On formats and price tags

So, today sony announced the price for their long-coming playstation 3. Back in 1995, sony totally changed the market with the original playstation, then in 1999 ruled the market with the ps2, and now they are hoping to keep their mighty throne with the ps3 (due out in november 06). Sounds exciting? Only if you can afford the $499 price tag (and that's if you want to go cheap -- the full version of the console is $599).

Why should you care about the cost of the ps3 and their main competitor, the xbox 360 (other than the hole your kids will make in your wallet, after you buy the consoles for them)? You can find the answer to this question by taking a long, analytical look at none other than your dusty vcr.

A number of years ago, there was this big fight over what type of video tapes you'd use to watch your movies and record stuff. On one side of the ring was sony with their betamax format, and on the other side was JVC with their vhs. Long story short, the betamax was a higher-quality product, but it couldn't beat the ease of use and price of vhs, and ended up pretty much dead (betamax isn't really dead, but you need to click the link to find out more about it. VHS became the standard, and it's still a favorite (cheap and easy to use), even while suffering a gruesome beating at the hands of DVD.

Now the fighters in the ring are sony's blu-ray disk, and phillips/microsoft hd_dvd disk, the self-proclaimed successors of the DVD. Once again, Sony's product is technically better, but more expensive. The hd_dvd is cheaper, and it enjoys better support from the movie industry (Paramount, Universal, etc).
The reason you have to watch the playstation 3/Xbox360 war is that sony is bundling the ps3 with a blu-ray drive, while microsoft promised a device that will enable you to watch hd_dvd movies on the xbox. Both formats will give us amazingly good-looking movies; However, the winner of the war will define what we will be watching for the next couple of years. Maybe sony will have better luck this time then what they had with the betamax? Or maybe Microsoft will get a really good foothold in the entertainment industry, when everybody uses a xbox to watch their movies and play their games? Only time will tell.
In the meantime, I better start saving my money. That ps3 sure looks nice...

Yep, I gave in

No, no one made me (or even asked me) to start a blog. I just decided that I wanted to write one. Maybe I wanted a place to vent out stuff; maybe I just went through a huge ego moment and realized that millions of people are interested in my musings and that I'll become a blog celebrity. Who cares? I sure as anybody don't. I'll just write (because writing is fun), and hopefully I'll inspire/make you laugh/make you cry/make you whish I never touch a computer (ever again!).

But who am I? If you are here, you probably already know. But let's go over it anyway:

My name is Marcio Silveira. I've been very hapilly married for almost 2 years now. My wife, Ginger is my anchor, she keeps me sane and makes me happier than she'll ever know; I can't imagine life without her. Our son, Caio (CJ) was born the day before my birthday, becoming the best present I've ever got! He's very smart, and brings much joy to our home (I just need to remember that when it's 3:00am when he's wide awake and ready to play all night).

Why Brazilian geek? It probably has something to do with being Brazilian *and* a geek. One day I'll ramble about the greatness of being a geek. For now, I'll just go ahead and post this.