HD DVD Dead?

HD DVD Obit

HD DVD, the beloved format of Toshiba and three Hollywood studios, died Friday after a brief illness. The cause of death was determined to be the decision by Wal-Mart to stock only high-definition DVDs and players using the Blu-ray format.

Who won the BataMax – VHS war? The DVD. So who will be the ultimate winner of the HD DVD – Blue-Ray war? Download Now.

Parallel Programing

Software Spiral

We have been preparing for parallel programing since the early days of Intel’s Hyperthreading. Multi-threading applications allow us to do more faster.

AMD-ATI Radeon HD

ATI Radeon HD 3800

AMD-ATI today announced the availability of the ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series of GPU’s, the world’s first series of graphics processors to deliver Microsoft’s DirectX 10.1, 55nm process technology and tri and quad multi-GPU support with ATI CrossFireX.

The ATI Radeon HD 3800 series ushers in a new era of enthusiast gaming performance at mainstream prices. We’re all enthusiasts now, everyone who works with computers everyday owns several, we all have home systems for gaming and large LCD’s for home entertainment.

Eurovation

Innovation Regulation

Microsoft Ruling May Bode Ill for Other Companies

On Sunday I was in Europe and now I’m in San Francisco, but my body clock is still back in County Kerry Eire.

The photo in todays NYTimes of the Judge with the white powdered wig is priceless….

I’m here for the Intel Developer Forum as are hundreds of other Europeans.

Safari Does Windows

Safari Shot Down

I watched Steve Jobs WWDC Keynote on a tiny little QuickTime screen early this morning.

It began with the Windows guy doing a good Fake Steve, big news about Harry Potter available on a MAC and OSX gets a downloads file! 

George Washington and Steve Ballmer make cameo appearances as did the Windows XP Bliss screen shot and solitaire. The big news was about Safari for Windows, but that was exploited before Steve got out his iPhone.

Intel Next Generation

Intel at 45nm

Intel Details Upcoming New Processor Generations

Intel Corporation will begin producing its next-generation Penryn family of processors in the second half of this year. These new processors benefit from enhancements to the Intel Core microarchitecture and also Intel’s industry-leading 45nm Hi-k process technology with its hafnium-based high-K + metal gate transistor design, which results in higher performance and more energy-efficient processors.

Six Penryn family processors, including dual and quad-core desktop processors and a dual core mobile processor are all under the Intel Core processor brand name as well as new dual and quad-core server processors.

After Penryn and the 45nm Hi-k silicon technology introduction comes Intel’s next-generation microarchitecture Nehalem slated for initial production in 2008. By continuing to innovate at this rapid cadence, Intel will deliver enormous performance and energy efficiency gains in years to come, adding more performance features and capabilities for new and improved applications.

Help Find Jim Gray

The Search For Jim Gray

You can Assist in the Search for Jim Gray

As you probably all know, Jim Gray and his 40 foot sailboat Tenacious have been missing at sea off the coast of san fran since early this week. You can help in the search to find Jim by looking at recent satellite images. Anyone can help, and if you have experience working with very raw satellite imagery, all the better.

Jim Gray Missing: Help find him by searching satellite imagery

20-minute rule

VC Valley

It’s Not Who You Know. It’s Where You Are.

In this story in the Sunday NYTimes Randall Stross a professor of business at San Jose State University tells us that behind all the happy companies with the goofy names are the vulture venture capitalists who run the show.

20-minute rule sounds like a rule dictated by a strict parent over a teenage child, the start-up company must be within a 20-minute drive of the venture firm’s offices. It’s their money and they like to see it whenever they want, but these are the same people who are selling the world on the idea that we can do anything on the Web…

Money doesn’t talk, it swears.

I remember the first Web 2.0 conference as a celebration of what had been accomplished by Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Google and Craigslist at a time when the American economy was hurting. At the second Web 2.0 conference young companies paid to be on the launch-pad and there were mostly VC’s in the audience.

At the first Web 2.0 conference the luminaries and the bloggers mixed and mingled throughout the three days. Last year most people ducked into tiny rooms to hold private meetings.

VC’s came up to me asking what I had cooking, but I didn’t like the look in their eyes. Now when anyone asks me about funding I always explain that VC’s are like credit cards, the introductory rates look great, but the Banks always get their money.

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