FlexGo From Microsoft

Sorry about the lateness of this post, guys (I fudged the time to make it fit). I went to watch the awesome 24 finale at my friend's place, and then we watched the Mavericks sadly demolish the Spurs in OT. Anyway, what is FlexGo? Apparently, Microsoft is playing around with the idea of pay-as-you-go computing. How does it work? Just as it sounds: you'd only pay for the amount of time you actually spend on a computer via tokens or pre-paid cards (like prepaid phones). Before you cry stupidity, realize that this is targetted towards 3rd world countries. I think it's a really interesting idea. However, how cheap would this rate be? I still question how worthwhile it would be, because then the family would be rationing their computer usage rather than embracing it. Why not just go to an Internet cafe instead? It reminds me of renting an apartment for several years in a place like Texas where it would make more sense to just buy a house instead rather than pouring your money into a dead investment. It only makes sense in places like New York where housing is limited and condos are very pricey, which means that the "rent" for using the computer would have to be much lower than the cost of buying a computer so that people who couldn't afford a PC could just pay the low rate. I guess I'm just thinking out loud here about this rather than providing an effective commentary, but I like that they're thinking a little differently.

Microsoft's Xbox division has announced that they would not be dropping the price of the Xbox 360 any time soon, but I think it's debatable how far reaching their plans really are because I think they could still do it this winter. If they didn't though, that would almost be an offense to Sony because it would show how little they'd be concerned with the PS3. IGN claims that the PS3 has really stabbed itself with the core PS3 unit since the lack of the HDMI port pretty much means that it can't output in high-definition. I'm not a tech fiend when it comes to video so I didn't know this, but it would make anyone buying the cheaper unit an idiot since it would be bad a couple of years from now when HD gets much bigger. Consoles were much simpler back in the days of Game Gear. One question that has come up in the midst of all these details is how harmful they are on our youth, and a new study claims that it actually helps kids. Though I question the validity of the study, I do believe that games are at least as helpful as they are harmful (in general I mean, not equally between all games, of course). I'm not sure if pricing on UMPCs had already been announced, but it looks like the Samsung Q1 will cost as much as the cheapest MacBook. I can't see why you'd prefer a near-tablet PC to a MacBook; they need to lower that price. If you've gotten lost among what all the television networks are doing with their programming online, here's a good roundup of their offerings. I believe that ABC has the best model, and they have already had 3 million views of their free streams from their site, so I would call that successful. Lastly, if you're curious about the Mac OS X kernel and other internal stuff, then you'll get all the information you could want summarized over here.

I latch on to any Southland Tales news I can find, and we actually have some now that it has been shown at Cannes. The festival itself has provided a clip from the movie in which the porn star Krysta (Sarah Michelle Gellar) talks about her business model, and it sounds like she'll be a pretty good character. We also have impressions of the film, and it sounds different from anything we've seen before. I don't think I've been this deeply interested in a movie since I first heard about Kill Bill. Moviefone has a clip from Babel, and I have my doubts about the film, but I don't think that Brad Pitt would knowingly take on bad projects at this point of his career. I have more doubts about World Trade Center though, despite someone who saw the first twenty minutes saying that it does a good job of capturing the historic day. I wonder whether Nicholas Cage actually does better with his role than the trailer lets on. That still doesn't top my dread for X3 this weekend, which apparently has a short epilogue after the closing credits. So make sure you don't leave until after the movie is really over if you decide to see it. Lastly, I should've seen this coming yesterday, but it looks like Sony is on track to approve pre-production on a screen adaptation of Angels and Demons as a prequel to Da Vinci Code. I haven't read that one yet (it's on my reading list), but I've heard that it's much better.

I thought I'd leave you guys with a picture from the weekend. My brother's pup has
gotten so big now!



I'm going to go with Monday's a Bitch this week:

1. What's your favourite television theme song?
Hard to say, but I'll go with Knight Rider for now. It is a pretty awesome theme song, you have to admit, despite how corny the show got.
2. What tv character'’s “tragic” demise actually made you happy?
I'd say it's a tie between Sheri Palmer and Nina Myers on 24. Both were so horrible, though I think that Nina was worse since she actually killed Teri.
3. If you had to be implanted into a tv show (meaning as a character, not an actor), which would you choose?
Probably Family Guy, because it would be the most fun. If I was on 24 I'd probably get killed pretty quickly (Chloe is the only IT person that manages to survive).
4. What show do you wish would be released on DVD?
Don't think I have any requests right now. The shows I like the most are already on DVD.
5. What are you favourite conventional and unconventional tv couples?
My favorite conventional couple is probably Lois and Peter on Family Guy since they're more right for each other than you initially think, and my favorite unconventional couple (though I suppose it's a rather common situation) is Jim and Pam on The Office. That was a really good season finale, by the way. I'm going to miss that show this summer.