Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2007 > March
March 2007
Blu-ray winning? Seriously, this time
Although I was just being goofy in my last blog entry, I do see evidence that the format war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD may already be drawing to an end, just months after a clear winner seemed impossible to project.
To clear things up, Blu-ray and HD-DVD are rival next-generation DVD formats that can deliver high definition picture and sound and hold much more data than a standard DVD. As such, the movies on these next-gen discs can’t be played in regular DVD players. You either have to buy a new Blu-ray or HD-DVD player, buy an expensive combo player that can play both formats or invest in pricey hybrid discs that, in the HD-DVD format at least, offer both the standard DVD version of a movie as well as HD-DVD.
The Xbox 360 has an add-on HD-DVD drive that costs $200 and all PlayStation 3 consoles have Blu-ray DVD capabilities. HD-DVD drives can’t play Blu-ray discs. Blu-ray drives and the PS3 can’t play HD-DVD.
Sales so far seem to indicated that Blu-ray has taken the lead. Exclusive movies like “Casino Royale” and the news that Disney will be releasing its films on Blu-ray and not HD-DVD haven’t hurt. And, in my opinion, Microsoft put a nail in HD-DVD’s coffin by not including an HD-DVD drive in its just-announced Xbox 360 Elite system. Whether or not there would have been technical complications inherent in making an HD-DVD the primary drive in the system, it screams a vote of “No confidence” to me. Pity because HD-DVD seemed to have just as much potential as a format as Blu-ray.
Which means that all of a sudden, the $500-$600 versions of the PS3 seems like a bargain for anyone who wants to get into Blu-ray video. I can report that watching “Casino Royale” on Blu-ray recently was a fantastic experience. The picture was far superior to a regular DVD, the sound was dynamic and the movie itself pretty great.
Unfortunately, a movie I’ve been dying to see, “Children of Men” is only available on DVD and HD-DVD, not Blu-ray. And I don’t have an HD-DVD player. Oh well. I’m sure the DVD version will look just fine.
Permalink | | Categories: Movies & DVDs
God smiles on Blu-ray DVD format
As if the Blu-ray camp needed any more good news, we have this stunning announcement from Buena Vista Home Video:
“G.I. JANE” — Demi Moore gives “the performance of her career” (NBC-TV, New York) in director/producer Ridley Scott’s (“Gladiator”) riveting saga of uncompromising courage. Presented for the first time on Blu-ray Disc, G.I. JANE’s tale of grit and determination is more triumphant than ever in this astonishing format. Moore stars as trailblazer Lieutenant O’Neil, the first woman to earn a place in the elite Navy SEALs. “G.I. JANE’s” Blu-ray Disc bonus features include a movie showcase giving you instant access to the film’s most cinematic moments that highlight the ultimate in high definition picture and sound! Experience the brutal rigors of training camp - and O’Neil’s endless battles with top military brass and her male Navy SEAL teammates - in hard-hitting, in-your-face 1080p. Feel the explosive action of combat with 5.1 48 kHz, 16-bit uncompressed audio. You’ll stand up and cheer for G.I. JANE, thanks to Blu-ray High Definition!
That caps it, folks. The format war is over. With this announcement, Blu-ray is the clear winner. Mark your calendars: April 3 is the day Blu-ray gets “G.I. Jane.” And victory. Blu-ray FTW!
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Movies & DVDs
Death threats lead Sierra and Scoble to take a blogging break
Two of South by Southwest Interactive 2007’s biggest blogging names are taking a break from blogging because of death threats.
Kathy Sierra, who delivered a keynote at the festival, detailed the threats against her and, sadly, anyone who spends lots of time online may not be surprised by the level of ugliness in some of the posts. (Warning: pretty harsh content, though the remarks by Sierra about the situation are worth your time.)
Robert Scoble, another blogging luminary, is taking a one-week break from his blog in solidarity and offers his own thoughts on the situation.
All in all, a pretty bad day in the Blogosphere.
Permalink | | Categories: Internet
A shrug or salute for YouTube awards?
We’re not sure whether to shrug our shoulders and move on or give serious note to the fact that YouTube has awarded some of its best videos with the “YouTube Video Awards.”
While the pool of nominees was fairly deep (10 nominees per category), limiting the awards to seven in a community of millions of videos seemed a bit too exclusive. Why such obvious categories such as, “Best Commentary” and “Best Series?” For a site that offers such a stunning variety of diverse content, the final choices of the awards seemed both safe (blame that on the voters) and too obvious (blame that on the categories chosen).
