Toshiba: "no plans" to adopt Blu-ray
By Thomas Ricker 
posted February 19th 2008 3:30AM
posted February 19th 2008 3:30AM
posted February 19th 2008 3:30AM
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For those who think the picture is okay, imagine if I photoshop a picture of 9/11 plane (Blu-Ray) crashing into WTC (HD-DVD).
You will all be up in arms.
I'd think it was pretty funny, though a bit contrived.
A better choice would be to depict HD-DVD as Christ being crucified, and Blu-Ray as a Roman soldier jabbing it with the spear of destiny.
Or perhaps you could make HD-DVD look like Archduke Ferdinand, and have Blu-Ray be the assassin.
I personally think they should have done one with the HD-DVDs being the victims at Columbine, and Blu-Ray as the shooters. That would be Hi-lar-ious.
Some of you need to get the sticks out of your asses. Really. World War II was over fifty years ago. I think it's OK to joke about it, now.
Now see. You over-explained it and totally spoiled the joke.
You should have done one with people clubbing baby seals, where the seals are HD-DVD, and the hunters are Blu-Ray.
Or maybe one in which Blu-Ray is used to depict the United States, and HD-DVD is Iraq.
You guys getting all upset over this-- Just remember the way you reacted to the complaints against the Dutch cartoonists who drew Mohammed. Did you think the Muslim reaction was correct? Those cartoons were clearly offensive to some Muslims.
Have you now declared a jihad against Engadget? Perhaps you're going to fly your planes straight into Engadget HQ, in a kamikaze attack?
Seriously. Calm down. Poor taste can be forgiven, but extreme reactions to poor taste cannot.
"Some of you need to get the sticks out of your asses. Really. World War II was over fifty years ago. I think it's OK to joke about it, now."
Tell that to my grandmother who lost a son during the war. In fact I dare you to go to the next WWII memorial and joke about it in front of those who lost their lives.
I hate political correctness, but there is a line that needs to be drawn. Like I said earlier, Engadget is a tech related blog, not some site I come to view idiot photoshops.
There's too much text in that image, Jon. But it's otherwise not bad.
I think Engadget would have done a better job at that WTC 'shop. I get it, it's dark humor, but humor nonetheless. "People die all the time! Why, you could wake up dead tomorrow! Well, good night."
Everyone stop complaining about the picture. This IS the internet, after all. It's about an event that took place over half a century ago. Sure, a picture of the World Trade Center would have been more offensive to more people, but it still would have just been a single picture on the internet. There are far worse pics out there. It's a slight joke at a Japanese-based company. If you're offended that much then don't go to this site. Go ahead. I dare you! Find a better site!
That's not the point Paul. We go to this site because it is in fact a Great website that does not offend. There are far worst pictures out there, yes; I look at them, but I do not expect to see it on Engadget. So if the holocausts happened half a century ago it's not relevant? Slight?? You're funny! I'm not horrified. I suspect a lot of media outlets use this site to get information. Just be humane about these things.
Well, I'm sure their intention was never to offend, just get a laugh or two in. If that's unprofessional then so be it. You can't dwell on the past, just learn from it. And hey, what about Family Guy? That sequence with the Japanese man living in Hiroshima, having one of the worst days of his life? That was hilarious.
Anyway, I really wonder if Toshiba can stay out of Blu-Ray all together, though as previously mentioned they do make money elsewhere and will probably be fine with such a decision.
Gawd. I'm a far-left liberal, and even I am annoyed by all this politically correct crap. Chill out guys. If it offends you so much, then please go to a whiny little corner of the Internet where all the jokes are compiled from Bob Saget's run on "America's Funniest Home Videos" and censored by the MPAA so as not to harm your delicate senses.
Humor SHOULD be edgy, and I think the dropping of the bomb, while horrific, was long enough that we should be able to make light of it now and again. I wonder if the Japanese have the same problem telling jokes about Pearl Harbor. Are there some oversensitive Japanese citizens who say, "Hold on, now. That's not funny. We killed people at Pearl Harbor. It was a terrible tragedy."
Tasteless? Yes. A blight on society and the end of the world as you know it? Nope. Calm down. It's a picture of a plane with a culturally-significant, historically-referenced pun written on it.
Hey, ZeroCorpse I don't like liberals much less far left liberals but I like you (not in a homosexual way, and not that there is anything wrong with that). Great comment.
That which offends no one rarely excites anyone. Engadget please don't let a collection of pinheads dissuade you from using the picture. In a couple of hours it will be on page two and everybody will (or should) forget about it.
