Getting into World of Warcraft for the first time means hours of grinding: performing the same tasks over and over to “level up” a character. But far from being boring, grinding is one of the great unsung joys of gaming.

Last week, I finally decided to start playing World of Warcraft again. And you know what that means: Exciting medieval adventures! Chess-like strategizing with guildmates over raid techniques!

And, of course, grinding.

Hours upon hours of mind-numbing grinding.

The article goes on to discuss the psychology behind grinding, and why despite this truly burdensome element, people continue to pay monthly subscriptions.  Without going into too much psychology, a subject of which I am a novice and an expert in my own mind, let me offer the simplest explanation for the acceptance of grinding.

Essentially, grinding offers users a way to kill time, blow off steam that might be building in real life ventures and simply beat stuff up.  From the very first video games until now, there always was and will be a repetitive idea that lives on in virtual worlds.   Think about simple, but popular video arcade games like Pac-man, Centipede, and Space Invaders.

Sure, the addiction element may not be anywhere near as sophisticated as that found in World of Warcraft or other MMORPGs, but designers today are paid to make addiction happen.  Without addiction, games become yesterday’s news and there is no way they’d last beyond a few months to a year on the replay value scale.

As for my gaming habits, I notice that some of the most fun I have gaming involves repetitive and violent bludgeoning of pixels that resemble an enemy.  In the real world, you might consider how hunters love stalking and destroying their prey.  In the virtual world, the feeling is very much the same with the only consequence being that the time I spend hunting or destroying monsters online is time I could have spent doing something more productive.

From Information Week: “Firefox gains on internet explorer in business”

If IE7 isn’t taking off in enterprises, it’s questionable whether Microsoft should expect any better in IE8. Analyst firm Gartner cautioned last month that IE8’s default standards mode could break enterprise applications. Apps might not render properly if they’ve been developed primarily for earlier, non-standards- compliant versions of IE. Gartner wrote then that companies should “strive to design for standards, not browsers.”

 Looking after the interests of end-users rather than corporate agendas?  Sounds like a plan to me!

Many companies appear to be perfectly content with staying with IE6 until they see something better. The same thinking has been part of the reason for the slow take-up of Windows Vista in enterprises. And some of the security features added by IE7 and IE8 don’t work unless Vista is installed, so the pace of Vista uptake could also weigh on IE’s own upgrades.

It makes sense that in business, upgrading browsers isn’t a big deal because the computer primary use should be focused on productivity and not web applications.  The only exception being Tech companies that focus on web design and development.

Over the years, the Blackberry has set the standard for business cell phones and now the iPhone has set the standard for media enriched cell phones for higher class consumers.  The question that remains to be answered is, “Will these ambitious super-gadgets go mainstream?”  To Apple enthusiasts and Silicon Valley nerds, the answer is obvious.  Over a million iPhones sold within months after release, are you kidding?  It’ll absolutely be mainstream in a few years!

Consider design, consumption and use

I might have given the answer above without hesitation last fall, but then it occurred to me that these phones are highly targeted pieces of equipment.  Take the Blackberry for example, it serves a purpose that is unparalleled in the business world.  Like the Rolodex, it has created for greater efficiency and increased productivity  and that’s just taking push e-mail and personal management features into account.

The iPhone, Apple’s prized gadget, takes a kitchen sink approach and meshes it all well using Apple’s trademark simplicity approach.  At a price of $600-$800 retail, not including the price of a contract and data plan, this phone — although profitable — has limited revenue potential.

Next Generation Cellular Phones – Evolution through Devolution?

Depending on how you characterize advancement, you might fall in love (as I have) with the concept of turning back the clock on cellular design and offering a Googlesque approach to design.

Googlesque, what the heck does that even mean?

Lets face it, part of how Google took over the world is it simplified search, it killed the garbage “home page portal” ambition (see MSN, Yahoo, AOL) and provided you with a Google search box.  Well, what if we could implement the same concept with mobile phones?  Think about the possibilities of a simple, flashy design that would be affordable and available for mass consumption?  Someone already has, here’s a fresh new look at cellular designs for next generation simplicity.

First Look at the Mimique Cell Phone Design

I’ve got the scoop on the new design, it comes on good authority from a member of the RKS team.

The “Mimique” Concept

This new cellular design looks to take a different approach from the newer generation of feature-heavy cell phones.   The team was aiming for a playful, engaging and simple “old-school” design using next generation style and technology.

I’d have to agree with that description, let’s take a closer look.

Mimique Cell Phone Profile

According to the RKS, the Mimique will make use of “new open-source, cell phone software” — hmm, Android anyone?  It includes downloadable “skins” that allow changing of the graphical interface to match the consumer’s mood or personal style.  The mimique design promises to provide a phone for everybody, especially typical consumers that don’t require the extra baggage that comes with newer and more expensive business and entertainment cell phones.   I think I’ve adequately explained why the idea of simplicity and usability is so appealing given the direction of current cellular technologies and unintuitive designs.

Of course, being the inquisitive person that I am, I had to probe for more information and received some literature from the design team:

Where the Mimique really sets itself apart is that it is designed to take advantage of the new, open-source cell phone technologies being developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance. This barrier-breaking technology would allow users to customize their phones to work and look exactly the way they want.  [...] Best of all, it means that you’ll no longer be forced to pay for features you don’t want. You get to pick and choose exactly the features you want to create your own perfect phone.

So why change direction in design, are there other benefits besides reclaiming the phone for consumers through intuitive new-age design?

The combination of open source software and touch-screen technology will make the Mimique easily upgradable.  Today, if someone comes out with new cell phone features, you have to buy a new cell phone to get that feature. But with the Mimique, you’ll just download the new feature to your phone and you’re good to go. This will greatly extend the lifespan of the phone itself, because the features are never locked into the design.  With the Mimique, you’ll always have the newest, coolest phone on the block, because it’s the one phone designed to be everything you want and nothing you don’t.