Unless YouTube suddenly goes the way of Friendster, you can expect the awards to expand and maybe get more interesting next year. But a good chunk of these video winners are ones that regular YouTube viewers already are well familiar with. Call it a belated big pat on the back.
From Jake Coyle at The Associated Press:
The video series ‘‘Ask a Ninja’’ and OK Go’s treadmill-choreographed music video are among the winners in the first YouTube Video Awards. The video-sharing site announced the seven winners from its inaugural awards on Monday, a week after the nominees were put forth for voting. Each category included 10 nominated videos, which users could rank in order of their liking. ‘‘These individuals put the first stitches in the fabric of the YouTube community,’’ said Jamie Byrne, head of product marketing for YouTube. ‘‘Instead of seeing a way to share videos, they saw an opportunity for worldwide visibility and through their success have changed the landscape of how a ‘star’ is defined.’’
List of winners:
Most Creative — Here It Goes Again, OKGo
Best Comedy — Smosh Short 2: Stranded, Smosh
Best Commentary — Hotness Prevails, thewinekone
Best Series — Ask A Ninja, digitalfilmmaker
Best Music Video — Say It’s Possible, TerraNaomi
Most Inspirational — Free Hugs Campaign, PeaceOnEarth123
Most Adorable — Kiwi!, Madyeti47
The winners and nominees are compiled in a gallery at http://www.youtube.com/YTAwards. YouTube says it will later unveil what a YouTube Video Award will look like.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Internet
Why I’m pooh-poohing Apple TV
Apple doesn’t send us review units of their products typically, and I’m not inclined to spend $300 on an Apple TV to try out, mostly because I already know I don’t want or need it.
Though reviews of Apple’s new living room product have been mostly positive, I think many people will buy it for the Apple name alone without stopping to think whether it’s a device they’ll get much use out of.
First things first: It’s not a PVR. Despite having a hard drive, it doesn’t record shows the way a TiVo does. For Apple TV, you’re stuck with whatever’s in your iTunes library. You’ll still be paying to download shows and movies from iTunes and despite Apple TV’s high-definition HDMI port and its ability to output 720p resolutions, you can’t download TV or movies from iTunes in high-def. Yet.
The device streams wirelessly, but not everybody has a Wireless-G or Wireless N-draft router to feed the little slim box. While Apple’s own Airport Extreme router is $180 worth of goodness, according to reviews, older wireless routers or sub-par “G” routers might not be able to stream video smoothly. Those who want a great Apple TV experience might want to consider upgrading their home network.
Without hacking, Apple TV doesn’t play popular video formats such as DivX, WMV, AVI, etc. There are programs you can use to convert videos to Apple-friendly formats, but the process is cumbersome and, even on a fast computer, anything but instantaneous.
What I told Michael Barnes last week when he asked me about it: “I think Apple TV is a solution to a problem that maybe 5 percent or less of TV viewers have — people who A) have HDTVs (it doesn’t work well on older standard TV sets), B) have lots of TV content on their computer from iTunes, C) haven’t already figured out a way to get that content to their TV. The fact that iTunes itself doesn’t sell HD content and the thing only works on HDTVs tells you that this is a first-gen product that probably is amazingly designed with about 25 percent of its utility out of the box right now (like, say, the first-generation iPod). Whether that 5 percent translates into actual big sales (I think $300 is steep for what it does) might be trumped by people just thinking it’s a cool new Apple product they want.”
That said, I can’t forget that the best product in the marketplace doesn’t always win. Apple might take the lead in networked set-top devices simply by integrating well with iTunes, by offering a very attractive box that works reliably and by rolling out new features such as the ability to record TV or deliver high-def content.
To be honest, I was a little surprised by the hoopla last week at the product’s launch, since this is one of the few Apple offerings that makes me just shrug. It shows how far Apple comes that even their least revolutionary new products can still elicit passion and desire from those who closely watch the company’s every move.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Gadgets, Internet, Movies & DVDs, TV
It’s all about reader-submitted Miis!
Here’s the first batch of Nintendo Mii characters sent in by readers. Check out our Austin Miis story and photo gallery for more information on how to submit yours.
Permalink | | Categories: Videogames
The Mii shall inherit this blog
I’ve gotten a lot of requests from readers on the “Post my Nintendo Mii!” front. \Unfortunately, I’m traveling today, but when I get back into town tomorrow, I’ll be posting a batch in the evening and, if necessary, on Friday.
Most awesome response I’ve gotten so far: “Hello my name is Derek (last name deleted). I’m 11 year old. And my Mii name is MASTER WII. I play flag football i’m a runnyback.”
I hear ya, Derek! Be patient! If I can receive everybody’s Miis on the Wii, I’ll find a way to post them here.
