To this day, BluRay still has fewer good movies for it than Blu Ray. Seriously! If you guys thought the HD-DVD VS Blu-Ray wars were bad, just wait for the BluRay VS Blu Ray wars.
Offline porn doesn't matter anymore. Everyone gets their porn on the internet nowadays for much cheaper. They'd rather pay $20 for a one-month pass to a site that has thousands of movies than $20 for one disc.
The problem is that there are around 9 million PS3s in consumer hands, and this number is growing at a much faster rate than HD-DVD player sales are. That doesn't include standalone players, either.
Sony made a pretty brilliant move in equipping the PS3 with Blu-ray. Not only did they pretty much ensure that Blu-ray would win the format war, once they win it, sales of the PS3 will grow because it's the best Blu-ray player.
So just because some studios are initially backing Blu Ray doesn't mean anything in the long run. They'll release their movies for whatever format consumers decide to buy, or they'll go out of business. This isn't "some" studios. This is "almost all" studios. Paramount and Universal are the only major studios left supporting HD-DVD (minor: Weinstein, Focus). Contrast that with Sony Pictures, Buena Vista, Warner, Fox, and New Line supporting Blu-ray (minor: Lionsgate, MGM, Screen Gems, Searchlight, Miramax). Even prior to this change, Blu-ray movies were outselling HD-DVD movies 2:1 - this move will probably push that to 3:1 or further. (In other countries besides the US, the ratio is even higher. Up to 9:1 in Japan, I believe.)
Finally, it is entirely possible neither format will win. It may be that dual format players become the norm and both formats continue to survive. I agree with your first statement but not your second. HD-DVD is pretty much dead at this point - there is much more hardware support, much more studio support, and much more retail support for Blu-ray.
Blu-ray's biggest threat now is digital distribution. Sadly, what's holding this back is the cluelessness of media corporations. Remember how horribly the music studios handled music distribution online? Yeah.
It grays out depending on the location you search in. Try searching in San Francisco, for instance.
If the people submitting data for that location didn't include the sexual orientation information, then there's nothing to narrow down by, and therefore that drop-down box is useless, so it's grayed out.
The motorbikes they're on now, while using less gas, are likely far worse when it comes to air pollution than this car would be. Especially when you start to factor in carpooling.
The UK government places these in accident-prone areas Which then makes them more accident-prone as all the people entering that area slam on the brakes to not get a ticket.
It's just like when they put red-light cameras at intersections and rear-end accidents skyrocket. Brilliant!
My fellow citizens of the Internet: ask not what Slashdot will do for your data, but what together we can do for the freedom of all data. Says the Slashdotter: "Information is meant to be free, but NOBODY HAD BETTER KEEP INFORMATION ABOUT ME DAMN IT"
Okay, we'll set up that true Democratic process. Now the problem is that there are TONS of people and far fewer politicians to hear all the complaints/suggestions. So, for efficiency's sake, we'll need to organize these people into groups by what their interests are and then have people represent them and go talk to the politicians.
Oh wait...
The solution is not to ban lobbying. The solution is to ban "gifts" and campaign contributions by the lobbies.
Greed is not good, Gordon. Why not? You do realize that tons of advances in tons of fields get made only because the people who make them want to earn bucketloads of money, right?
Greed spurs innovation. Many of these advances wouldn't have been developed without the promise of money once they're complete.
... because that doesn't help you build a better search engine? Which data is more useful to you when you're trying to return good results to users:
1) This search query was used 10 times, link a was clicked 5 times, and link b was clicked 5 times. 2) This search query was used 10 times, but 9 of those 10 times, people from the user's region really wanted to narrow down the serach query with this keyword (so suggest that to them), and when THAT query was performed, people with that users demographics were 85% more likely to click link b rather than link a (so rearrange the results).
There's a good reason Google has better results than its competitors.
The problem is that yes, the gameplay is great... under certain conditions:
1) You're in a group. This is where it really, really shines. 2) You feel like playing "shallow" games.
If you're looking for a deep single-player experience, the Wii's not the way to go. When I have people over, the breakdown is about 75% Wii, 25% 360/PS3. When I'm by myself, it's about 90% 360/PS3, 10% Wii.
I guess I've been on the good end of this policy. My orders nearly always ship next-day, and I placed one yesterday that shipped same-day. Whenever I've had to contact them, I've had a reply within two hours and they've always resolved every issue I've had at least to, if not better than, my expectation.