Nevermind that it's a joke done in poor taste but it's got about much as relevance as a picture of the world trade center collapsing with a HD-DVD tag on it. The analogy doesn't even make any sense. I mean so you are saying that Sony which is a Japanese company just like Toshiba is playing the Enola Gay role?
The image is absolutely indefensible. Trivializing the death of tens of thousands of civilians, however just the cause, is utterly wrong. It is quite incredibly insulting and horrible.
A retraction and apology is the minimum civilized course. You should consider firing the author summarily.
Well they are actually in the blu-ray market even though they lost they still won cause they make the cell processor which makes me think that they were the engineers of their own defeat
Good on them! Turnabout is fair play in the humor game. THAT is a good way to deal with it. If the joke offends you, tell one that is equally offensive to the original joke-teller.
And then both of you sit down and have a laugh and a beer together.
Wow, some people take life far to seriously. :p
hellooo?
"no plan at all at this moment"
remember they said that about dropping hd-dvd just hours before they dropped it?
Like many others here I find this image highly inappropriate, irrelevant and unnecessary. I wonder what the author was thinking when he posted the image? Does he think he's being funny? I'm afraid Thomas got it all wrong here. I'm not going to visit this place on a regular basis anymore.
To those who say that this is politically correct BS and that people should stop being so sensitive: Well, perhaps we should ask Americans to stop being so sensitive about 9/11? After all, it was only a few thousand people who died, right? (I'm being sarcastic here, to make a point)
To those who say that it's just a picture: That's like saying the picture of the airliner crashing into the WTC is only a picture. To many people who lost loved ones that day it's a lot more than that.
Jimbo wrote:
"IT is inappropriate to use this pic, but the bombing itself was against the most evil nation ever to exist, the Japanese Empire of rape, racism, and torture that sought to completely erase entire cultures and was fairly successful. Japan today is a great nation thanks to the grace of the victors of WWII, but the Japan that got bombed had it coming. The people were tolerant of true evil, in fact."
First of all, you blame an entire nation for what the Japanese military and leadership did during WW II. That's highly unfair. If you did bother to read a bit of history, you'd learn that most of the common people had no idea about the atrocities (or were misled by propaganda) that were committed by the military. Most people just wanted to live in peace. Are you blaming all Germans for what the Nazis did during WW II? (we even use the term 'Nazis', to differentiate between the military/Hitler supporters and the common German people) Do you think all Germans supported the Nazis? Of course not. The same applies to Japan.
Besides, saying that Japan is (or was) the most evil nation to exist *is your opinion*. A lot of people would say that Nazi Germany was even worse. And don't forget what the US did to the Indians and their 'own' people during the civil war. And guess who helped to turn Japan into a military power in the first place (it just so happens that the US is good at exporting weapons and arming nations, and sometimes their former allies turn into enemies). And to many people today, America is the most 'evil' nation. My point is: It's meaningless to try to put the "most evil nation" label on a particular country. It leads nowhere. We humans are capable of doing horrific things, regardless of nation or race.
9/11 was not long ago like Hiro. was. Would a pic of Ghengas Khan (blu ray) pilaging and raping towns (HD-dvd) get the same reaction? Hell no. Or what about all the conquests of ancient empires whose greed of ruling the world equaled to deaths of thousands of people? I think if your going to be overly sensitive about people who are killed in war you have to be overly sensitive to EVERY time period to avoid being a hypocrit.
Meseria:
"9/11 was not long ago like Hiro. was."
I hope you realize how flawed that 'argument' is. The fact that it happened over 60 years ago doesn't make the picture any more relevant or appropriate. Would a photo of killed Jews in mass graves be any more appropriate or relevant (or less offensive) simply because it happened 'long ago'? Of course, not.
I mean, this is an article about HD-DVD. What has Enola Gay to do with this? What is the author trying to suggest? It doesn't even make logical sense, because both Sony (the winner) and Toshiba are Japanese companies (just in case you didn't know: Sony isn't an American company).
"I think if your going to be overly sensitive about people who are killed in war you have to be overly sensitive to EVERY time period to avoid being a hypocrit."
Come on, don't be ridiculous. Look at the context in which this photo was posted, and I hope you see how inappropriate and irrelevant it is. We're talking about something that happened less than a lifetime ago. People who experienced WW II still live today (FYI: WW II happened in modern times, not medieval or ancient times.) And I suppose you must be American, since you have the balls to even compare the nuclear bombs (which were dropped over Nagasaki and Hiroshima) with 9/11?
And speaking of being overly sensitive: Tell an American to stop whining about 9/11 (some people would even say that it wasn't undeserved -- after all, America has been the biggest warmonger in the last decades) or Pearl Harbour, and see what kind of reaction you get. So please give us a break and stop your nonsense about being "overly sensitive".
