February 19, 2002

A consortium of electronics manufacturers has agreed on a standard for a next generation recordable DVD format. Using blue lasers, the Blu-ray format can support up to 27GB of data on a side. Among its uses is recording High Definition TV (HDTV) signals for later playback. The format is expected top be ready next year. While nine companies are listed as supporting this format, JVC is not among them possibly as its prefers its own D-VHS digital tape solution for recording HDTV signals. Expect the copy protection on any prerecorded media to be much stronger than CSS. 10:04:03 PM     Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has welcomed an idea reportedly being considered by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, offering Israel peace with the entire Arab world in exchange for an Israeli pullout from all the territory occupied in the 1967 Mideast war, including the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, which are claimed by the Palestinians. Presumably the "all the territory" includes the Jewish Quarter of the Old City Jerusalem. And no word on dropping the "Palestinian right of return". 9:50:19 PM     CNN has a story on British Royal Marines landing on a Spanish beach adjacent to Gibraltar following a navigation error during a training exercise. When confronted by locals the troops retreated to their landing craft. The most famous landing on the wrong beach was made during D-Day in 1944 as the American 4th Infantry Division landed a full mile from its target, finding by chance the least fortified of all the D-Day beaches. 9:43:39 PM

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