Apple's iTunes' Staying Power

I think today was the first day at work that I constantly had stuff to do, even if it is just testing. Then again, I spent half the day out of the office at a new hire luncheon and then an ITS co-op ice cream thing. To end the day, I lost in poker, but it felt good to play cards again. Moving along, Business Week decided to talk a little more about how precarious the movies on iTunes situation is. They make it sound like the studios are being so strict with Jobs that they'll never crack, but I'm sure that they will compromise eventually. I think that Jobs will waver on his flat charge plans, and I'm sure that he'll decide to commit to some of their demands, because there is no way in Hell that a flat price for movies could possibly work since it's a totally different market from music and they're bleeding too much money right now to give up so much ground to Apple. I agree with the studios' approach because they have to show that they have some balls and deflate Jobs's ego that he controls the world just because of the iPod. There's no doubt that it gives him significant negotiating power, but unless he's put them in the loop about some new upcoming device (which I doubt), what reason do they have to even believe that people would go for movies on iTunes any more than on Movielink or some other competitor? Still, I believe that iTunes and the iPod gives them enough power to lock Microsoft out of the market, which is what a Forbes columnist claims. Urge isn't doing much for Microsoft, and they'd have to have something pretty mindblowing to try to steal market share away from the iPod. I still think that it's possible to destroy the iPod because I've encountered lots of people dissatisfied with the lifespan of their iPods until they need to be repaired or need to have the battery replaced, but I don't see many people wholly satisfied with devices from big players like Creative either. For now though, iTunes remains strong, and I think that we'll see movies in the not too distant future.

Back to Microsoft: they've lost another executive, and this one used to run Windows Live. It's not clear to me whether he quit on his own accord or was fired, but I'm sure it doesn't encourage confidence in their investors. I still don't have much confidence in IE7 myself though, but one blogger interviewed the Project Manager (PM), and his answers were rather generic. I'm not saying that they didn't make sweeping security fixes, they just tend to be sloppy about it because they rest on their laurels since they know how big their market share already is. I'm sure that those of you who enjoy video games are curious to see how people are actually using the Wiimote, and you can see it in action in a collection of E3 videos over here. They even have one showing off the virtual console. Man does Mario 64 bring back some memories. It's no secret that The Pirate Bay has some political power in Sweden, and it looks like the movement is spreading to America. I don't think that they'd actually gain control or plan on it, but I think that they're trying to encourage politicans to take more defined roles on the Internet, preferably to protect its neutrality. Otherwise, they're going to keep giving more power to the telcos thinking that their constituents don't care. Lastly, if you're a coder then you may want to bookmark this online book that covers some of the more important algorithms , many of which you've no doubt already learned if you're a programmer.

We have a release season for Indiana Jones 4: summer 2008. I wouldn't be surprised if this ended up getting pushed back since they're still in pre-production, but I'm sure that they'll want it to come out in the summer anyhow. I can hardly believe it, but they're actually going to make a movie out of the video game Clock Tower. This is likely because of Silent Hill, except that this game isn't nearly as popular or story-driven. The next Harry Potter movie will follow in the footsteps of its predecessor and be offered in IMAX. It shouldn't surprise anyone that a blockbuster series would be shown on the really big screen. Yahoo Movies has the trailer for Borat, featuring the actor who also portrays Ali G, and supposedly it has been getting some awesome advance reviews. I didn't see anything special in that trailer, but I suspect that it was just a teaser and that we'll see a full one soon enough. Lastly, AICN's Massawyrm saw Click and was very underwhelmed by it. I hope that it's just a fluke review, but Massawyrm is usually a pretty good reviewer. He doesn't claim that it's horrible or anything, but rather that it loses focus of a target audience.

The Wednesday Mind Hump totally copped out this week, but I'll play along anyway:

Whatsup?
There's one thing that's up, but I don't feel comfortable talking about it here because this is too public of a forum. Let's just say that I'm a little caught up in how I should handle my life this fall. I think I need to balance school and life a little better, or else I'll keep getting knocked down and one of these times I'll stay down. Also up is work, but I'm going to bed for too little time each night so I'd better hit the sack right now so I don't feel groggy tomorrow.