Microsoft HD-DVD

This week Microsoft announced that they will be lowering the price on the optional HD-DVD player for the Xbox360. The price is going down by $20 to $179 on Aug 1st (US only). They also announced that you will have a choice of five free HD movies from a list of 15 titles. This move is obviously an attempt to compete with Sony's recent price drop on the PS3. I still need to be convinced that the 360 isn't going to stop working after I get it home.

I use a Panasonic DVCPro tape deck to load video onto my computer and this week, the unit stopped working, no audio, no video. The repair shop says it might cost over $1300 to have it fixed! That's a big chunk of change for something that only gets used six time per year. That would be a good down payment on a DVCPro camera. But what are ya gonna do? It's one of those things that you need to have working or you can't get the work done.

I'm working on a quote for a new web site. At this point, I feel comfortable raising my development fee. There hasn't been much interest in the Google ads to lower maintenance fees. I'm going to keep the basic maintenance fee as it is. Most small business owners are just looking for a clean looking site and are willing to pay to have it done by someone who they can depend on. The biggest problem is getting people to start a site and then provide updates.

Xbox360 vs PS3

This week when Microsoft announced that they would be extending the warranty on Xbox360 hardware, I felt like it was about time that they had admitted that there was a problem. But I think we deserve more of an explanation. It would be nice to know what is at the root of the 360's hardware problems. I have heard many suggest that heat is causing the PC board to warp, causing some components to loose contact with the board. But if that was the case, adding one of those aftermarket fans should resolve the problem. The 360 is a complicated piece of hardware, but if we are to have any faith in future products from M$, they need to give us more details about why an estimated one third of their game systems fail.

The Playstation3 price drop is not good news for the Xbox360 or HD DVD. I would now have to declare the BlueRay DVD format, which comes built into the PS3, the winner at this point. Not to mention the fact that BlockBuster is supporting it, and it holds more data than its rival. PS3 now needs more games to make it a big seller. I expect that problem to be solved before the holiday shopping season. Meanwhile, I'll keep playing my six year old Xbox. It's too bad they aren't making any more games for that system.

Before I go, I would like to mention that you can also find Robert Horejsh's procurement book on Amazon.com. Stay cool next week, I hear it's going to get hot again.

Federal Procurement Book

Congratulations are in order this week for Bob Horejsh, one of my clients, who has published his first book. I think he did a great job of building a story around the dry subject like federal procurement. For people who are normally turned off by process improvement and quality systems, this book takes a shop floor approach and builds a story which pulls it all together in an entertaining way. The book also contains numerous resources to help get you started with your own efforts to become a contract supplier to the US Federal Government.

Click here to find out more about this guide to federal procurement.

Happy 4th of July

I was in the woods this past weekend and got some good wildlife photos. These were taken in North Eastern Wisconsin. We counted 11 chicks following a wild turkey. The turkey hunting should be very good this fall, if you are into that sort of thing.


I captured a black bear on video too. We had heard that there was one living in the area near our cabin. I heard him coming through the woods and had time to get my camera. It is nice to see these animals considering how many more people have taken over their habitats in recent years.

These animals were sited on July 2nd and 3rd. I'm sure they were hiding on the 4th. Maybe the noise wasn't too bad with the holiday falling in the middle of the week. I was back in town for the 4th and got to see the city fireworks this year.