Spent the last few hours watching the two new 3D Blu-Ray releases that came out today. First up was Journey To The Center Of The Earth, which is a movie I consider more fun that most people likely do. It has little basis in reality, but it’s well made and quite a lot of adventure fun. Since I now have a nice, new HD front projection system, I was interested to see how well a Blu-Ray release of a 3D film would be on the projector (and 110″ horizontal screen which should give it enough size to help the 3D). So, I popped in the Journey BD, put on the cardboard 3D anaglyph glasses that came with it (4 pairs are included), turned down all the lights and sat in the prime viewing spot. Having seen the film a couple times in RealD digital projection theatrically this summer, I was prepared for this anaglyph presentation to pail in comparison. The RealD technology used theatrically is really quite impressive. But as I watched it, I was moderately impressed with the BD presentation. That is to say that the 3D aspects of it come through pretty well. Of course, it suffers quite a bit from the color problems that go hand in hand with anaglyph 3D presentation (which use two alternating color lenses to filter each eye - in other words, the same stuff they’ve been using since the 50’s). The 3D in this form works with varying degrees of success, but I kinda liked it. At the very least, it’s good that they include both the 2D and 3D versions on the disc. 3D may not be the format I’ll watch it in most of the time, but it’s kinda cool to watch it in 3D for the gimmick. So after the moderately successful experience of watching the Journey BD, I then moved on to The Polar Express 3D BD that was also released today. Rather than opening another pack of glasses, I put on the ones I was using for Journey. As soon as the movie started, I was shocked to find that it was in no way right. I took off the glasses and looked at the ones included with the Polar Express disc, and they were quite different. Not only did the colors look reversed, but they were actually different colors. So, I unpacked the Polar Express glasses and put on a pair. I watched through some of my favorite sequences in Polar Express (a great movie), but was FAR less impressed with the 3D experience. After a brief amount of research, it turns out that the Polar Express glasses are more traditional red/blue anaglyph glasses, and they resulted in the terrible quality 3D viewing experience I was expecting before watching the 2 discs today. Seems that they used a different set of colors for the glasses included with Journey, and I was rather startled at the difference it makes. For one thing, the magenta color isn’t nearly as opaque as the red used in the older style, which seems to make a world of difference in the 3D ghosting issues I’d been used to with this sort of thing. With both lenses able to be a lighter color shade (green on the other side, I believe - and they are reversed from the older ones where red was over the left eye), the 3D doesn’t seem to do that 3D ghosting much at all. Granted, it still has the color troubles with bright colors in the background or foreground taking on horrible shades of the lenses. However, objects in the middle of field have a pretty good color fidelity, and remarkably good skin tones. Of course, it makes me sad that Polar Express wasn’t done with the same combination as Journey, because the Polar Express disc is darn near unwatchable in it’s 3D form. At least I don’t think I’d wanna suffer through the presentation quality for the entire run of the film. I did, on the other hand, watch the entirety of Journey. With that one, you get pretty used to the coloration issues (though it is jarring in some scenes still). I know they are hard at work in coming up with home 3D display technology, but it’s still pretty expensive and a ways off. Even with the improved technique used with Journey, I don’t see this becoming much of a standard thing in the home video market. I guess the theaters have found their niche for the next few years. One thing is for darned sure, I can’t wait to see James Cameron’s upcoming Avatar. Cameron is looking to do his usual thing of pushing the movie industry another 10 years into the future with one of his films, and Avatar will be the big 3D push of the decade. And hey, the film score geek in me can’t wait for a huge budget, sci-fi film directed by Cameron with James Horner as the composer.

