Wes Phillips

Matsushita and Toshiba call off talks about Blu-ray and HD-DVD. Let the public decide, they say. My guess? People will say, "A pox on both your houses" rather than gamble on choosing wrong. <I>Again.</I> Don't these bozos ever learn?

Why can't our high-school students? (Okay, lighten up, I know it's because English makes no sense&mdash;I just couldn't resist the straight line.)

The CEA has taken out ads in Capitol Hill papers that tell Congress to learn the difference between pirates and regular citizens employing fair use.

Some days just can't hold onto their hours. This day &#151; Wednesday &#151; has butterfingers. It feels as though only seconds ticked since I phoned Jon Iverson this morning. In fact, an entire day has gone by. People are walking out the door, saying "bye," without looking back. Meanwhile, I'd like to start from the beginning.

Getcher Mobius strips, Klein bottles, and Costa surfaces here!

No dogs or philosophers allowed. Yes, they're ads, but they're very funny ads.

Here's a sobering story about computer buying. <I>[H] Consumer</I> went to Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, and Fry's Electronics to buy a computer and simply tells us what happened. The money quote: "Most retail sales people are simply not going to possess the necessary knowledge to correctly recommend or explain every nuance of a piece of hardware. Even if a sales rep has all that down, a greater skill is required from them: relating that 64-bit-Lightscribe-GeForce knowledge in a non-condescending, helpful way to someone who is unsure what his hardware needs even are. The potent combo of techie know-how and properly relating it to an 'everyday' consumer is a difficult knack to develop. Most sales reps you’ll encounter are polishing one or the other, if not both of those skills, if they posses them to begin with."