The question is: What is the best computer themed movie out there?

Today, our Information Thought of the Day (ITTOD) is a poll subject.

I would like your answers to the following poll today.  Tomorrow, I will share my hope for this topic with you!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

I will be sure to share the results.  Feel free to add a comment below to add other thoughts that should have shown up on the list.

Do you like polls as a daily topic? Do you have a recommended one for another week? Please let me know.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for April 30, 2010 ©Scott Coughlin.

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On Mondays I offer comments on some of the most interesting information technology stories that I have found on the web that week.  Please feel free to join in the discussion or suggest other stories.

Today’s comments follow the most recent reading of a story describing how Apple is refusing to integrate Blu-Ray disc support into its operating systems and computers. Give it a read below.

Network World – Steve Jobs email hints at no upcoming Blu-Ray support on the Mac By Yoni Heisler

Read more:

“During an informal Q&A session in October of 2008, Steve Jobs explained why Apple wasn’t interested in supporting Blu-Ray on the Mac.

"Blu-ray is a bag of hurt," Jobs famously declared, "I don’t mean from the consumer point of view. It’s great to watch movies, but the licensing is so complex. We’re waiting until things settle down, and waiting until Blu-ray takes off before we burden our customers with the cost of licensing."

Just as it did to the serial port, floppy disc drive, external monitor, and most recently Flash, it sure does look, by now, that Apple has it out for Blu-Ray.  There are certainly no lack of third party vendors willing to install them into Apple machines.  Also, the guts of a Mac today are really nothing more than a top-of-the-line PC so there is no hardware incompatibility.  The reality is just the Apple chooses not to support Blu-Ray at all.

What could possibly be their reasons?

• Apple runs the iTunes movie rental and purchase store.  Obviously, Blu-Ray support would negatively impact the sale of online movies..
• There is a licensing fee involved with supporting Blu-Ray.  It would negatively impact their bottom line to support it.  Of course, they could just pass costs to buyer.
• Most benignly, they think that physical media is dead and thus are looking to ignore newer, not fully established, formats.

I am sure that I don’t know exactly why Apple is not supporting Blu-Ray, but I sure wish that they would.  Frankly, I think that it is a bit embarrassing today that you can easily spend $3000 on a Mac Book Pro, but still don’t and can’t get the latest industry standard for movie watching.  Seems a bit crazy to me.  For a platform that aims to be a media center and content generation device out of the box, it looks like a strange oversight.

What do you think about this topic?  Do you agree or disagree with me? Do you have a recommended news story for next week? Please share your ideas below.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for April 27, 2010  by Scott Coughlin.

Image Credit: Blu Ray Discs

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For a chuckle, I have picked this video to share with you.  It is called Computer History/Humor with John Cleese and it is very very funny. It is by 1Cheryl and it is a reminder of a computer age now long gone.  Once upon a time, there was a war among various manufacturers to produce IBM PC Clones and increase sales through differentiation.  Compaq Computing was one company that came out with a line of “portable” computers that got the funny nickname of “luggables” because they were about 45 pounds and bigger than a suitcase.  Their first model was not so successful, so they needed something extra to try to sell the next generation.  They decided to hire the famous Monty Python actor, John Cleese, to do a series of humorous commercials to sell the product.  As far as I know, it was the first time that humor was employed to sell “serious business IT stuff”.  Enjoy.

Funny right?  Now watch it again and notice the details about the machine and how the hardware itself is not even discussed.  In addition to the first time that humor gets used for this, I think that it might be the first time that a computer system is sold by branding rather than performance.  Think about today’s computer ads… notice the trend that is still alive today.  Are computers commodity items or does the company behind them really matter today?  

What did you think of the video?  Does it apply to your organization? Do you remember these running on live TV?  What other old computer commercials are worth featuring? I hope that you laughed. 

Do you know of any other funny IT themed videos or video sites?  If so, please do share with us all.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for February 27, 2010.

media credits: 1Cheryl

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I have picked this video to share with you as follow-up.  It is called “Internet Helpdesk”… It is by miciver and it just plain funny and frighteningly accurate.  The comedian’s name is Wes Borg and you can find links to all of his other stuff at his MySpace page or by Googling him.  It is basically a spoof all of those – “What happens at the Enterprise IT Service Desk” videos.  I hope that you like it, but BE WARNED – IT CONTAINS SOME PG-13 STYLE FOUL REFERENCE.  I would consider it work passable,but be careful.

The most humorous part of all of this is that it is all so true.  Some of the jokes hit a bit close to home! 

I hope that I gave you a chuckle to make your weekend a little brighter.  I will be back tomorrow with more serious topics!

What did you think of the video?  Does it apply to your organization? Do you know of any other similar movies or clips?  Please share.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for February 6, 2010.

media credits: miciver and Wes Borg

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I have picked this video to share with you as follow-up.  It is called “I’m on a Mac”… It is one of the endless fan videos created to honor the mackintosh platform and is provided on Youtube by pantlessknights and it just plain funny.  I am always amazed that the Apple products create such loyal fans.  I am sure that this video took hours, if not days, to create!

WARNING:  Soundtrack is loud and contains barely “beeped over” bad words.  While this might be considered radio safe, it is probably not work safe!

pantlessknights have a bunch more and you can follow this link and subscribe to his video site.

I hope that I gave you a chuckle to make your weekend a little brighter.  I will be back tomorrow with more serious topics!

What did you think of the video?  Do you know of any other similar movies or clips?  Please share.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for January 9, 2010.

media credit: pantlessknights

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