@NeoJew

The Verizon Touch Pro has the same CPU as the standard Touch Pro. There was a false rumor a while back that Verizon was using going to use a slower CPU. Of course the memory on the phone is less that non VZW Touch Pro's. And GPS for older phones requires a firmware update to enable it without Verizon's shitty software.

(And as for why it costs more, well that's Verizon's way of making money. Since they have a solid network they aren't worried about subsidizing the phones as heavily. )

Actually AVG, the problem with AMD wasn't that Intel kicked their ass, its that AMD let themselves get their ass kicked.

What I mean is that when the Athlon XP and Athlon 64 started to kick the crap out the the Pentium 4 and it's NetBurst architecture, the new CEO of AMD at the time, Hector Ruiz, decided to slash their R&D budget heavily. Claiming that they didn't need to worry about spending so much on new processor design and fabrication. This lead the company to having nothing ready to compete against the Pentium M. And once Intel realized this they moved in for the kill by taking the Pentium M lessons and building the Core processor.

If AMD hadn't cut their R&D budget they probably would have been able to get things like the Phenom and 32nm fabrication out quicker. Perhaps allowing them to avoid the current PR disaster of the Phenom.

@Andrew

CD, DVD, Floppy were all backed by Sony. BluRay is not the first time Sony has succeeded in bringing a successful format to the market place.

Actually at present they run the Rhapsody Music Service. Interestingly enough Rhapsody is actually a decent product. Right now I'm listen to music on it and the software is reliable and never has caused an issue for me (unlike Real Player). It functions similar to iTunes but carries a much nicer monthly subscription service to allow you to listen to the music library before you buy anything. In fact if you go to Rhapsody.com you can try the service (25 free song play backs per month unless you subscribe then its unlimited) directly from your browser or install their player directly.

Actually there is something that can gain by limiting supply: Consistent sales over an extended period of time.

Look at sales completely from a business standpoint. Is it better to sell a million consoles within a month and have nothing else to sell or is it better to sell those same million consoles over a six month period and show your investors that you have a sustainable product. Is it easier from a marketing perspective to spend those 6 months taking about how hard to find your product is due to consumer demand or is it better to simply let a trick of those million come out and became a must have luxury item.

I'm not saying that it's actually happening this way but the truth is that anyone who claims any business wouldn't artificially limit supply doesn't understand basic business practices. Nintendo would rather spend the next 2-3 years selling out of Wii's consistantly than meet consumer demand 6 months after launch. Doing this keeps them relevant and looks good to share holders.

To answer your question: cost.

Producing content for both discs cost more money than using a single standard format. Studios don't want to pay, say, 10,000 BluRay and 10,000 HD-DVD discs when they could make 20,000 for less money. The reason for this is that you first have to pay 2 teams to master (program) both discs then pay 2 productions facilities to press both versions, then ship both version in separate packaging to retailers.

It cost far lest money for a studio to pay 1 team for design, 1 team for pressing, and ship 1 set packaging to retailers. In fact (using my original example) it actually could costs a studio probably just over half the cost (maybe 60% or so) to produce 20,000 BluRay discs versus 10,000 BR and 10,000 HD-DVD.

The term "Super Material" could imply some kind of high temperature super conductor. Such a material has been sought by a lot of scientists for use in things like energy efficient computers, magnetic based systems (power generators, mass transportation like trains, electric vehicles like cars), energy production, etc. With a super conductive material capable of greatly reducing heat produced during power use you can greatly reduce power consumption.

Building a platform. Imagine a notebook/desktop using the Fusion processor AMD is working to release in 2009. A single processor with 2 CPU's, 1 GPU, 1 Physics core. This would be a perfect platform for OEMs to create computers with. In terms of performance companies like Dell can buy a cheap mainboard and CPU and have the majority of their market capable of running anything from games to spreadsheets.