Posted 08/29/2009 at 03:43:22pm

I just wanted to say I enjoyed your article. Excellent observation about how Apple is more than "Apple Computer, Inc" and is now targetting (gradually) new markets driven by the convergence of computing and internet technologies with consumer electronics.

Posted 08/21/2009 at 08:04:28pm

I have and like my original xbox, but the xbox 360's game lineup leaves me cold. I don't care for shooters, so that's a huge ding right there. Over 50% failure rates - I'll pass. Loud as a jet when playing games - no thanks.

The PS3 presents far more interesting options, however Sony's stubborn lack of backward compatibility kills it for me.

Posted 06/25/2009 at 02:52:41pm

You have got to be kidding me. There is no way that silverlight helped Flash. The fact that HTML 5 is an open standard instead of a propriatary product is critically important. The web platform should NOT be based on propriatary solutions, so I think Adobe is simply scared and trying to downplay the eventual demise of Flash. I say good riddence.

Posted 05/11/2009 at 10:46:15pm

I can't agree more with the idea of Blu-ray prices needing to come down for wider adoption. What I find ironic about this situation is how short everyones memory is.

When DVD's first came out they were $20+ for every movie, much more expensive than VHS. I remember plenty of people laughing at DVD's as something they didn't need because they already had technology to play movies at home. Player's were more than $200 for several years, and burners were also expensive. And don't even get me started on the whole DVD-R/RW vs DVD+R/RW debacle.

In comparison to DVD's when accounting for inflation, Blu-ray is coming down in price faster, and is being adopted about as fast as DVD's were.

From a technical point of view BD and HD video is a godsend, because of the warped technical specs of SD NTSC video (backward compatible, but headache inducing, when you get into the details). Considering the enormous effort involved in transitioning from one television standard to another, HD as we know it doesn't look to be changing it's specs for many, many years to come. (Nor should it considering that there is an upper limit to how much detail the human eye can perceive and 1080i/p is near to or even exceeds that limit for home screen sizes.) Therefore Blu-ray looks to be the last successful physical medium for video, the universal standard that you fall back to when compatibility is key, similar to CD's for audio.

I personally see streaming video as a replacement for cable, not DVD's or Blu-ray. Eventually when the DRM is stripped away I can see video downloads taking their place, but it took us forever to get there with audio, and CD's still haven't died completely. Sadly I think the fight for video will be a lot harder, but eventually we'll get there.

Posted 01/12/2009 at 11:17:02pm

I find this very sad. I've always had good experiences with Circuit City's staff, and have always liked the layout of the stores a lot better. I remember when Circuit City was THE place to find all the latest TV's and home theater gear at a reasonable price. Like their old motto: "Circuit City where service is state of the art..." Too bad.

Posted 01/07/2009 at 07:52:01pm

I think there's a lot people that would like something simple, thin and light - while at the same time not so small and underpowered you can't do some gaming.

 I'd love a cheap ultraportable I could play Civ IV on!

Posted 12/26/2008 at 05:22:50pm

I'm getting really sick and tired of the Blue-ray haters and pundits who say that digital downloads doom the format. This is the most short-sighted, wishful thinking I've ever seen. Digital downloads are great, and are definitely the future in the long-term. In the short-term they are a joke.

Bandwidth restrictions in large parts of the world (including the U.S.) are nowhere near what's needed for full quality 1080p video. This will change in time, but it will take many years. Even when that hurdle is overcome, digital downloads don't offer many of the features that we've come to expect with DVDs, much less the more advanced features of Blue-ray. They also lack the 'share with friends' factor. You can't easily share the videos you purchase digitally with your friends, due to drm, and format incompatibility. There will always be a need for a format you can walk into a store and buy for the less technical savvy people (in other words, the majority of consumers for years to come).

The real obstacles to Blue-ray adoption have been high prices (which are falling faster than they did for DVD) and the HD TV adoption curve. These factors will change faster than universal broadband needed for digital downloads.

Pundits also seem to forget that Blue-ray from day one has made burner drives available (again prices are falling fast) and a higher capacity disc format is always a good thing. The extra scratch protection that is part of the Blue-ray spec is another significant improvement.

In the end, I predict that Blue-ray will be the last of the successful physical media formats - one day as ubiquitous as CDs and DVDs are now.

Posted 10/26/2008 at 08:14:01pm

I can say this: If you're like me and you enjoy rpg's for the story, the current bread of MMO's are next to useless. If Bioware can create a persistent world with an endless stream of good stories, always providing interesting things to do, they will revolutionize the genre. This much is for sure - When this is released I'll be playing it. I'm sure I'm not the only one. The real question is if Bioware can keep everyone coming back for more...