February 2008 Archives

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/19/official-hd-dvd-dead-and-buried-format-war-is-over/

Now it is official. Of course watch for a post tomorrow when this press release is shown to be a fraud.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080218-hd-dvd-death-still-not-official-what-theyre-mulling.html

OK, I got ahead of myself. Not quite as “official” as I said yesterday, but we’re close. I should have just focused on one of my links yesterday. Gotta give it up to Ars.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080217-official-hd-dvd-obituary-a-matter-of-days-not-weeks.html

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/02/hd-dvd-death-ma.html

http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/02/16/its-official-blu-ray-wins/

http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSL1627196120080216

The death of HD-DVD has been rumored for over a month due to recent changes in studios and companies jumping from the HD-DVD camp to Bluray. With Warner Brothers’ announcement to exclusively support Bluray later this year, it was just a matter of time before the rest abandoned HD-DVD (especially Universal who switched over from Bluray to HD-DVD just a few months prior).

Shortly following Warner Brothers’ news, Best Buy announced they would push the Bluray format to their customers over the HD-DVD format; although both formats would still be sold for now. Lastly, Wal-Mart’s announcement on Friday made it apparent that HD-DVD’s demise would be official quicker than expected.

Toshiba was dealt a blow on Friday when Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it would abandon the HD DVD format, becoming the latest in a series of top retailers and movie studios to rally behind Blu-ray technology for high definition DVDs. -TOKYO (Reuters)

Already linked across the internet, it is now official. Toshiba has given up on the product and is ceasing production on future HD-DVD products.

Being an HD-DVD owner, this is somewhat sad news, but something that I have suspected for awhile. I bought my Xbox 360 add-on the day it was released. At the time, it was the only way to get HD for under $500.

Looks like it is time for the 360 addon to move aside and a purchase of a PS3 to happen as soon as the new models are released.

R.I.P. HD-DVD…

http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/thedilbertblog/2008/02/ultimate-house.html

Anyone that knows me would agree that I have an appreciation for good house design and interior design. When everything just flows with a house and a room, it just makes living that much better.

Scott Adams outlined what he thought would be the Ultimate House on “The Dilbert Blog”. I think Scott has something here, but I would have to add some variation to it.

I love the idea of a house being centered around the kitchen. All rooms would be connected by the most used room. However, to make this work, you would need to ensure the kitchen is large enough to have “paths” around it to make it easy going from one room to another. I wouldn’t like having to dodge a kitchen island every time I wanted to go from the living area to the bathroom.

In Scott’s arrangement, I am not sure where he had planned a staircase, so I would make an entranceway that would contain the stairs. Leading to the second floor, the staircase would enter into a balcony style living space similar to the TV/reading area downstairs.

Scott’s idea for the second floor having doors in closets that lead into the laundry area is genius; however, all the closets would have to be large walk-in style closets. I would like to see enough space between the laundry room and the bedroom as I could. This would keep the laundry machines’ noise from pouring over into the bedrooms. I would also make a bathroom with a linen closet that has access to the laundry room.

I am not, however; too sure about Scott’s last statement:

The laundry room would be totally tricked out with a flat panel screen, surround sound, folding tables, and an ironing board. Doing laundry will seem like a fun escape.

I love the idea, and although I could go on and on about what I would like to add to make it “my” ultimate house, I must refrain.

Nothing like a good redesign to a website that hasn’t been touched since November of 2007. Oh well, I like it and that is all that matters.