Good idea. Unfortunately, I went to Palisades Park in Santa Monica where I always go. The Jonathan Club on the beach usually puts on a pretty good Fireworks display but I guess they decided against it this year. A group of us were left sitting there like schlumps ... but at least we had fun.

Hey Jason,
Not to worry ... I'm sure Verizon will get you hooked up soon, at least at the office. I live in "90402" and they just installed fiber in the last month or two.
Best,
Marty

Kris' comments seem pretty biased. To be clear, I work for one of the many companies backing Blu, but it seems hard to ignore the fact that almost every leading CE manufacturer including Panasonic, Sony, Philips, Pioneer, Sharp, LG, etc. is backing Blu Ray Disc with products already on the shelf and more to come. Conversely, when it comes to HD DVD, you're mainly talking about one manufacturer. More importantly, the movie releases are also clearly stacking towards Blu-ray based on the studio support (seven of the eight major studios backing Blu-ray, most of them only planning to release content on Blu-ray). It's no secret why Blu-ray has more backing: I think it's mainly due to Blu-ray Disc's capacity advantage (50 GB to start with potential for much more expansion as the format evolves down the road). As a new technology, it's simply easier to add more capacity -- more layers -- to Blu-ray Discs over time. This means the format should be around for many years to come.

I'd just like to echo some of the previous posts. When it comes to Hollywood support, Blu-ray Disc has quite an advantage over HD DVD with support from seven of the eight major studios (Fox, Disney, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., Paramount, MGM and Lions Gate). Five of these -- Fox, Disney, Sony Pictures and Lions Gate - are ONLY putting their high definition titles out on Blu-ray Disc. The trend towards Blu-ray Disc is more pronounced when you look at hardware support. Virtually every major CE and IT company is backing Blu-ray while HD DVD has, in contrast, a small smattering of support. For example, Blu-ray Disc players are on the market now from Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung and LG. The Playstation 3 is, of course, a Blu-ray Disc player. PC drives and products are available from Dell, Sony, Pioneer, Philips, Panasonic and others. The hardware picture for HD DVD is just Toshiba and a peripheral x-box drive from Microsoft. Sales trends are what you would expect based on the above: Despite the fact that HD DVD launched several months earlier, there is clearly a shift towards Blu-ray Disc. Experts expect the trend to continue as most of the major studios continue to crank out content only on Blu-ray Disc and the installed base continues to grow.

I rank this announcement right up there with the mysterious (i.e. non-existent) Triple Layer disc the HD DVD folks announced that they were going to "propose" two years ago. We're still waiting for that particular Vaporware to materialize. Fortunately, we don't need to hold our breath waiting for this latest Triple Decker concoction to see the light of day. Blu-ray Disc already offers 50 GB capacity with plenty of room for growth as the format evolves. That's why it has the support of virtually every major Hollywood studio and most of the CE and IT industry.

Hi Jason -- Forget about the Samsung ... I'd stick with Philips. OK, so maybe I'm biased ...
Regards,
Marty

Jason - As Kevin suggests, X-box won't give you 1080p. It also won't give you hi-def movie playback unless you buy an extra add-on HD DVD peripheral drive and even then studio support for HD DVD isn't anywhere near as strong as it is for Blu-ray Disc. You're better off getting the Playstation 3 as all the movies in the pipeline for Blu-ray Disc will play on that (without a need for an extra peripheral drive).

Hi Jason -- You won't have to wait as long as some people suggest for 1080p content. A number of studios will be putting out Blu-ray Disc titles in 1080p and many of the Blu-ray Disc players coming out between now and the end of the year will offer full 1080p. I'd wait just a bit, but there should be a number of hardware options by the end of the year including stand-alone Blu-ray Disc players and Playstation 3.

How can it be anything but a bittersweet day for AOL? While Time Warner approved the company's new turnaround strategy, the move into free services comes with a hefty pricetag: The willing sacrifice of what could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars in subscription revenue and thousands of job cuts to make up for it. The whole thing sounds less like a growth strategy and more like a survival gambit. Was it necessary? No doubt. Is it cause for celebration? No way.

Jason -- Your candid comments don't seem out-of-line as they represent your reaction to public criticism of AOL. If you can't offer up your own opinions on your own blog -- positioned as your viewpoint rather than official corporate responses -- why bother with the blog to begin with?