DDMC

For sure Wii Play is worth the few measly bucks it cost over the price of the wiimote. Sure there are some boring minigames on it, but I love Tanks (and would also line up for an expanded version on it on wiiware), and for some weird reason my kids like cow racing...

@Amin "The lens doesn't have the light gathering ability to take full advantage of having such a large sensor"
That is a bit beside the point, or if anything, it _IS_ the point that makes this camera relevant. Compact cameras don't have great lenses in general and one aspect of their problems is that they are slow (i.e., they do not let in much light) which means that compact cameras usually need to shoot at a relatively high ISO. The problem is that most compact cameras have sensors the size of a small fingernail. This means that few photons are hitting each sensor which (at the required high ISO) results in Noise, Noise,Noise!!!

In the good old days of film, you could take a reasonable quality point and shoot (such as my old rolie) and in many instances you could get an image that is indistinguishable from an SLR. That is effectively impossible to do now. The sensor size of this camera is way more important than it having 14mp.

This camera will not appeal to the general crowd, but for those that have been spoiled by a good sensor, it has been eagerly (and frustratingly) awaited.

While I would love to see all my Firewire and USB devices of various speeds and plug shapes (ARGGGGH!)replaced by one standard, I have my doubts. The problems are that these 2 protocols were not originally designed to be competing protocols but complementary. The main issue when comparing the two is not bandwidth.

Excepted from the wikipedia piece on USB (and is basically correct):

"USB was originally seen as a complement to FireWire (IEEE 1394), which was designed as a high-speed serial bus which could efficiently interconnect peripherals such as hard disks, audio interfaces, and video equipment. USB originally operated at a far lower data rate and used much simpler hardware, and was suitable for small peripherals such as keyboards and mice.

The most significant technical differences between FireWire and USB include the following:

* USB networks use a tiered-star topology, while FireWire networks use a repeater-based topology.
* USB uses a "speak-when-spoken-to" protocol; peripherals cannot communicate with the host unless the host specifically requests communication. A FireWire device can communicate with any other node at any time, subject to network conditions.
* A USB network relies on a single host at the top of the tree to control the network. In a FireWire network, any capable node can control the network.

These and other differences reflect the differing design goals of the two buses: USB was designed for simplicity and low cost, while FireWire was designed for high performance, particularly in time-sensitive applications such as audio and video. Although similar in theoretical maximum transfer rate, in real-world use, especially for high-bandwidth use such as external hard-drives, FireWire 400 generally has a significantly higher throughput than USB 2.0 Hi-Speed. The newer FireWire 800 standard is twice as fast as FireWire 400 and outperforms USB 2.0 Hi-Speed both theoretically and practically."

Actually, for just a test vehicle, 8 miles per charge is pretty good. Assuming this range is based on the existing Prius battery pack, it is not surprising that it is a relatively short range. With its initial design parameters, having a huge range on battery power alone was probably not a high priority. I would assume it would be pretty easy to modestly increase this range. It is important to remember that a significant percentage of trips are of short duration. For example, the 8 mile range would almost let me get to and from work (on those days when it is not great biking weather).

What is interesting about these plug-in hybrids is that it is a technology that could be used now (without waiting for the inevitable advances in battery technology. While they do not offer exceptional range, when the batteries do drain it is not a disaster, your plug-in hybrid just kicks over the IC engine.

One thing to remember is that not everyone uses Dollars (and lots of folks use Dollars that are of different values). The one thing that the 'points' system does is that it lets the vendor create a one-size-fits-all store and not have to deal will a million different currencies and I think points is easier for international users than if everything is listed in US dollars -- or yen ;-)

With the current setup, all nintendo needs to do with the is to ensure that the points are roughly equivalent amount in the different currencies. While I currently am paying 10% more for points than US customers (due to the climb the Canadian dollar is on), this system is likely fairer than if Nintendo had online stores set up for different currencies. (For example, Itunes prices are all over the map globally.) Additionally, since there is just one international online store, I guess if paying 10% really bugged me I could order some points cards from some online store in the US and have them shipped to me.

Yes 'pants' is slang for something not so good, rubbish, etc.

We use it all the time. Usually not for long periods of surfing but for things like hitting IMDB after watching a movie or for game FAQs.

For a free (or even $5) product I think it is great and it is probably used once a day (and has since it was beta). It is nice to have an extra browser in the house.

I think the changes from the beta are pretty significant. Startup time could be a little faster (but it is faster than walking to the room the computer is in, logging on and starting a browser) and it navigates from page to page fine.

Yesterday I one of my kids was on a TV Network website on our computer playing a game based on a TV cartoon and I was sitting in front of the TV reading a blog -- and I thought it was kind of funny that these things have gotten switched about.

According to the wikipedia (should that be wiikipedia), Oot Master Quest ran in emulation on the GameCube and had certain emulation problems

"There were a few setbacks in the Nintendo GameCube version. Since the game was not truly ported in the technical sense, (as in being altered and optimized for the console in question) but merely running under emulation, there were some minor inaccuracies in the presentation of both Ocarina of Time and Master Quest due to flaws in Nintendo's emulator. [citation needed] For example, the controls are not as tight or responsive as they were in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Also, certain sound effects were altered, most notably the chanting in the background music of the Fire Temple which was replaced by a vocal midi instrument."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_Zelda:_Ocarina_of_Time_Master_Quest

I have not played it on either the orignal console or the GC (what a noob). Any comments from those that have played it on the GC? I assume the emulation issues that the wikipedia talked about are probably not going to be an issue as a)the wii has a some extra horsepower behind it than the GC (despite the people that say it is just a repackaged GC), and b) Nintendo has now built up a bit of emulation experience.

I think this game is being overly slagged a wee bit (wii bit?). Perhaps I my family are too much of 'casual gamers' (feel free to read that with a sneer) but we have been having a lot of fun with it. It is possible that kids (and people like me that are easily amused) find it more enjoyable. It is certainly not 'immersive' but I find some of the games a lot of fun -- usually the ones where things blow up.

In addition to it appealing to a younger demographic, many of those that slag it are comparing it to a 'full priced' game, versus the small premium you pay. To put things in perspective, this premium is about the same price as a N64 Virtual Console game. I think it is a great value.

We gave ours to our nephews who are having a blast with it (and hopefully realizing that their next console will be a wii and not the ps3 that their dad thinks it will be)!!