Computer Limmerick

There once was a bit in a bucket
It got there by way of a socket
The IO pipe failed
And the process did bail
So the OS decided to chuck it

5-0x07-101

Computer slows down,
Processes are frozen ice;
Blue screen death draws near.

Don't Reward Sony

Back in the day Sony tried to corner a developing market with their own proprietary format in the hopes of reaping huge licensing fees from anyone publishing on the media. That format was Betamax, and I think most everyone know how that turned out (VHS FTW).

This time around instead of the VCR market Sony's gunning for high definition optical discs. Sony's format is the Blu-Ray standard while the opposing standard is HD-DVD. Now personally, I prefer HD-DVD because it's simpler due the the fact that the same laser that reads HD-DVDs is backwards compatible with regular DVDs. 10 points right there. Granted, Blu-Ray has a larger storage size, but not significantly enough to outweigh the fact that Blu-Ray plays need two separate lasers to support legacy DVDs. Sony also shoved their players out prematurely to not be behind the HD-DVD release. Those original players didn't fully implement the Blu-Ray standard. Most reviewers also couldn't discern much of a difference quality-wise in either's audio or video.

Now all the news is about how Blu-Ray is winning this high def war. If it wins then I think we all lose. Having an entire market beholden to a single primary source like Sony is bad for all consumers. We all need to speak out by voting with our pocket books for HD-DVD. Having said that, I've purchased neither yet. My early adopter ways have long fell by the wayside.

And as if you needed one more reason to not support Sony's standards-autocracy plans there's wireless USB. Wireless USB is going through standardization right now. But all of the sudden Sony smells blood and launches their own version, TransferJet. Coincidence? I think not! Fight the powah!

Word Association

Remember the SAT test? Remember the word associations? Weren't they fun?! How about this one...

Alvin Toffler : hyperbole :: The Pope : Catholicism

2008

A new year dawns on us all. That is if you follow the Gregorian calendar. Those on the Julian, Hebrew, Chinese, Vietnamese, or other can just go soak your heads.

I've begun this new season by expanding the non-blog entry content. Notice the "Blogosphere" side bar. There you'll find a collection of educational and/or entertaining blogs from around this find Intraweb of ours.

And it seems as if our $5 word is now worth €3.61.