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AFAICT, BD-J is indeed based on JME.

Followup, here is a story about the problems where me Warner spokeswoman Ann Shrewsbury said "I think the software is stable now. We're ready to move on." (Jun 22, 2007) Today, problems with their "OCAP Digital Navigator" are still ongoing. I can try to test it again (there was another update last night turning off all three cable boxes) but I have no confidence that the TiVo-defeating bugs have been addressed.

My only relief is that installing CableCARDs in a Series3 TiVo have apparently avoids the problematic software, at least for now.

Locations subjected to the unannounced "beta test" (PDF) are New York City; Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Waco, Texas.

Yes, but you forgot to mention other facts about some of those companies:
Apple - Makes DVD Studio, which includes support for making HD-DVDs
Dell - Only cares about data, not movies
Hewlett-Packard - Only cares about data, not movies
Hitachi - Only cares about data, not movies
LG - Released the first combo HD-DVD/BluRay player (which they have promised to update with better HD-DVD support).
Samsung - Recently announced that they are going to be releasing an HD-DVD player for the holidays.
Warner Bros. - Releases on both HD-DVD and BluRay, but is only releasing many of their most popular movies (including the Matrix trilogy) on HD-DVD due to the lack of interactivity available on BluRay players.

Sun - Only involved because they managed to get Java into the BluRay spec. Some of you may know what a pain it is trying to release Java programs that work well on different versions of the JDK. Well, guess what, it's even worse on BluRay. Read this link to find out how much fun it is for the studios trying to use BDJ, they end up writing the same thing 8 different ways in the hopes that one of them will work in the version of Java on your player: http://www.blueboard.com/bluray/qa_dragonslair.htm If this is any indication of what will be required of them then I imagine that most of the BluRay studios will soon be jumping to HD-DVD.

Most of those comparisons are flawed, it's true: switching from tape to optical media is a significant difference with an obvious difference in features.

But when it comes to dial-up vs. broadband, I'm not so sure. Broadband is just like dial-up, only faster. I guess there's the "always-on" feature, but you could have that if you paid for an extra land line (which is frequently just as expensive as broadband).

Now, you might say: "But with broadband comes all these crazy features that you could never have squeezed down a 56.6 baud pipe!" Yeah, well, the BR/HD folks say the same thing about their new formats: you can cram all kinds of crazy stuff into the dozens of GB these disks can offer. Not to mention that Blu-ray supports a full Java stack, blah blah blah.

And, despite the fact that broadband hasn't universally replaced dial-up, I'd suspect (without evidence) that this is mostly due to limited availablity of broadband in many parts of the US and the world.

No creature can compare in blistering speed attacks and calculated & intelligent visciousness (save certain members of the GOP) than that of the stomatopod. Have you ever seen this killing machine in action? Go here: http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/ to learn more about their predaceous prowess. You can watch videos of them doing their thing here: http://www.grimreefers.com/. Enjoy!

Check out the vision system of mantis shrimp (stomatopods). Can see 10+ primary colors to our 3, have binocular vision in one eye by scanning it rapidly, can detect the polarization of light, etc. Fascinating.

You may be dyslexic when reading English. Learning a different language that reads from right to left may eliminate this problem.
Alternatively you should have your optical system replaced with that of the Mantis Shrimp, which has eight different retinal pigments
ranging from ultra-violet to ruby red, and a couple of layer of polarisation filters added for good measure. This should sort out your reading problem.

This is not true. Rods do not count as a separate chroma receptor. It is the case, though that some people have four unique cones. Mantis shrimp have especially impressive eyes BTW. There are not four primary colors. The color system is a model that is based on the limitations of our eye and only three colors are necessary. There are, in fact, an infinite number of unique colors.

Mobile phones and computers are very different animals. First and foremost a phone is a phone. It's not a laptop. It's not a gameboy. It's a phone...you call people with it.

Because of this, people have an expectation that thier phones will have a very high degree of reliability and security. They see mobile phones as an appliance like microwaves, dishwashers, and radios...and any modern appliance that crashed twice a day would be totally unacceptable to most (especially non-techie) consumers. How many people here thing that this brand-new SDK, having never been battle tested in the real world, has managed to fix all of the reliability and security bugs found in all other Microsoft products? Anyone?

Besides there's already One True Platform for mobile development. It's mature, reliable, secure, and included on just about every device being produced today.

So, Microsoft, explain to me exactly why I should even bother with this?

Lurker's Guide to J2ME

Actually, it's a multi-billion industry if you include all the java apps that manage ringtones and other business apps. For news and articles on j2me: http://www.blueboard.com/j2me/

btw, check out this all-java PDA from kyocera, man that looks cool.

Kyocera Java PDA

"Further distancing itself from other and more mainstream PDA products, the user interface of the Pocket Cosmo is according to Kyocera entirely original with rich menus supporting 3D movement, smooth scrolling and instantaneous switching of applications..."

more j2me news: lurker's guide to j2me

you are right, the UI may not be the only thing you have to change (e.g. MIDP uses RecordStores for persistent data storage).

however, by using abstract classes and interfaces as "glues" it is possible to port from one J2ME profile to another (or even from one config to another), and it may even be possible (although harder) to port J2SE apps to J2ME...the problem is that many authors of j2se and j2ee apps write their code in expectation of relatively robust environments --- not the constrained environments of j2me.

for info on the diff profiles and configs of j2me:

http://www.blueboard.com/j2me/intro.htm

it's not that bad a phone.

here's mine running a skateboard game: http://www.blueboard.com/phone/nextel.gif

Br sure to order the data cable the same day you order the phone. You'll need it to install your own apps into the thing. i think it's $19 or so right now.

You'll also need to get the download software at iden.motorola.com, and (if you want to install your own network-aware apps) need to get permission from nextel (it's by email and fast).

i am actually quite surprised about some of the misconceptions here about j2me.

there's the usual java is slow mantra, which related to circa 1997 java maybe, but certainly not java today. there's the "but microsoft controls 90% of XXX", which of course forgets the fact that we're talking beyond the desktop here... etc,etc.

for a partial listing of reasons to use j2me:
http://www.blueboard.com/j2me/why.htm

btw, j2me is a PROVEN solution, with more than 23 MILLION handset clients already running it around the world (projected to more than a BILLION by 2004), and more than one hundred million java smart cards being used. it runs as the OS, on top of BREW, on top of SYMBIAN, and on top of LINUX, and on top of the lone WinCE phone.

more info:
Lurker's Guide to J2ME

i am actually quite surprised about some of the misconceptions here about j2me.

there's the usual java is slow mantra, which related to circa 1997 java maybe, but certainly not java today. there's the "but microsoft controls 90% of XXX", which of course forgets the fact that we're talking beyond the desktop here... etc,etc.

for a partial listing of reasons to use j2me:
http://www.blueboard.com/j2me/why.htm

btw, j2me is a PROVEN solution, with more than 23 MILLION handset clients already running it around the world (projected to more than a BILLION by 2004), and more than one hundred million java smart cards being used. it runs as the OS, on top of BREW, on top of SYMBIAN, and on top of LINUX, and on top of the lone WinCE phone.

more info:
Lurker's Guide to J2ME