Here’s an article from the Hollywood reporter. Could this be the beginning of the end of the Blue-Ray HD DVD war? Will Blue-Ray win? I’m more concerned about the viability of High-Definition DVD formats in general. The number of players sold in the world seems mighty low to me. Hmm … I’m so glad I didn’t get that HD DVD add-on I was looking at for XBox360.
Jan 24, 2008
A panel discusses the future of content on mobile phones. What stuck out to me in this article is the idea of location based advertising enabled by having GPS in mobile phones. Rejoice or cringe, this is a great idea. But I guess we are a ways off from blending this with video content due the mentioned obvious shortcomings of current cellular networks. I think, though, regardless of whether there is mobile entertainment, location based advertising is coming your way. I have already experienced it Singapore, where I recieved several spam SMS’s while touring the city/country.
As for the Olympics, I’m looking forward to being able to view the events I care about in more depth, hopefully without commentary, over the Internet from my PC (which is connected to my TV). I think that being able to access results over a mobile is a good use of mobile technology. I’m not sure whether I would get much enjoyment out of watching tracking and field, gymnastics, or pool events on my tiny postage stamp of a screen on my mobile.
Jan 27, 2008
Now, I can finally convince my husband that we NEED a PS3!
Actually, I’m glad that Toshiba has the guts to exit the business this quickly, thinking more about the customer and the company’s future than their own pride at this single moment in time. Also, this allows them to quickly switch gears and concentrate on something else, which from this article is NAND drives — no doubt a good area to be investing in as laptops become more mobile and mobile electronics demand more memory. I also like the idea of NAND drives being using as the primary Windows drive for quick Vista boot and speedy deployment of programs. Again, great for Toshiba, for showing that a large company can be agile :).
But what about those people who bought HD-DVD drives, like those folks who bought the HDX laptop. Do we intend to make it right? Will a discounted switch to Blu-Ray be offered or is the customer SOL for taking the gamble? Personally, I would like to see the obsolete drives taken back in to for recycling rather than thrown in the landfill. I also think swapping the drives for a reasonable fee would make customers who paid a bunch for their PC or laptop very happy. In the long run, this is good for us because customers that may have been holding on the large purchase, can now execute.
Now here’s an excellent article from the Associated Press on Toshiba’s announcement.
By YURI KAGEYAMA
The Associated Press
Tuesday, February 19, 2008; 12:16 PM
Warner Bros. opens a new facility to observe consumers using emerging content viewing technologies.
I think it’s kinda funny that the Warner Bros. people themselves are not trying to live on the edge. Living on the edge, myself, I see that a lot of insight can be gained by struggling with emerging technologies. Well, I hope they don’t guide themselves down the “primose path” by forcing an environment.
Blu-Ray may not be out of the woods yet. Internet downloads and “up-converting” DVD players are a threat to Blu-Ray adoption.
Here’s a link to the article
Blu-ray’s Victory Could be Short-Lived, Analysts Warn
Toshiba may have backed off with its rival HD DVD, but Internet downloads are the next challenge.
PC World
Monday, February 25, 2008; 8:19 AM
More Rambling 