Here’s an online chat transcript that a colleague of mine had with Earthlink tech support today. I’ve changed the name of the customer service rep and customer to protect the innocent/frustrated. As somebody who actually does support end users (though not in the same manner as an actual CSR), I have a moderate amount of sympathy for the CSR. But my true sympathy and endless amusement from this conversation thread goes to the poor unfortunate soul that I have relabeled as “customer.”

info: Welcome to Earthlink LiveChat. Your chat session will begin shortly.  Feel free to begin typing your question.
info: ‘CSR’ says: Thank you for contacting EarthLink LiveChat, how may I help you today?
Customer: http://kb.earthlink.net/case.asp?article=187117
Customer: These opt-out servers don’t work as stated.
Customer: They haven’t for months.
Customer: I need to use some opt-out servers for DNS.
CSR: Hello, I will assist you.
Customer: Please let me know which DNS servers Earthlink offers users who need to take advantage of the provisions this knowledge base article erroneously claims these servers provide.
CSR: I suggest you to use:
Primary DNS server number: 207.69.188.185
And the Alternate DNS server number: 207.69.188.186

Customer: Those are opt-out servers?
Customer: Per the article? Or are those just the regular Earthlink suggested DNS servers?
CSR: Yes, let me know, are you getting any error message.
Customer: :-/
Customer: Do you understand my issue? Are you looking at the Earthlink article I cite above?
CSR: Yes, I am at that link only, let me know are you able to follow the steps?
Customer: To answer your question, I still get the stupid Earthlink redirect after changing DNS servers as you suggest. So no, those are not opt-out servers.
CSR: I apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you.
Customer: I won’t accept your apology, ’cause this isn’t your fault. There’s no way you can be expected to represent Earthlink’s stupidity on this issue. I’m sure you’re doing a good job; the company that pays you has just been really, really stupid about this.
Customer: Tell you what might be helpful. Can you give me a list of every DNS server Earthlink may have — all of them that exist as far as you know? Maybe — just maybe — one of them will opt out of the redirects.
CSR: Please let me know the redirected page you are getting when you are trying to access the page.
Customer: I’m getting the lame Earthlink DNS redirect page: http://earthlink-help.com/main?AddInType=Bdns&Version=1.3.1el&FailureMode=1&ParticipantID=xj6e3468k634hy3945zg3zkhfn7zfgf6&ClientLocation=us&FailedURI=http%3A%2F%2Fsosososososos.com%2F
Customer: That’s when I try the URL sosososososos.com — which of course is a non-existent domain.
Customer: That’s the darned simple test for whether the DNS server at issue is an opt-out or not.
CSR: Thank you for the information.
CSR: Please stay on hold while I work on the issue.
Customer: The actual issue in my case is as the article acknowledges — a VPN problem with the stupid redirect servers.
Customer: The article claims: “In rare circumstances DNS error page routing may cause problems for some EarthLink customers running various speciality programs or services. As a work around, EarthLink provides two DNS addresses that do not route to our EarthLink/Yahoo! error page. These DNS addresses can be used as a means of opting out of the error re-routing service.”
CSR: Let me know, have you installed TotalAccess on your computer.
Customer: The only problem, of course, is that the servers specified haven’t provided this opt-out functionality for nearly a year. And Earthlink hasn’t updated this article, nor have they restored the functionality their stupid article claims the servers provide.
Customer: Good Lord no, why would I install Earthlink’s bogus software?
Customer: This is a simple DNS issue.
Customer: And installing such software would not make any difference for how DNS works.
Customer: Among other things, I’m doing PPPOE at the router, and specifying the DNS servers in its settings to avoid the defaults via DHCP, which are not opt-outs either.
Customer: So my DNS on the local machine, via DHCP, is the router’s IP (gateway on the local network).
CSR: Are you chatting with me from the same system with which you are having the issue?
Customer: The problem is demonstrably that the servers listed in the knowledge base article are not performing as the article claims. They are redirecting bogus DNS requests. Therefore, the solution to this problem does not involve the client system or settings. The solution will be to identify actual DNS servers that opt out of the idiotic redirection, or to change the ones Earthlink CLAIMS do, but they don’t.
Customer: Aaaargh!@
Customer: This isn’t an issue of a particular computer having this problem.
Customer: Any computer on the planet that’s pointed to the supposed opt-out servers specified in the article, will ridiculously get the redirect page when a non-existent domain is looked up — contrary to the article’s claims for these servers.
CSR: I suggest you to use another browser once and check the issue.
Customer: Look, please understand. DNS works fine for me with existent domains. My problem is the paragraph I ARGH! NO NO NO!
Customer: Do you understand the paragraph I pasted in from the article?
Customer: Please read that paragraph I quoted above, from the article. This is NOT A CLIENT ISSUE. The reason the article exists, and the opt-out servers were originally provided when the article was young and accurate, was because people using the usual DNS servers had problems the paragraph I quoted cites. NORMAL DNS IN A WEB BROWSER WORKS FINE.
Customer: The way to TEST whether the DNS servers in use are actually opting out of the redirection, is to type in a bogus domain. If the redirect page shows up, the DNS servers in use are not opt-out servers — they’re still redirecting just like the normal servers you configure everyone to use, or which automatically configure from the connection.
CSR: Please let me know the Operating System that you are using.  Is it Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP/NT or Vista?
Customer: :-\
Customer: You’re doing it again.
Customer: Vista
Customer: XP
Customer: 2000
Customer: 98
Customer: it doesn’t matter.
CSR: Thank you.
Customer: I have two machines in the house. One XP, one Vista.
Customer: It could be Linux, and it’d be the same.
Customer: A Macintosh would have the same problem.
Customer: The issue is that the DNS servers in the article are not doing what they’re supposed to do. Again, I can do everything else just fine. DNS is just dandy! But the servers redirect bogus domains, which is a SYMPTOM of a non-standard DNS functionality Earthlink implemented for stupid marketing/revenue purposes (syndication links on the idiotic redirect page), which also indicates why VPN connections (in my case) aren’t working properly.
CSR: I suggest you to bypass the router once and connect the DSL modem directly to the computer and check the issue, This will confirm whether the issue is with the router or the modem. If you still face the same issue I need to escalate this issue to our engineers.
Customer: If the opt-out servers were working as specified in the article, I would not be having any of these problems with the VPN connection. It worked fine back in the day when the servers actually opted out off the redirection.
Customer: ARGH!
Customer: IT’S THE DNS SERVER!
Customer: If you don not understand the article or the paragraph I quoted, please escalate immediately./
Customer: I’m not going to jump through these hoops. I seriously don’t think you understand the issue. That’s fine, no ill will, but please let’s move this along.
CSR: We are having two type of DNS numbers: the stander DNS numbers are:
CSR: Primary DNS server number: 207.69.188.171
And the Alternate DNS server number: 207.69.188.172

