And here is another audio clip, this time in MP3 format. Back in January the Cybersquad talked about Apple's new MacBook Air. It's a cool product, I guess, but I was underwhelmed by what you got for the money. For a couple hundred dollars less, you can get a much better laptop computer ... FROM APPLE!
News from Tokyo this morning:
Toshiba Announces Discontinuation of HD DVD Businesses
Company Remains Focused on Championing Consumer Access to High Definition ContentTOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.
HD DVD was developed to offer consumers access at an affordable price to high-quality, high definition content and prepare them for the digital convergence of tomorrow where the fusion of consumer electronics and IT will continue to progress.
“We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop,” said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality.”
Toshiba will continue to lead innovation, in a wide range of technologies that will drive mass market access to high definition content. These include high capacity NAND flash memory, small form factor hard disk drives, next generation CPUs, visual processing, and wireless and encryption technologies. The company expects to make forthcoming announcements around strategic progress in these convergence technologies.
Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements. The company will continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand.
This decision will not impact on Toshiba’s commitment to standard DVD, and the company will continue to market conventional DVD players and recorders. Toshiba intends to continue to contribute to the development of the DVD industry, as a member of the DVD Forum, an international organization with some 200 member companies, committed to the discussion and defining of optimum optical disc formats for the consumer and the related industries.
Toshiba also intends to maintain collaborative relations with the companies who joined with Toshiba in working to build up the HD DVD market, including Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and DreamWorks Animation and major Japanese and European content providers on the entertainment side, as well as leaders in the IT industry, including Microsoft, Intel, and HP. Toshiba will study possible collaboration with these companies for future business opportunities, utilizing the many assets generated through the development of HD DVD.
On Monday I wrote that
The final nail in the HD DVD format's coffin will be an announcement from Wal-Mart later this summer that the company will no longer sell HD DVD discs and players. If the movie industry doesn't put the HD DVD format out of its misery, the folks in Bentonville will. Soon.
This morning Wal-Mart announced that, by June, the company will exclusively stock Blu-ray products [source: c|net, Gizmodo].
My next prediction: Toshiba [the developer of the HD DVD format and its largest supporter] will very soon announce its exit from the HD-DVD market, followed by similar exits from Universal, Paramount, and Dreamworks.
As I said back on January 8th, "It's over. Blu-ray won."
Update [Saturday, February 16]: A source at Toshiba announced this morning that the company is pulling the plug on the HD DVD format. That leaves only Universal, Paramount, and Dreamworks in the HD DVD camp. Let's see which studio jumps ship first.
Update [Monday, February 18]: It looks like Toshiba's source jumped the gun. Toshiba's official announcement is that the company "has not made any announcement or decision. We are currently assessing our business strategies, but nothing has been decided at the moment." So, while the HD DVD format is technically dead, it is not officially dead. Yet. For more information, check out Ars Technica's coverage.
Back in January I wrote the HD DVD/Blu-ray format war is over and Blu-ray won. It looks like Netflix agrees. Netflix just announced that they will "move toward stocking high-def DVDs exclusively in the Blu-ray format."
I have two predictions:
Stay tuned.
A reader recently took me to task for something I said on last week's Website Wednesday Night, noting that
I do however have to differ with you when your talking to a lady who is looking for a laptop for standard use and you recommend Sony and could not agree with you more. On the other hand to tell her she needs 2 gigs minimum 3 gigs recommended is a bit out of line. The big boxes are selling the Sony's right now with Vista Home Premium with 1 gig and for basic use that is fine. You tell her different and next thing she knows shes going to be taken by the Geek Squad for another 200 bucks.
Since the listener did not provide me with his real email address, I thought I'd post my reply here.
As for the Vista Home Premium RAM requirements, 1GB is Microsoft's recommended system requirement (Microsoft, 2006). Many people, including me, believe that that amount of RAM is insufficient. For example, the latest issue of Laptop Magazine recommends that users "can get away with 1GB of RAM when running Vista Basic. If you want to step up to Vista Home Premium and get the most out of its Fancy Aero interface, then you'll want to upgrade to 2GB of RAM…" (Spoonauer, 2008). OEMs like Dell and Samsung agree (Thibodeau, 2007).
My upper limit recommendation of is more 'gut feel' than science. While the cost up upgrading from 1GB to 2GB is between $50 and $150 (Spoonauer, 2008), upgrading to 4GB as recommended last year by an IBM Global Services consultant (Thibodeau, 2007) would cost between $400 and $500 (Spoonauer, 2008). Dusting off my economics degree, I ran a cost/benefit analysis and decided that 3GB was an optimal ceiling.
Of course, I could be completely wrong. Any additional information you can send me on this matter would be gratefully appreciated.
References
Microsoft, Inc. (2006, November 8). Windows Vista Home Premium. Retrieved January 19, 2008, from Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/homepremium/default.mspx
Spoonauer, M. (2008, February). Notebook spec cheat sheet. Laptop Magazine, p. 112.
Thibodeau, P. (2007, February 20). Buying a new PC? 'Windows Vista Capable' barely hits the mark - IBM'er says Vista's RAM sweet spot is 4GB. Retrieved January 19, 2008, from Computerworld: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9011523
If you missed yesterday's Macworld keynote, or if you would rather not spend 90 minutes watching the full video, the folks at Mahalo Daily have condensed Job's presentation into a much more time-efficient 60 seconds [well, one minute and 49 seconds if you include the intro and outro]:
In my Crispen's Guide to What's New and What's Next presentation, I strongly recommended that you stay away from next generation DVD players until the HD DVD/Blu-ray format war is over.
It's over. Blu-ray won.
Last week Warner Bros. announced that they would exclusively support Sony's Blu-ray format, leaving only Paramount, Universal, and Dreamworks aligned with the HD DVD camp.
There's more. According to the Financial Times [via Gizmodo], Paramount has
a clause in its contract with the HD DVD camp that would allow it to switch sides in the event of Warner Bros backing Blu-ray, according to people familiar with the situation.
Without Paramount, Blu-ray now has 70% of Hollywood's next generation DVD market. That's without Paramount. And don't forget that Paramount distributes Dreamworks Animations films, making it hard to imagine that Dreamworks won't follow if Paramount abandons HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray.
Folks, It's over. Blu-ray won. The HD DVD camp may not realize it yet, and Universal may drag its feet for a few months before finally throwing in the towel and following 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Sony, Walt Disney, and Warner Bros. and the rest of the Blu-ray camp, but Blu-ray won.
As promised, here is the podcast from a few weeks ago where Steve, Johnnie, and I talked about what you should look for when buying a new computer for a student. While Gray recommends that you get a Mac, keep in mind that Gray makes his living from servicing Macs. I respect Gray's opinion, but I still stand by my original recommendation: Don't buy a Vista or Mac computer until you first talk to your campus' helpdesk.
Last week I shared with you my minimum hardware recommendations for a back-to-school computer. To prove that I actually "walk my talk," here are the specs for the new back-to-graduate-school laptop I ordered Sunday night:
Total cost? Don't ask. Thank God for financial aid.
On tonight’s Website Wednesday Night, we’ll discuss what you should look for when purchasing a back-to-school computer. The following list is what I recommend as the absolute minimums. This is what I'd look for if I were buying a computer today and wanted to ensure that my computer would still be usable in four years. If the desktop or laptop computer you purchase meets or, better still, exceeds these minimums you’ll be good to go.
Again, please remember these are are absolute minimums. Try to exceed each.
To save 5% to 10% off the purchase price, buy your computer either from your college bookstore or a computer manufacturer like Apple, Dell, or Lenovo that offers student discounts.
