Just when you thought your home theater was all set...
Over the weekend Sony embarked in a new battle against technology company rival JVC, this time not over VHS or beta as in the past, but over the next generation DVD, High Definition DVD. Cleverly JVC jumped on the name HD DVD, while the marketing braniacs at Sony have come up with the name Blu-Ray.
From the get go you can see where this is heading. Sony lost the battle to JVC before and I think it is headed in the same direction during this second bout. Sony usually comes up with clever names, but I think they drop the ball this time. Names like Playstation, Walkman, etc; clearly state what the product offers, but they set themselves up to loose the contest , which began over the weekend when US stores began stocking the first players for Sony's Blu-ray. The product made by Samsung has a price tag almost twice that of the Toshiba player, which was launched three months ago. A name is a lot in this competing market and JVC has that covered. Though many consider VHS to be inferior to BetaMax in its day, it is a much easier thing to comprehend.
The bottom line is that the Hollywood community is split for the support and only time will tell who will win, but with name's like Microsoft, Intel, NEC, and Universal behind them, JVC surely has a good start. To get more juicy details as this technology unveils
click here.
The repercussions of lawsuits.
Microsoft recently got sued for a patent infridgment causing it to change the way its browsers handle Active Content. Microsoft released an update to Internet Explore 6 and also incorporated the same fixed in its IE7 browser.
This changes have stirred up a lot of talk among the Web design community, in particular, those of us who use Flash as part of our Web environment. The reason being that Flash is the most common Active Content piece widely use.
As a result, Adobe has put out a patch for its Web editing software, Dreamweaver, which automatically detects and fixes any errors that might be cause as a result of the browser patch. This will fix the "click to activate and use this control" message that appears when the mouse is roll over a Flash animation.
To fix the problem manually, download the javascript file from Macromedia's site and wrap your flash objects as follows:
< script type="text/javascript" >
AC_FL_RunContent( 'codebase','http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/
flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0','width','width#','height','height#','src','http:/
/pathtoyourflashfile/flashfilenamenoswf','quality','high','wmode','transparent',
'pluginspage','http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer','movie',
'http://pathtoyourflashfile/flashfilenamenoswf' ); //end AC code
< /script > < noscript > < /noscript >
The bottom line is that if you decide to break patents and laws, you must remember that it doesn't just affect you but many others, especially if yo are a large Corporation with a large number of users and consumers. This problem has cause many of us a lot of headaches. If you are reading this, I hope to have help you fix your Flash animation problems. For more information visit Adobe's Web site.
The War is on
Google has taken yet another step at declaring war at Microsoft. The Search Engine giant has recently taken many steps to let Microsoft that they are soon to be crown king.
Google release yesterday yet another product,
Google Spreadsheet, this new product coupled with its recently acquire
Google Word, definitely lets Microsoft that they are after the marketshare of the widely used Microsoft Office.
Now that Microsoft is in a battle with
Adobe over PDF issues in the Office suite of products, Google has taken the opportunity to stab another knife into the wound. However, if
Google is serious about taking over with an Office Suite, they are going to have to kick it up a notch.
Google spreadsheet is far from Excel, I wouldn't even dare compare it to the product as although is efficient and comes bundle with the common formulas, it lacks in both design and functionality.
The bottom line is that, although Google is not quite yet, it is very clear that the monopoly is coming to an end. There's a new kid in town looking to be cool, but is yet to rise to take the bully down. One last note, if you want to be in the front of the line to try
Google Spreadsheet, make sure to use your
gmail account, it seems google favors its users as I sign up for an invite using another email account and I'm yet to receive it, however, when I used my
gmail account, I promptly received an invite within a matter of a couple of hours.
" />