Will this concept catch on?  I think it has a ton of potential and if marketed properly, I’ve no doubt this will kick off a new era of cellular design. If you’d like to take a look at the design on their website, you can visit RKS design here: “Mimique  Concept”

Wii Crossbow, are you ready for it? 

ArsTechnica had the lowdown on some of the odd packet routing issues that resulted on Sunday, here’s  an excerpt:

On Sunday, YouTube became unreachable from most, if not all, of the Internet. No “sorry we’re down” or cutesy kitten-with-screwdriver page, nothing.  What happened was that packets sent to YouTube were flowing to Pakistan. Which was curious, because the Pakistan government had just instituted a ban on the popular video sharing site. What apparently happened is that Pakistan Telecom routed the address block that YouTube’s servers are into a “black hole” as a simple measure to filter access to the service. However, this routing information escaped from Pakistan Telecom to its ISP PCCW in Hong Kong, which propagated the route to the rest of the world.

Insecure Routing redirects Youtube to Pakistan

“If you can read this, then you’ve more than likely downloaded this album from a peer to peer network or torrent. You probably expect the rest of this message to tell you that you’re hurting musicians and breaking just about every copyright law in the book. Well, it won’t tell you that.”

Lecture averted, he fills the rest of this document sharing an artist’s frustration with current music distribution methods. Jordan stresses donating as a means of supporting the music rather than paying retail outlets who he claims can take up to 8x more from record sales than the actual artist. Also warning against trying to support them via ITunes, he informs that none of their material sold via this method has showed any profit to the actual artist and they are currently in a legal battle with the digital music distributing Goliath.

Instead Jordan stresses purchasing directly from the label Alphabasic.com where “the artists usually receive over 90% of the actual money coming from your wallet”. Not only will the money be going to the party it should, their library contains a collection of lossless, DRM-free downloads. You can even donate directly to the band where 100% of your contribution will go to the band.

And though Jordan states he isn’t certain that the donation method is the right plan for the long term, I’m glad to see the waters being tested. My guess is that the failing of this method will be that while you might initially have groups of people who pay $1 for the album and groups who might pay $20 or something equally overboard to make the band think they are cool, eventually you’ll probably be left with the first group. I eagerly await the results and will keep an eye on Jordan’s blog for continuing information.

The industry certainly needs shaking up a bit, and I can’t imagine a better way to stick bees in the bonnets of the big wigs than artists willingly going to p2p networking. Perhaps inspired by Radiohead’s recently donation distribution method, I have to admire the risk taken by Jordan and I hope to see more of such moxy in the future.

While I may have once been a hard sale on digital distribution, mourning the idea of losing that physical object with its album art and new CD smell, I find myself less and less reaching for a CD and all the more often reaching for my Ipod or firing up Winamp. In fact, the only time I’ve handled music on disk in the last year or so was to burn a mixed CD for a friend or two. My only concern with digital-only music is the cold terror that awakens me at night and makes me clutch my chest in fear; a hard drive crash. Which is why I have about 5 backups of my music collection, as I imagine do many music lovers who keep their collection stored digitally. I don’t know how many backup their music to a hard drive in another state, but I feel confident that I am not alone in my paranoia.

You may see the entire read-me on the label’s site: http://www.alphabasic.com/Please_read.html

Super Smash Brothers, Brawl – Trailer of upcoming  release

Click here to view the embedded video.

I own the Game Cube version and would be interested to see how this might play out on the Wii, based on the new sensor-driven controls.  Just the same, I don’t get what makes the game so popular!  Sure, it’ll make tons of money and perhaps break new Nintendo Wii records for sales in a given time-span, but what I want to know is why?

I know I’m in the minority, so I’ll leave a cookie for the gamers who eat this stuff up. “Cheats and Exploits for Super Smash Bros Brawl“

Now that Blu-ray has won the battle of the next-generation video media, HD-DVDs are going on sale.  Engadget reported it initially and it appears others are blogging about it so I thought I’d share the link.

Here’s one for Amazon: HD-DVD’s 50% off.  I am sure there are plenty more.

Why Nerds hate Valentines Day:

1. You blow 300 bucks on a dinner, date, and a play that could have been put to better use by buying a shitload of gold on ebay for your WoW account.
2. Having to wait in line for an extra 10 minutes to buy a Red Bull because of some douche-bag buying chocolate, and delaying your all-night gaming session.
3. Not having a girlfriend is compounded by the fact that even your Second Life character can’t get any action.
4. No hot girls show up to class
5. Valentines Day candies give you cavities and make you break out with acne

Why Nerds love Valentines Day:

1. Everyone in a relationship is out on the town resulting in faster internet connections
2. You can watch porn in peace without being interrupted by your roommate and his girlfriend
3. You can eavesdrop on your roommate making sweet Valentine’s Day love to his girlfriend later in the night
4. If you have a girlfriend, you become “King of the Nerds” for a night
5. You look forward to a Valentine’s day themed logo on the Google homepage

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There was a time when Yahoo! melting into Microsoft seemed laughable. After all, they were two different companies with two different cultures and two different visions. Now with everyone chasing Google, many are proclaiming that this deal makes a lot of sense. Google currently has such a huge lead in search that it dwarfs Microsoft and Yahoo! put together. But is there any reason to think that Microsoft and Yahoo! can accomplish together what they weren’t able to accomplish on their own?

One interesting aspect to this deal, however, are the reasons underlying Microsofts offer. Does Microsoft really feel that this offer to purchase Yahoo! will really “synergize” the company and lead to some great new products and/or services? Does it geniunely feel that a Microsoft/Yahoo! combo can give Google a run for its money? Or, is Microsoft, which is lagging severely behind Google, completely out of ideas. Is buying Yahoo! a hail-mary attempt by Microsoft to catch up with a company that it can’t compete with otherwise? Microsoft has a history of trying to catch up to where the competition IS, instead of focusing on where an particular industry is headed for in the future. I would hope that a Microsoft-Yahoo! deal, should it go through, would result in innovative and original ideas that range beyond simple re-branding.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

Microsoft Corp. offered $44.6 billion to buy Yahoo Inc., in a bold attempt to dramatically expand its online business and compete more effectively with Google Inc. in services ranging from email to Internet advertising sales.