Keep sending those Mii codes to ogallaga@statesman.com and add 0732 9602 4121 0857 to your Wii friend list.
Thanks for the great response, everybody!
Permalink | | Categories: Videogames
More Mii peeps!
Submitted by a reader this morning as a follow up to our “Mii Time” story and photo gallery that ran in today’s paper:
Christopher writes:
Here’s a collection of photos we’ve started. Most people so far are Austinites!
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Videogames
Twitter.com: Next big thing?
I’ve been playing around this week with Twitter, a site that was much-mentioned at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival.
Think of it as a scaled-down version of MySpace, or at least a swift substitution for your Instant Messenger’s Away Message feature. The point of Twitter is to post a 140-character-maximum message saying what you’re doing.
That’s it. Others can view your Twitter page or add you to their list of buddies as a “Friend” or “Follower” and keep tabs on what you’re doing whenever you update. You can get updates via Instant Messenger, by text message or on your own Twitter Web page. You can also update your own Twitter message via IM or by texting “40404.” IM seems pretty sluggish (it took a few hours to update via IM), but text messages appear almost instantaneously, as do messages posted via the Web site. The site’s been a little slow this week, which I attribute to lots of South by Southwest activity and quick growth.
Twitter becomes more useful the more friends you add to your list, although I can see Twitter overload being a real possibility if you have a lot of people on your list who update too frequently. But the site seems like a natural for South by Southwest, when it’s easy to lose track of your friends and you need a quick way to connect without making cell phone calls or sending e-mails. One of my friend Shannon’s recent Twitters: “Planning my evening. 10:00 (Beirut at Emo’s), 11:00 (Finally Punk, Wiggins, Die Die Die at Habana), 1:00 (Les Savy Fav at Red Eyed Fly).”
You can see what other SXSW attendees are doing on the official 2007 SXSW Twitter page.
Twitter allows you to post different styles of “Badges” on your own Web site or blog to let people know what you’re up to without having to visit Twitter. Here’s what one of mine looks like
Twitter is pretty much the opposite of LinkedIn.com, a business contacts site that is about as inviting as a Fortune 500 company conference room. Maybe I’m missing something, but the site’s uninspiring design and leaning toward résumélike presentation just doesn’t speak to me. I finally updated my profile on there after about a year of incessant invitations to join and to get “Linked In” with friends and business contacts. I’m there, but I don’t think it’s a place I’ll be spending a lot of time.
Permalink | | Categories: Internet
Microsoft marketing gone wild!
Arrest on 6th Street!
Is this a Redmond vs. Austin thing? West Coast vs. Third Coast? Would he have been arrested for putting up iPod posters?
The mind reels and the toes curl with more questions. We’ll stay on top of this one for you.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Internet
End-of-blogging, HDR photography updates
The Austin blogging story that ran last week generated some very nice e-mails and some nice comments from folks at South by Southwest Interactive, so that was cool. Whenever one of my stories runs on the front page, I have an irrational fear that I’ll run into one of my sources on the street and that they’ll spit right in my eye or take a tire iron to my knee. Thank goodness I’m not a gossip columnist.
One local blogger, Mike Lutz, sent a link to a response he wrote on the subject. I think it’s good for bloggers to discuss where they’re going and what’s happening in the ‘sphere. There was probably about 40 more inches worth of text that could have gone into that story, but my editor Sarah Lindner wisely guided me in streamlining the story and not leting it get out of control.
Another story that ran this week, one about high dynamic range photography, generated some nice comments on Trey Ratcliff’s work. Unfortunately, Trey didn’t win the Bloggie award he was up for. You can read his response to that here.
The HDR story also elicited this e-mail from a local Web guy, Carl Griffin:
I first heard of Trey back when the Statesman printed a blurb about his showing at Halcyon coffeehouse. I decided to check the Web and came across stuckincustoms.com. That resulted in my learning as much as I could about the HDR process and I’ve been practicing that procedure for the past couple of months. The attachment is of the Port Aransas jetty at dawn over New Year’s weekend. I’ve since made a new department in my Web store that is all HDR images
You can see more of Carl’s work at his site.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Internet
SXSW Interactive blogging /entries
Entries from me, Sarah Lindner and Lilly Rockwell on the Interactive fest are being posted over at the South by Southwest Source blog.
I’ve got some panels I’m trying to squeeze time to write about including ones about the future of book publishing and an incredibly slick next-generation TV navigation interface. I’ll be at the Will Wright keynote later today and probably the Deadspin.com panel this afternoon.
Stay tuned!
