Toshiba has halted production of HD DVD players and recorders and is close to making a decision on whether to throw in the towel on the high-definition movie disc format, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported Saturday evening.

The decision, which NHK said will likely cost the company several tens of billions of dollars, is being made in the face of flagging support by movie studios and major U.S. retailers.

“We are making considerations following the impact on sales of Warner’s announcement but we haven’t made any decision,” said Keisuke Ohmori, a spokesman for Toshiba, when reached on Saturday evening. He was referring to the January decision by Warner Bros to stop issuing movies on HD DVD and go solely with Blu-ray Disc.

Read the whole story here…

There’s been a bit of stir over these two formats lately. Personally, I’ve watched them both and the quality is pretty much the same as far as the eye can tell. The best solution is just to purchase online, download, and view with a media streamer that supports HD. For example, I puchase HD movies online via a content provider, download, and then stream them to my Netgear EVA8000 on demand. What do you guys think?

Google on Monday announced a widely expected open-development platform for mobile devices backed by industry heavyweights like T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm and Motorola that could shake the wireless market to its core by simplifying and reducing the cost of developing mobile applications. The platform, called Android, has been developed by Google and others as part of the Open Handset Alliance, which has over 30 partners supporting it. The goal of this ambitious initiative is to spur innovation in the mobile space and accelerate improvements in how people use the Web via cell phones. The open-source platform will have a complete set of components, including an operating system, middleware stack, customizable user interface and applications.
The first Android-based phones should hit the market in the second half of 2008. The platform will be made available under an open-source license that will give a lot of flexibility to those who adopt it to modify its components and design services and products, Google said. Other founding members of the alliance include Broadcom, eBay, China Mobile, Intel, LG Electronics, NTT DoCoMo, Nvidia, Samsung, Sprint Nextel, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Texas Instruments and Wind River. Noticeably absent from the list is traditional Google ally Apple, whose popular iPhone might see its innovation lead cut sooner than expected thanks to this Google effort. It looks we will see Google products everywhere sooner or later…

Source: PC World, Computerworld

Technology is moving towards virtualization which will allow the lines between the digital and tangible world to cross. Before you know it, determining what’s of this world and what is created by raw processing power will be hard to differentiate. The way we communicate, manipulate objects, and live day to day life is rapidly changing. As if our “First Life” wasn’t busy enough this has created a virtual world called “Second Life“. We can now be anybody we want to be in this Second Life and do anything we want to do. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of this?

I personally, have been involved in this type of thinking since playing RPG games on my first Nintendo. Just the thought of transporting to another place in another time fascinated me and the best thing is I could do it without going anywhere; physically. I believe my favorite was “The Legend of Zelda“, but there was also another one that I was hooked on and the name of it isn’t coming to me. Anyways, those where to days, just sitting around playing games and not having to worry about to much else. I would often think that one day we would be able to emerse our minds into these “games” and physically feel like we were there. Am I crazy are what? LOL.

Then the movie “The Matrix” came out and just blew my mind. At the time I was studying electronics and learning about electricity on an atomic level. Basically our nervous system and mind is nothing more than a complex system of biological wiring that carry electrical currents to our muscles. We can alter our state of minds in many different ways. We can do it naturally with chemicals that our own bodies produce, or with man made chemicals that we put into our own bodies. Either way the point is that we can alter our natural state, so who’s say we can’t take it a step futher.

Now we have things like surface computing and people spending more time in virtual worlds like Second Life than they spend dealing with Real Life. So let’s take Second Life + The Matrix + Surface Computing and what do you get = blurred lines between reality and virtual reality. Although, I do realize that The Matrix is just a movie, can we all honestly say that with today’s technology that this won’t be a reality in the future. I’ve been a Second Life resident for over a year now and can honestly say that it’s an amazing place once you get to know your way around. When I first joined I was addicted, now I don’t get to spend to much time there, but visit it frequently.

I know this is all far fetched but I truly believe that one day this will all be a reality or should I say a “virtual reality“. Where does the line stop? What do you think?

Technorati Tags: Second Life, Microsoft, Surface Computing, The Matrix

Haven’t we all seen enough of the shooter games in last 10 years? This is the question that I ponder as all the hype about Halo 3 hit the market. So what’s the big deal about this game? Isn’t it just another shooter game? I personally haven’t played any version of Halo nor do I wish to. So come on game developers, develop something other than a shooter. Be orginal and test the market, you might be surprised the response you get.

Technorati Tags: Halo 3, Microsoft, Xbox