Adding to the drama, here’s the best part of it all — Microsoft decides to bully it’s rival:

The offer was made in a letter sent Thursday by Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer to Yahoo’s board of directors. One person familiar with the matter said that Microsoft decided to “go hostile” with its bid within the last few weeks after Yahoo ignored its latest overtures.

The offer, $31 a share in cash and stock, is a 62% premium to Thursday’s closing price.

Aside from a larger market share on internet search, Yahoo may have a leg up with their YPN ad publisher program.  Additionally, Yahoo stock has been plummeting and with rumors of previous flirting between the silicon valley giants, it seems like now is a good time for Yahoo to consider such an offer.  Though, I don’t know if you can call it flirting if one party seems consistently interested and the other is generally turned off by the proposition.

Not surprising, but the Dow is reacting positively to the news. 

This is the basic problem:  Apple announced at Macworld they they’ve sold 4 million iphones while AT&T announced that they’ve only activated around 3 million iPhones.  This has caused pundits to go stir-crazy, with some predicting dire financial repercussions for Apple.  Oh the humanity!

Where are the iPhones?

That’s the 1 million dollar question.  Are they in inventory?  Have they been unlocked in the USA?  Or have they been unlocked and sold in the back alleys of Hong Kong?  Are they in King Tut’s tomb?  There are two facts we can take away from all of this hoopla.

1. There IS a significant discrepancy between Apple’s numbers and AT&T’s; and
2. this whole story is completely overblown.

For starters, Apple is still making significant margins on each iPhone sold.  An unlocked iphone, however, doesn’t provide Apple with a monthly revenue stream from AT&T.   That said, a significant number of the unlocked iphones are rumored to be overseas in countries that don’t yet sell iphones, in which case Apple is not currently missing out on any revenue that they could potentially be earning from AT&T.  If the missing iphones are affecting anyone, it’s AT&T, not Apple.

Furthermore, it speaks to the desirability of the iPhone that people are willing to pay big money for a phone that’s not even out in the market where they reside.  And not only that, but they are willing to purchase a phone with no warranty, no support, and the knowledge that their unlocked iPhone might be made unworkable by future software updates from Apple.  And on top of that, users are paying a premium for these unlocked iphones.  Someone has to be making a profit after all.

Again, many of the iPhones seem to be thriving in overseas markets where Apple has yet to strike deals with wireless providers.  If anything, iPhone sales in these countries can be seen as a temporary bonus for Apple’s bottom line.  So yes, the iPhones are missing because people want them so damn much they’re willing to pay extra for an unlocked version.  Not that bad a problem to have, all things considered.

It seems that no matter where you turn lately, you can’t escape the word Apple when it comes to technology news. AT&T is helping to continue that trend as they earlier this week revealed their Iphone business plan. While there might have been a slight lull on Iphone conversation with all the other topics going on recently, I expect we can get ready to hear about it anew as excited employees across the country prepare to retire their current business phone to be the paper-weights they’ve always felt they were.

In my office, the Blackberry has been the phone of choice and rarely does a day go by that I’m not helping one person or another with a variety of Blackberry issues. Yet in our building filled to the brim with diehard Blackberry fans and self-proclaimed Apple haters, time and time again do I get asked by my coworkers, as they pause between tracks on the newest model Ipod, “when will we get to use the IPhone?”. Despite the fact most of them live and breathe by their Blackberry and that I do not know a single one of them who uses AT&T as their service provider, their desire for the IPhone is loud; a lion roar to my ears. I can almost hear their joyful, child-like glee as their minds race with fantasies about being able to open their Excel spreadsheets on their phone.

While I’d be interested to support the technical issues of the IPhone, (simply because that means I could play with them more often) after doing so with the Blackberry this long, I do not know how keen our Higher Ups will be to fork over the funds that AT&T is asking for, especially considering the excellent deals we have in place through a variety of providers. I would imagine this outlook applies to many businesses, yet the demand for the IPhone is so high it will be impossible to ignore. High enough that AT&T can confidently charge over two times what they do for consumer packages. And they can go to bed smiling, because we’ll pay it.

Those familiar with AT&Ts consumer rates will see the leap in price right away. With their business plans, they currently offer a total of three enterprise data options (each require a minimum two-year contract):

IPhone 200: 200 SMS, unlimited domestic data, visual voicemail – $45
IPhone 1500: 1500 SMS, unlimited domestic data, visual voicemail – $55
IPhone Unlimited: Unlimited SMS, unlimited domestic data, visual voicemail – $65

While I find the jump from 200 SMS to 1500 SMS for only a 10$ increase fair enough, it’s hard to swallow the IPhone 200 plan starting at $45 when the same level consumer plan will run you around $20, though the unlimited data certainly counts for something. In addition, AT&T is currently offering a $25 monthly credit to new accounts that are activated before the end of March, so that lessens the sting quite well, letting only those who miss this deadline take the brunt of the venom.

So while I’ll continue to wait patiently for the actual device itself to lower in price, I will be sorely tempted if my bosses end up breaking under the demand and decide to take advantage of these business plans. In the meantime I’ll have to be satisfied with my metal can with the string tied to it.

More details of the IPhone and AT&T’s service plans may be found on their website: AT&T IPhone Business Plans

A funny thing happened the last time Apple released its earnings.  Looking forward to Q1 2008, Apple, which is notoriously conservative when it comes to earnings guidance, projected an aggressive EPS of $1.42 a share.  With Apple’s conference call set for tomorrow, analysts are expecting an EPS of $1.60.   And when all is said and done, look for Apple to release earnings tomorrow that will blow both of those numbers out of the water.

