Can't wait for this to hit U.S. shores sometime next spring. Preliminary features are 802.11b wireless internet access, a USB port, a remote control, and a MemoryStick slot. The familiar Playstation buttons are present, and the unit contains built-in stereo speakers, with a headphone jack as well. The LCD is a 4.3in 32-bit colour display. Sony has said it will be PS2 compatible, allowing game developers to easily port existing PS2 titles to the PSP.
And let's not forget, Nintendo has a new Handheld platform as well, the DS. Features here include two screens (one of which is touch-sensitive and uses a stylus), built in 802.11b for wireless chat capability, and a 3-D engine more advanced than that of the Nintendo 64. Oh, and it plays Gameboy Advance games as well, and has a neat feature that allows multiple players to play a game across it's wireless connection, even if only one person actually owns and has in the game card.
Can't wait.
A few of you who track the weblog community have already written to ask me about the changes to MovableType. For those who aren't naturally drawn to blogging software press releases, Six Apart, the company that builds MovableType, announced a major upgrade to its web publishing software last week.
Some well-reasoned analysis from the web:
- Brad Choate: Sensible, Understanding
- John Gruber: Two Big Mistakes
- Mark Pilgrim: Importance of Freedom 0
I've written more, if you care to get my view and learn what it all means to UKAZU.
This is significant because for the past couple of years, MovableType has been the platform of choice for enabling flexible, customizable publishing on the web. It is no coincidence that MovableType also powers this site.
The software was good and it was free. Donations have always been encouraged. As of this week, the software is still good, in fact it's better than ever, but now it costs money. People threw up their arms and cried.
Objectively, it's all a little silly. Building, maintaining and supporting software is time consuming, and therefore, expensive. There is no way around it. The creators of MovableType, Ben and Mena Trott, have been very open about their plans. They told the web publishing public that the plan was to make money. They launched a fee-based hosted service and promised a more robust, feature rich version of MovableType that would cost money. It's been in the works for a long time.
Now Ben and Mena have delivered and people are pissed. The basic version of the software still exists for free. The upgraded version of the software can be used within certain straightforward limits for free. The paid version starts at $69. That's not bad for quality software. Considering many people have begun using this software to organize their thoughts, emotions, and experiences, what's $69? About the price of a nice dinner or a crappy pair of shoes.
That said, in the long-term, UKAZU may be migrating from the MovableType platform. The licensing structure allows for free use for up to three weblogs and one author. UKAZU has, uh, more than one author. UKAZU wouldn't be UKAZU with one author.
I would pay for the software -- in fact I did pay for the software a couple of years ago. I liked it enough to donate something like $50 because I was ecstatic that I was able to use the software to keep people linked together and socially engaged across time and distance.
To pay the full licensing fee for UKAZU to run MovableType under the current license structure would be about $200. That's not impossible, but it's no longer a no brainer. Now the software has to be evaluated like the major purchase that it is. And that's not a bad thing.
Ben and Mena have been paying close attention to the reactions to the initial announcement, and have already ammended the license and fees. They're software developers who want to make a living doing what they love, and they're working hard to find a way to do just that. They have been honest with their users from the beginning.
The initial announcement was a bit of a misstep, but Ben and Mena are trying to tackle tricky problems, and they don't have all the answers. They continue to forge ahead and learn as they go. Hopefully they can learn fast enough to make their business viable, because without a doubt, the web is a much more interesting place as a result of their energy, devotion and tools.
UKAZU is run from one installation of MovableType which is being used by approximately 10 active (45 total) authors to publish two weblogs to one URL. The endeavor is entirely non-commerical.
This relates to that.
Just the good ol' boys,
Never meanin' no harm.
At Amazon there are 13 customer reviews. Average rating: 5 stars.
The A-Team and Knight Rider have also been released. I can't imagine why Sex in the City was put on DVD before these television masterpieces, but you know what? Bygones.
Site design and structure © 2001-2003; Rights to site content are retained by the contributing authors.
