Recent Comments:
SkyFire: Access full web content on a mobile web browser {Download Squad}
Jan 28th 2008 11:02AM I'm not sure I'd worry too much about their servers. As of November, Opera Mini had 26 million users and was serving a billion pages a month, and I've certainly never noticed a problem. Skyfire would require far less infrastructure.
Skyfire browser for Windows Mobile is game changing, does Flash {Engadget Mobile}
Jan 28th 2008 10:16AM Who called it an iPhone killer? Pocket IE killer, sure. Opera Mobile/Mini killer, maybe. Why do we now insist that every product kill another one, and call it a failure if it doesn't? If it improves my Windows Mobile experience, that's a Good Thing, even if it doesn't destroy a product that competes in an entirely different market and appeals to entirely different customers.
Also, if you're worried about someone being able to monitor your browser usage, you probably shouldn't be using a product that relies on proxy servers. That applies to Opera Mini, too.
The Sierra Club proposes video game and TV tax {Engadget}
Jan 22nd 2008 11:53AM No, in theory it remains a bad idea. Given the elasticity of demand for luxury electronics goods, 1% isn't going to cut it. Try 50%. Increasing taxes to discourage "improper" behavior is ineffective at best. As for your health care argument, the relationship between gaming and obesity is really tenuous. But if you're going to propose a game tax because you shouldn't have to pay for my health care, make sure to add a cheeseburger tax, smoker tax, genetic-predisposition-to-cancer tax and a whole bunch of other taxes.
The Sierra Club proposes video game and TV tax {Engadget}
Jan 22nd 2008 11:46AM 1% of $600 is $6, not $60. Hardly enough to matter in the slightest, and the effect of increasing the cost of a $50 game to $50.50 is laughable. The same parents who can't find the "off" button on the TV are going to refuse to buy Super Mario Galaxy for their kid because the price increased by less than fifty cents? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life. My kids have a Wii and computers and TV, but they also play outside because I turn the electronics off and tell em to get their butts in the backyard.
Sources say Universal and Paramount are both going Blu {Engadget}
Jan 10th 2008 1:46PM Sony's cheapest BD player on SonyStyle before the Warner announcement: $299.
The same unit now: $399. Anyone who thinks the price of Blu-ray players is going to hit $200 for the average consumer after HD-DVD is dead is insane.
Universal HD DVD exclusivity contract has expired, sits non-renewed {Engadget}
Jan 10th 2008 1:33PM Considering that Sony raised the price of their cheapest standalone player by $100 within days of Warner's announcement, I fail to see how Blu-ray's imminent victory is good for the consumer.
Google Maps tells you how to get from here to there - literally {Download Squad}
Jan 10th 2008 1:08PM You can also use Google Maps to find your way from Poverty to Easy Street. I played around with it until it got boring (which is, by the way a city in Oregon):
http://ochsenhirt.org/2008/01/10/the-road-to-easy-street-is-ky-256/
You could also fill in your own joke using Lancaster County, PA:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&saddr=blue+ball,+pa&daddr=paradise,+pa&sll=40.025255,-76.12216&sspn=0.037924,0.077591&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
Cellphone criminal dubbed "dumbest" by police {Engadget Mobile}
Jan 9th 2008 2:54PM Doesn't the phrase "potentially inebriated" explain everything? I've "lost" all kinds of stuff while "potentially inebriated." Haven't you people ever seen Dude, Where's My Car? Sheesh.
Yahoo! takes Go to version 3, releases widget platform {Engadget Mobile}
Jan 7th 2008 4:39PM Ah, the usual yahoo pattern. Make a big splashy announcement of a product available on an incredibly small number of handsets, then do nothing for months.
HD DVD looks back on 2007 {Engadget}
Jan 7th 2008 2:04PM Well, I certain can pay $337 for a Blu-Ray player (that's the cheapest one available from Amazon right now), but I won't. The cheapest Blu-ray is still twice as expensive as HD-DVD. Maybe Blu will win and HD-DVD will die. If so, and if Blu-Ray ever becomes affordable, I'll switch. In some sort of abstract sense, $350 isn't ridiculous for new technology, but in the real world (where DVD players are $29 and decent LCDs are well under a grand), it's still way too much. Sales figures for stand-alone players suggest that lots of people agree with me. A DVD player, hi-def or otherwise, should cost less than $200, given that upconverted DVDs don't look bad, there is a lot of HD VOD available on my cable system, and downloaded content will be the eventual winner anyway.