CSR: And the another DNS numbers are:
CSR: Primary DNS server number: 207.69.188.185
And the Alternate DNS server number: 207.69.188.186

CSR: You have checked the issue with both DNS numbers.
Customer: Right. Those are specified in the article, and they do not work as specified. They work (with respect to redirection) just like the other servers. They’re not supposed to. There’s nothing on the client side that can cause the servers to behave wrongly. THEY are doing the redirection. This is an Earthlink problem.
Customer: YES.
CSR: I suggest you to bypass the router once and check the issue, if you still face the same issue I will escalate the issue.
Customer: :-\
Customer: Trust me on this. Please.
Customer: Just be honest with yourself as you read the article; if you don’t understand the issue and are reading off a checklist of what I should try, please escalate.
CSR: Okay, Please let me know the security word on your account, which appears to be mother’s maiden name, for verification purposes.
Customer: **********
Customer: Thank you.
CSR: Thank you for the account verification information. I was able to verify your account.
CSR: In that case, as all the possible steps have been taken to fix the issue, I would need to escalate it to our engineers who would be in a better position to assist you on this.
CSR: I am escalating the issue to our engineers with high priority so that our engineers will work on the issue and will fix it at the earliest time frame.
Customer: Will they get a full transcript of this session?
CSR: Let me know your contact phone number.
Customer: ***.***.****
Customer: Thank you.
CSR: Is there an answering machine on the contact phone number?
Customer: No. I always answer it.
CSR: Let me know your Time Zone.
Customer: Central Standard in Illinois.
CSR: Let me know the best time to contact you at your contact phone number.
Customer: Any time at all, night or day.
Customer: Now would be best.
CSR: Thank you for the information, I appreciate your patience and cooperation and understanding while we are working on the issue.
Customer: You mean “doing the best we can under the circumstances while the buttheads at Earthlink who hired us sit on their arses doing nothing.” I know you can’t say that, but I can.
CSR: This will take 24 to 48 hours to fix the issue, It was my pleasure assisting a friendly customer like you. Is there anything else I could assist you with?
Customer: No — just have a great day/night.
Customer: If EL actually takes care of this as a consequence of this conversation, you will have pulled of a heckuva miracle — or your supervisors will have. So cross your fingers and hope for the best.
CSR: You are welcome!!. You are a very valued customer and it has been a pleasure serving you. Thank you for all your patience and understanding that you have shown while we were chatting.
CSR: I am glad that you gave me the opportunity to assist you. However, If you need any kind of assistance please feel free to contact us again. Have a great time ahead and  please do take care, Good bye!!.
Customer: And if I took you out for a beer (unlikely; the airfare would be insane just to get there), we could both laugh about Earthlink. You’re doing a good job keeping a straight face

