Author Archives: Carson

Changes

Posted on by
Reply

So apparently I decided to start posting again. Who would have thought. The thing is, now I’m itching to change things up (in more ways than one). The site needs a new layout and a major overhaul in general and possibly a change in hosting. There’s files all over the place on the server, a lot of which aren’t mine and I don’t care about. Jimmy left long ago, and now Dylan has got his own website he’s been working on as well. So now it’s just me. I don’t even know if I want to keep this domain name, but until I come up with something better I’m hanging around here.

The first thing I decided to do was to switch back to Blogger for comments. I dropped Haloscan for several reasons. One, it was Dylan’s account so it doesn’t seem right to keep using it now. Two, I realized a few months ago that Haloscan doesn’t actually keep all of your old comments (at least not when you have a free account). It’s limited by either number of comments or a given amount of time, I’m not sure which. Three, Blogger has made a lot of improvements to the way they handle comments and I like it much better than I did when they first introduced the feature. So yeah, some comments have disappeared, but I can’t imagine there was anything that interesting there anyway.

I’m probably going to stick with Blogger for now, just because it makes things so easy, but I’m considering something else down the line. I’d really like to build my own system, but I doubt I could ever make something as effective as WordPress, MovableType, or TypePad.

One thing I know will change is the layout. We took the easy way out before and used a slightly modified, pre-existing Blogger template, but this time I think I’ll go for my own design. Stay tuned to see how that goes.

Currently Playing: Trapt – Stand Up

Why Microsoft Decided to Back HD-DVD

Posted on by
Reply

Jordi Ribas, Microsoft’s director of technology strategy for Windows Digital Media breaks down the reasons Microsoft decided to back HD-DVD over Blu-Ray as the next generation of optical media. According to Microsoft, Blu-Ray failed the test in six critical areas.

“Our decision is based mainly on where the formats are today,” Ribas said, referring to Microsoft. “A year and a half ago, both format organizations had very similar goals, and to some extent, the story of Blu-ray was actually very powerful. It had higher capacity, it had what we would consider benefits at the time. But then as time went on, and we’d seen what’s the reality of both formats today, and what were promises versus what’s proven and what’s real, that’s when we decided to make the decision.”

I’ll have to say I haven’t really been following this whole thing very closely and there’s one main reason. Usually competition is a good thing for consumers because it will drive down costs, but this time around that’s probably not the case. You have studios and software companies splitting over which technology to support which means in order to continue to buy a wide spectrum of movies and games, you’ll need to have players capable of reading both formats. Sure, multi-format players won’t take long to hit the market, but how much extra will we have to pay? I’d hate to see this turn into a Beta vs. VHS battle where the superior technology ends up losing out in the end. Then again, after reading this article it isn’t clear that one trumps the other (There’s an interesting comment about capacity in the article). In my mind, it doesn’t really matter which is better; I’ll most likely end up needing both which means I better start saving now.

read more | digg story

Why Did Apple Kill the iPod Mini in Its Prime?

Posted on by
Reply

I think this guy has an excellent point.

No one was suggesting they wanted a flash-based player over a hard drive one, and no one was complaining about the iPod mini being too wide or too heavy. In comparison to the iPod mini, the iPod nano made the battery even harder to get at, lowered its battery life, removed the “remote connector,” ditched FireWire support, weakened the device making it much more fragile, and features a scrollwheel inconsistent with that rest of the iPod lineup.

The nano is cool and all but I don’t really understand why they chose to completely replace the mini instead of just adding to the line or why someone who owned a mini would run out and replace it with a nano. I also like the mention of Motorola CEO Ed Zander’s supposed joke about his feelings for the nano.

read more | digg story

Secret Meeting

Posted on by
Reply

Google is joining the ranks of the Knights Templar, the Masons, the Illuminati, and Skull and Bones, effectively setting up secret invitation-only meetings with 400 elite attendees, including major media figures, who are all sworn to secrecy about next month’s Google Zeitgeist 05. Passwords will be used in lieu of secret handshakes.

Google, what are you up to?

read more | digg story

LED Bulbs

Posted on by
Reply

A few months ago I started looking into using CFL (compact fluorescent) bulbs for our apartment. They cost significantly more than a standard incandescent bulb, but they last several years and use a lot less power so they quickly pay for themselves through energy cost savings. I decided to replace all of the light bulbs in our apartment with CFLs. Now there is something even better out there.

By bunching together groups of LEDs, manufacturers are creating new bulbs that use even less energy for the amount of light they put out. A flashlight that lasts for several years? I might have to look into that. Still, at current prices I’ll be waiting a while before getting rid of our CFLs for LEDs.

read more | digg story