ITNews

The EE Times posting Atomic clocks plumb cosmological mysteries is reporting that the new quantum clocks are out doing the older atomic clocks.

The new quantum clocks are accurate to within 1 second every billion years. The older atomic clocks are pikers clocking in at only 1 second every 80 million years.

One proposed use of the new and improved clock is to determine if the fine-structure constant is changing.

There are other uses too.

According to NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology), such ultra-accurate clocks are useful for synchronizing telecommunications networks, space navigation, satellite positioning and deep-space communications, and could enable new types of gravity sensors for exploring underground natural resources here on Earth.

…John

I was pleasantly surprised reading the Tech-Ex posting Circuit City Extends Return Time for HD-DVD Players.

Some retailers have been offering credits or trade-ins for returns of HD-DVD players, but you always need to buy a new Blu-ray player in exchange. Circuit City is going them one better, extending its 30-day return policy to 90 days for HD-DVD players.

Maybe some merchants aren’t as unscrupulous or greedy as I indicated in my HD DVD Death Watch posting.

…John

The cable companies and TiVo seem to have the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) market sewn up. The Business Week posting The Truth About DVRs tells the story.

I’m on my fourth Comcast DVR. The first two died. I traded in the third for one with a larger capacity disk, after installing our family HD TV Christmas present. One thing I like about the Comcast DVR is I can take it back to my local Comcast facility, and walk away with a new one, without a hassle.

(From: Comcast)

Before switching to Comcast I had a couple of TiVo DVRs. The first one died just before the warranty expired. When the second one died, I switched.

The Comcast DVR software is mentally retarded compared to TiVo. My understanding is its a Microsoft thingy. Figures.

There is hope in the air. Appearing soon at a Comcast near you, Comcast DVR with TiVo service. Can’t wait, but it looks like I’m going to have to because I’m in a Comcast down market province.

…John

I‘m happy the format battles are over. Now what we need are sanely priced Blue-ray players.

The Technology News posting Sony Gets Moving With Pricey New Blu-ray Players

Don’t expect to see any $50 Blu-ray players from Sony anytime soon. While rival Toshiba’s HD DVD players languish in retailers’ bargain bins after losing the format war, Sony has moved to capitalize on its victory by unveiling two new Blu-ray devices in the $400 to $500 price range. They will be the first to feature Internet connectivity — something HD DVD players had since 2006.

(From Sony)

Sony may have won the format battle, but may be losing the war. Why would I spend $400 or so for a Blue-ray player, when I can purchase an Apple TV for little more than half that amount? I think I’ll be happy with a 720P picture, while saving a bundle on a Blue-ray player and disks.

My advice to Sony is get off the greed wagon, then maybe Blue-ray will be a winner.

…John

VMware is now embedded with Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Fujitsu Siemens on the hypervisor war front.

The VMware ESX 3i hypervisor is embedded in servers produced by the four manufacturers. They will hit the market place in a couple of months.

What’s cool about VMware embedding is the hypervisor boots from flash memory, so its very fast. Upgrading the flash is safe because the upgrade is loaded into a separate flash. If the upgrade is a steamer, then boot from the other flash.

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s Hyper-V is still in a delaying pattern.

…John