OK folks, it’s official. As of the press conference that happened a matter of a few hours ago in Tokyo, Toshiba has announced their official exit from the HD-DVD format. Blu-Ray is the official winner. Now, let’s get Paramount and Universal ported over to BD ASAP and get cranking on this, folks. Thank goodness this idiotic format war is finally over. And thank you, Toshiba, for doing this sooner rather than later. Now all the remaining retailers can start selling people on a home high-def format without confusing explanations or hesitations. And all the other hardware manufacturers can get cranking.

As some of you may know, I made the jump to the HD formats a few months ago. I did so via Blu-Ray & HD-DVD drives for the PC. Lacking HDCP encryption support on both my HD monitor and my front projector, I was forced to turn to SlySoft’s AnyDVD HD application to be able to even watch the discs I legally purchase on equipment fully capable of playing them back, if not for the lack of HDCP encryption crap (HDCP is evil, and another reason for my dislike of Intel). From the beginning, the format war has been an annoyance to me. I’ve always been of the opinion that I didn’t really care which one won, as long as one of them did so sooner rather than later (which is looking highly unlikely). To choose a side, I had been a backer of Blu-Ray, due almost solely to the studio/industry backing of the format. HD-DVD has smacked of desperation from the start, and in a Darwinian way has always felt like the pending loser (then again, since when does a Sony format EVER win?). While I may like a few tidbits of tech spec better for Blu-Ray, the two formats are for the most part a wash. That was until I spent a few months learning all there is to know about the encryption and restrictions of the two formats first hand. And let me be clear about this after having experienced them these few months - from a consumer standpoint, Blu-Ray is downright evil in comparison to HD-DVD. Microsoft (of all people) weren’t kidding when they were touting the consumer friendliness of HD-DVD back during the launch. It’s absolutely true. Blu-Ray goes that extra mile to alienate the customer in almost every possible way in terms of policy and restriction. There’s nothing, and I mean NOTHING, about the format that was designed with the viewer in mind. That’s not to say HD-DVD is perfect (it has AACS/HDCP restrictions as well). While I know that the money from the industry is key to the design of these specs, Blu-Ray’s obvious design towards the paranoia of the studios is without doubt. Blu-Ray recently launched their highly-touted BD+ encryption protection system, which is something unique to the format above and beyond what HD-DVD can do to lock down content. The fine folks as SlySoft promised they’d nail BD+ within the year, and they have already done so. I kid you not. I can happily play back Fantastic Four 2 and other BD+ discs using AnyDVD HD. It’s a fantastic app (if a bit overpriced) made by developers who really know what they are doing. It goes to show that these guys will be able to hack their way around anything to enable consumers. But that doesn’t stop apps like CyberLink’s PowerDVD app (the ONLY current choice for good HD playback for computers, sadly) from putting in positively retarded restrictions into their newest builds recently, such as the fact that it will no longer play Blu-Ray discs that aren’t AACS encrypted (which is what AnyDVD unlocks to get around HDCP requirements) because AACS encryption is actually REQUIRED to be on every commercial Blu-Ray disc. Never mind BD+, region coding and the other aspects of Blu-Ray over HD-DVD. So, as of this moment, I’m changing my vote for who I wish to see win this war. I’m now an HD-DVD supporter. Given the choice on Warner Bros titles (the last of the major studios to support both formats), I will now start getting the HD-DVD version (unless it’s a DVD/HD-DVD combo disc - which is a topic I won’t rant on right now). Paramount annoyed me a little while ago when they changed from supporting both formats to just HD-DVD (after being bribed to do so), but I no longer care (BTW, I think Paramount does some of the nicest HD disc releases of any of the studios). Frankly, more exclusive support might finally put an end to this mess. It’ll be interesting to see if Warner choses a side after the Christmas season. I think it’s unfair to those with a player for just one of the formats as well, but since I can do either, that fact doesn’t really matter to me. I know a number of people that won’t touch the HD formats until there’s either a clear winner or all the players do either. And I don’t blame them one bit. I still think that HD-DVD will be the likely loser (all of Toshiba’s moves of pure desperation make it seem like a fire sale), but do to their far more consumer-minded spec, they officially have my support as of now. Actually, if you want some amusement on all this, read this change log for the most recent build of AnyDVD HD.

