This format war is really annoying me. I really want to move to high definition but I don’t want to get stuck buying equipment
and hardware for the losing format. And now the studios are starting to take sides, they are choosing to release films on one format or the other. Warner is the only major studio to release on both formats.
Here is a rundown of the major points. I got this from listening to TheTechGuy Podcast.
- A person from Warner said they will be producing both as long as people are buying both
- Dreamworks and Paramount have been publishing on both formats they have now both gone exclusively with HD-DVD
- A spokesperson for Paramount stated that authoring BluRay is more difficult.
- BluRay is outselling HD-DVD by a 2:1 ratio. Casino Royale and 300 are possibly the reason for this. With the market so small, a few titles can manipulate the numbers.
- Consumers should wait until the new BluRay players out so that you have an Ethernet port for BDLive which will allow you to download trailers, and see extra content. All HD Dvd Players have an ethernet port.
- BluRay also has a couple of extra layers of copy protection. One of the problems they have run into is BDPlus… immediately the blogs are up in arms because BluRay disks won’t play in some players. Most BluRay players don’t have an ethernet port so the firmware can’t be updated to support BDPlus.
- HD-DVD is more forward looking than BluRay, especially when it comes to sound.
- BluRay uses Java, so manufacturers must code in Java, this makes authoring the disks more difficult.
- BluRay has only 8 replicating plants while HD Dvd has 32. The only facility that can do 50gb BluRay disks is Sony. This can create a huge bottleneck when studios are trying to meet release dates.
I hope they hurry up and settle this. I am leaning a little towards an HD DvD though.
Being as clumsy as I am, I am always, dropping and destroying cell phones. I dropped my Treo one time too many and it stopped responding a few days ago. A friend of mine offered me a Blackberry 8700 to use while I took a few days to research and purchase a new phone. There was one problem, the Blackberry was for T-Mobile and I use AT&T. I visited a few wireless stores in Brooklyn, NY and the charge to unlock the phone was rediculous. It ranged from $75 all the way to $120!
I tried to use some online services based mostly in the UK that charged anywhere from $10 to $20 but they did not support my phone model or stated that this phone could not be unlocked remotely. I am still waiting for Unlock Telecom to give me my money back. I am giving them ample time to refund me. I don’t want to have to call AMEX on them.
My dad uses T-Mobile, I put his SIM card in the Blackberry, then called T-Mobile support and told a little white lie that I just bought the Blackberry and I needed to use it overseas, but the last time I was in Germany (I just picked a random country), it said unauthorized SIM. I was emailed an unlock code and instructions in about 10 hours. I am writing this post from that Blackberry 8700.
That’s what the store was charging $90 for? The explanation I was given was that the phone was encrypted and it takes more work, usually charge is about $50. Shame on you GSM Wireless. (located on Flatbush Avenue between Church Avenue and Caton Avenue in Brooklyn, NY 11226)
Some of the preceding information was taken from a post by Jon from Asheville, NC. his blog address is unknown.
It was 10 years ago that Michael Dell, speaking before several thousand technology executives at ITxpo97 in Orlando, answered a question about what he would do if he were CEO of Apple with a remark he probably instantly regretted:
“What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.” (link)
Today, Apple’s (AAPL) market capitalization today is more than double that of Dell.
- Apple: $140.4 billion
- Dell: $62.27 billion
People can slam Michael all they like, but I believe he was the reason that affordable, custom configured, reliable PCs is now available to the everyone. It had a major impact on the way we buy computers. If it wasn’t for his vision, we might be paying a lot more today and not getting the configuration we want. He forced the other computer manufacturers to lower their prices which resulted in savings for consumers. His direct build-to-order innovation was a paradigm shift that has been copied by other industries. Also to be fair, Michael only recently re-assumed the CEO post after having pulled back for a few years. Let’s see what he does back at the helm before judging his performance.
I believe when he made that comment, Apple was still wandering in the wilderness. They had just pulled back from licensing their technology to 3rd parties which had turned out to be a disaster. Many people were writing Apple off back then as being too proprietary.
Companies are trying to use legitimate looking blogs as ads. They are called fake blogs or nicknamed flogs. Sony, Walmart, McDonald’s and Coka Cola are large companies who recently had flogs unmasked. Even with the embarrassment of having their flogs unmasked, it will probably not stop the practice because there is so much interest in blogging, and its power as a marketing tool. Also, most companies are not usually aware of each and every tactic that marketing agencies use.
Some web users have figured out ways to find them, mostly by using the whois information, this has been countered recently by using third party services such as Domains by Proxy or making the whois information private.
There are plans in the UK to make it illegal for companies to create blogs under false identies. There is no such plan here in the US.
All my Ebay auctions were recently taken down and it took me a few days to find out exactly why. I am using the JAJA buttoms widget on my Ebay auctions.
I got the following message from Ebay
“The listing was removed because it violated the eBay Inappropriate Links policy … links or other connections to live chat systems are not permitted.”
Not what I consider a clear answer and I had to email them and wait 2 days for a response.
I think I know why Ebay decided to do this, JAJA is a competitor to Skype, and Skype isn’t exactly doing well. Yes, they have millions of registered users but recently Ebay had to take a 1.4 Billion writedown because of Skype.
Before JAJA, I tried using the Skype widget on my auctions and over a 4 month period not one buyer used it. When I used the JAJA widget, I recieved about 10 calls per day. It had a positive impact on sales. You can customize the JAJA widget to match the look and feel of your auction or website and you can set available hours.
Ebay overpaid for Skype, it isn’t integrating well, so they need to protect their investment by stiff arming competitors out of othe market.
This is just one of the many reasons why more and more of Ebay’s top sellers are looking for other sales channels.