Nice 'Shop. You're not fooling anyone.
this barbaric picture is what is to be expected from an american. I am not surprised at all. When is the next joke where you will mock with hundreds of people dying in Iraq? oh right,I almost forgot, to americans, they are not people.
I'm sorry. Do not apply your warped media-induced view of Americans to this.
How many Americans do you really know? How many that you know would actually have the lack of common decency to post this.
Until you can answer those two questions, do not spew your view of hatred/lack of understanding to others as fact.
Earth. Love it or Leave It
I, for one, applaud Engadget to stand by their decision and keep the picture up.
Good heavens people, it's just a photoshop image, taking a historic event out of context to be funny...
Remember when there was that huge outrage about the Mohammed carricatures, with death threats and all?
Yeah, this is just as ridiculous... Chill our and buy a Bluray player.
The problem with using a WTC photo is that it depicts HD DVD with a massive size advantage over Blu-ray (the plane), implying that Blu-ray was losing all along but brought HD DVD down with one surprise move...while WB's defection could have been "that move", Blu-ray had over 52 straight weeks of momentum leading up to that move.
Also, have any of you considered how offensive it must be to the Japanese to have 9/11, which killed 3,000 people, compared to the nuclear bombs, which killed 140,000? Hardly apples to apples, wouldn't you say?
How about this: why don't we put up a pic of the tidal wave (Blu-ray) crashing down on an innocent village?! Sure, it killed 250,000 people, but I don't see anybody rushing to their defense, so fair game, right?/sarcasm
For crissakes, lighten up and take the blinders off. There is a much bigger, better world out there to worry about this kind of stuff. (leaves to go watch a Blu)
Could you please tell me when the Japanese were attacked with a nuclear bomb?
Please dear god tell me you are joking. Please. If you are going to say something like that, you have got to indicate that you are being sarcastic, otherwise...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
did someone say weaboo?
Wow, so many people whining. I wonder what things they make fun of or laugh at that may be deemed inappropriate by others. I mean surely we can cast the first stone right?
As far as Toshiba, I imagine they will investigate their position in the market as a blu-ray manufacturer. I see them joining the BDA so I am not too worried in them sitting out on this hi-def format.
I just hope Criterion will release there movies in HD now... I dont care hollywood shit but there is older and foreign movies desserving the best resolution possible. haaaa seeing RAN in highdef... the dream!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxGejqxN2WY
Point of order to the Good Fellas at Engadget, the 'Enola Gay' was piloted by Colonel Paul W. Tibits and Captain Robert A. Lewis.
KA-BOOM!!!
I can imagine the people that don't think the picture is offensive are under the age of 25. Somehow I think the significance of US and world history has been lost on this generation. This isn't about politcal correctness, it's about sensitivity to an issue that has no place in a technical blog. Good job.
Where's Nfinity when you want to take the piss out of him....
bassist wrote:
"I, for one, applaud Engadget to stand by their decision and keep the picture up."
And at the same time they show VERY poor judgment. Authors have been fired for less.
The sad thing is that the author didn't have to insult anybody: He could simply have posted a photo that was fun AND relevant (this photo certainly isn't), but didn't bring associations to WW II and mass killings of innocent lives.
"Good heavens people, it's just a photoshop image, taking a historic event out of context to be funny..."
Exactly: "Out of context" is one of the keywords here. And he failed to "be funny". Not sure why he thought this image would be funny? I mean, if he wanted to suggest that something destroyed something else, he could've used many other visual metaphors.
And no, an image is not necessarily only an image: It can represent, symbolize or bring associations to something, and this image represents something very specific and horrific to many people.
Point: As a reader, I don't think it's funny.
Side Notes: It's up to you as a writer/journalist to respect the feelings/culture/history of your readership. Maybe you're making a statement that anyone "offended" by this can F*** off out of your blog (kudos for having cajones). Maybe you're preserving the pic on principal alone (you've chose poorly). Maybe you're not mature enough to look at the situation objectively with all eyes on you and do what you think is right (I don't know you so I couldn't say). Whatever the case, this post now has nothing to do with BD or HD-DVD.
Addendum: For the commenters telling other people to chill out... Your lack of empathy and ideological intolerance is as frustrating as it is depressing.
Summary: whatever, next story
This is rediculous... someone tries to add a little bit of humor and suddenly the whole board is up in arms about an even from 50 years ago... i'd venture to bet alot of you (as well as myself) weren't even alive yet! chill... it was supposed to be light and funny... not a commentary on the correctness of the original action at all
geez...
If you can't take the heat...