Though its stock price might indicate otherwise, Apple has never been better positioned to succeed, improve, and impress.  Apple’s line of Macbook laptops are selling at a record pace.  The iphone turned the telecommunications industry on its head and was able to garner an impressive share of the smartphone market in less than 8 months.  Apple stores are constantly packed with customers, its lineup of ipods has never been more diverse, and that’s just the beginning of the story.

How does this translate into higher earnings? 

1) iPods

Put simply, Apple is selling more ipods than anyone could have anticipated last October, save perhaps Apple.  For months, analysts were droning on about how the market for mp3 players was becoming saturated and that everyone who wanted an ipod most likely already had one.  What no one envisioned was just how popular Apple’s newest line of mp3 players (the ipod Touch and the updated ipod nano) would sell.  Even as I write this now on Wednesday afternoon, 5 of the top 8 items on Amazon’s bestselling electronics list are ipods.  Wall Street is expecting ipod sales of around 24 million units, but don’t be surprised to see Apple with a number close to, if not more than, 25 million units sold. 

Apple has been successful in continuously introducing new ipod models.  But more importantly, each new ipod model has something more to offer when compared against earlier models.  This is what continues to drive the phenomenal sales growth of Apple’s lineup of music players and what will undoubtedly be the reason why ipod sales will be larger than expected.

2) Macs

Looking past the mp3 player market, Apple’s refreshed line of imac desktop computers are also selling at an unprecedented rate.  In a recent note about Apple, RBC said that 25% of Best Buy representatives contacted noted that Macs were the number one selling PC at their stores.  This is an impressive number considering that Apple only accounts for 3 or so percent of the OS market share.  With that said, the bulk of Apple’s Mac revenue will be coming from its fleet of notebook computers, the macbook and macbook pro.  Just this summer, reports came out showing that 1 out of every 6 laptops purchased is a Mac and there is no reason to think that this trend was any different this past holiday season.

Apple’s Leopard (OS X.5) operating system has also been selling extremely well, and has decidedly outpaced sales of its previous operating system, Tiger (OS X.4).  Leopard was released this past October and it was impossible to predict how the release (which was delayed) would turn out.  Would there be bugs?  Would users care about its new features?  In fact, the release of Leopard was initially delayed so that Apple could devote more of its resources towards the iphone rollout in June ‘07, and there were definitely some questions as to whether or not Leopard was even polished enough to be released.  As it turns out, Leopard has been a resounding success.  Though there have been a few bumps along the way, users are by and large happy with Leopard and can expect to see a slew of  free incremental updates to the OS in the next few months.  Tellingly, a recent report noted that in the last month and a half, 81% of Apple buyers indicated that they were happy with their purchase of a Leopard loaded computer..  In comparison, around 50% of Windows XP owners were satisfied with their purchase, and only around 25% of Vista owners were pleased with theirs.

When you take all of this together, it’s clear that Apple desktop and notebook sales are surging.  Leopard is also selling extremely well, and might even be behind the explosive growth in Macs this past quarter.  That said, expect to see stronger than expected Mac sales announced tomorrow.

3) iPhone

Steve Jobs recently announced at Macworld that Apple has already sold 4 million iphones.  Wall Street was seemingly unimpressed as it was hoping for sales of 5 million.  The fact of the matter is that the 5 million magic number was never a goal of Apple’s nor even desired by Wall Street analysts.  “5 million iphones sold” was a rumor that made its way around the net with no substantive evidence to back it up.  What Apple has stated, however, is that it would like to sell 10 million iphones by the end of 2008, and before 2008 even began, Apple had almost reached 50% of its goal.

Apple is likely to see impressive iphone sales this past quarter given its recent and controversial price cut, coupled with sales overseas.  While there are reports out of Britain that the iphone is selling a little bit more lightly than expected, sales in other countries, such as France, are doing significantly better than expected.  All in all, the margins on Apple iphone’s are pretty high, and when one factors into the equation the monthly stream of revenue Apple receives from AT&T, Apple’s bottom line is looking pretty good this quarter.

Conclusion

Apple’s initial guidance was $ 1.42 a share on revenue of $9.42 billion, with Wall Street expecting an EPS of $1.60.  Given all of the above, however, look for Apple to destroy those earnings estimates with an EPS closer to $1.83 dollars a share and revenue well above $9.5 billion.  There is no doubt that Mac computers, ipods, and iphones are selling extremely well, and after tomorrow’s earnings report we’ll see that they’ve been selling even better than anyone could have anticipated. 

Industry sources are indicating that Microsoft plans to release Windows 7 (the follow up to Visa) in 2009, one year earlier than anticipated. Microsoft might be anxious to roll out a new update to its OS after the lukewarm reception had by Vista.

Microsoft, however, would be well-warned not to rush and push an unfinished product out the door. if you recall, Microsoft initially began working on what would become Vista in 2001. The project, initially codenamed “Longhorn”, was hampered by continuous delays and bugs, and when it was finally released, the public was less than thrilled. PC World even ranked it as the biggest tech disappointment of 2007. Tech analysts, and even Steve Ballmer himself, point out that Microsoft, in developing Vista, was trying to do too much, and as a result, the project was plagued with numerous delays and glitches.

Microsoft has hopefully learned its lesson and will now attempt to deliver incremental, yet value laden, OS updates that will actually get users excited.

I don’t ask that sarcastically, but rather as a matter of curiosity. I just can’t seem to figure out who this computer is being marketed for. Let’s take a look at the specs: The base model is 1.8 ghz with 2mb ram , an 80gb solid-sate drive, and a 13.3 inch screen. It comes with an iSight camera, as do all Macbooks, a full-size and backlit keyboard, and a multi-touch gesture supported trackpad. All cool stuff. But what’s noteworthy about the MacBook Air isn’t what it has, but what its missing.

