Freyburg

According to Fortune, Sony has to knock the PS3 launch out of the park in order to hang on to its already tenuous position in the consumer electronics marketplace. How they’ll do that with a marginally better box than the Xbox 360 with a half-thought out online presence and a de-rumbled controller is any body’s guess.

Personally, I think it’s time Sony gave up and went back to the drawing board. They used to come out with innovative, stylish products, and certain parts of their empire (cell phones and camcorders) are still holding their own. But they’ve had their lunch served to them by Apple, Samsung and others, and they’ve got to stop trying to force their own standards down the throat of the public.

Vanity Fair has an article by William Langewiesche (who wrote the excellent “American Ground“) all about the conditions that led an otherwise normal group of American soldiers to kill 24 Iraqi civilians in cold blood. And a current snapshot of the disaster that is Baghdad is captured in a story in the Washington Post.

I’ve been alternatively busy and not impressed with the link-fodder on the Net these last few days, but when I saw a link to Industrial Light and Magic’s Halloween Party pictures, I felt I had to share.

P.S. I applied for a job with these guys (the geniuses who did the special effects for all the Star Wars films and countless others) way back when (1999?), got as far as a phone interview, and it ended there. Still, that alone is some heavy geek cred. 🙂

Macleans, Canada’s pipsqueak Time-equivalent, boggles the mind with a column on how the Internet is a waste of time and that we should have been pursuing more worthwhile avenues of invention. Well, bollocks to that, I say. Just because some print magazine can feel the icy grip of death around its neck is no reason to write off one of the biggest fundamental shifts in media, commerce and social dynamics in over 100 years. But don’t take my word for it, there’s plenty of invective to go around.

Conventional wisdom says that once the rich get too uppity and overprivileged, the poor cast off their chains and get their riot on. While that’s somewhat true, most real revolutions are stage managed by disaffected members of the elite (the Russian Revolution, American Revolution and other uprisings being a good example.) But there’s an increasing frustration amongst the upper-class who’ve worked like crazy to get where they are, only to see their progress trivialized by the newly emergent “ultra” rich, who swim in rivers of cash and live lives of increasing decadence and frivolity.

On the one hand, this is another good indicator that our civilization is reaching the “Romans barfing and screwing and not paying attention to those hairy fellas at the gates with swords” stage, but on the other hand the uber-rich have always been with us, and probably in one form or another always will be. It’s just that the ersatz kings, dukes, and Vanderbilts of today are a little more accessible and much more visible then their historical counterparts, who were smart enough to build giant stone walls around their ill-gotten gains. You could even argue that the emergence of a frustrated upper class is progress in and of itself. And I have serious doubts a revolt against the pampered will come from the slightly-less-pampered. But read the article and see what you think.

That’s the opinion of Vancouver’s City Council, which has just released a survey on various hazards around and about Vancouver, including (laughably) cyclists not wearing a helmet. While I think it’s dumb to get on your bike without head protection, it certainly isn’t on par with smoking crack, committing property crime, or oh, I don’t know, driving your SUV in a reckless manner that endangers other drivers, pedestrians, and yes, cyclists.

But my ranting is strictly amateur hour compared to my hardcore cyclist friend Jen, who is guest posting her opinion on this latest bit of bike-hating nonsense from Vancouver’s enlightened despot rulers. Jen’s rant begins….

I can not believe that “cyclists not wearing helmets” is listed as a public disorder item! Who designed this survey? How could this possibly be on a list that includes open drug use and aggressive panhandling? It is difficult for me to even take this seriously – or the current council if they were involved in this survey design.

And…we’re back! Or rather, we never left, but we’ve got a semi-new theme song, new album art, and most importantly, a new show to talk about! Steven and I delve into the mystery that is Torchwood episodes 1 and 2, and then ramble on about the show’s stellar ratings, the demise of Outpost Gallifrey, and the less than amazing numbers for Season Two’s debut on the CBC. Whee! (feed, web, direct download)

Seems like the Americans aren’t the only ones getting their best info from sarcastic funnymen There’s a show in Iraq called “Hurry Up, He’s Dead,” starring a crazy Bootsy Collins looking fella who spouts off about everything from the Occupation to the militias, and brings some much needed comic relief to the miserable everyday existence of Iraq. Though I think this thing would be comic nirvana if they could somehow involve the former Iraqi Minister of Information. That big show he did in 2003 with the tanks and the stomaches roasting in hell was some good stuff.

Spiegel, Germany’s top-drawer magazine (think “Time” with more bratwurst, and you’ve sorta got the idea) has an article about how America’s days as a superpower are close to numbered. It’s an interesting perspective from outside the traditionally insular Americna media, though America’s decline has been a popular topic of discussion since the rise of the Soviet Union (and we all know how that one worked out.)

Torchwood, the raunchy and violent Doctor Who spin-off, premiered yesterday in England and shortly thereafter made its HD-ripped goodness felt on the internets, to the joy of many nerds. We’ll be doing the Radio Free Skaro podcast tomorrow night, and reviewing the first two episodes, but I thought it’d be a good idea to get people’s reactions to the show beforehand, so we can include some opinions other than mine and Steven’s in the discussion. Feel free to leave comments, invective, or praise in the comments…I haven’t watched the episodes yet so I won’t be able to contribute until later tonight.