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1. 
   Review - Google Chrome for Windows

   4.0.213.1 Beta (Sep 25, 2009)

   As much as I hate to admit this, Chrome has become my browser of choice now due to its sheer speed. It's the fastest browser out there and that outweighs any shortcomings it might have. I just wish Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Avant and Orcha would finally all add in the same Screen Capture tool that is built into Maxthon 2.x. That is the single most useful feature that I have ever seen added into a browser. You can get that same functionality with external tools, but why bother when Maxthon has it built in and right there on the Tools menu? Until the other browsers catch up on this key feature, Maxthon will stay right there at the top of my list of preferred browsers.

2. 
   Review - Google Chrome for Windows

   2.0.160.0 Beta (Feb 9, 2009)

   Well, as much as I hate to say it because I do not like this browser and I do not like Google as a company, I have to admit that this browser actually has some real potential and likely has a bright future. It is fast and there are some sites out there that it actually renders more accurately and with fewer snags/problems and faster than any other browser out there. There is still a lot wrong with this browser and it has a long way to go before I would even call it "good", but I have to admit that it looks promising now and I think it will be very good at some point down the road.

3. 
   Review - Avant Browser

   11.7 Build 21 (Dec 29, 2008)

   I just figured out what the problem was with Avant. It wasn't with Avant at all. Avant runs using the underlying IE engine that you have installed on your system. The machine that I was having the problem with has the IE8 beta 1 installed on it. My laptop which has IE7 installed on it will pull up Gog.com just fine using Avant. The problem turns out to be with IE8, not with Avant at all. Thanks for the help. I guess I need to pay closer attention to what underlying version of IE I have installed on my system.

4. 
   Review - Google Chrome for Windows

   1.0.154.39 (Dec 17, 2008)

   I'm sorry but I just don't see the point of this browser at all. Why do we need this again? What problem does it allegedly solve for the world? With IE, Maxthon, Safari, Opera, Firfox, Avant and Orca all out there, what specifically does Chrome give us that we don't already have? What is the point of creating yet another web browser? (Other than Google just doing it because they are rich and they can, of course) From what I can tell, nothing new or special in this browser to get excited about. No real reason to use it, at least not any obvious ones. I am missing something big here?

5. 
   Review - Google Chrome for Windows

   1.0.154.36 Final (Dec 11, 2008)

   A Terms of Service agreement...for a FREE web browser? Are you KIDDING me? "The Universal Terms, together with the Additional Terms, form a legally binding agreement between you and Google in relation to your use of the Services" Sorry guys, but if you just had your legal department put together 30 pages of "legally binding agreements" that I have to agree to before I can use your free web browser, I have no use for you what so ever, and I would be AMAZED if anyone else did either. What a JOKE! Who the do these peole think they are? Wow, how far Google has falled from its originally stated ideals. When the lawyers take over the company, as they now appear to have, it is GAME OVER for you guys. It was fun while it lasted.

6. Comment - Futuresource: 82% of Blu-ray discs are 'pipeline fill'

   1.0.154.36 Final (Feb 24, 2009 - 11:36 AM)

   Well, what do you expect when you solve a problem that doesn't exist? There is a reason why Blu-ray floundered in the market place: there was no demand for it before it came out and it didn't elicit any real desire in the minds of consumers after it did. No surprise there. Lesson to manufacturers is this: before you launch a new generation of a product, make SURE that consumers are actually going to place enough value on it to want to spend the money you are asking for it. This isn't a "Field of Dreams" guys. Just because you can build it, doesn't mean they will come.

7. Comment - CES Countdown #8: Can smart HDTVs bypass the 'media PC' altogether?

   1.0.154.36 Final (Jan 4, 2009 - 6:53 PM)

   TV manufacturer's are still missing the "Killer App" for their HDTV products. Media PC's haven't taken off for one simple reason: We already spend enough time in front of our computers. We don't need or want another excuse or reason to spend even more time there. However, we do enjoy our time on the couch, in front of the TV immensely as that is where we go to RELAX. So, if TV manufacturers would just put a Wi-Fi antenna on their TV's and embed a nice (standard) web browser, or even multiple ones so customers could pick which one they wanted to use, and then bundle their TV's with a good quality wireless keyboard with an integrated touch pad, you would be amazed at how fast TV sales would take off.
   
   People don't need to do much more than watch TV from their TV's, but they do need to be able to surf the web wirelessly from their couch using a wireless keyboard. The first company to really integrate this tightly, simply and cost effectively will be WAY out in front of the crowd and will see their sales absolutely explode overnight. These TV companies need to stop thinking about adding "features" and start thinking about creating "solutions".
   
   Look at the way Panasonic integrates the SD card slot into all of their Plasma and LCD HDTV's for JPEG photo playback. A perfect example of what I am talking about here. A simple solution that adds real value and boosts the overall value proposition of the entire product line.

8. Comment - Happy Holidays 2008 from BetaNews

   1.0.154.36 Final (Dec 29, 2008 - 1:52 PM)

   I have to say, I absolutely LOVE BetaNews.com. Hands down, it is the #1 tech news and info/beta software site on the net. BetaNews.com just does it right. I would like to see BetaNews expand into other media actually. Not sure how they would do it but I would love to see a BetaNews based radio talk show or a live TV show series. I think the concept of BetaNews is a great one and it has a lot of potential to grow and be expanded on into other (interactive) forms of media. Well done BetaNews.com. Keep up the great work. Best site on the net! No question about it.

