Readers discuss Blu-ray's longterm prognosis, uses for USB thumbdrives, and FAA rules on laptop batteries.
PC World
Thursday, February 28, 2008; 4:19 AM
After HD DVD's demise, analysts are saying that Blu-ray Disc'svictory could be short-lived. Some readers agree, some don't. What's your opinion? .
Can a flash drive be a PC in your pocket?Our articlesparked some controversy about driver software, as well as a few positive experiences. How do you use your USB drives?Let us know.
Will the FAAban laptop batteries? The strict rules that went into effect this year could lead to something even more extreme, a Computerworld writer thinks. Many readers suggest alternatives to batteries, such as wireless power or more power outlets. How would a battery ban change how you travel? Do have any creative solutions?Share your ideas with us.
The most-recommended articles this week cover offbeat computer designs and the aftermath of the high-def format war. To vote for your own favorites, click one of the thumbs-up icons on an article's page.
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You are confusing and combining rental with buying. I have yet to read where any studio is allowing downloading of their movies in full high definition for purchase.
High-speed Internet isn't available to everybody in this country. Running down to the corner video store pretty much is. I prefer holding a movie in my hands then managing gigs worth of data on a hard drive.
I think you are missing the author's point. In the future do you really think we will be carrying around little discs? Although Blu-ray has a niche right now I too do not think the media will last more than five years; it will be totally gone in ten.
There are no high-def download services. None. There is no way to download 20GB of data over the Internet. So where is this BS coming from? There seems to be a deliberate scheme to fool people into believing that a 16x9 low-bit-rate movie is "HD."
Read the posts in this threadand contribute your own opinion.
Please watch suggesting a jump drive with U3. I and a lot of other people have had nightmare stories with U3 software--up to and including full system crashes when plugged in. ... I'm sure it works with some systems, but I would not want to be the one crashing someone else's system.
I've not had any trouble with U3 drives, but I don't like them. The pop-up drives me nuts; I hate the "helpful launcher." At least one can uninstall U3.
With the advent of Thinstall, you can now have your Microsoft Office suite or most other programs that would be useful as portable apps on your USB drive. Thinstall isn't for the faint of heart, but I can carry my Office 2007 wherever I need to go now and I don't have to worry about a computer being able to handle the docx format.
This USB keychain device is quite useful if you don't want to carry a laptop. I only use this for special reasons when my laptop's not available; this handy device does the job right. I give it a 8 out of 10.
Read the posts in this threadand contribute your own opinion.
Not just laptop batteries, but any battery of this type. It's also playing havoc with traveling videographers as they too need lots of batteries to power the cameras and lights. I can unfortunately see rental businesses starting to pop up.
Since the airlines are into DVD screens and in-flight cellular, why not provide a jack for in-flight laptop power? I would imagine for the major laptop brands it wouldn't be hard to come up with a blank that would fool the laptop into thinking a battery was there. It would probably require an adaptor, but we all carry a zillion of those anyway. What's one more?
Wireless power could be a possible solution to this.
Read the posts in this threadand contribute your own opinion.
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