Why Intel's New Path is Good and Bad

Did you all have a good weekend? I hope it was better than mine, where I spent way too much time working on homework. Oh well, I'm pretty happy that I got this done, and hope to add content to it very soon. I had a couple of Intel articles today, and they actually go well together so I'm going to treat them as such. I'm going to start out with the bad. Remember that Viiv thing I was jumping up and down about? Yeah, about that, I'm having second thoughts after reading this article. Apparently, it's nothing more than clever marketing at this point. That's not to say that it won't get better, but right now it really is just a low standard for a media-capable machine, which would be most new machines nowadays with more than one cores under the processor hood. Intel as a company is shifting towards lower power consumption though, which is good. Aside from our electricity bills getting higher, there's also the concern for laptop users tired of being limited by a cord for their laptop for a reasonable amount of usage. What's better about this though, is that they're ending their stupid clockspeed race, which confused consumers into buying more Ghz even though it really didn't help that much. The end of that article seems to suggest bigger things for Viiv, and for the sake of Intel's reputation, I hope so. Not to say that Intel's reputation is golden or anything, but they lose credibility if people pay extra for a pretty "Viiv" sticker with nothing but XP Media Center and coupons inside. One thing they've greatly succeeded at is covering up their shortcomings when compared with AMD with this media storm of the new Macs and, of course, Viiv. So they're on the right track in general, so let's see if they stay that way.

I'm going to get the Apple rumors out of the way right now since you know they're coming. Apparently, new 8GB and 10GB iPod Nanos are in the making and could come out as early as this summer, especially if they want to retain the public's attention until they're ready to release that shiny full screen iPod they have in some secret facility. This wouldn't be surprising since there's been strong speculation of dropped iPod pricing, and this would fill the gap. Apple has also quietly opened new features on iTunes to let you download songs from commercials and from tv shows (namely just American Idol right now, but I'm sure more will follow). It's a great idea because I've actually heard a few commercials with songs that drive me crazy (in a good way, not because they suck). Since I'm on music, I might as well plug PandoraFM, which integrates Last.FM with Pandora to give you a better online radio experience, and I think it's an awesome idea (with Pandora's full blessings). One more thing on Apple though: someone put up a video of switching between Linux, Windows, and OS X on a Mac, and it just blew me away. It's not that amazing of a video, I just never thought I'd see the day when it was possible and so fast. If you want to download that video, you should try keepvid. Do you remember when there was a lot of buzz on e-Textbooks? Well, they're actually around now, but being held back by pricing issues. However, they've been becoming more laxed with DRM, and I think that once laptops get cheaper that it'll really take off.

It was no surprise to me that Silent Hill came out on top this weekend, but I kind of expected better than just $20 million. It was a bit weird that American Dreamz bombed though with under $4 million despite having better reviews. It had a pretty weak mainstream publicity campaign though. AICN's Merrick got his hands on the Casino Royale script, and he doesn't seem to be too thrilled with it. It doesn't sound bad, just not really much of a change from what we've seen before (except for possibly less flashy action scenes). However, AICN's Massawyrm saw MI:3 and loved it. This sounds like the best Mission Impossible movie, and I'd expect nothing less from JJ Abrams, whose reputation precedes him.

Since none of today's news was really picturesque, I thought I'd put up a picture my brother sent me of what he saw on the street somewhere in downtown Houston. The quality is low because it's from is camera phone, but a pretty neat find (I wonder who did it, because it definitely wasn't me):



Now, of course, it's time for Unconscious Mutterings:

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Rising :: Tide


2. Third :: Movement


3. Disruptive :: Noises


4. Surround :: Sound


5. Distant :: Shore


6. Suction :: Cup


7. Fried :: Chicken


8. Nuggets :: Golden


9. Clip :: Paper


10. San Antonio :: Texas