The MacBook Air is missing an optical drive, though an external is available for purchase from Apple. It’s also missing an ethernet port and a firewire port, which is extremely important if you’re hoping to import any video onto your mac. Also noticably absent is a user replaceable battery. As opposed to other electronic devices, average consumers actually make use of replaceable batteries for their laptops. The most important thing it’s missing, however, is a cheap price tag. For you see, this lightweight baby is gonna set you back at least $1800 bucks — and that’s before you add on an external optical drive or more HD space. This begs the question: Who would actually buy this machine?

For nearly $700 less, users can purchase a regular MacBook with much more impressive specs. And though not as thin or light as the MacBook Air, the regular MacBook is no slouch itself. The most recent iteration of the MacBook weighs a measly 5 pounds, only 2 more than the MacBook Air.

Too weak for Pros, and too expensive for everyone else?

The MacBook Air is clearly not versatile or powerful enough to be the computer of choice for power users, and its hefty price tag is sure to put off users looking for a primary computer. I guess the computer could appeal to heavy travellers who might want the thinnest computer available, but with the regular MacBook being significantly cheaper and only mildly heavier and larger, is the MacBook Air worth the extra price? I simply fail to see what void the MacBook Air is filling and maybe that’s where the answer lies. The MacBook Air seems best used as a secondary computer, a road companion of sorts.  But given it’s extremely thin build, is it durable enough to be the computer of choice for heavy travellers?  In the end, perhaps it will be a luxury product that will sell surprisingly well on account of its shockingly small form factor. And for all I know, seeing and using a MacBook Air in person might be so impressive that it might convince people to lay out the extra cash right there on the spot.

Some are already calling the MacBook Air a disappointment, and I myself have my doubts as to how it will fare in the marketplace. But you can’t deny that Apple is once again pushing the limits of what engineering can do and that’s precisely why they’ve succeeded in the past. And because the bosses over here at Itola weren’t kind enough to cough up the cash so that I could hit up Macworld, I’ll have to wait two weeks before I can get my hands on one and give it a full review.

Nevertheless, many media journalists believed adult content was going to help determine the winner of the now defunct battle between Blu-ray and HD-DVD. As will be explained below, porn on Blu-ray is not the real issue, but if anything, these stories conjure up memories of the Sony Betamax and JVC VHS wars of the late 70’s and early 80’s. Let’s take a look back.

Betamax vs. VHS and Porn: A trip down memory lane

Sony’s Betamax was released in 1975, one year before JVC introduced its well-known VHS player.

After a battle that lasted for almost 10 years, VHS emerged victorious despite the fact that Sony’s Betamax was largely recognized as the technologically superior player. The reasons behind VHS’s victory cannot be traced back to one deciding factor, but one egregious difference between the two formats was that Betamax players could, at first, only play tapes that lasted up to an hour in length, clearly not long enough for a standard Hollywood movie.

Another popular theory, though impossible to substantiate, is that Sony’s refusal to allow adult content on its Betamax player allowed VHS to pull away and become the de-facto home video standard for nearly two decades.

Does porn on blu-ray even mean anything?

Sony’s stance regarding porn on Blu-ray is completely irrelevant for a few reasons. For one, Blu-Ray already seems well positioned to overtake HD-DVD as the next HD standard, porn or not. But more importantly, sales of adult-oriented DVD’s are slowing down significantly as consumers are flocking to the Internet to get their adult content for free.

As a funny aside and perhaps a testament to the glorious nature of 1080p!, many porn stars are opposed to Blu-Ray, and HD in general, because it reveals blemishes on their bodies that would otherwise not be noticeable. But I suppose that porn in HD would allow for some interesting titles. Move over “Debbie does Dallas” and say hello to “Patti does Pittsburgh as she goes to a Pharmacy to get Pro-active for her Pimples” and “Vainy Vixens 4″.

With Macw

According to the experts, there’s a clear-cut winner in the prolonged and drawn out battle between Blu-ray and HD-DVD.

Earlier this week, Warner Brothers dealt what many consider to be the death knell to HD-DVD by announcing that beginning in May ‘08, it would release new movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format. Interestingly enough, the impetus for Warner Brothers decision was that its customers overwhelmingly prefer Blu-ray over HD-DVD. This leaves Paramount and Universal as the last 2 major studios standing behind HD-DVD, although rumors are circulating that they will both abandon ship once their contracts to support HD-DVD expire. Universal, however, issued a statement today denying that it would opt out of its contract and would continue to support HD-DVD. Tellingly, Microsoft, which has long opposed a Blu-ray supported Xbox 360, recently changed its tune and said that it would consider Blu-ray support for the Xbox 360 if there’s enough consumer demand.

With that said, a larger question to ponder is how consumers are going to get their HD content in the future. Assuming that Blu-ray has in fact won its battle with HD-DVD, consumers will rush to hook up their HDTV’s to the aggressively priced Blu-ray players. As someone who has seen a Blu-ray player hooked up to a full screen 1080p Sony Bravia, I can testify under oath that it will blow you away.

Will Blu-ray dominate the living room?

So will Blu-ray soon become the key component in everyones living room? Not exactly. This isn’t the year 2000 and hooking up an external device to your TV is not the only way to access digital content. The iTunes music store allows you to download movies and stream them to your Television set with an AppleTV set top device. Also, Netflix also allows its users to stream movies onto their computer. Moreover, Netflix recently partnered up with LG Electronics to produce a set top box that will stream Netflix movies from a users computer to their TV. In essence, it’s another version of Apple TV. The wrinkle is that iTunes and Netflix do not yet have HD content available for download, so if optimal picture quality is what reigns supreme, then Sony can sit back and smile as the millions roll in. But don’t expect Apple and other competitors to just sit back quietly.

If anyone has perused the iTunes store for movies, it’s clear that Apple will have to step it up BIG TIME if they want to be a player in digital movie content. Again, the movies are not HD, and their selection of movies is lackluster at best. But with MacWorld a week away, there are already rumors that Apple is going to announce new partnerships with a variety of movie studios that will beef up its current selection of paltry movies.