Paramount has just elevated the high definition format war from idiotic to mind numbingly imbecilic. Their reasoning in their press release is nothing short of utter PR crap. As much as those people who always think that everyone has sold out annoy me, I have to come to no other conclusion than the fact that Paramount and DreamWorks sold their loyalty to the highest bidder. There’s simply no other reason for this. I recently (like a week ago) entered the high def format mix on the side of Blu-Ray. Frankly, I couldn’t care less who wins this moronic pissing contest between the formats, as long as SOMEBODY finally wins. As a tech nerd, both formats have a pro/con list which basically negate each other as far as I care. Ultimately, my loyalty to a format came down to sales numbers and studio support. Up until now, the studio support CLEARLY came down in favor of Blu-Ray, with Universal being the only major studio exclusively supporting HD-DVD. And frankly, I could envision Universal finally caving and supporting both at some point in the near future. They’re not utterly bound to the HD-DVD format backing hardware companies. Blu-Ray, on the other hand, has a few major exclusive studios, one of whom will utter their dying breath in exclusive support of the format - Sony Pictures (Columbia/Tri-Star/MGM/Etc). Being a format of their parent company makes them a format lock. And, quite frankly, my prime loyalty is 20th Century Fox, and they are a Blu-Ray exclusive. After this announcement, I decided to do a little investigating and came to realize that Paramount had been less than impressive on either format to date. When you look at the line-up of some of the other studios, Paramount’s not only looks weak but is also a bit lacking in good special feature contributions. The fascinating little tid-bit of this news is that the one exception to this new move is that Spielberg’s Paramount/DreamWorks movies will be excluded from format exclusivity. For those doubting the power of Spielberg in the industry, you need no more evidence than that. Now, will Paramount’s current Blu-Ray releases start going up in price as they surely stop production, or will retailers quickly start dumping them? Hopefully the latter, so I can get their handful of good releases nice and cheap.

So, thank you, Paramount, for dragging this format war right down into the thickest of the mud. You just changed the landscape of this battle, and *NOT* for the benefit of us customers (or the industry). I don’t care that you just chose the format I didn’t. In another year, combo players/drives that work with both formats will be dirt cheap and commonplace. I just don’t want this war to be continuing to rage on like it is today by that time. It should be over and done with by then. And it likely could have been until this turn of retarded events. We needed MORE studios supporting both formats, not one of the few that already was stop! I have to wonder, could the “high definition” market, in a broader sense than just these disc formats, have been a bigger mess of stupidity and half-committed offerings? Seriously, from high-def broadcasting to digital rights management (DRM) to this idiotic disc format war, the industry would have had to go out of their way to make things messier.

