How HD-DVD Can Still Compete (maybe)
It's a shame. It seems that Toshiba and friends have already begun to throw in the towel in the war with the Sony camp on Hi-Def media. Warner Brothers' announcement that they would produce media exclusively on
Blu-Ray from now on prompted
HD-DVD to cancel their
schmoozy cocktail party this Sunday at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in
Las Vegas. That doesn't seem like a very good strategy. I mean, unless I'm completely missing something, it is ultimately the consumer that makes the market, not the producer. The producer of content attempts to direct the market. Usually the consumer will go with depth of content. Many times the consumer says, "nope, I want THIS," after which the producer capitulates. The producer, however, will often attempt to trick the consumer into thinking that he has no power. This seems to be what is occurring with the
HD-DVD/
Blu-Ray war. The studios join forces with manufacturers to make it seem that the consumer MUST choose one because that is simply how it is. Marketing truly is an awesome art.
Realizing this, all
Toshiba had to do early on was subsidize the production of
HD-DVD players to the extent that the price point dropped to $149.99 with an ultimate target and subsequent drops to $99. That would have flooded the market early on with players, and consumers would have followed suit with rentals and purchases. The
Wal-Mart effect... Low prices, high purchase rates, large constituency, broad market/user base, high distribution.
Now, however, dropping prices after the huge media coverage of the defection of Warner Bros. (OK, not really defection, but that does sound so much more dramatic) to
Blu-Ray would make it seem like all of the $99 players were on clearance because they were no longer useful. Some of us can still remember finding beta
VCRs at "bargain basement" prices back in the day.
But it still might be worth the gamble for Toshiba. This really is the endgame. Warner Brothers has some pretty good titles that
HD-DVD will never see. They've gotta provide true incentive for consumers to choose HD-DVD. They've gotta do something fast.
Those
HD-DVD players would make for pretty high-tech paper weights.
Journeyman: Worth the Watch!
I often wonder, after declaring to myself that a particular program is good, whether I am simply being swept up in the emotional aftermath of the experience. The fact that there is emotional aftermath is proof enough that the story IS good and worthy of further scrutiny and discussion. There is something to be said for the guilty pleasure of mindless yet entertaining television. Entourage is not deep, nor riveting. But it is a truly great watch after the pressures and requirements of daily life.
Journeyman, however is good, Emmy-worthy viewing with complex plot lines, relationships and, the true test, emotional provocation.
Before I reluctantly viewed the first episode of
Journeyman, I figured I'd likely seen the whole thing before. Wasn't it circa 1989 that Sam took us on a ride through time by possessing different subjects to fix their time-sensitive dilemmas? OK, same base scenario, but where the acting was mediocre at best and the plots were true bubble gum, Journeyman's writers are based in realism in framing the whole time travel thing (no talking to calculators for instant answers...OK, I did watch a few episodes of Quantum Leap). And the writers are very good indeed. So much that after viewing this season, one might even begin to believe that time travel is remotely possible. (Yes I was forced to pick up a book on
quantum physics and did the required reading on
tachyons. A report is due on my desk in one week people!)
Kevin McKidd does a stellar job as Dan Vassar, our reluctant hero. This is the type of role we are used to seeing him play after watching the HBO series Rome.
McKidd plays a news reporter with a San Francisco paper who was just starting to enjoy normal family life when suddenly he begins to "travel." The situations are rife with conflict, the acting is outstanding and the dialogue, though not necessarily award winning, is at least supportive of the action and most importantly the emotion. And then there is the music. An unexpected treat is that whenever
McKidd "travels" we get to play Name That Tune as the soundtrack indicates the year of "travel". He usually meets up with his side kick and ex-fiancee Livia Beale (the truly riveting
Moon Bloodgood).
Bloodgood is always worth watching. Ahem.
I meant for this to be a short post to simply recommend the Journeyman as good TV. I don't watch much TV, but when I do, it's
HBO (OK,
Entourage...yes and
The Wire) maybe some
Heroes, but definitely
Journeyman. And I usually feel like blogging afterwards.
That's a good sign.
On Faith and Friends
So I'm Christian. Well, I call myself Christian, but I haven't been the best...OK really, I haven't been any example of Christian. I should start. I will start.
I was looking up an old friend and found her
husband's blog. One post in particular got me. in
this post, the MDiv student discusses an occasion when he had the chance to share his faith, but didn't for trivial, or even shameful reasons. That hit me like a bag of rocks to the gut.
