Sony gets revenge for Betamax

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Revenge, they say, is a dish best eaten cold. Well, Sony must be chewing fossils, because Toshiba has given up on HD DVD…

TOKYO – Toshiba’s decision to no longer develop, make or market high-definition HD DVD players and recorders will mean consumers can start feeling more confident about buying the victorious rival technology – a Blu-ray disc player.

Analysts say competition is expected to heat up among the manufacturers of Blu-ray players and recorders, which include Japanese makers Sony Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Sharp Corp. as well as Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea.

In making the announcement, Toshiba Corp. President Atsutoshi Nishida said he wanted to avoid confusion among consumers…

Laid off? Share the pain with Twitter. (And get job offers.)

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From the Los Angeles Times…

SAN FRANCISCO — When Ryan Kuder lost his job last week, everyone knew it. That’s because he chronicled the experience of his last hours at Yahoo Inc. through a stream of electronic dispatches laced with gallows humor.

Using Twitter, a service popular in Silicon Valley that allows users to broadcast short messages to an unlimited number of people, Kuder posted periodic updates of his final, caffeine-fueled day as a senior marketing manager at the Internet company, starting with his last commute to the Sunnyvale, Calif., headquarters and ending with margaritas at Chevy’s.

“Ironic that I just got my PC repaired yesterday. Won’t be needing that anymore.”

“This is a serious downer. Trying to drown it in free lattes. Which I will miss.”

“Dear BlackBerry, What great times we had. I’ll miss you. At least until tonight when I stop on my way home and buy an iPhone. Love, Me.”

Towering edifice

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I’m at a seminar which is being held (improbable though it may seem) in Tower Bridge, which Wikipedia describes as “a combined bascule and suspension bridge”. It’s also darned chilly up there in the North Tower.

Between the Rock and a hard place

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So Northern Rock is to be nationalised — something that should have happened months ago. What’s interesting is the light the affair shines on Gordon Brown’s shortcomings — his chronic indecisiveness, coupled with mindblowing stubborness, which means that his government is invariably dragged by the force of events into doing the obvious thing — but too late. This is an administration in terminal decline.

Later: Anatole Kaletsky is speechless with indignation:

Why should a Government that has consistently refused to offer public funding for potentially viable commercial projects of real national importance – aerospace, public transport, nuclear power – now be spending tens of billions on supporting a bust mortgage bank? Is it because Britain is short of mortgage lenders, lacks employment opportunities for bankers or suffers a deficiency of financial innovation?

Even if politicians at Westminster are unwilling to ask such questions there can be no doubt that others will. It is quite likely that the European Commission will veto the business plans for Northern Rock unless these provide for a rapid rundown of both its lending and deposit-taking operations.

The fame game

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Heather McCartney has released a YouTube video detailing how her live has been made a living hell by media intrusion. Mariella Frostrup is not very sympathetic.

Last weekend, while the rest of the film world was occupied at the Baftas ceremony and Heather Mills McCartney was doubtless debating which court costume would best suit her, I was visited at home by a friend who’s also one of this year’s Oscar nominees.

Despite the purported dangers of the paparazzi, she took the tube, without even a pair of Prada sunglasses for protection and, after lunch and a quick briefing on the joys of the Oyster card, returned by the same mode of transport to her West End hotel. Then again, you’re more likely to find a celebrity snapper on the tail of your limo than poised at the entrance to Covent Garden station. It’s proof for those who need convincing that if you don’t turn your life into a circus, you won’t draw a crowd.

Right on! (As we ageing hippies say.)