Woo hoo! Out of nowhere, and after a mysterious year of no updates, DVD Profiler gets a major version release (3.0). Apparently Ken (the developer) really has been busy all this time. This is the app I use to track my rather massive DVD collection. I fell in love with version 2.x series app about 15 minutes after I started playing with it a couple years ago. If you’ve got a DVD collection you wish to track, I can recommend no other app anywhere near as much as DVD Profiler. I tried all the major ones, and they don’t hold a candle to this. At any rate, I’ve been geeking out all evening playing with the new version of the app, and absolutely loving many of the improvements. Plenty of things have been improved, but one of the major ones is support for the new HD formats (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray). And I can’t wait to get my new cell phone/PDA soon so I can play with the brand new mobile version of the app that does 2-way sync.

No ponderings for the day, btw. Too busy playing with this app, and also by a strange coincidence physically building some new CD & DVD shelving for my media room.

I’ve been meaning to read this document for a little while. It’s a dry and very tech-heavy read, but well worth it. I use a valid volume license install of Vista on two machines currently. One of them is a somewhat older laptop, and it’s multimedia capabilities are fairly limited to begin with. However, the desktop on which I type this is a well spec’d, multimedia capable machine. I have had countless mutlimedia problems on this machine in the month or so I’ve been running Vista on it. I initially attributed it to the codec and driver people being unable to have optimized/debugged versions out for Vista’s newer graphics subsystem, as is typical with a new OS. After reading this doc, things are becoming more clear. Heck, things like terrible voice chat quality in gTalk and Trillian that I’ve noticed suddenly make sense.

And after reading this doc, let me make something abundantly clear. It’s precisely this kind of crap that is going to drive me to Linux, or so help me even a Mac. In the short run, I am at the moment fairly likely to nuke Vista off this machine and fall back to XP. The stuff going on under the hood when it comes to multimedia subsystems in Vista is downright retarded. This is the beginning of the end for Microsoft’s OS. When piling on this insane level of control and specification requirements, the third party vendors will get pissed off beyond all hope soon enough. I’m not a Microsoft basher (actually, I will typically defend them more times than not), but in this case, I will become an unrestrained Microsoft basher. This crap has got to stop. Microsoft, as somebody who works almost solely on your operating system platform, you are putting my and fellow IT department workers in jeopardy. Calling this stuff Vista’s suicide note is hardly an overstated piece of anti-MS hype. This kind of practice really could turn away enough third party vendors (whom I wouldn’t blame in the slightest - in fact, I’d fully understand them doing so) and high-end multimedia enthusiasts like myself to really make an impact on the market. As I read that technical analysis (which is fantastically unbiased by the legal or moral aspects of any DRM related things), my mouth was constantly agape at what I was reading. “This is insane” was the thought constantly running through my mind while I read it. “No wonder nVidia and DivX can’t produce a driver or codec that works worth a lick in Vista” was another.

This move is a clear and definitive step by Microsoft out onto a *VERY* steep and slippery slope. As a faithful user and supporter of Microsoft platforms for the last couple decades, this is the first time where I’m seriously considering walking away.

BetaNews - In a move curious only due to its relatively late timing, the major record production labels in the US have filed suit in federal court against Russian online music distributor AllofMP3.com, seeking $150,000 USD for each single violation of copyright infringement for tracks the site posted without authorization.

The AllOfMP3.com saga gets more and more interesting. This is a step that the US labels are taking that is clearly a publicity statement for their ongoing battle royale with the Russian music site. A number like $1.65 trillion might as well be $567 cagillion. Hmmm, the 1.65 trillion dollars works out to roughly 43.41 trillion Russian Rubles. Subtle, guys.

The Register - When we first began thinking of the mobile phone as “our identity” it became obvious overnight that it was the most personal and handy portal for all entertainment services. But how long will it take until that eventuality comes about.

I hope as long as absolutely possible. The approach the mobile companies take to EVERYTHING they add into a phone is done as poorly and restrictively as possible. They’ll have to drag me, kicking and screaming, into that era.

Windows-Now.com - Microsoft wants you to experience the Zen of Vista & Office together. So, if you watch three webcasts each for Windows Vista and Office 2007 within 30 days of registering, 6-8 weeks later you’ll get shiny new DVD cases at your front door. Only one free copy of each product per person.

