Software system ‘rewrites’ – discussion on artima developer

There is an interesting discussion right now on artima developer discussing the ‘Big Rewrite’ – if you’ve worked in IT for long enough then surely you too have worked on at least one project to replace one system developed with technology X with latest technology Y.

This is an interesting read since there are many more problems with this type of project compared with a ‘green field’ development project, mainly political, strategic, and ‘historical-bagage’ related, all which add up (usually) to a difficult project.

Blu-ray DVD played on PS3 with Sony XBR2 LCD – “eyepopping”

I managed to find a PS3 before Christmas, thanks to the itrackr website. Our Christmas present to ourselves this year was a 46″ Sony Bravia XBR2 LCD TV. Wow. The two in combination is absolutely amazing. Playing any game on a screen that large is just awesome, but seeing HD graphics like from Ridge Racer 7 in full 1080p is absolutely amazing.

The highlight so far though has to be watching Phantom of the Opera on Blu-ray. This can be described in just a few words – “eye-popping”, and “jaw-dropping”. Absolutely stunning. The sharpness is incredible, and the colors are so deep and rich. Absolutely amazing, and worth every penny.

AV-centric PS3 device in the pipeline, plus major firmware update details for March 2007

The father of the Playstation, Ken Kutargai, promised the release of a purely audio/visual PS3 based device in the near future, the main focus of which would be only on delivering mutlimedia content and not as a games console.

This is rather surprising, since Tivo-like functionality was rumoured for the PS3 months before it’s launch, so it’s uncertain what shape this is now going to take – it may be delivered in a box derived from a PS3, but not actually a PS3?

Phil Harrison, Sony Computer Entertainment Executive VP was interviewed this week and mentioned some of the new features that are coming along for the March 2007 firware update, which also ties in with the European launch: (taken from www.videogamesblogger.com)

  • Multi-tasking (included will be audio/video conferencing while browsing the Cross Media Bar (aka XMB) and its features/gameplay).
  • New XMB display options.
  • New animations for audio playback.
  • New photo album options.
  • PlayStation Store auto-resume.
  • PSP remote play advanced access option, so you can have access to your PS3‚Äôs content anywhere where there‚Äôs an internet connection.

Also mentioned are the addition of a TV tuner and TiVo-like service coming in Q4 2007. If these features are going to be available as add-on’s (the tuner) or firmware updates (TiVo functionality), I believe the PS3 is really going to be an attractive ‘do-it-all’ box, that will truely shine above the XBox360.