It seems that Twitter’s growth rate is positively correlated with Twitter’s downtime. As the site continues to gather users, I am left staring at a “connection timed out” page more and more often. This leads me to ask myself, “What is a Twitter addict to do during the constant Twitter downtime?”
Pownce - Usually, my first instinct is to head to Pownce.com and try to rekindle the feeling of connectedness that Twitter provides. However, even Kevin Rose admits that that is not what Pownce was designed for. I don’t have near as many friends on Pownce as I do on Twitter anyway. At least I can get exposed to some new media files…
Facebook - I know I could always go to Facebook to look at all my friends’ status updates, but it just isn’t “realtime” enough for me. Joe added a few more pictures to his profile, and Jennifer sent me another application invite, but I want to know what my friends are doing NOW.
Catch up on RSS Feeds - It’s funny how impatient I’ve become since I started using Twitter. If I can’t read an entire item in 140 characters then I simply don’t have the time. Plus, all the important news is announced on Twitter anyway.
Write a blog post - Hey, there’s an idea. But what will I write about? Man, I wish Twitter was back up…
Go Outside - I know this one seems a little drastic, but when I can’t keep in touch with my followers, I feel very cutoff from society. It’s good to go out and make sure that the world is still moving at times like these. If you think Twitter downtime is bad, imagine if reality had the same connection problems…
In the latest of bad news for the HD-DVD format, Wal-Mart has announced that they are going to stop selling all HD-DVD titles as early as June. Add that to the Blu-Ray support from Netflix, Paramount and Warner Brothers and HD-DVD isn’t just hurting, it’s down for the count. But how did this happen? Wasn’t HD-DVD supposed to win? Wasn’t Blu-Ray supposed to be just another flash in the pan? Wasn’t I making a smart move by betting my friend that if Blu-Ray actually won this war I’d buy him a Blu-Ray player? Apparently, ‘No’.
But wasn’t HD-DVD…
- built on existing DVD technology?
Yes. In fact, the whole concept of HD-DVD came from the DVD Forum, which handled all the “official DVD format specification.” HD-DVD was simply the next progressive step of an already existing technology. It even has DVD in its name! How did this not catch on?
- first to market?
Yep. The first HD-DVD player was released in March 2006, beating Blu-Ray to market by about three months. Those three months should have been a big deal. Early adopters should have eaten HD-DVD up in that amount of time. In fact in the first year and a half of being on the market close to 1 million units have been sold. That’s a pretty large contingent of buyer’s remorse.
- cheaper?
Right again. Not only were the players available at more affordable prices, but the discs themselves were cheaper. In a format war where the technical specifications were so close to being identical (I’m aware there is SOME difference) wouldn’t money be the primary consideration in choosing a format for the average consumer?
- not made by Sony?
Absolutely! Does everyone remember the crap Sony has put consumers through for the past few years? Remember the rootkits? The delayed and botched PS3 development and release? Generations and generations of failed proprietary formats? What made Blu-Ray so different in the minds of consumers that they were willing to overlook years and years of abuse. What makes Blu-Ray any different from Betamax, Minidisc or UMD? Honestly, I have no idea. Perhaps some Blu-Ray supporters can enlighten me.
All I know is that now, I have to pony up a fortune just so my friend can bask in his “lucky guess”. Common Sense, you owe me a Blu-Ray player!
If a web page is hosted on a server, but no browser ever loads it, then does it really exist?