9. Comment - In another tease, Sony promises to redefine the laptop

   1.0.154.36 Final (Dec 23, 2008 - 5:15 PM)

   Well, modularity within one company's product offerings, is essentially meaningless. What I am talking about here, and what I think really needs to happy is true industry standard based modularity among all brands. Notbooks need to be constructed the way desktops are: using interchangeable parts from ANY manufacturer. I should be able to EASILY upgrade my CPU module, my video card module, my hard drive module and my optical drive module in ALL laptops today. Most laptops still can't upgrade any of those without performing open heart surgery. That has to change. This can be done, there just as to be the willingness among the manufacturer's to build according to agreed upon standards of interoperability and exchangeablity. This can be done and it needs to be done...and it is long overdue in this industry.

10. Comment - The Dark Knight may yet save Blu-ray from the lair of the PS3

    1.0.154.36 Final (Dec 23, 2008 - 12:48 PM)

    A couple of things. First part of the reason why Blu-ray was rushed to market before it was even finished as a format was because HD-DVD was finished first and was ready to go with a complete, finalized feature set. Blu-ray HAD to be released when it was or it would have been still-born in the marketplace had they waited until it was actually finished. By that time, HD-DVD would have had a large enough first-mover advantage in the market as to render Blu-ray entirely irrelevant. This is why you saw Blu-ray released with revisions such as 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0. You could liken these numbers to 1.0 = Alpha release, 1.1 = Beta release 2.0 = Final release.
    
    The magic number for any high-def disc player has always been $200 for the general consumer. If you go back and read the articles from the original days of both HD-DVD and Blu-ray players you will frequently see respected industry analysts refer to the magic number for broad based consumer adoption as being $200. The only reason why you are now suggesting the magic number for widespread adoption among consumers is really $100 is because we just hit the $200 price point, and even broke well through it to $149 this past Black Friday and almost no one even noticed or cared...let alone actually bought the product. What's your next magic number going to be lowered to when they don't sell in a big way at $100 I wonder?
    
    My point with respect to pricing makes a lot of sense actually, you just missed it entirely. The point is that consumers had a HUGE incentive not to buy either format back when there was a "format war" going on between HD-DVD and Blu-ray: they didn't want to wind up on the losing side of that war with something that they couldn't buy new content for going forward if their format lost. With Blu-ray winning the format war, that incentive to wait and not buy is entirely gone now.
    
    HDTV's are the #1 selling hot product this holiday season in retail stores. They were the #1 hot selling product last Christmas season as well. Absolutely everyone is walking out the door with one at every major retailer, and many of those customers already have an HDTV in their home. They like them so much that they are buying their second or third one for additional rooms in the house now. Why on earth wouldn't these same consumers also be leaving the store with a $200 Blu-ray player under each arm then I wonder? Guess what...they aren't! No perceived benefit = No interest = no demand = no sales.
    
    I ask you: if consumers respond to Blu-ray players at sub-$200 prices with a collective yawn like they did during this holiday buying season, what other tricks does Blu-ray have left up its sleeve to try and incent consumers to get excited about its format?
    
    The adoption rate for Blu-ray players as compared to DVD players at this point in the life cycle is very different for one major reason: no perceived marginal benefit. Remember that the jump up in picture quality and features from VHS video tapes to DVD was absolutely huge and everyone went crazy over DVD as a result of that. The step up in picture quality and additional features from DVD to Blu-ray is perceived in the market place as being far smaller and therefore less substantive and impactful to the consumer, therefore resulting in less excitement and lower sales. My point is this: it doesn't matter how big of a step up Blu-ray is from DVD in terms of quality and features. If the general consumer doesn't perceive it as being a big enough step up, they aren't going to upgrade from DVD and buy it. Guess what? They aren't buying it.
    
    What Blu-ray is finding out is that there is a point of diminishing marginal utility when it comes to advanced disc based movie players, in the minds of the general consuming public. Blu-ray players are not being swiped off the shelves at retailers at $200 and below now because consumers don't collectively see enough of an additional benefit of owning one. Too many people are still too satisfied and content with their upconverting DVD players to be incented to go buy a Blu-ray player. That is a very serious problem for the Blu-ray camp and one that they STILL haven't figured out how to solve, as evidenced by Blu-ray player sales.
    
    Blu-ray is largely faltering in the marketplace now because it has successfully solved a problem that essentially didn't exist in the minds of most consumers: dissatisfaction with standard upconverting DVD players. Now, those same consumers love their HDTV's which are 1.)thinner 2.)lighter 3.)more attractive 4.)more versitile 5.) more reliable than traditional tube TV's were. They have plenty of reasons to upgrade to sexy new HDTV's from their old TV's. That one is easy math.
    
    Even if Blu-ray has a compelling value proposition, from a technology and feature set stand point, it simply doesn't matter if consumers don't care. If that value proposition just strikes no chords what so ever in the hearts and minds of consumers, as it clearly has not up until now, and you have already lowered the price well into the range of being affordable, then what cards do you have left to play to try and stir up interest with consumers as a format?