Monthly Archives: June 2009

Yes, Blu-ray is a failure

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blu-rayFor some time now, I have believed that the Blu-ray platform is indeed going nowhere. The battle between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray lasted so long, that the world shifted under the feet of the movie industry. With wide-spread broadband, downloads to mobile devices, invasions of the living room by devices for streaming movies (like Netflix’s technology), growing sales of Apple TV and movies and TV shows on demand, the era physical media storage like CDs and DVDs seems about to come to an end. The end result: Blu-ray is a solution in search of a problem.

Robert X. Cringely has an column up that questions whether Blu-ray has failed. He thinks it effectively has.

Blu-Ray will survive, but will it be just for cinephiles?  That depends on how the 1080p download market evolves (which is why Apple has yet to sell a computer with a Blu-Ray disk installed, seeing it as eventual channel conflict with iTunes) or whether a new HD-DVD standard will emerge to compete again with Blu-Ray.
And don’t forget the impact of up-converting progressive-scan DVD players, which even Sony sells: I just bought one for $44.77 at Wal-Mart and driving the 720p display in my RV makes a standard-definition DVD of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory look amazingly good.  Not good enough for a cinephile, but that’s five percent of the video market, tops.

Blu-Ray will survive, but will it be just for cinephiles?  That depends on how the 1080p download market evolves (which is why Apple has yet to sell a computer with a Blu-Ray disk installed, seeing it as eventual channel conflict with iTunes) or whether a new HD-DVD standard will emerge to compete again with Blu-Ray.

And don’t forget the impact of up-converting progressive-scan DVD players, which even Sony sells: I just bought one for $44.77 at Wal-Mart and driving the 720p display in my RV makes a standard-definition DVD of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory look amazingly good.  Not good enough for a cinephile, but that’s five percent of the video market, tops.

More change you cannot believe in

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Continuing to add to the list of backsliding positions, President Obama is reportedly preparing to issue rules allowing indefinite detention of terrorism suspects. The details of such a program would be important, but any such scheme would should inclu  de strong due process procedures. For example, any detained individual should have the right to periodic review of his or her status as a danger, and this review should be done before an independent tribunal. At a minimum, the process should provide similar rights to other indefinite detention regimes, such as those for mental illness or sexual predators.

Such an order would embrace claims by former president George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Obama advisers are concerned that an order, which would bypass Congress, could place the president on weaker footing before the courts and anger key supporters, the officials said.
After months of internal debate over how to close the military facility in Cuba, White House officials are increasingly worried that reaching quick agreement with Congress on a new detention system may be impossible. Several officials said there is concern in the White House that the administration may not be able to close the prison by the president’s January deadline.
White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said that there is no executive order and that the administration has not decided whether to issue one. But one administration official suggested that the White House is already trying to build support for an order.

Such an order would embrace claims by former president George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Obama advisers are concerned that an order, which would bypass Congress, could place the president on weaker footing before the courts and anger key supporters, the officials said.

After months of internal debate over how to close the military facility in Cuba, White House officials are increasingly worried that reaching quick agreement with Congress on a new detention system may be impossible. Several officials said there is concern in the White House that the administration may not be able to close the prison by the president’s January deadline.

White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said that there is no executive order and that the administration has not decided whether to issue one. But one administration official suggested that the White House is already trying to build support for an order.

Michael Jackson is dead

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What a strange trip he had. I guess that, at least professionally, he reached his height in the mid-1980s with the Thriller album and tour. He is now dead.

Guess that will be the end of newspaper and cable television coverage of the situation in Iran. America moves on, sad to say.

Pitchfork sighting

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An interesting example of class warfare over economic collapse is reported from Germany. It seems that a gang of retirees captured and tortured a financial advisor because his advice cost them millions.