The War Over Digital Media Is Just Getting Started

So while Blu-ray seems to have won its battle vs the Microsoft/Toshiba supported HD-DVD standard, the war for digital multimedia is just beginning. If streaming HD Content from a computer to an HDTV set becomes common, I imagine people would be less inclined to purchase a Blu-ray player. When you add cable companies into the mix, it becomes a full-fledged battle royale. There is a lot of money to be made with HD movies and cable companies are in a unique position to enter the fray. Comcast, for example, is planning to significantly increase the number of movies it offers to customers via its on-demand service. It’s only a matter of time before people will have the option to choose from watching HD movies on their Blu-ray player, as a video stream via iTunes or Netflix, or through their cable provider. The consumer is clearly the winner in all of this.

If people are particular about their 1080p, however, then Blu-ray will have an early advantage. You see, if iTunes or Netflix comes out with HD content sometime soon, it will be in 720p. 720p is still HD, but 1080p is what Blu-ray is all about! The rub is that the difference between 720p and 1080p is negligible on TV sets smaller than 40 inches. Confusing? Yes. Which is why Warner Brothers taking sides with Blu-Ray is so important. Up until now, the battle between HD-DVD and Blu-ray was a bottle neck that prevented mainstream adaptation of High Def consumer electronics. With the brunt of that battle almost behind us, we can now focus on the new battles that are starting to take shape between some of the big name players in the HD Arena.

Cookie Monster Song and Dance — ACDC Cover – “T.N.T”

Click here to view the embedded video.

The voice of Cookie Monster is kinda goofy, but the concept is hilarious.

Good stuff!

Thanks for the e-mails and thank you for those of you that decided to support this site by subscribing to the news feed. Expect a flurry of posts this week, it’ll be a large mix of summaries, exclusives, links and videos related to technology and business. I’m a lawyer, so I frequently hit on legal topics and policy issues as well.

If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to the RSS News Feed, it’s a new exciting tech news column and costs you nothing!

Dec 23, 2007 A Planetary Alignment is in progress!?

Yes, that’s right.. I am responsible for this great cosmic moment!

Though Youtube is clearly the most well-known of the bunch, there are a number of other worthy, and perhaps better, video sharing sites out there. One might assume that all video sharing sites are more or less the same to the extent that they all do the same thing, but there are a number of important differences between them. A few key areas of divergence include video quality, ease of use, revenue sharing, and the maximum file size that you’re allowed to upload.

I’ve used a few of the sites on the list myself and have the following to share: If your main goal is to show your video to as big an audience as possible, then Youtube is clearly the horse to ride on. In terms of quality, however, I’m a big fan of Vimeo. Their navigation is extremely intuitive and they have impressive video and audio quality. Also, they recently began supporting HD content.

Inevitably, the video quality among these video sharing sites will improve to the point where it will be hard to differentiate one from the next, and factors such as site design, social networking, and editing capabilities will be the features that will make the next generation of video sharing sites stand out among the pack.

For the time being, take a look at the list linked above, try some sites out, and upload some interesting videos. Stay tuned, I’ll have add a top ten list with a write up of my own over the next couple of days.

But Honda recently unveiled the newest version of its ASIMO robot and it really is incredible. It can wave hello, dance –better than me might I add)– run, climb up and down stairs, and can even serve people food. Check it out and be wowed!

ASIMO robot

Origami fans—or just people who like money and have a lot of it lying about—might find Enrique Pardo’s iPhone accessory interesting. The Swiss photographer and graphic designer folded a $100 bill in all sorts of clever ways and turned it into a stand for either jesusPhone or iPod Touch. How-to video is after the jump, plus a quick Q&A session with Enrique.

Gizmodo: Hey Enrique, how did the idea come about?
Enrique Pardo: I made the stand because I had thrown away the little plastic stand that came with my iPod touch. I was taking the train to Paris and spent 3 hours thinking of how I could make my iPod stand to watch a movie.”

Brilliant. Read the article and commentary: “The $100 iPhone/iPod Touch Stand Made from a Piece of Paper“

Nintendo spokesman says: “We have been running the campaign all year round, but we want to take a responsible stance this Christmas and not fuel demand.”

Why not just make enough damn Wii’s to cover the demand? Is this a case of using demand to create,… more demand? Whatever the reason for this conservative approach to production, I’m sure the brains at the big N know what they’re doing.

Not everyone likes to mess around with hardware and dive right in to having fun with their toys, but Softpedia has a manual that helps make this process easy. They’ve provided very detailed information and numerous screen shots for the gaming and Ubuntu enthusiasts.

Getting started:

1. An USB flash drive or a Memory Card (PS3 can read only SD/miniSD Memory Card, Memory Stick PRO (Duo) and CompactFlash). Or, as an alternative, you can use a portable hard disk with FAT32 filesystem on it.

2. An USB keyboard and mouse attached to your PS3.

3. Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) PS3 ISO image, which you can always download from Softpedia. You will need to burn this ISO image on a blank CD with your favorite CD/DVD burning tool.

Read the article: “Ubuntu 7.10 on PS3 – Installation“

If I didn’t know any better, I’d think the Pirate Bay owners are trying to have the house brought down on them.

the Pirate Bay opens up shop for Music Pirates, Arr!

I’m not a big fan of the RIAA and other net police groups, but it seems that protecting intellectual property isn’t an entirely terrible thing. Recently, artist ‘50 cent’ came out and told the industry to adapt because technology has changed the playing field. I’m surprised that an artist has to come out and say that, especially one who stands to lose profits over the long haul. It’s true though, people aren’t going to stop downloading songs because some schmuck wins the RIAA lottery and has to pay $500 or $10000 or even $300k.

You have to think about the psychology of what is happening with pirating music. First, you’re telling people what they can and can’t do without investing the funds in protecting your intellectual property through unbreakable mechanisms. Second, you’re bullying people and when you do that, they are bound to fight back. Third, the recording industry is rightly seen as motivated by greed rather than ‘fairness’. The authors probably don’t get a cent of the money recovered through mass litigation that the RIAA engages in.