For reference, I buy something from them about once a week.
Slashdot Mirror
That makes HD-DVDs as scratchable as regular DVDs (read: very).
From what I hear, that coating on Blu-ray is very good.
Offline porn doesn't matter anymore. Everyone gets their porn on the internet nowadays for much cheaper. They'd rather pay $20 for a one-month pass to a site that has thousands of movies than $20 for one disc.
Those numbers only count standalone players. There are about 9,000,000 PS3s in consumer hands that can play Blu-rays as well.
Either way, if you look at the software sales, it's obvious who is winning.
That only applies if there's a monoply. Sony doesn't have a monopoly. Why should there be a lawsuit?
Blu-ray is far, far more companies than just Sony, anyway.
The problem is that there are around 9 million PS3s in consumer hands, and this number is growing at a much faster rate than HD-DVD player sales are. That doesn't include standalone players, either.
Sony made a pretty brilliant move in equipping the PS3 with Blu-ray. Not only did they pretty much ensure that Blu-ray would win the format war, once they win it, sales of the PS3 will grow because it's the best Blu-ray player.
Blu-ray's biggest threat now is digital distribution. Sadly, what's holding this back is the cluelessness of media corporations. Remember how horribly the music studios handled music distribution online? Yeah.
Since the HD-DVD drive is external to the 360, there's nothing stopping them from releasing an external Blu-ray drive, hm?
It grays out depending on the location you search in. Try searching in San Francisco, for instance.
If the people submitting data for that location didn't include the sexual orientation information, then there's nothing to narrow down by, and therefore that drop-down box is useless, so it's grayed out.
It's how data gets into Google Product Search.
The motorbikes they're on now, while using less gas, are likely far worse when it comes to air pollution than this car would be. Especially when you start to factor in carpooling.
It's just like when they put red-light cameras at intersections and rear-end accidents skyrocket. Brilliant!
Yes, because Google never donates anything to anyone.
So what happens if people on the inside are the only ones who know the real truth about a certain subject?
Hrm.
Okay, we'll set up that true Democratic process. Now the problem is that there are TONS of people and far fewer politicians to hear all the complaints/suggestions. So, for efficiency's sake, we'll need to organize these people into groups by what their interests are and then have people represent them and go talk to the politicians.
Oh wait...
The solution is not to ban lobbying. The solution is to ban "gifts" and campaign contributions by the lobbies.
Greed spurs innovation. Many of these advances wouldn't have been developed without the promise of money once they're complete.
... because that doesn't help you build a better search engine? Which data is more useful to you when you're trying to return good results to users:
1) This search query was used 10 times, link a was clicked 5 times, and link b was clicked 5 times.
2) This search query was used 10 times, but 9 of those 10 times, people from the user's region really wanted to narrow down the serach query with this keyword (so suggest that to them), and when THAT query was performed, people with that users demographics were 85% more likely to click link b rather than link a (so rearrange the results).
There's a good reason Google has better results than its competitors.
The intro of the movie can be found here: http://www.glumbert.com/media/idiocracy It'll give you a good sense of the tone and style of humor of the movie.
It really is a must-see.
The problem is that yes, the gameplay is great... under certain conditions:
1) You're in a group. This is where it really, really shines.
2) You feel like playing "shallow" games.
If you're looking for a deep single-player experience, the Wii's not the way to go. When I have people over, the breakdown is about 75% Wii, 25% 360/PS3. When I'm by myself, it's about 90% 360/PS3, 10% Wii.
Last year's was the TMX. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tickle_Me_Elmo#TMX
At that point, most non-gamers didn't care about the Wii yet. It really didn't become the "everyone has to have one" machine until 2007.
Hell, the line I waited in on release day was shorter than the ones I'm hearing about now.
Unless they're planning on hacking everyone's account, that's not going to work. It only adjusts personal preferences.
Oh, yes, I trust that guy completely when he makes claims like "There's no way that building could have come down without controlled demolition."
One nutjob saying things is hardly proof.
I guess I've been on the good end of this policy. My orders nearly always ship next-day, and I placed one yesterday that shipped same-day. Whenever I've had to contact them, I've had a reply within two hours and they've always resolved every issue I've had at least to, if not better than, my expectation.
For reference, I buy something from them about once a week.