Sunday, April 30th, 2006
Yahoo, MSN and Google: Fight!
by Warren
Google is the undisputed king of the search engines (and stock market), but Yahoo and MSN aren’t about to go down without a fight.
Google is the undisputed king of the search engines (and stock market), but Yahoo and MSN aren’t about to go down without a fight.
Ars Technica, always a good source of smart-thinkerin’ on matters technological, has an interesting article up about the possibilities and pitfalls of an Apple DVR. I’d love it if Apple threw down with a device that owned the living room like the iPod does with portable music (and, I guess, video), but we’ll have to see what Uncle Steve has up his sleeve, if anything. Meantime, there’s always the Xbox 360, since I’m pretty sure Apple won’t be coming out with a game machine anytime soon.
Not that it’s news to anybody, but recently out-and-about Trek icon George Takei rocks. In a great interview on Tv Squad, Takei dishes the dirt on Shatner, Howard Stern and his upcoming appearance on New Voyages, the lovingly made classic Trek fanfilm series that’s getting a lot of attention from Trek alumni.
In a move clearly meant to satiate their bread-and-butter Japanese market, Nintendo has dubbed their next console “the Wii.” In my opinion, that’s a pretty stupid name, but then I thought the Nintendo DS wasn’t such a hot idea, and I was proven wrong.
Anyway, if you want an up to date look at what Mario’s latest home is going to be like, check this out.
It’s no secret that Japan’s television shows are….unique. I got my first taste of the cathode ray madness in 2001, when I was staying at Cam‘s place in Toyama and I got to see such cultural touchstones as “Miniskirt Police” and Boingo.” It’s just gotten weirder since, and TV in Japan is there to chronicle it.
By the way, not every show on Japanese TV is wacky game show malarkey. They do have dramas and other such standard fare, including the otaku-themed “Densha Otoko,” which is quite decent.
Ah, sweet justice. Enjoy this tale of a bunch of lowly IT workers exposing the suits at their company for the greedy, underage-porn surfing poltroons that they are. 🙂
More navel-gazing tech ninnery, this time from New York magazine. It’s an interesting article, in that it at least reflects back on the first Internet bubble, which whipped through Manhattan like a bat on crack in the late ’90’s. Seems the jerk factor isn’t quite as high this time around.
And as a counterpoint, read this article about Daily Candy (again in New York magazine), an email newsletter that gives fashion and lifestyle tips. Selling price…$100 million. Uh….zuh?
Not a development that comes as a shock to anyone with half a brain, but Tyler Drumheller, ex of the CIA, says the White House ignored intelligence stating weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was a wild goose chase.
Not a question that’s keeping me up nights, but the girlfriend has a ton of buddies on this thing, I’ve got a very half-assed page, and apparently 16 million-odd people are into this Geocities-esque contraption. The NYT examines what it’ll take for Myspace to start bringing in serious coin.
Ah, sweet. Though I seem to recall Rolling Stone tucking its tail between its legs and kissing Republican ass right after 9/11. To be fair, every other bit of media in the US did the same thing, for whatever that’s worth. Anyway, revel in the Bush-bashing.