SAN NARCISO, Calif. (Bennington Vale Evening Transcript) -- In April of this year, minimalist furniture pioneer IKEA divulged plans to bring its own television to market, featuring the company's unique, angular, and functional designs. What really makes the unit, called Uppleva, a hallmark IKEA product is that it bridges the divide between digital entertainment and designer furniture. Uppleva is more than a TV -- it's a bundled entertainment center with an integrated Blu-ray DVD player and audio system. With its sleek contours, Uppleva reminds one of an Apple product -- if Steve Jobs had studied at the Bauhaus. The technology itself boasts nothing extraordinary or even competitive, but it does come with nearly 20 pre-installed apps including YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion. But Uppleva has not been engineered for audiophiles and tech geeks -- it's for consumers who want tangible features in an aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly package. Unfortunately, beta testers have criticized the product harshly for being anything but easy to use. In fact, 48 of the 50 subjects who've had the units for several months claim they can't even finish assembling them.

"I should've seen this coming; it's IKEA after all," said Martin Gruntlich, 33, of Germany. "I mean, I never thought I'd have to put the damn TV together -- and with only a horribly drawn manual, a box of stripped and irregularly sized screws, some glue, and that silly hex wrench. I have an electrical engineering degree, and I still can't make heads or tails of this thing!"

(c) 2012. See disclaimers.