Pensioners battered a financial adviser with Zimmer frames before kidnapping and torturing him for losing £2million of their savings.
James Amburn, 56, was ambushed outside his home in Speyer, western Germany, bound with masking tape and bundled into a car boot.
‘It took them quite a while because they ran out of breath,’ said Mr Amburn, who was driven to the Bavarian lakeside home of one of the gang.
Pensioners battered a financial adviser with Zimmer frames before kidnapping and torturing him for losing £2million of their savings.
James Amburn, 56, was ambushed outside his home in Speyer, western Germany, bound with masking tape and bundled into a car boot.
‘It took them quite a while because they ran out of breath,’ said Mr Amburn, who was driven to the Bavarian lakeside home of one of the gang.

Dems planning biometric ID cards

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This is very disturbing. According to an article in the Washington Post, it appears that Democrats plan to require all workers to carry and produce biometric ID cards to qualify for employment.  These cards will not improve security and will allow enormous invasions of privacy. I hope that this will never succeed in becoming law.

Speaking on the eve of a White House summit with congressional leaders on immigration,  Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) said a national system to verify work documents is necessary because Congress has failed to crack down on unscrupulous employers and illegal immigrants with fake documents.
“I’m sure the civil libertarians will object to some kind of biometric card — although . . . there’ll be all kinds of protections — but we’re going to have to do it. It’s the only way,” Schumer said. “The American people will never accept immigration reform unless they truly believe their government is committed to ending future illegal immigration.”

Speaking on the eve of a White House summit with congressional leaders on immigration,  Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) said a national system to verify work documents is necessary because Congress has failed to crack down on unscrupulous employers and illegal immigrants with fake documents.

“I’m sure the civil libertarians will object to some kind of biometric card — although . . . there’ll be all kinds of protections — but we’re going to have to do it. It’s the only way,” Schumer said. “The American people will never accept immigration reform unless they truly believe their government is committed to ending future illegal immigration.”

Mark Sanford: The emails

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Oh my. Why is it that Republicans, usually among the most conservative, seem to be exploding their political ambitions with very regular frequency, often involving sex? Could it be that the more a person demands “perfection” of others, the more the “imperfection” of others becomes enticing? I think so. Accessing the “forbidden” (however you define it) is always a rush and very intriguing to many, many people.

Yet, when a person attracted to actions he or she believes as wrong actually takes part in the forbidden, often the result is pure banality.

Steve Jobs did not get favoritism

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Despite the implications in an article in the New York Times, the hospital that provide the liver transplant for Steve Jobs issued a press release that flatly stated there was no favoritism granted to Steve Jobs. That should take care of that.

Fake Steve Jobs has a pithy response:

So a hospital takes the extremely unusual step of publicly announcing that a certain patient got a transplant, and that this patient got the transplant because he had the highest MELD score on their list, which means that everything was legit and above-board and totally fair. Now this kind of statement is something that hospitals hardly ever do, and never should have to do, but when a national newspaper starts questioning your ethics and suggesting maybe you’re not a bunch of well-trained medical experts with a huge amount of integrity, but instead maybe are a bunch of sleazy hillbilly organ schleppers who’ll violate every oath you’ve ever taken and even break the law in order to sell a liver to some rich guy, even though it means that some poor broke bastard is going to die — well, when that happens, you put out the statement.

The President's press conference today

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TPM, as usual, has put together a tight edit of the highlights of today’s Obama press conference. Worth a watch. As you watch, imagine what would be said instead if the current President was John McCain, facing the Iran issue and the snarky questions from the press, with the able advice of Vice President Palin. Do you think McCain could have resisted an over-the-top response thereby triggering God knows what type of violent reaction against the protesters in Iraq.
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The President’s press conference today

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TPM, as usual, has put together a tight edit of the highlights of today’s Obama press conference. Worth a watch. As you watch, imagine what would be said instead if the current President was John McCain, facing the Iran issue and the snarky questions from the press, with the able advice of Vice President Palin. Do you think McCain could have resisted an over-the-top response thereby triggering God knows what type of violent reaction against the protesters in Iraq.