My two cent's on next gen consoles ... XBOX 360

Okay other than doing weekly review posting I seem to hear a lot about the next generation consoles and what they bring to the table. So I though I'd put my two cent's on how I think these consoles, will stack up. First let me be clear I am a XBOX owner but don't really have a great love for the system just some of the games, i.e. Halo. So now that you know I will eventually own an XBOX 360, this article isn't so much about the hardware as it is as much as how their respective companies will push and sell them. Okay so let's start off in a familiar place with Microsoft.

Microsoft is better known as one of the largest and most influential software companies in the world. With its unbelievable amount of influence and money it buy and push its way into just about any market its wants to; in this case we're talking about the home media market. Now the company has tried this before with it failure MSN TV service and product, but has found some success with its XBOX console by getting into the homes of gamers. The idea is simple capitalize on a growing video game market and see how influential you can be in a mass media market that only has a handful of major players. So what's Microsoft's advantage? Well with their initial console it was hardware performance and their XBOX Live service. This time around? It's definitely gonna be their Live service, why? Mainly because their competitors don't have the online infrastructures that can support online gaming like Microsoft's Live service. Yes its better than what's out there currently and has the advantage of already being deployed before Sony or Nintendo. It's likely Sony will try to replicate when their PS3 comes out but they'd have to be the luckiest company in the world to launch a service like that with out any problems and Nintendo will probably have similar problems. However, this is a game console and in order to be the biggest and best you need to have the games. This is where the XBOX 360 is failing, its doesn't have those must have titles that put the consoles in the homes of many gamers. Instead it has a few pretty good games with some great one's in the near future, or so Microsoft hopes. In short the games are coming but if XBOX 360 doesn't find that must have game, it may lose out the the PS3 in a hurry. Now the one thing that Microsoft does well is support developers for their products, hence expect more developers to give the XBOX 360 platform a try but if Sony continues its dominance, Microsoft will have to play to its Live service which is a great reason to own an XBOX but not enough to play on one.

I'll throw out a Sony comparison next time.

A skip and a jump

Sorry for the late release but I've been crazy busy in the last two weeks. Okay so a lot has happened over the last few weeks, we shot a nuclear rocket off to Pluto, Google doesn't play nice with the DoJ, and China wants to build a mini-sun. Oh yeah and a word about Disney.

Okay first let's talk about the rocket, first of all if you weren't aware, NASA launched its first probe to the planet Pluto on Thursday January 19, 2006. A mere two days after the scheduled launch, mainly due to bad weather conditions. Now that's not really all that interesting to most people except this one is nuclear powered. More accurately its a radioisotope thermoelectric generator that uses plutonium dioxide to power it, hence nuclear powered rocket. So what does this all mean and why do you care? Well for one if you lived near the cape you were probably worried about 1 and 450 chance of something going wrong, I don't actually know if those were the odds, but I hear it was in that range. With odds like that and the words "nuclear" in the phrase let's just say that I was thinking, "hmm I wonder if I'll glow in the dark?" Well needless to say the only glowing thing around me is my laptop screen. Okay so there isn't much to talk about for this one until we collect the data the probe is suppose to gather, but think of it this way it's been a long time since we've launched a rocket with plutonium and didn't kill anyone. Check out Space.com's article on the launch and the mission here.

Okay its unlikely that you haven't heard about the Google vs DoJ, I'm gonna fill those of you who've in a hole for a while. Basically the current government administration wants to implement a law that basically makes it harder for little children to find porn on the web. The first time they tried this they failed and the Supreme Court back down to a lower court. In either case they have a chance to appeal this thing by proving the only way to stop this is by showing there is no other way to keep "harmful" materials away from children. Basically the administration doesn't want "harmful" materials to be easily accessible to children. Now before I get into what in the world is "harmful", let's talk about why Google is involved. After their first failure the DoJ is out to prove that harmful content is out there and easily searchable through search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and others. Hence the DoJ tapped those search companies for their search records and in short Google said "no." So now there is a lot of attention coming from the media and civil liberties groups all clamoring about the issue. In short the loose definition of "harmful" to children could put the US government in a position to directly influence information that is available over the Internet. Sounds bad huh? Well there is a bit more too it and the actual implementation of a law would be pretty difficult and probably impractical, but its the precedence that worries most people. News.com has good little FAQ about the issue here other wise I suggest checking SearchEngineWatch.com for more information.


