For those of you in LA for the CTIA madness, we have a little wireless update. And we do mean ‘little.’

Bad ideas are legendary in the cell phone world but this one takes the cake:

The technology allows people to record a TV program on their mobile phone and then watch it later, on the train on the way to work, for example. The TI package also provides “picture-in-picture” capabilities, allowing a person to watch a prerecorded program and also track a live sports event in a smaller, on-screen window.

Picture-in-Picture? On a two-inch screen? Are they serious?

Unfortunately, while watching short clips on your cell when you are bored seems like such an obviously good idea, competing tech standards, hardware incompatibilities and wireless provider micro-management, tv-on-cell has largely been stillborn. Even the cellphone industry press is skeptical of the huge numbers projected by the vendors.