The Nipponese man is the executive vice president of a subsidiary of a ridiculously colossal consumer-electronics company.

Mr. Schmidt and his partner, David B. Whitlock, 34, worked from home while setting up their consumer-electronics company, Eclipse Products, now in Darien, Conn.

Major consumer-electronics companies, including Panasonic, Mitsubishi and Sony, are betting on 3-D, with compatible TV sets planned for the market in 2010.

Similar legislation in other nations will be sought by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry in Europe and by 15 European and Japanese consumer-electronics companies.

Together, the two companies have put more than $2 billion in capital behind the idea, lining up strategic investors from automakers and consumer-electronics companies.

But what looks like a headache for vacationers is an opportunity for automakers and consumer-electronics companies hoping to sell navigation systems for cars.

A1 In a new Japanese-Hollywood deal, a consumer-electronics company will provide a Hollywood producer, Lawrence Gordon, with more than $100 million to make films.

The French Government announced yesterday that it planned to sell Thomson S.A., the huge defense and consumer-electronics company, to private investors by the end of 1996.

Today, almost two out of five households have answering machines, more than double the number only four years ago, according to the Electronic Industries Association, a trade group for consumer-electronics companies.