Hurt By Blu Ray

Steve Jobs says that Blu Ray is a "Big bag of hurt." And you know what, he's right...if you're planning on watching movies on your Mac. And while I'd love to see an Apple TV or Mac Mini with that set-up, I've watched one DVD in the last month. My main concern with Blu Ray is not as a player. "the licensing of the tech is so complex, we're waiting until things settle down and Blu-Ray takes off in the marketplace," says Jobs. 

If it does. And that's the problem. I don't need an HD player. I don't have an HD TV. I barely have a TV at all. 

What I want is a Blu Ray burner, so I can backup my hard drive on less than 20 DVDs. So I don't have to take and split the photos from one session across two disks because I have more than 4.3 GB. What I need is a better archiving format than DVD.

I could put stuff onto hard disks. Up until about a year ago, that was my attitude. Then I started hearing reports that hard disks tend to go bad if they sit idle for a year or two. 

I know that DVDs start to corrupt after a decade or so, but ten years is better than one. 

And I know I could go and get an external BluRay burner.

But...

But what if BluRay dies on the vine? Where does that leave my backups?

True, what I am looking for is something as an emergency backup. Something that I can keep off-site. I have a Drobo, and I trust that for my two copies on-site. But I've already got over a terrabyte of information on there. Do you know how many DVDs I'd have to burn to back that up?

Perhaps a Sugar Sync or service like that is the way to go, but I live in a town where it takes a week just to upload 6 GB of photos to Pictage. That initial back-up would take the better part of a year. 

I keep going around and around on this issue. If BluRay were more stable, and looked like it would last until the next big thing came along, I'd be much less reluctant. 

Maybe the best option would be to buy a second Drobo, sync it here, then take it to a friends place in a different town and set it up to automatically sync every night. Sure, I'd still have to face those three day syncs after shooting a wedding, but at least I'd have a redundant back-up....

Because "Let's Rock" wasn't obvious enough....

People were disappointed at the "Let's Rock" event that the only topic of discussion was music. Even though it was called "Let's Rock." And there was an iPod-like graphic. People were expecting more. 

So, for Apple's next event, for October 14, the invitation reads "The spotlight turns to notebooks."

Because the announcement is going to be about Notebooks. 

That's it. 

Notebooks. 

Got it? No Mac Pros, no new cameras or iPods or iMacs. 

Notebooks. 

"Subcompact? Carved out of a brick of alumin..."

Notebooks.

"MAybe it'll be a touchscre..."

Notebooks. 

That's it. Notebooks. 

Yes, there might be something a little different, as they don't usually do announcements for processor bumps, but I'm not expecting much beyond a re-design of the the Macbook. 

And that way, if something else shows up, I won't be disappointed, but pleasantly surprised. And if nothing else shows up?

I told ya so. 

CAn you see a difference?

The Victoria School of Business and Technology is not on par with, say, a UBC. Not in quality of education, just in sheer name recognition. 

But the little school of tech is currently embroiled in a legal battle with everyone's favourite Steve's fruity little company because of logos. 

Yes, logos. 

You see, the school (a Microsoft Certified Partner, I feel compelled to note) has a logo in the shape of, well, it looks an awful lot like an apple. 

It's got a stock market/mountain/heart attack jagged peak thing in the middle instead of a bite, and VSBT written in it, too, but Apple's trademark lawyers think that it's close enough to pursue. 

Well, here. See for yourself.

Now, everyone keeps telling me that trademark law is fairly specific in legally requiring a company to go after things like this, because if they don't, the trademark becomes worthless and indefensible. So I'm calling a rote legal challenge here. I don't think Apple cares one way or another which way the courts decide, but legalities must be followed. Boundaries are established. 

The school, I must note, is milking this one for all it is worth. Which is fine. More press. Maybe a few more students. If I was, say, Jonathan Ives, I'd probably laugh at the thought that something as ... busy ... as the VSBT logo was being compared to the Apple Logo. But hey, it's trademark law, and you gotta do what you gotta do. 

Not wanting to speculate, but...

Okay, so there's been all sorts of speculation about bricks and new Apple TV/Mini Hybrids and Touchscreen Macs...

One of the more legitimate rumblings is around an update to the Macbook Pro. The great and glorious leader of the Cult of Mac has posted pictures of a possible design for the Macbook pro, as well as a rumoured ad that will promote them. 

Far be it for me to get into these speculations, but I do find his last couple lines funny: "The ad, however, looks patently fake. As does the tagline: “A blend of beauty meets beastly power.” No Apple copywriter would pen such rubbish."

I have heard this said dozens of times over the last couple years around rumours: "That's ugly, Apple would never."  "That's stupid, Apple would never." "I refuse to believe that this is true, because Apple would never." And I have discovered that there is no depth to what Apple would actually do. 

I mean really. These are the creatives that penned the line "The Funnest iPod Ever." And you're knocking "Beauty meets beastly power"? That's almost Shakespeare in comparison. 

(Note: Leander's comment appears to have already been edited. But it doesn't change my point. We have not yet discovered the depths to which Apple is willing to stoop, creatively.)