China want's to build and artificial sun. Well its more like a crazy fusion reactor but their getting help from Russia to push the project. China hopes that this may provide a clean source of energy but only time will tell. So basically if your going to China stay away from the big glowing fusion device, otherwise let's hope that these reactor are as good as they're cracked up to be. By the way China will join Russia, France, and Japan as the fourth country to have such a device, so at least they aren't just winging it. You can get the whole story here.

Disney has purchased Pixar Animation Studios for a little over 7 billion dollars. However, that's just the beginning it seems the acquisition of Pixar has lead to some changes in Disney's own animation studio's and Pixar's CEO will join Disney's board. So what's so interesting about that last part? Well Pixar's CEO is the same as Apple's CEO Steve Jobs who will not only be on Disney's board but will be a one of the companies major share holders. News.com has a decent article on what troubles may come with Disney's latest purchase, here.

Penny Arcade Scholarship?

Well, in an article in the Escapist, the guys over at Penny Arcade where interviewed about their Child's Play Charity. Basically the interview talks a little bit about the Child's Play charity which supplies video-games to kids in hospitals and how they started it. It also talks a bit about how the charity works, personally I think its a cool charity that at the last I checked has raised ~$605,000 dollars and provides games to hospitals in the US, Canada, and the UK. The article also mentions a scholarship idea that is in the work's by the same guys at Penny Arcade. If your a fan of the popular web comic the article is cool read but it'll be cool to see what those twisted guys Tyco and Gabe come up with their scholarship project. Article found at Slashdot.        

New Year, New Semeter, CES, and Macworld

I know it's late but Happy New Year!

Okay I know it's been a little while since I've posted, but it's been a hectic few weeks. In between getting settled back in, getting hooked on World of Warcraft, getting sick, and a bunch of other things you probably don't wanna hear about, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. The thing that has me so excited about this new year isn't that a new Intel based Mac is almost within my grasp, it is that this is my last semester as an undergraduate. Seriously I'm on the home stretch and really couldn't be happier about it. In the tech world both the Consumer Electronics Show and Macworld have been unleashed on the tech world to generate a lot of buzz to start off the new year.

Okay let's start off with CES, this is a huge trade show that really has too much stuff to mention, luckily lots of people have been covering it in detail and the even better part is that others have created a nice little round up, like dvorak.org's , which can be found by the following link. Personally I think that dl.tv did an awesome job of doing some coverage if you into the video pod-casting thing. Out of all the gadgets that were on display I think that the Sony Reader maybe one of the coolest little gadgets that I'd actually end up using, but we'll have to wait and see how useful it becomes and how restrictive the available content affects the use. Otherwise CES, showed off of lots of cool digital cameras, cell phones, and huge TV's that you'd expect to see at the showcase. However, it may just be the cold medicine speaking but with all of the announcements and keynotes, I thought that it was kind of boring since most of the stuff won't be available for quite some time. Now as a grab for a tissue.... on to Macworld.

Macworld, introduced the Intel product line into the Apple product line. Basically you can currently order a new Intel based iMac and 15" MacBook Pro that should ship in February. Personally I'm waiting for the transition of the Intel processors into the the high end desktop line, but the new MacBook does have some nice little features; such as integrated iSight camera and support for the Front Row Software making it a great portable media center. In any case for all of you Mac-addicts it's time to start saving those penny's ... the Intel Mac's have arrived. Personally I liked the PowerPC processors and will probably buy the fallout models when the new Intel lines replace them. Also a few new iPod accessories were announced such as a FM tuner and jeans? Yes, that's right Levi's has announced a new line of jeans specialized for Apple's current cash cow. Okay, have we gone to far with this iPod thing yet? Well I guess only time will tell, you can expect more weekly posts and random editorials in the very near future.