The rooster hasn't even cleared his throat yet and I've got Peter beaten a hundred times...Wait. That didn't exactly sound the way I meant. But you know what I mean.
Damned Media!
Sensationalism!
So I was on my way home from work when I noticed a sea of emergency vehicle lights on the other side of the highway. Since I hate rubberneckers, I didn't partake in the ogling. But then, I thought to myself, "What if it is news relevant?" I've been reminding myself to start thinking that way lately. I've been trying to come up with a more focused blog. In the meantime, it gave me an excuse to be a rubberneck-...uh, I mean a reporter. I had my trusted camera, and I was off to play the media.
Of course, I couldn't ask the straight reporter questions. I had to sensationalize a bit. And, it's fun to be a little off color and non-
pc when reporting. But I got a reaction I didn't expect. The following took place between a city employee (E) who was on the scene and me (SM), the "reporter."
SM - Hi, I'm Sean Mitchell with the Daily Mix.
E - Hi
SM - Anybody Die?
E - What?
SM - What Happened?
E - A truck overturned.
SM - Uh huh. Anybody die?
E - No. The guy was hurt and taken to the hospital.
SM - Oh. That's good. What was in the truck?
E - Mail. It's a Post Office rig.
SM - Really?
Lotsa of mail lost, eh?
E - No, there wasn't any on the truck.
SM - Really. None?
E - No.
SM - So...A Post Office truck driver runs off the road, doesn't die and doesn't lose any mail? Where's the story?
E - I don't know.
SM - Come on, help me out here. How much is replacing that rail going to cost?
E - I don't know yet.
SM - You gotta have some idea.
E - Damned media. You guys always try and sensationalize everything. You always look for something when there is nothing there.
SM - What?
E - There is no story!
SM - OK......So was there anyone else hurt?
Crazy Christmas Shoppers!
Yeah...Black Friday!
Uh. People are crazy!
Hey, did you check out the Disney store! Man, they had this Minnie Mouse jacket for 50%...oh. uh...ahem. People are really crazy!
Why gPhone could fail Google
Last week's much anticipated announcement from Google turned out to be not much of of what most people wanted to hear. That is, it wasn't actually a Google
gPhone. That said, a major development was announced. That announcement from Google was essentially:
If a
gPhone arrives, it will have a consortium of stakeholders interested in its success from developers to carriers. But there is still no actual
gPhone, just a group of people dedicated to its success. Incredible.
Apple has done an
interesting thing with the iPhone, something it has continually done with the development of such products as the Apple II, the Mac, the
iPod and the iPhone. It has set functional and design benchmarks that have been, and will continue to be emulated until their relevance is no more. That day seems far, far away.
Currently, Apple is very relevant. The iPhone and and
iPod are the hottest thing in
mainstream small electronics. And they still do computers, by the way; computers with...panache.
Google is of the same ilk. The company was born of the desire to locate information on the Net, and has become synonymous with Web 2.0+. Many look to Google for the Meaning of Net. Google is the Net oracle for what shall become of the Net. Its relevance is felt far beyond the simple search. With Google Apps and all other products over the last five years, it has become, along with
MySpace and
Facebook, well, the Net. An entire generation, from about 2005 to present knows of no other more prevalent brands than Google, Microsoft, Starbucks,
MySpace,
Wal-Mart,
McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Target and
Facebook, and probably in that order.
But to date, a major Google failure has not been seen. Shareholders, in the face of a
subprime meltdown and an ever weakening dollar, find inspiration in Google, whose shares have risen nearly 1000 percent since it's
IPO. The
gPhone might be the next big nothing. Google must come up with
a more relevant offering than Apple's iPhone for longevity's sake. If not, Google might just be facing it's big
disappointment. And Google is not really used to disappointing. In that realm, they can take a few pointers from Microsoft, a company with a huge amount of cash and leverage that still couldn't deliver what the consumer expected with its release of Vista. The story goes that Vista was released in a hurry so as to beat Apple's
Leopard to market. Leopard, although released six months later, was well received and lauded by critics as a stellar OS. This further marginalizes Microsoft's position as THE OS factory. Google take notice! While the android platform is very exciting, and the group of companies and developers that have signed on is encouraging, above all, the product has to make the buyer, well, fall in love
everyt ime she turns it on. Otherwise, you're stuck with Vista
