* Yes, I got the new truck, and yes that’s why I wasn’t writing, last night.
Pictures later. The light was terrible, today. Basically, this new one isn’t nearly as flashy as the old one. Until you get inside.
* I didn’t participate in the caption contest at OTB, just recently, because the picture reminded me uncomfortably of the situation described by Dale Franks the other day with his dog. The humans in the picture reminded me of Dale. I must say, I was very disappointed to see the way that situation developed for Dale. And, for the dog. I guess, in the end, I wasn’t comfortable joking about it.
* Speaking of OTB, I see James linking a note from Kim Komando, who says that LG has a new, dual mode DVD player out:
There are two high-definition formats: HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. The formats are incompatible; so many buyers have been hesitant to commit. Perhaps you remember the VHS and Betamax format war of the 1980s?
To get around this issue, some studios release movies on both formats. But many stick to one. More movies have been released on Blu-ray.
A solution is on the horizon. LG recently released a player that handles both HD DVD and Blu-ray. At $1,200, it is pricey; however, it won’t soon become obsolete. Samsung will also release a dual-format player this year.
Total Hi Def (THD) discs are also coming this year. These discs will contain both HD DVD and Blu-ray versions of a movie. Warner Bros. developed THD, but other studios may adopt it. The discs won’t be much more expensive than other high-definition discs. High-definition movies currently cost $30 to $40.
James comments that :
Dual-former discs and/or players would, obviously, render the format issue moot and should kick demand for players up several notches.
I doubt it. mean, perhaps, but I don’t think it’s going to eliminate the reluctance to buy, altogether. Kim’s comparison of the Beta/VHS wars relates a concern that is still very much a given, for buyers expected to spend a not inconsequential amount of money on a player…
Think back a little bit, and you may remember that the eventual successor, VHS, was replaced by the DVD within ten years. By the time everybody had jumped on the VHS bandwagon, and spent enormous amounts of money on tape collections, the we were then expected to jump on the DVD bandwagon, replacing the entire collection that we’d spent hundreds of dollars on.
What are we going to be replacing at $1,200.00 players and $40 each media with, another seven years from now? It’s not surprising to see Kim Komando not mention that factor, since in the end, she’s a salesperson for technology…but I would have thought James would mention that at least once.
I am by no stretch playing the part of the neophyte here. But the amount of money involved for a format change , where those changes are coming with increasing speed, I would think eventually is gonna cut into your sales.* I’m not sure what to think about this one over in Deleware country whch would be just east of Binghamton, NY. I mean I can imagine what some would say… Beck, for example, (Who, come to think on it is from around there, more or less) but I guess my reaction would depend on what led up to this, and I’m not getting a good picture of that from what background info I’ve found.
* Nice to see the Sabres up by two games against the Rangers, thogh I’d have been a lot happier had they looked better in the first two periods.
* Hey, Roy… If we’re going to be talking about hypocrisy, shall we address the issue of how much energy is being used by democratic presidential candidates, and democratic party hangers on such as Sheryl Crow, as they preach to us about how we should be saving energy? Those private jets, as I recall, can get rather thirsty when they’re buying votes. I suppose, however, that there is no level the Democrats won’t sink to, when they are desperate for some kind of a scandal to throw at the Republicans.
* Peggy Noonan has a piece in the Wall Street Journal, today, that I commend to your reading. She makes the suggestion that were busy scaring our children to death. No, by no means a mime urging that we increase the politics of “for the children”. However our point is well taken in that there is an increasing emphasis on frightening the crap out of kids these days. Some of the pictures she talks about, are clearly intended to frighten, with violence. And yet we are busy telling our kids that they shouldn’t be violent under any circumstances. That’s a contradiction that’s going to come back and bite us, eventually.
Tags: BitsBlog, Nightly Ramble
