The Future of Blu-ray

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-18438_7-10142913-82.html?tag=smallCarouselArea.1

I remember not too long ago when Blu-ray and HD DVD were at the peak of their competition for the future of the DVD market. My family had just cashed in on a premium HDTV - as we scanned the HD channels we admired the clarity of the picture. With all the hype surround the two types of dvds I wasn't sure which one finally run out. HD DVD, which I had been told was the better product, just seemed to fall out of place behind Blu-ray and people began to stock their shelves at home with the new, better Blu-ray DVDs. I thought HD DVDs were ahead of Blu-ray, maybe just because the terminology of the disc and TVs was the same, but Blu-ray is definitely higher in definition and really both advantageous platforms for the upcoming progress in disc technology. Now that the competition has subsided I agree that it will be easier for consumers to adapt to the new wave in the realm of disc technology, and with competition gone BLu-ray can be tweaked to be the best disc format in the market. Carnoy's articles is a clear and conscise view on the current position and relative future of Blu-ray. In the end HD DVD will be one in the line of disc technology and as Carnoy puts it Sony will find a way to have Blu-ray "resonate with the public", what with the pressure from being at the top of the market and desire from the consumer for better and clearer picture. The phrase HD DVD had a better ring to it than Blu-ray and Carnoy makes the point that consumers often mispell the name Blu-ray. Whether Blu-ray will succeed in the future, maybe under a simpler, more consumer friendly name, the desire for better, higher quality disc technology will be there, especially with bandwidth holding up digital downloads.

5 Ways the Cell Phone will Change How You Listen To Music

Next Big Change for Cell Phones

http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/01/six-ways-cellph.html

Apple already took a big initiative with the release of the iphone not too long ago and since then the iphone model has been at the top of the ranks. You can download music files onto your phone and it converts to a mp3 player, you can surf the web play games and access a variety of other functions. As a user of the increasingly popular online radio site known as Pandora, I can vouch for the advantage of having a free, user-friendly and easily customized radio at the touch of a mouse. Pandora and similar sites take the work out of your hands, finding, streaming and playing songs according to the song you originally searched for. Considering the user support these sites have received, teaming up to deliver interactive radio to mobile phones will most likely be a successful step. I can see both the appeal and the drawbacks of having interactive radio on your cell phone. It would be nice to have the option of a portable radio on “some days”, as the article said, yet I can also see potential kinks. Will streaming always work? Will there be enough bandwidth for all the demand created by the growth of wireless users? Will actions available on the websites, like skip and customizing options, and the sound quality translate in a cellular context. It seems logical that using such services on the phone will be slower than on a computer. I don’t think such a service wouldn’t shove regular mp3 players out of the picture. Although it does offer many new, appealing options for the cell phone, mp3 players allow you to play specific songs and maintain a generous music library available at hand without any wireless streaming. The initiative that Omnifone plans to take with Gracenote, however could become future replacement. The idea of unlimited music services being brought to every connected device platform, including car audio systems, with the capability to “automatically synchronize you existing music collection with Omnifone’s unlimited service of millions of tracks” seems like a far of reality, but in a few years it could be the norm.

Green Tech

Make You Personal Computing Carbon Neutral: 12 Easy Steps

http://greenwebhostingcoupons.com/2008/make-your-personal-computing-carbon-neutral-12-easy-steps/

It’s easy to subscribe to green beliefs but many people have little idea how to actually implement green ideals in their day to day life. If you wanted to make your house more green where do you start? You could change your lightbulbs, reduce electricity use, regulate water use, but will it really make a difference on society’s carbon footprint? I found this article on a Green Blog hosting site. The article is direct in its intent. It shows in ’12 easy steps” how to make your personal technology use more green. I think we are the generation that needs to take an active role in the transition to a more global green lifestyle. The fact that large companies such as Dell are making a conscience effort to “Go Green” is a sign that now is the time to make changes.

I thought the topic, the impact of computer use on the environment, was an issue that is rarely brought to light. Considering the integral role of technology in our society today, advocating viewpoints and raising issues through technological tools such as blogs are a perfect way to reach a wide audience, and likely on of a younger generation - that is comfortable with technology and more likely to be interested in supporting things like green technology.

The article illustrates how you can make using your computer more environment-friendly. Some of the steps require more effort than others. Some, like Power Managing Your Computer and Purchasing Green Supplies are easy to apply. Just making sure that the computer and monitor are set to enter sleep mode when not in use saves up to 90% electricity.

The article gives straightforward steps to solving the problem and also provides links to other sites like The Green Office and The Daily Green – sites that offer further information and which I also found helpful.

The article addresses the issue of eWaste. I am just now learning about the full scope of eWaste. I’ve seen a few videos with footage of villages in China severly harmed by the toxic conditions created by salvaging eWaste and this blog raises the issue again by providing a better solution. Instead of dumping our county’s eWaste onto China and supporting a business that has lead to may deaths and permanent health issues, for both adults and children, many websites offer a cleaner substitue. The blog references several sites where the reader can find more information about getting rid of eWaste. I thought this article was informative and enjoyable to read and offered some good tips.