Michael Rogers' Star Talk Weblog

Michael Rogers' Star Talk Weblog
Astronomy, technology, small business, politics

Monday, June 24, 2002

News: Circuit City will soon stop selling VHS tapes in order to free up shelf-space for DVDs -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20623-2002Jun20.html

Comment: Not too surprising. I can't remember the last time I watched a VHS tape. All our TV watching comes from TiVo ( http://www.tivo.com ) and movies are strictly DVD. Technology marches on!

What will replace DVD? Nicholas Negroponte ( http://web.media.mit.edu/~nicholas/ ) has written that soon all information...movies, music, everything...will be digitized and streamed over the Internet. Visualize this data as a stream of water. All movies will be constantly flowing down the stream. When you want to watch a movie, you simply dip your cup in the stream and fill it with the movie.

So, eventually, there won't be any "formats" or "media". Everything will be in digital format and simply displayed when you want it in the form in which you want to view it. You won't have to worry about whether your movie is on VHS or DVD. You will just watch it on your big screen HDTV!

News: Yes, I looked at the Moon again Friday night.

Comment: It's not that I've suddenly turned into a lunatic. It's just that I got a new scope and I've got nothing else to look at except the Moon. My old scope did a fine job at viewing lunar features, and in fact, because it was a much bigger scope, showed much more detail. But there is something I really enjoy about grabbing the new, smaller scope under one arm and hopping out on the deck to observe.

News: I just finished reading "Perdido Station" by China Mieville.

Comment: This terrific book is one of the most creative sci-fi/fantasy reads I've had in many years. Complex, moving, horrifying, inspiring. Driven by a strong plot and narrative structure. Highly recommended and well-deserving of its Hugo nomination.
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11:54:25 AM

		© Copyright 2002 Michael Rogers. Last update: 7/4/02; 10:52:50 AM.