thomas fitzgerald.net

Oh my God, this is hilarious. Someone took the classic 1999 iMac Commercial with Jeff Goldblum and slowed it down 30%. The result: Drunk Jeff. Classic.

[Via MacUser, via Macenstein]

This is a very interesting article from Wired about how Warner Music has pretty much accepted that the days of paying for music are pretty much over. It is interesting because the recording industry has not gotten anywhere with it’s attempts to sue themselves to profit. Their latest venture, to try and get internet service providers to play cops on their own customers seemed to be gaining a bit of traction in some European countries but I doubt it would ever take hold because it would be technically unfeasible and require breaching EU privacy laws.

Some may balk at the idea of having to pay anything but it’s a pretty good deal overall. $5 a month may seem excessive, but if that gave you a blanket right to download whatever music you wanted from whatever source you wanted then why not? Of course it would require everyone to get on board which could take years, but still, it’s better than suing grand parents and college kids.

Incredible photo by the cast of BSG

From: PS3 Attitude

Phil Harrison is standing down as President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios. Kaz Hirai (President of SCEI) will assume control of SCEWW after Phil moves on, which is as soon as 29th February.

This came as a bit of a shock I must say. Phil has been pretty much the face of the PS3, certainly from the games aspect since it came out. Oh well, we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

[Read PS3 Attitude: Phil Harrison quits Sony - returning to game industry soon ¦ PlayStation 3 news with bite]

From Macworld:

Microsoft will stop making external HD DVD drives for its Xbox 360 game console, but won’t say whether it will offer a Blu-ray disc drive instead. The company will continue to provide warranty and product support for existing HD DVD players, it said.

Not so much the final nail in the coffin but the last shovel of dirt on the grave

[Read Microsoft kills Xbox 360 HD DVD drive - Digital Lifestyle - Macworld UK]

I only just heard the song. All I can say is …. Kill me…kill me now.

From an Amazon.com official press release:

Amazon.com to Support Blu-ray as the Digital Format of Choice for Customers SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In an effort to help demystify high-definition entertainment for consumers, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced its support for Blu-ray as the digital format of choice for customers. As part of this announcement, Amazon.com will more prominently promote Blu-ray hardware and software products on its website.

“The high-definition landscape is rapidly changing, and consumers are looking for guidance on how to make the best high-definition buying decisions,” said Peter Faricy, vice president of movies and music at Amazon.com. “Our customers have clearly voiced their support for the Blu-ray format. Blu-ray titles have increased from just over half of our high-definition sales to over three-quarters of our high-definition sales since early January. In order to best serve our customers, Amazon is recommending Blu-ray as the preferred digital format and will continue to carry the ‘Earth’s Largest Selection’ of Blu-ray products.”

Amazon.com currently carries a wide array of Blu-ray hardware and software products including players, Blu-ray discs, and the Sony PlayStation 3. For the hundreds of thousands of HD DVD owners who may still wish to purchase products for that format, Amazon will continue to carry a wide assortment of HD DVD products, including the broadest selection of HD DVD movie titles.

[Read Amazon.com to Support Blu-ray as the Digital Format of Choice for Customers]

From a BBC News Blog…

On Microsoft’s own stand at the show one of the demo consoles has a rather familiar problem - the red ring of death. There’s no way of knowing if this particular console was manufactured before or after Microsoft identified the problems with the machines.

They even managed to capture the offending machine on Video. Like the report says, the fact that Microsoft has said these problems are behind it and one of its own demo machines is showing it is pretty embarrassing.
[Read BBC NEWS | dot.life | A blog about technology from BBC News | Red ring of death returns]

Now that Toshiba has officially withdrawn from the HD format race by ceasing production of HD-DVD I wonder how long before some kind of announcement is made by Paramount and Universal concerning their future plans, and if they intend to support Blu-Ray. I know it would seem obvious that they would, but given Paramount’s recent embracing of Microsoft’s HD Xbox market place I have to wonder. Im sure they will support Blu-Ray though, they would be crazy not to, but then everyone thought they were crazy to only support HD-DVD in the first place.

From High-Def Digest:

Following several days of rumors, Toshiba has confirmed that it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders, effectively ending the high-def format war. In a just-issued press release, the company said that it reached the decision following “recent major changes in the market.” Toshiba emphasized that it will continue to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.

[Read Toshiba Officially Drops HD DVD | High-Def Digest]

From Wired:

Toshiba put HD-DVD out of its misery today. Reuters confirmed this afternoon that it will cease manufacturing HD-DVD equipment, following earlier reports from Japan’s NHK public broadcasting network. This leaves Blu-Ray as the presumptive victor in the irrelevant optical disk format war. It now must face up to the real competition: the continuing success of DVD and the growing popularity of downloads, both on the internet and on-demand cable TV.

[Read HD-DVD Death Made Official. Downloads To Kill Blu-Ray Next. | Gadget Lab from Wired.com]

Funny cartoon depicting how grandma sees the remote. Classic.

From High-Def Digest:

The Hollywood Reporter is citing “reliable industry sources” as saying that Toshiba is on the verge of officially dropping its HD DVD format. Though Toshiba denies that any such decision has been made, the just-published article in The Reporter points to “substantial” losses from each HD DVD player sold and a series of high-profile defections as key motivators for the company, with one unnamed source close to the HD DVD camp telling the Reporter that “an announcement is coming soon… it could be a matter of weeks.”

[Read Report: Toshiba to Drop HD DVD | High-Def Digest]

I hope this is true because we really need this stupid format war to end already. That, and I really really want Transformers on blu-ray

Interesting article from TorrentFreak

Reports show that 50% of all people using BitTorrent at any given point in time do so to download TV-series, quite an impressive number. In total, over a billion TV-shows are downloaded every year, and this number continues to rise.

[Read 50% Of All BitTorrent Downloads are TV-Shows]