"Team Fremont"

Guess who has an office in Fremont (it's a section of Seattle)..

That's right, Google has an office there... this is hilarious

The thing I am most looking forward to with my shiny new iPhone is just looking at it. I don't want to touch it or feel it, I just want to look at it and gaze in wonder at the power of the iPhone. And then I want to look at it again and not touch it but just stare at if for an hour or so while it sinks in that I have an iPhone and that it's real and shiny and new and all that I ever wanted in a phone and them some because it has no buttons and no numbers on it that I can push yet it's still a phone that makes calls to people but I won't touch it and I won't even think about touching it ever, not even if the iPhone rings. If it rings I will just look at it and watch it ring in wonder and pleasure of how the iPhone rings differently than another type of phone I might have in my pocket at the time that the shiny new iPhone rings on the table in front of me. And then I will stare at my shiny new iPhone again and wonder how I got it out of the box and on to the table to stare at without touching without touching it?

How's it gonna affect PS3 shipments, that's all I need to know

Ok, at first thought Sony sounds CRAZY. My first reaction was like "NO FREAKING WAY, THIS MEANS XBOX360 WINS THIS GEN". But then give it a second, let it sink in...Sony is SMART SMART SMART.

Think about it. What happened when the XBOX 360 came out last year? It was in short supply and who made the most money off the early sales of the 360? It wasn't MSFT, it was EBAY. eBay and the sellers there who camped out at Targets & Walmarts and turned around and sold those xboxes for double and TRIPLE what they paid for them.

Clearly Sony has done it's marketing and knows that - at least in the "early adopter phase" people will spend a ton of money to get the latest and the greatest. Sony may end up making much more money on these units. So even if Sony doesn't sell out every single PS3 right away because the price is so high, go back to economics 101 and remember that you don't have to sell more of a product to make more in profit - you just have to peg that certain price point on the curve.

Sony can always lower the price later. Of course there are drawbacks to this strategy - XBOX can take an even bigger lead because of the lower price, larger availablity of different games and a product that has gotten all of it's "production" bugs worked out.

And there is also the possiblity that these prices are an indicator that Sony expects to actually have a very low number of units to actually be available at the November release. By charging a higher price they are going to ensure that there are actually more consoles in the stores for the people willing to plunk down the money...

Sorry guys, this is a way better looking alternative if you keep your xbox in a home entertainment center...

http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=75005

Read what the MS guy said again:

"I think 1080p, just to address that directly, will be basically impossible. I think if you talk to any developer they will tell you that they will not have a performing game at 1080p"

just like any good politician, it's how he says what he says that tells you all you need to know:

1) Sony may claim the game is 1080p, and it might be "playable" on a 1080p set..but that doesn't mean that the game is truly 1080p -> it will be upconverted by the PS3 to 1080p which means that information will be added and its possible it won't look that good!

2) DEVELOPER...that would be the people that make these games...Sure many games can be scaled up to a certain resolution, but we are talking about the concept of a game being designed with a map that is 1920 x 1080 in size. The reality is that the engines used to make these games can't make 1920 x 1080 native sized games. THAT's what MS is saying. And no matter what Sony says, any "1080p" games aren't going to be be "true" 1080p....

I would like to take mine hunting with me next time. Perhaps GPS would allow me to hit people within 30 yards of me...

MDA me baby

Something I read about on the AVS Forums the other day is that about half the venues don't actually have true HDTV for the pool feeds. That means that what NBC is showing many of times (snowboarding, the alpine skiing events in particular) is not TRUE HD. The pool cameras are 16x9 format SD cameras and the signal is being upconverted. So you have 2 issues: 1) not true HD, and 2) NBC has to upconvert it.

I did have the sound issues, but when you consider that for logistic reason (according to the Torino organizing committee) it's actually pretty good. Those 16x9 format SD cams upconverted to HD looks pretty good when you consider what it is.

It is McCain, I found the following news stories talking about it:

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/UndertheDome/020206.html

http://www.slate.com/id/2135664/

The Slate story is funny, and I would love to see Frist doing a cameo on House!