Digital Universe

Here we go. The end of airline travel as we know it. American Airlines has announced substantial cutbacks in service, decommissioning of aircraft, and increase of other fees from $5 to $50.

And if you check a bag, you'll need to cough up $15 for the first bag.

Other airlines will surely follow.

Can you imagine the ruckus when you board your plane, roller board in tow, only to find that there's no room in the overheads since everyone and their brother will be carrying on everything on the planet?

Buckle your seat belts, there is huge turbulence ahead.

Absolute Vista has started their HDX Dragon contest.

Ars Technica has started their contest.

OSNN has started their contest.

Click the links above to read their rules and enter today!

This is the second time Microsoft has let down Vista 64 bit users who are also photographers. The first was on the lack of RAW codecs for Windows Photo Gallery, which the PIX team blamed on the Camera makers.

Today, a new tool, "Pro Photo Tools Version 1", for pro photographers was released.

And there is no support for x64. Thanks, Microsoft! I salute you, again, for your support (and I don't mean the 21 gun type of salute..)

I've been asked to post "the numbers" so here they are. (I don't think this rating process is truly reflective of the "total experience" but others may.)

Interestingly, I had thought that the eSATA 5400 rpm drives would be the lowest scoring components, but that 5.3 score was not the bottom. Memory calcs per second were at the bottom at 5.1.

However, numbers aside, MY EXPERIENCE is how I rate a computer. And this is one fast dragon. As of right now, it's the fast box in the house!

Once again, here's the list of participating sites and the dates when the contest will start and winners selected:

HDX Dragon = Extreme Power in a Great Stylish Package.

I saw the beginning of the change from the basic boxy boring desktop pc with a HP Media Center 873n Desktop PC that I previewed a few months before its public release (for the launch of the first version of Windows Media Center Edition, October 29, 2002). At the time I said that it still wasn’t “sexy enough” for the living room, or any room other than the home office or the den. And it sure wasn’t something I could easily put in the car and drag around New England to show off to friends.

Fast forward to May 2008. HP, you’ve come a long way. This is my kind of desktop replacement. Sleek styling, not a dust catcher, and a computer I’d love to have downstairs and to take with me on long weekends around New England. This is computing done right (at least for me). I can see the Dragon as a complete Entertainment/Home Theater/Productivity all-in-one system for small apartments, dorm rooms, campers, and guest bedrooms/dens, and the kitchen counter. It’s a svelte and sexy computer. (The only unsexy thing, which you can hide, is the power brick which is massive and very reminiscent of the Xbox 360 power brick.)

The HDX Dragon makes a stylish addition to my kitchen counter. A mini remote control is supplied that fits into a recessed storage area to the left of the keyboard.

I was gratified to see that, with the HDX Dragon, HP has made the jump to 64 bit computing (I’m an x 64 evangelist since way back). My review/contest giveaway unit came with Vista x64 Ultimate but Vista x64 Home Premium IS an option. My advice, go for Ultimate on this one. This is a high end, high class machine. If you decide to order this computer, get Vista SP1 pre-installed. (I’ve installed the SP1 update myself).

The HDX Dragon definitely has bells and whistles and icing on top of that. HP’s website lists all kinds of options which appear at the bottom of this post. (I’ve highlighted in yellow at the end of this the installed options on my review unit/contest giveaway unit that some lucky reader will receive). In addition, HP and BuzzCorps will ship more software and Blu-Ray HD movies directly to the winner.

Getting up and running  after connecting the power supply is a good experience. Booting up the HDX Dragon for the first time involves agreeing to licensing, selecting a user name and password, and the typical Vista “optimizing system performance” routines. This is followed by a short and slick video from HP.

Once at the desktop, the Fingerprint Reader application asks you if you want to register your fingerprints. It’s quick and easy. The placement of the fingerprint reader hardware is above the keyboard in the center area, and not on the side of the display as I expected. In any case, I find fingerprint readers a great convenience factor but not necessarily a security control.

The screen and video display is absolutely stunning and viewable from even what appears to be a 170 degree angle. I’d expect no less from a high end machine. The video is powered by a 512MB NVidia 8800. 1920 x 1200 pixels is awesome. And I can’t wait to view some Blu-Ray HD DVD’s at 1080p.

Windows Media Center easily found and setup the internal HDTV Hybrid Tuner. I’m not in a good OTA reception area, and only one channel (the local ABC affiliate) has enough strength for a decent signal, but the picture quality from that one channel is pretty impressive on this display. I’ll try hooking up one of my external USB tuners (connected to a Comcast set top box) and I’m sure it will be a terrific experience. By the way, the HDX Dragon boasts both VGA and HDMI connectors. If you have a big screen TV and are having a block party, go ahead and hook up, there’s plenty of video power to drive an external display.

Four USB ports provide enough connectivity for all my peripherals (and all at the same time!). There’s even a Firewire port so importing video from my Canon HV20 is quick and easy. Trackpad/mouse controls are very similar to the TX1000/2000 series notebooks. Very tactile and extremely easy and accurate. On a notebook this size, there’s room for more than the standard notebook type keyboard. I was glad to see a number pad, separate cursor keys, etc. It’s really like a full desktop experience.

I'll have more to report over the next week.