Hmmmm, this actually does appear to be legit. So, I suggest y’all go out there and do as it says quickly, before somebody decides it wasn’t such a good idea after all. Though I have access to copies through work, I’ll still hop through the hoops and snag the legit licenses while they are in the offering.

10 Minute Mail - Welcome to 10 Minute Mail.

By clicking on the link below, you will be given a temporary e-mail address. Any e-mails sent to that address will show up automatically on the web page. You can read them, click on links, and even reply to them. The e-mail address will expire after 10 minutes.

Why would you use this? Maybe you want to sign up for a site which requires that you provide an e-mail address to send a validation e-mail to. And maybe you don’t want to give up your real e-mail address and end up on a bunch of spam lists. This is nice and disposable. And it’s free. Enjoy!

Cute. Yeah, it’d be kinda fun to use those for registering stuff. I’ve got a junk address I use that gets carpet bombed in spam, but I know when something I’m waiting for is about to arrive and can fish it out amongst the rest. This approach would be a nifty approach.

BBspot - The MPAA is lobbying congress to push through a new bill that would make unauthorized home theaters illegal. The group feels that all theaters should be sanctioned, whether they be commercial settings or at home.

Ever read one of these satire articles that is clearly meant as a complete farce and still end up scared by the end of it? I mean, this is the MPAA we’re talking about. If it were the RIAA, I’d be truly paranoid.

PC Gamer - I just got back from the Metreon, site of the San Francisco Playstation store and home of the official US launch for the Playstation 3. The gang and I were there to represent the PC gaming community and to carry out a mission to convert one diehard PS3 fan to PC gaming.

We’ll post a full report and video podcast soon, but here are photos and notes from our adventure…

A funny idea to begin with, but I think my favorite part of the write-up is the Optimus Prime comment.

The Inquirer - As predicted by the INQUIRER yesterday in the PS3 launch write-up, the guys behind the original iPod smashing and the subsequent destroying of an Xbox 360 clubbed together to purchase a Playstation 3 simply to record the destruction of the $599 console.

This may be one of the funniest posts by the guys at The Inquirer yet. The “smash my” efforts are funny enough through their vindictive nature - but the biting sarcasm of the guys at The Inq about the Children In Need and Save The Children just tops it off so perfectly. Yeah, no kidding.

ZDNet.com - Google skipped right past the third dimension and landed directly in the fourth (time) by offering historical maps on Google Earth. Now you can travel back in time — for example, I am looking at the globe of 1790. Don’t expect detailed high resolution photography from days gone by, but it’s still interesting to see old maps overlaid on the satellite imagery of today.

Coolness. They’ve also started tracking personalized search history (like their web, images, and other systems do). Guess they’re feeling the need to keep competing, now that Microsoft has launched their fancy new browser-integrated Virtual Earth platform.

Air & Space Magazine - On October 24, 1946, not long after the end of World War II and years before the Sputnik satellite opened the space age, a group of soldiers and scientists in the New Mexico desert saw something new and wonderful—the first pictures of Earth as seen from space.

A cool little piece of aerospace history. Must have been cool to be one of the guys involved in that project.

The Inquirer - Online retail giant Amazon.com says the MP3 player was invented as far as 1973. Not only that, the interweb store was apparently operating even before the commercial Web became a reality. Shurely shome mischtake.

Amusing screw ups. Wonder if it’s a date formatting mistake, data entry mistake or the time machine effects that the story wonders about.

Engadget - Benjamin Heckerdorn — that oh-so-crafy modding guru we love to love — is at it again with his console-morphing antics, and this time the victim is the ill-fated “64-bit” Atari Jaguar. The mission? To create a portable, all-in-one, battery-powered version of Atari’s flailing attempt to make it in the ever-competitive console market.

Cool. Yeah, I’m an Atari nerd. I’ve got a Jaguar. Heck, I’ve got a Jaguar CD unit, and a few of the games for it (meaning about half of them). The design of this portable unit is amusing. A little bit kludged, but certainly fitting with the Jaguar design motif well enough. Jeff Mintner’s Tempest 2000 was a game so fantastic that it was worth the existence of the Jaguar all by itself. There were a handful of other good games for the system (and a fair share of total lemons, too). It’s was on of Atari’s final gasps for breath before they were pulled under. I have fond memories of the machine. Great, now I feel like firing it up and playing some Tempest 2000…

BetaNews - After a brief delay, Microsoft on Monday made available Windows Media Player version 11. The update includes several enhancements, including a new user interface, improved syncing, and integration with the URGE music service.

