Matt Whitlock's blog

Goodbye Format War - Hello Single Standard

A few months back I gave Toshiba some advice on how HD-DVD could win the format war. Perhaps it was too little, too late, or it was sound advice that fell on deaf ears. Either way, Toshiba has packed up camp and announced it will no longer be manufacturing or marketing HD-DVD players, and ending the long format war once and for all.

It's estimated Toshiba sold over one million HD-DVD players and three-hundred thousand personal computers with HD-DVD drives. Painful as it may be for early adopters, there will be no rebates, refunds, or credits toward Blu-Ray devices for anyone that bought in to HD-DVD early.

120GB Playstation 3 on its way - The PS3 beta program continues

Never in my life have I seen the same computing product get more hardware changes than software updates. Yes, I'm talking about Sony's Playstation 3, a product that is now starting on what can only be described as its third major retail beta program... with a fourth supposedly in the works.

Skyfire, You Could Be My Hero

I like a lot of things about the iPhone, but the one thing it does I'm totally jealous of is how it handles mobile web browsing. Practically porting a desktop web browser wasn't only smart, it was brilliant. As of this moment, nothing holds a candle to iPhone's web support... unless what I've seen of Skyfire comes true.

Matt's Tech Law #2 - Headset Etiquette

As we go through life, we learn what is and is not acceptable behavior. Some of these acceptable behaviors are pretty simple to pick up on and will never change. Don't talk behind someone's back, don't leave the toilet seat up (at least so my wife says), don't pass gas in an elevator, and on and on. Simple, right? Perhaps even obvious? However, tech etiquette is still in its infancy, and the rules of acceptable behavior regarding technology aren't always as obvious as we'd like it to be. What's worse... no one ever seems to be on the same page, and sometimes you have to learn new rules the hard way.

Matt's Tech Law #1 - Who Calls Back When a Call is Lost?

Why is it they make cell phones that can take pictures, shoot video, surf websites, send e-mails, and show PowerPoint presentations, but not reliably make phone calls??? If cell phones really were as reliable as Verizon and AT&T said so, then no one would ever drop a call for seemingly no reason. I've got plenty of bars AT&T!

What's funny is that the worst part of dropping a call isn't the fact the call is lost, it's the fact that no one is really sure who's supposed to call back. So what happens? Here's the typical lost call scenario:

How HD-DVD Could Win the Format War

I've been following the format war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray Disc since the days when each was on the drawing board. For the record, I'm not choosing sides in this debate, nor am I recommending that anyone buy into either option. Each format brings HD quality movies and advanced playback features to the table. In my mind, that makes them both good. However, mass adoption of either simply won't happen until one of two things occurs:

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