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Internet
AMODA/strataTX Digital Showcase party pics
Photos from last night’s Austin Museum of Digital Art digital showcase (which was paired with a strataTX VIP reception) at Mohawk:
Steve Hall of Austin’s Frog Design.
Jennifer Wijangco of strataTX and Todd Simmons, executive director of AMODA.
DJ Lady Malice of Dallas prepares for laptop battle.
Artist William Hundley atop his Foosball table art. Digital photos of his are on the wall behind him.
DJ Faux Furs does his thing. The laptop battle bracket is behind him.
(Left to right) Andrew Krell of Infusion Marketing, Bill Barth of Texas Advanced Computing Center and Marcia Inger also of TACC.
Stacey R. Farrar, gallery director of Austin’s Else Madsen Gallery.
Sheel Pathak and Danae Clark, friends of a competing DJ.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin
CK L4m3
Dear Calvin Klein:
“Technosexual”? Really? That’s all you got?
Lame!
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets
Thursday ‘round the Web: SXSW schedule and more
What’s going on today:
I was expecting some news from Nintendo along the lines of Sony’s announcements yesterday, but instead we got this. BOOORING!
God bless Prentiss Riddle for creating this searchable SXSW Interactive schedule (as in searchable through your browser’s “Find” option, not by search box). It’s always the seemingly little things that turn mere mortals into heroes for the ages.
I’m still not sure what panels I’m checking out yet, but this certainly helps.
My story about Austin blogging has been posted. This one was a toughie to write.
Do you like the “Is Blogging Dead?” headline on the Austin360 home page? If this were TV news it would have been, “Can blogging kill you? We’ll tell you at 10.”
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Austin, Internet, Videogames
Sony’s great idea; but it won’t be here till fall
Sony finally got off its online duff today and unveiled “Home,” which is sort of like “Sims” meets MySpace meets YouTube meets “Second Life.” (Check out the video here.
But given Sony’s track record with online so far in the PlayStation 3’s life (and its spotty track record in allowing individual developers to call the online shots during the PS2’s lifespan), it might end up being none of those things, a shambling division of those parts instead of a mighty sum.
It’s too early to tell.
One thing I do know about “Home” (which was introduced today at the Game Developer’s Conference with the execrable heading “Game 3.0”) is that whatever it is it’ll be better than the desolate graveyard that currently is Sony’s online home within the PS3. The other day I was in there and a tumbleweed passed by! Yikes!
It won’t be out till Fall, which still gives Nintendo and Microsoft plenty of time to unveil something similar, but as a friend of mine said recently — if Nintendo does it, your vast online world will only be visible to those who happen to live in your house. Nintendo is not exactly blazing any online trails right now.
One thing I’ll say in favor of the PlayStation 3: the new game “MotorStorm,” which I was ready to dismiss as a floaty, not very good racing game, has begun to grow on me. My brother came over to play and after watching him sail through an early level on a motorcycle, the game suddenly seemed fresher and more fun that I’d thought. Yay! Finally a really fun game for the PS3.
Permalink | | Categories: Videogames
‘South Park’ in HD for the first time
Starting today, Xbox 360 owners can download for free an episode of “South Park” in high definition. It’s the first time the cardboard cutout Comedy Central toon has been shown in high-def, and the episode offered is “Good Times With Weapons,” which features some anime-style animation sequences. (And here you thought you’d just be seeing very sharp versions of cardboard.)
“Free,” is a relative term because an Xbox 360 costs about $400 (at least the one with the hard drive which would allow you to store the large episode file) and membership to the online service Xbox Live costs about $50 a year.
But for owners of the system and the service, the download is a nice bonus and gives the service, which this year added movies and TV shows to its offering, some cachet. Console rivals Sony and Nintendo have yet to offer any significant movie or TV show downloads for their systems and Microsoft is instead positioning itself against media download services like ones launched by Wal-Mart, Netflix and of course, Apple.
Of these movie/TV downloading services, Xbox Live’s is the most elegant for living room/TV viewing — it works on a system that is already hooked up to a TV and there’s no need to move files around or deal with limitations on burning files from a PC or transferring them wirelessly. But there’s been concern that the Xbox 360’s 20-gigabyte hard drive is too small to sustain a lot of downloading and that the console’s lack of an HDMI port puts it at a disadvantage for offering HD content.
Best buy is planning to give away copies of the South Park episodes on an HD-DVD disc to anyone who buys an Xbox 360 or the add-on HD-DVD drive (about $200) later this month. Could a long-rumored newly redesigned Xbox 360 console featuring an HDMI port and a bigger hard drive (and possibly a built-in HD-DVD drive) be waiting in the wings?
