Yep, its official! After two years of fierce battling between SONY’s Blu-ray and Toshiba’s HD DVD, a winner has emerged! The NHK, a reliable news source in Japan, is reporting that Toshiba has decided to DROP the HD DVD line, putting the final nail in the coffin. SONY biggest blow was the fact that Warner Bros., one of the largest major movie studios, decided to go Blu-ray exclusive. Last year many consumer reports that Blu-ray was occupying 90% of homes with Hi Def players.

Toshiba has announced that it will continue to market HD DVD products for a little while longer, before completely dropping the entire format. Looks like the want to get rid of everything. Might not be a bad idea to pick up a few of these clearance items. Even if the format isn’t supported, you might be able to get some Hi Def movies dirt cheap along with a cheap player. If you’re a geek, get one as a prize to remember 50 years from now.

To everyone who picked HD over the Blu, tough luck!

For the past two weeks, YouTube.com has seemed to be…. flat out broken. Video files seem to go missing at random times, uploading videos is taking longer, and once the file is actually up, it behaves erratically. Clicking the link to your new video doesn’t go anywhere, or goes to the player, and plays the completely wrong video, if at all! The player itself also has an unusual amount of bugs. Connecting so a video can buffer is becoming a game of luck, and some videos stop playing after 3 seconds. If you move the play bar, they start again, and of course, stop 3 seconds later.

If Google wants people to stop using YouTube, this is just how to do it. If you can’t watch videos or upload them, then what’s there to do? Read all the ‘mature and engaging’ comments? Google needs to fix YouTube or risk losing its users. Youtube became popular because it was a free, reliable way to share your videos. Now it’s far from being reliable. I have a lot of things I want to post, but I can’t because I don’t want to feature a broken video! I tried to contact Google on the issue, but god help me if I can find a freaking email page to use. Everything redirects to the bloody FAQ.

Am I the only one seeing this? Are you still using YouTube? Are you seeing any of the issues I described? Please leave a comment!

Rumors circulating the internet are speaking about something that will largely effect us at Live.Pirillo.com! Apparently, uStream and Microsoft are talking about a deal that would give Microsoft complete control over all the features and shows we love on uStream. While no official announcement has been made yet, the deal is rumored to be at $50 million, which is weird considering Microsoft is already in the works of buying Yahoo. At the same time, it could also lead one to think that Microsoft is taking a large dive into expanding their social network. What will Microsoft have planned for uStream, and all the shows that run? Will there be services that we actually have to pay for to use? Keep watching for detail!

Today, MySpace.com launched a brand new feature that has long been awaited. The MySpace Developer Platform offers members the abilities to create special applications that will run on each user’s profile. Right now select developers are being invited to test the platform, creating multiple applications that can only be installed one a maximum of three profiles. Once the testing of the actual Developer Platform has been completed (expected to be in March), any user will be able to join, if they’re over 18, and create a custom application. Each application will have access to public profile information, and will be able to use information and tools stored on MySpace’s own servers.

Each application will also be given its own Profile Page, so it can be added as a friend. (My best friend is a program. Greeeat…) When a user visits the page, they will be given the choice to add this application to their page. These applications will have Flash and Cava, a JavaScript language that is considered to be ‘safer’, giving developers more abilities in their applications without adding risk. Applications will also go under a strict review process before going live, to ensure spammers and such don’t get the upper hand. Applications will also only have access to public profiles, blocked from access to private accounts unless the owner of that account allows it.

So far the only application shown is a weather widget, which can be used as a proof of concept. But, depending on how much control we get, the possibilities are endless. Now is we only had an easier way to customize our page layouts….

If you didn’t get a chance to see any of the commercials, missed a few, or flat out just want to see them again, head over to the Official NFL MySpace page to watch every commercial for free. This is the only time of the year when people actually want to see commercials, and some of them were really great this year! The site is organized by which ad appeared in which quarter, making it a bit easier to find that one that made you laugh uncontrollably. I highly recommend the Bud Light commercials, along with Bridgestone and etrade.com in the fourth quarter. So what are you waiting for? Get over there now!

http://www.myspace.com/superbowlads