The next month will see all manner of Microsoft products going into final versions. Today, Windows Media Player 11 hits the streets in final form. I’ve been using the last couple beta versions for some time now, and they have worked well. Just installed the final.

Microsoft - We believe people everywhere have great ideas. But they do no good trapped in your head. We want to help you turn them into a flourishing business by taking the hassle out of accounting and business management. So we’re offering Microsoft® Office Accounting Express 2007 software absolutely free! No strings attached. Get your free download here.

This is a smart move on Microsoft’s part. Take a nice, new, fairly-feature-rich-looking application and put it out there for free. The big money is in the more robust systems, and Microsoft is going up against Intuit in both small and large accounting systems (as well as against other systems). To put a fairly powerful app out there for the smaller business market for free helps establish their foothold in the market, and get them a leg up in becoming an industry standard. I think it’s a wonderful gesture to the small business operators out there, such as the E-Bay sellers that they specifically mention and target. And tying things into Office 2007 directly is also a nice benefit. Now they just have to get the word out there about this nifty freebie (guess I’m helping with that). I haven’t used it, but the brief flash demo does make it look pretty nice.

Google Image Labeler - Welcome to Google Image Labeler, a new feature of Google Image Search that allows you to label random images to help improve the quality of Google’s image search results.

OK, this one is oddly fun and surprisingly addictive. And hey, you almost feel slightly productive while doing it. It’s a rather fascinating concept. Surely this must be one of the always-fun 20% projects at Google. Very cool. Racked up my first 10,000 points already. Will have to work my way up the list…

BetaNews - The CPSC said the total number of batteries worldwide affected in Monday night’s recall could reach 3 million. Last week, Sony said the number of faulty batteries had surpassed 10 million units.

Eeeeek. Man, Sony is so screwed. Between this battery fiasco and their constant PS3/Blu-Ray problems and delays.

Miguel Carrasco’s Real World - Over the years, computers have changed the way we live today! In order to get us there, many hardware and software companies have pushed the envelope to create what we use today. Although we currently live in an age of amazing hardware and software achievements, these products did not come at no cost. Below is a list of some of the worst flops in computer history.

Yeah, there are some classics in the list. I’ve played with Bob before, and it was right to fail. The Alto is a legend, to say the least. Xerox *REALLY* dropped the ball on that one (their company history would be COMPLETELY different if they would have realized what they had). Yes, the PCjr sucked. So did the Newton. I actually liked OS/2 Warp (and used it on and off for a while), but the driver and software support for it were a complete and total joke, thanks to IBM’s awful marketing…

BetaNews - Microsoft late Wednesday released the much-anticipated final version of Internet Explorer 7, the first major update to the market-leading Web browser in five years. The company has high hopes for the release, which arrives amid growing competition from Firefox.

Some steps in the right direction by MS. I’m still primarily a Firefox user. Were IE to get an Extensions system as great as Firefox, and a community of users writing such great extensions for it, I’d consider IE as my primary browser again. But at the moment, I continue to use Firefox…

DefectiveByDesign.org - Defeating DRM is all about awareness. The direct actions that we have taken are all about this. Today we are asking you to let the people around you know that DRM is bad for our society. Let’s create space for the debate. Do we want handcuffs and locks on art and knowledge? As our friends at Disney recognize, if there is this debate, we will have won.

If you’ve been reading my blog for any sustained amount of time, you’ve probably seen me go off on wild rants against the pure, unfiltered EVIL known as DRM (digital rights management). I won’t go into one of those long-winded rants at the moment, because frankly I’m about to shut down my computer and leave the office and know that if I start I won’t be able to stop. But I wanted to at least point out this effort by the fine folks at DefectiveByDesign.org, linked above. The name of their site pretty much says it all…