to a Wal-Mart in suburban Pearland where Wal-Mart has upgraded the in-store televisions. A nice inside-the-box innovation to make more marketing tools available to Wal-Mart suppliers. Reading the article, we find that it’s a centrally controlled and separate profit center for Wal-Mart. That’s an interesting shift for a company that normally gives a lot of control to local management.

Link: The New York Times > Wal-Mart Is Upgrading Its Vast In-Store Television Network.

Here in the Houston suburbs, Banana-Vision has arrived. That’s the industry nickname for the 42-inch high-definition L.C.D. monitor installed directly over a pyramid of bright yellow bananas in the produce section of the local Wal-Mart store. This TV screen and others scattered through the store are part of the Wal-Mart TV Network, a Web network of in-store programming that the company started in 1998.