Honestly, the most whining I've heard about Live downtime is from Engadget. Is it really news every time an Engadget editor can't get on Live? I mean, not even Joystiq, the GAME blog, deems it newsworthy when the status goes orange. I hate to be negative, but downtime occurs on all services from time-to-time, we're just lucky enough to see a status page from Microsoft. I mean, are you guys going to start blogging dropped calls on your cellphone as well?

Happy Black Friday!

A few responses to comments above:

For those that think the artist doesn't get paid: that's not how subscription works. It's completely invisible to the user, but in a subscription each time you play a song (on your PC or device), the DRM mechanisms record this and transmit it back to the operator each time you connect to your PC. The artist gets paid-per-play, similar to radio. The price of subscriptions is usually determined by how many plays they think the average person will do in a month.

For those of you who don't like subscriptions: Try it out once. It's not a bad model for music. I won't accept DRM'd and lossy files for music I purchase (I won't buy music on iTunes, etc), but for music you're just renting, DRM and lossy files are OK. You can download all you want, listen as much as you want, and if you lose your PC or you change subscription companies, it's no big deal...just download everything again. You can't say the same for music you've purchased. So for $10/month (less than 1 CD a month), I can have unlimited access to music, with no concern at all for quality or losing data. Similarly, if you've ever rented a movie in your life, then you've already participated in this model and should reconsider it before bashing those that rent music.

Why do you care what's been fixed? Why does everyone feel like they deserve to know what was breaking in a machine that consists of hundreds of components supplied by dozens of manufacturers assembled by multiple companies? In fact, I'd bet they're just trying not to embarrass a few companies who made failure-prone components. They think that the issues have been solved, so let it stand. It's not like them saying what was wrong will make you able to fix your own box.

Also, while Peter was definitely pulling some PR fuzzing, I'd say some of the interview questions were a bit aggressive/hostile, and Peter responded defensively to those questions. Unfortunately, we don't have a video/audio clip to give us the emotions of the interview. Only Ryan can comment if he thought he was unilaterally being an ass.

I'm looking forward to having a device a *bit* sexier than my Treo. I mean, it's a close call there....

At my 9:15am (PST) commute to work, I noticed the XM signal dropping in and out much more than usual. But it was definitely still working overall (although I seemed to have no ground repeater signal). I was assuming the bad weather had something to do with it, but I guess not.

What if your annual registration renewal included a component where you reported vehicle mileage (either via a visual check or something electronic and more secure). While it's not an exact science (you may have driven in Canada), it would be a simple, annual method for paying a tax based on the amount you've driven your car.

While as a hybrid driver I of course want to say "up with the gas taxes", I do agree that those who drive more should pay more. I'm opposed to RFIDs because of "big brother" like Howard said and tolls because they congest already congested roadways.

I don't really think this needs to be an "us vs them" type thing. More efficient cars, regardless of how it's done, are a good thing. Other than that it's a personal preference. And as Karkus said, there's no reason the two technologies can't be combined. Recapturing wasted braking energy is an overall good idea if implemented properly, regardless of the engine being used.

The interview called it out--I think that the batteries are key here. I'd need to see a calculation of the cost of cycling your batteries versus the amount you'd "earn" back from the power company. I'm not convinced that lithium batteries would return on investment due to the limited number of cycles before they start to degrade.

Lithium & other rechargeable batteries have been made "at scale" for quite some time. I'm not sure why they're still so expensive. I believe the specific reason why hybrids and electric cars use the size AA, C's, and D's because of the greater competitiveness in those sizes...but even those are still expensive. I guess alkalines are more competitive and made at greater quantities, but I have to think that lithiums are still expensive for another reason than scale. Why do *generic* lithium cell phone batteries, which are made in the billions a year industry-wide, still cost $40 each?