Sony expects first Blu-ray Vaios by midyear

(via Engadget)

What I’ve been reading lately makes me think this isn’t going to happen, but I’ve been wrong plenty of times before.

While Toshiba has already announced a price and ship date for its first HD-DVD-equipped Qosmio, the G30, Sony isn’t exactly sitting still. At CeBIT, the company announced that its first computers to come with Blu-ray drives, high-end Vaio desktops and laptops, would arrive toward the middle of the year. And that’s it. No model names or numbers. Not even any mocked up pics of superdeluxe Vaios showing HD videos thanks to those Blu-ray drives (which wouldn’t be too hard to do, given that current model Vaios, like the F TV, above, already have tuners and video capabilities). So, er, maybe Sony is kind of sitting still after all.

[tags]Sony, Vaio, Blue-Ray[/tags]

Would AT&T abuse monopoly powers?

(via The Consumerist)

We all believe the break-up of Ma Bell was bad, don’t we?  I mean, this is a company that would never, ever, ever even consider abusing monopoly powers, right?  Or maybe they would.

It’s bad enough that they overcharge domestic customers but we have alternatives.  The soldiers don’t because, according to The Prepaid Press, AT&T has an EXCLUSIVE contract to put payphones in PBXes in Iraq and Afghanistan. But, you ask, can’t the soldiers get cheap calling cards to call the US? No! Because AT&T is using (abusing!) its position as monopoly supplier of payphones to block the 800 numbers necessary to use nonAT&T calling cards.

. . .

The soldiers could probably call cheaper if they used Iraqi pay phones.  But, assuming there are any working payphones on the streets of Iraq, it’s still not a good idea for American soldiers to be standing on the corners talking on them.  That’s why there are phones in PBXes.  Too bad the soldiers have to pay $.21/minute to call home on them.

The wholesale rate for calls to the US is less than one cent a minute.

I don’t think much of a company taking advantage of soldiers.  They have it tough enough over there already.  Let’s not rape them on calls back home, OK?

[tags]AT&T, monopoly powers[/tags]

House passes bill to annul states’ laws on food warnings

(via The Consumerist)

Well, it seems the federal government doesn’t want the states requiring companies to let you know what’s in the products you buy.

WASHINGTON – Legislation that could void hundreds of food-safety warnings in California and other states passed the House yesterday after heated debate.

The National Uniformity for Food Act, long sought by the food industry, would prohibit states from having food-contamination standards and warning labels that are stricter than federal requirements. Exemptions could be granted if the Food and Drug Administration determines they are needed and they “would not unduly burden interstate commerce.”

California, with its toughest-in-the-nation food-safety requirements, is a primary target of the legislation. Proposition 65, approved 20 years ago, requires warnings about chemicals that cause “cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm.” California also has filed lawsuits seeking an array of warnings, including on the mercury content of canned tuna and the presence of lead in Mexican candy.

Read the full article for more details.  It is much longer than what I’ve highlighted.  Another snip that’s interesting:

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Atherton, noted the bill’s supporters have personal ties to food-industry lobbyists.

“This is not about consumers. This is about special interests,” Eshoo said.

The food industry fought back with letters of its own and ads in publications widely read on Capitol Hill.

Joy Philippi, president of the National Pork Producers Council, said the legislation “will give consumers even more confidence in the safety of the U.S. food supply.”

I don’t think Joy understands what inspires confidence.  The Jungle is a horrid book, but it does highlight the problems with the food industry when not regulated well.  And we’ve seen the federal government indicate a wish to relax food labelling requirements and inspection practices in recent history.  Let’s not allow food manufacturers to provide us less information on what we’re eating.

Notice that this allows the federal government to restrict states that want you, the consumer, to know what you are buying. I thought conservatives were supposed to shrink the government.

[tags]FDA, Food labeling[/tags]

Why Microsoft backs HD-DVD

(via Kotaku)

I know I often link to other stories and mention that the article is interesting or well written, or something like that.  The article mentioned below is interesting, well written, and certainly thought-provoking.  At least, it is to me.  I’m no fan of Microsoft, but folks at Microsoft do understand things better than people give them credit, quite often.  This article at Gamerscore blog has some information from an interview with Microsoft’s HD DVD drive developers.

From the Gamerscore blog article:

I found out a few interesting things on why we’re so confident of HD DVD:

Price. One company out there has a $1,800 Beta-ray player (no release date) – one that doesn’t even play CDs! For 1,800, you could get a $500 Toshiba player, and about 40 HD movies.

Industry support: Looks like the pendulum is swinging back in HD-DVD’s favor.  As an analyst quoted in the article says:  “It’s only a matter of time before people start backing out of the Blu-ray camp.”  If that’s the case, it might be because of. . .

Beta-ray’s own difficulties:  Microsoft had serious doubts around the technical feasibility and pricing of Beta-ray for some time and our fears now seem well founded. Sony is hinting PS3 will be delayed because of Beta-ray, and that’s with Sony driving the Beta-ray standards. If even Sony can’t get it to work right, it raises lots of questions.  A little reported fact (and one that the New York Times was confused about) is that the first Beta-ray discs will actually hold less: only 25GB compared to HD DVD’s 30GB.  That means less room for high definition extras and interactive features, which HD DVD says they fully intend to support.

So there you have it. A few more reasons why HD DVD is poised to win.

We’ll see what Sony has to say about this.  Actually, I expect Sony to say nothing.  But we’ll find out very soon if there is any truth to this, as Sony is just about out of time on meeting a spring launch.  We’ll have to hear some details soon if the PS3 really is going to launch in the spring.

[tags]HD DVD, PS3, Microsoft, Blu-Ray[/tags]

Wil Wheaton: Don’t watch cable news with a fever

This is a few days old, but I enjoyed this post by Wil Wheaton so much, I just had to link to it.  I’ll go ahead and quote the part that particularly made me pay attention to the post:

This means that I’ve done a ton of reading today, and I’ve subjected myself to a few hours of CNN. Jesus. Fucking. Christ. No wonder so many Americans are misinformed, if they are getting their information from cable news. These douchebags do everything they can to create controversy where there is none, and they don’t even try to hide it.

Example: Wolf Blitzer, on The Situation Room (which is only watchable because of Jack Cafferty), just teased a segment on Jon Stewart thusly: “He says it will be the most controversial Academy Awards, ever . . .”

Read on for the reality of what Jon Stewart actually said.

[tags]Wil Wheaton, CNN[/tags]