Lot's of interesting movie news lately. First of all, Toshiba has released the first HD DVD players in Japan, and will soon start selling them in the US for $499 and $799, depending on the model. The debut of HD DVD will soon be followed by Blu-ray technology backed by Sony and Samsung (the new Sony PS3s will have Blu-ray built-in), and we'll all get to relive the Betamax / VHS format wars all over again.
So what's wrong with first generation DVDs? First and foremost, they aren't selling like they used to, so it's time to revitalize the market by updating the format. According to Toshiba, however, people are asking for them since television resolution has surpassed that of DVDs. Personally, I think Sony, Samsung, and Toshiba have a lot of challenges ahead of them.
Continue reading "Why all the recent movie news isn't good news" »
If you think we're experiencing another technology bubble, I have some news for you: we're not even close. How do I know? Well, I'm no economist, but I know because I was there during the first bubble. I worked at a quintessential .com startup in Dullas, Virginia between 1998 and 2002 while my wife was working at AOL, and believe me when I tell you that there's no comparison between then and now. While my wife enjoyed all the benefits of working for a big company flush with cash and desperately trying to hold on to employees, I spent my days, nights, and weekends in a little office park wearing Birkenstocks, playing foosball and Quake 3, drinking free Mountain Dew, engaging in Nerf warfare, and working superhuman hours with people's dogs wandering around the office. In fact, I'm sitting in an Aeron chair right now that used to belong one of the founders who was removed by the board in classic startup.com style. So like I said, I'm no economist, but I know.
Here are all the most common pro-bubble 2.0 arguments I hear:
Continue reading "Why this isn't another bubble" »