As long as greed motivates the industry rather than protecting their artists and finding common ground, the corporate monsters are going to lose.

I’ve seen a number of World of Warcraft commercials over the last year. It’s not surprising that a game has that much pull on commerce, but I can’t believe that this advertisement went viral. I have an idiot friend in NY that refused to talk to me until I watched the video… all he would do is say, “I am the lawgiver!”

God, nerds are dumb sometimes!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

NBC’s contract with Apple has expired and all NBC-owned shows are no longer available for purchase on the iTunes store. Fans might be saddened to learn that shows from other channels such as the USA Network and the Sci-Fi network will also be part of the exodus. The two companies were apparently unable to come to a consensus regarding pricing and subsequently engaged in a public battle of contradicting accusations.

Apple maintains that NBC wanted to raise the price of TV shows to 4.99 while NBC asserts that they simply wanted Apple to experiment with a tiered pricing system for only one show as an experiment. Some also speculate that NBC wanted a cut of iPod sales, something that Apple, or any rational company for that matter, would never agree to (sorry Microsoft). In short, neither side caved and this publicity-laden game of chicken ended in a draw for the two companies, leaving us consumers as losers.

Several interesting tidbits that are noteworthy:

First there is Jeff Zucker’s (Preseidnt and CEO of NBC Universal) absurd rationalization for his company’s hardlined stance against Apple. Zucker accused Apple of using its content to further promote the sale of its iPod players. Umm, last time I checked, isn’t that what companies do to sell TVs, DVD players, and an assortment of other appliances? Then, in so many words, he accused Apple of getting rich off of other people’s creative content and screwing the studios in the process. Oh lord, where do I even begin? For starters, the overwhelming majority of iPods are filled with music, not videos. And incidentally, the current writers strike gives you a better idea as to who’s screwing who in Hollywood.

Second, NBC saw how Apple shook up the music industry with iTunes and is paranoid about losing power, and more importantly, the ability to stranglehold partners for more money. Isn’t it ironic that NBC has such a short and selective memory? If you recall, when the NBC show “The Office” first premiered in 2005 it received lackluster ratings. Any viewer of the first season can attest to the genius comedy “The Office” bestowed upon its fans, but sadly, no one was watching. Once “The Office” became available on the iTunes Store, however, ratings didn’t mysteriously creep up, they skyrocketed! Putting “The Office” on the iTunes store not only made “The Office” more accessible to those who were previously unable to watch, but also created a strong word-of-mouth buzz about the show. In a short amount of time, “The Office” was transformed into a show what was on the brink of cancellation into a national hit. Now in it’s fourth season, the advertising revenue NBC has received from the show is probably so exorbitant that it makes you wonder just how greedy these studio execs really are.

Third, there are strong rumors that NBC wanted a cut of iPod sales which only served to complicate the negotiations. Maybe NBC should also get a cut of TV and radio sales. Can you imagine Samsung giving NBC $ for each TV set it sells? Microsoft agreed to give Universal a cut of every Zune it sells simply because it showed up late to the party and had no leverage during negotiations. In effect, NBC is trying to make the “Microsoft exception” the rule and Apple, rightly so, is not playing along — I guess greed knows no bounds.

The story doesn’t end there!

NBC, along with a few other TV partners, have decided to go it alone and offer consumers online videos via their new website, Hulu.com. The website is still in Beta and is expected to be fully functional sometime soon (no date has yet been set). The videos will all be ad-supported and as of now, they only work if you’re running “Internet Explorer, the NBC Direct Player (Windows Only), and the latest .Net framework.” Huh? Also, the video will only play on the computer used for the download and can not be transferred to any type of media playback device.

Will NBC’s attempt to wrestle back control from Apple succeed?

You would think that the bigwigs at the studios would be smart enough to create a service that would run on any browser (Firefox anyone?), on any OS (Mac anyone?) and not require the latest .Net framework (what the hell is that anyways?). The fight for online dominance in the realm of video is underway and Round 1 is about to begin.

GigaOm, Read/WriteWeb, VentureBeat and TechCrunch are pleased to announce that nominations for the inaugural 2007 Crunchies Awards are now open.

We created twenty award categories to recognize the year’s most innovative technical, creative and business accomplishments of key companies, products and people. We hope you’ll agree that the award categories are good reasons for celebration and fit for a proper ceremony.

We invite you to submit your favorite companies and products for consideration. Read the the official rules. Nominations will be open through midnight pst Wednesday, December 12. Finalist voting will open Thursday, December 13 and run for approximately one month before the awards ceremony on Friday, January 18 in San Francisco.

Make sure you grab a badge to put on your site to encourage readers to nominate you.

I’ll take a stab at the issue of innovation and digital technology, because whether or not we believe an idea is destined for failure, it’ll be the basis for evolution of future products based on the reader concept. The latest Amazon toy is interesting to me for a number of reasons which I’ll explain below. Here’s a brief excerpt of an article from the NY Times, “E-book reader just may catch on.”

Printed books are dirt cheap, never run out of power and survive drops, spills and being run over. And their file format will still be readable 200 years from now.

So e-book readers keep on coming and keep on flopping: the Rocket eBook Reader. Gemstar. Everybook. SoftBook. Librius Millennium Reader. The Sony Reader is in stores even now, priced at $350 and making literally dozens of sales. Then on Monday, Amazon introduced its own e-book reader, called the Kindle. It arrives at $400 — reading material sold separately.

Are they completely nuts? The Kindle is a thin, 10-ounce slab of white plastic, tucked into a leatherette cover. It’s not, ahem, gorgeous; it’s all white plastic, sharp angles and visible seams, with all the design panache of a Commodore 64.