Permalink | | Categories: Movies & DVDs, TV, Videogames
Obama: First our Game Boys, now our ‘SportsCenter’?
I was willing to let it slide when Barack Obama called for us to get rid of our Game Boys to create positive change in the world. Most of us gamers have moved on to the Nintendo DS, so I was more than happy to leave the old Game Boy in the Videogame Relics drawer.
But now he’s asking people to shut off “SportsCenter” and get out to vote:
“I know if Cousin Pookie would vote, if Brother Jethro would get off the couch and stop watching ‘SportsCenter’ and go register some people and get them to the polls, we’d have a different kind of politics,” Obama said, the crowd rising to its feet. “Kick off your bedroom slippers; put on your marching shoes!”
I’d be a little more outraged if he’d referenced “Pardon the Interruption,” but still. Where exactly are we going to draw the pop culture line, Mr. Obama?
Here are some things that might get Barack into big political trouble if he asks us to give them up in the name of political sleeve-up-rolling:
Hello Kitty
TMZ.com
“Project Runway”
Nerds-brand candy
Adam Sandler movies
“Wii Sports”
Those little Andes chocolates they give you at Macaroni Grill after your meal
The Pussycat Dolls
Applebee’s (in red states)
“Heroes”
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
The last “Harry Potter” book
Kelly Clarkson
The iPhone
That “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff
Watch those campaign speeches, Barack. Some people can balance their pop culture consumption with political action, thank you very much.
Permalink | | Categories: Videogames
So painfully true: PS3 store is like abuse
The PlayStation 3’s online store is what would happen if you tried to reflect the online retail experience we’ve all become accustomed to, but had Franz Kafka write all the HTML coding. You are made to feel as if you, the human with money, is somehow wrong in believing you could go in, purchase a game or download a demo, and get away without feelings of inadequacy, eye strain and an ego crushed to fine powder.
This comic perfectly encapsulates the purchasing experience, but I would add that every time I’ve had to download something, I’ve first had to do one of many frequent system updates before I can even set foot in the virtual emporium. There’s a guard at the door who is demanding to frisk you roughly for half an hour. They ask you to plug in your (wireless!) controller, unplug it, restart your system.
The whole affair is demeaning, not just to us, but to Sony. Have you no sense of decency, Sony?
I was willing to jump through all the flaming hoops late last night to download “fl0w”, which is a dreamy, simple, $8 game offered online. Getting there? Not so dreamy, simple, or fun.
What did I do during the painful 45 minutes or so it took to system update and download “fl0w?” Played with my Wii, of course.
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
Around the Web, Thursday afternoon edition
Yes, you can own a bit of the Intel shell building for the not-very-low-at-all price of $20 via this Web site.
I don’t know what’s stopping them from putting a bunch of gravel from their driveway into a container and calling it history, but I should really just relax because if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s to completely trust the Internet.
(Link via Austinist)
Game publisher Electronic Arts sent a breathless press release announcing that music from all its games is now available on iTunes and that you can find out more about this monumental stride ahead for humanity at their Web site.
Anyone who’s played any “Madden” game knows that these EA-licensed songs have a way of burrowing into your brain like a “Star Trek II” space creature. Joystiq.com notes that not all the songs are on iTunes that you might want.
But Lily Allen is today’s featured artist on the EA Trax site, so as far as I’m concerned, all is forgiven. Oh, Lily Allen … sometimes I just sit here and daydream about your charming accent.
Wrigley (the gum people) are offering a minty treat for Wii owners. Their “Candystand” Web site features games you can play on the Nintendo Wii via the game console’s Internet Channel browser. The site (which you’ll have to enter manually unless you’re accessing this blog from your Wii, in which case I’d say, yay you!) is wii.candystand.com.
I haven’t been home to try these out yet, but I’ll hit you up, blog-entry style, if they deserve your attention.
You’ll have to weigh for yourself whether the thrill of free Wii games is worth the humiliation of playing titles based on the Altoids and Big Red brands.
Here’s an alternative: Wii games from Homestarrunner.com are available at www.videlectrix.com/vii/.
I have taken a vow of silence when it comes to posting negative things about Dell, so I’ll just let this site weigh in on the current Dell/Linux kerfuffle.
Even using the word “Kerfuffle” there might violate my vow. Would “Foofarah” have been better?
All right, fine — because I’ve already broken my vow, I might as well tell you my Dell joke:
Q: How many Dell executives does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: 11, but they’ve all left the company. We’ll let you know when the new management team is ready to take on the lightbulb-changing task.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Computers, Food, Internet, Shopping, Videogames
