The term “3-D” has been largely synonymous with Hollywood blockbusters, buttered popcorn and ill-fitting cardboard glasses since the 1950s, when three-dimensionality was introduced to draw TV owners into theaters.

Over the past 20 years, 3-D-capable devices like set-top boxes as well as 3-D programming have become available at home. A lack of standard broadcasting formats, relatively little content and the need for 3-D glasses, however, have kept it from a broad audience.

Tech companies are betting that will all change, and when it does, you’ll be able to lose the glasses.

According to new data from Thomson Reuters, 3-D-related patents have risen sharply in recent years, led by companies such as Samsung, Panasonic and Toshiba. “It will only be a matter of time before 3-D televisions start showing up in the home,” the report says.

Patent activity in the 3-D television space grew 69 percent over a five-year period, with more than 1,000 unique invention patents filed last year alone. This year is on par, with 486 filed in the first half of 2009.

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Cisco (CSCO) has decided to be a player in the consumer electronics business.

Cisco is a company that tends to be associated with enterprise networking; at its heart it remains a manufacturer of big honking routers. But over the last few years, the company has made a concerted effort to get into the consumer business, largely through its acquisitions of Linksys, which makes home networking gear, and Scientific Atlanta, manufacturer of cable set-top boxes.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today, Cisco made a set of announcements that extend its consumer ambitions considerably.

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In a stunning ruling that has huge implications for the cable industry, the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York has cleared the way for Cablevision (CVC) to offer so-called “network DVRs,” in which consumers would be able to record video programming for future viewing “in the cloud” rather than relying on the hard-drives in their set-top boxes.

The Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling which concluded that network DVRs were a violation of content copyrights.

Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett notes this morning that the Court concurred with Cablevision’s view that by ceding control of what’s recorded to the customer, Cablevision’s network DVR model avoids direct liability for copyright infringement. “In Cablevision’s view, a network DVR is, in essence, simply a DVR with a very long cord,” he writes.

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Motorola (MOT) has reorganized its home and networks mobility unit into three units, in a move that could be a prelude to the sale of one or more of the pieces, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Journal says the three divisions will include one focused on cable set-top boxes and related gear for digital video, Internet-based video and modems; a second, which sells cellular networking gear; and a third focused on next-generation networks, including WiMax and LTE.

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How do you make money on television sets when your competitors keep cutting prices? Throw in a little Will Smith, of course.

Howard Stringer, Sony’s chief executive, tossed out that idea at a lunch meeting Wednesday with people from the editorial and business sides of the New York Times. He noted his company’s recent agreement with cable companies to essentially build cable set-top boxes into its televisions.

“Technically, we can send a movie to that,” Mr. Stringer said. So why not package a TV set with a batch of Sony video content–including, say, a look at Sony Pictures’ Will Smith vehicle “Hancock” before its DVD release?

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