One look at the gadget, and you have to gag if you’re a fan of aesthetics and design. It’s an utterly reprehensible piece of hardware, it’s like Amazon is intentionally leaving itself room for Kindle 2.0 and beyond. Seriously, as far as design goes, any clown can come up with a prettier looking device that caters to it’s core functionality. The enthusiast in you might be inclined to disagree on this issue, for one simple reason. Function triumphs between a battle of design and function in technology. Fine, I’ll grant that argument, but please don’t tell me that the brains at Amazon couldn’t come up with a prettier looking device?

Consider the apple iToys for reference. They aren’t overwhelming with functionality, but they serve their purpose and the designs are simple, sleek and have cute and innovative functionality that consumers enjoy. The “touch” navigation and excellent compatibility with all sorts of devices for data transfer as well as simplicity for max compatibility with gurus and geezers alike. Now take Amazon’s Kindle (e-reader) It basically wraps an old idea into a new “design”.

Brilliant product for Amazon to focus on due to the popularity of e-books and blogs, but the design leaves much to be desired. I’ll take a closer look at the product in the future and we’ll see what kind of innovative ideas they have up their sleeves. For now, the gadget will be gobbled up by tech enthusiasts (that’s you) and it’ll give Amazon stockholders something to smile about over the next few quarters. The big question is, what happens if it indeed becomes a success? Could Amazon make a successful jump into hardware and software development, after all the Internet is the wave of the future!

Look, the kindle product is a nice hint of things to come. We’ll probably not see great success in the marketing of such products for at least five or maybe ten years, once prices drop and the innovation and competition begins. Whether Amazon will be the company that brings tablet and e-book readers to the forefront of technology is entirely speculative so I won’t waste your time with detailed commentary on that front. That said, if I had to bet on someone making a tablet concept or e-reader a success, my pick would be Apple’s future line of tablets or ipod variants. Additionally. Lenovo’s Tablet PC evolution may yield a product that is everything Amazon would like it’s Kindle to be and more.

Hey, you don’t have to take my word for it. This guy played with the Kindle for 1 week and as I predicted, the model leaves much to be desired and it wasn’t just about the ergonomics and aesthetics.

the iPhone’s Saturday Night Live debut

Bill Nye said: “the Moon doesn’t emit light, it reflects the light of the Sun!”

Bill Nye, the harmless children’s edu-tainer known as “the Science Guy,” managed to offend a select group of adults in Waco, Texas at a presentation, when he suggested that the moon does not emit light, but instead reflects the light of the sun.

Bill Nye quoted bible passage Genesis 1:16, that sparked the controversy

”God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and
the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.”

Christians in the audience scoffed. They were offended, how could Bill Nye know something that authors of the bible did not? A woman made a scene and grabbed hold of her children while screaming “We believe in God!” They abruptly left the demonstration.

Bill Nye is a harmless guy, what was that about?

Bill Nye wasn’t trying to preach to Christians on their turf! He wasn’t attempting to convert Christians into atheists, he wanted to teach science the best way he knew how. His style is to teach people in a way that they can relate. In the ‘bible belt’, it seems perfectly logical to use concepts that the audience is familiar with. Of course, the bible is no laughing matter for some, and any semblance of ‘questioning’ God or religion is unacceptable.

In my view, it’s a wonderful thing that Mr. Nye went the extra mile to bring religion into the discussion. It is a great way to help educate children! Yet for some Christian fundamentalists, the end product of this kind of teaching results in ignorance and hostility towards ‘the truth’.

The ‘outraged’ in this case, was entirely a product of preconceived notions about science and those willing to promote it. It could be that the woman who stormed out of the audience, suffered from mental illness. Bipolar types are prone to religiosity, so who knows. If it is something other than an illness, then I’d dare say it’s a problem that is hurting society and slowing human advancement.

For some Americans, Christianity is the only thing that matters in life. For others, religion has become insufferable and they would rather see it vanish from existence than deal with consequences of religion on politics and society.

Many Christians worry that the end of the world is near, citing the happenings in the middle east, corruption of today’s youths’ minds and issues with sexuality and disease. Christianity and other religions have withstood the test of time during humanity’s primitive era, but how will they fare against time as technology is introduced into the equation? The fact is, religion will struggle because of the more extravagant claims that leaders of faith have made in public.

As we stumble through these early stages of technological evolution in a world where science and religion are fighting over “truth”, something has to give. Continued studies in archeology, evolution, space travel and genetics will force humanity to tackle new questions that neither science to date OR religious texts have answers to.

In my view, Christian leaders have a major crossroads quickly approaching. The question they’ll have to tackle is whether they will embrace or deny science as we tackle the 21st century. Between religion and science, I have a hard time believing that the latter would survive its current course. Scientific theories that contradict the bible or religion in general tend to have evidence to support the theories or accepted fact.

People of faith believe that certain principles and ‘facts’ are true because the religious texts, like the Bible say so and ‘the word’ can not be questioned. The problem of course, is when you try to apply these religious principles to non-believers. This leads atheists and scientists to argue that Christians aren’t interested in ‘logic’ and they’ve allowed themselves to be taken by propaganda. The truth lies somewhere in the middle, but it’s not going to end well for Christians if they continue with their traditional mindset.

Institutionalization is often the last step before humanity is lost. Like alcoholism, drug addiction, and sexual deviance, religiosity can be harmful to individuals and society. Believe it or not, I identify with Christianity. In fact, I call myself Christian, but I’m more like the black sheep in the flock, and I hope more people will begin to use their brains rather than allow institutions to furnish ‘truth’ that is often fabricated or tainted by ‘man’. (e.g. the creationist museums with cavemen on dinosaurs?)

As we delve deeper into the information and technology age, religion is going to have to evolve too or else it won’t have a place in society, and that would be a shame. For all of the harm that religion does to society in the form of intolerance, brain washing, and promoting war, it is also is a great source of love, kindness, and a wonderful natural anti-depressant. Hope is the essence of mankind, without religion there would be no such thing as hope, and for many that would make life completely meaningless.