The first hint that all was not well came at about 2 a.m. on Saturday, US eastern time, in the form of slow-loading pages. By 7 a.m. it was obvious that this was not a typical, easily-fixed, reboot-the-database problem. The network operations people were paged, but did not respond. Uh-oh.

Give director Simon West credit for navigating some tricky ground. Some movies have been greatly influenced by video games -- The Mummy's Return -- and still others were literal, and stinky spin-offs (Mortal Kombat and Super Mario Brothers for instance) but Tomb Raider is one of the most expensive, ambitious and closely watched of this new hybrid-cinematic format -- the game that not only inspires a movie but becomes one. Games have come a long way. The movie is perhaps too faithful to the game that inspired it, raising the question of whether games and films can really mix. And Angelina Jolie is stellar bungee-jumping in those silk pj's.

From the earliest screens I've seen from Shrek, I've been anticipating this film. Besides the unique computer animation that brings this film to life, it features Mike Meyers, Eddie Murphy, John Lithgow, and Cameron Diaz (See A Life Less Ordinary for a cool Diaz flick). But can it live up to the month long advertising blitz that has been oozing from every flat surface for the last month? Or will it just be a big pile of crap. Well I was there opening night, and you can read my review, complete with minimal spoilers and bad jokes.

almondjoy notes that, three days ago: "Creative Labs product support tells me they have discontinued their DVD-RAM product line. Is competing specifications really what is destroying momentum of writeable DVD technology into end user systems? Is 'planned obsolescence' the culprit here? All I want to do is dump and/or mix raw mini-DV footage from my digicam onto recordable DVD media. Better yet, I'd like to be able to take that little DV tape and load it into a mini DV drive (is it 4mm DAT?) on my DVD system, and shoot more movies while I'm saving footage to DVD media. I'd also like to make backups of my VMWare guest OS virtual disks to DVD. Wishfull thinking? I did find this nice media compatibility matrix for the different DVD writeable formats, part of the DVD FAQ at DVD Demystified - what a mess!"

rst2003 asks: "Is it possible (in theory) to do sub-pixel rendering (e.g. cleartype) on a CRT monitor using a triangular dot matrix instead of a 1x3-aspect rectangular one? If so, has it been done? I'm fairly sure it's not been done by Microsoft or Adobe, but is it available on X?"

richardbowers writes: "An article released today on IGN claims that Microsoft has managed to get its hands on exclusive rights for Internet-based games using the Matrix license. According to the article, Microsoft lent Interplay five million dollars in exchange for this exclusivity and for a bunch of other contractual goodies - including characters, sound tracks, and other features that will not be included in other versions of the same game, thanks to the agreement. They also have to guarantee delivery of the game in the same time-frame as the release of the next sequel."

Standing behind a product is the seminal moral responsibility of any manufacturer, both in terms of what's smart and what's right. Customer and tech reps are nose-to-nose with the public when it comes to new technology. That means it's critical to provide genuine, easy-to-access, responsive tech support and service. But the very phrase "tech support" has become an oxymoron, an indictment of an arrogant and elitist industry. And a new survey by Jupiter Media Matrix suggests that tech support and customer service are getting worse, not better. (Read more).

Reader Pseudonym contributed this review of the visually dense tome The Art of the Matrix. I spent an hour with this coffee-table-size book a few weeks ago, and even though I'm not a big fan of the film itself, the book made me appreciate it a lot more. If you did like the film or know someone who did, I recommend it, even for the art alone. WARNING: May contain spoilers for the film. But you wouldn't be reading this review if you hadn't seen it already, would you?

Golgo_13 writes: "Spindl3top released their latest community-generated Blackbird source today, pooling together some of the coolest free software-friendly components. Highlights include the project's ultracool trademark black cube, SMP with dual PIIIs @ 1GHz, SCSI @ 10000RPM, a Matrix-Orbital LCD panel (with lcdproc), a ThermoEngine (or optional Watercooler), and an ultra quiet PS from Enermax. Aside from being an ubergeek dream, it's for a good cause. They are selling them here for less than $2500 and all proceeds are being used toward Spindl3top going nonprofit. Since Spindl3top and the FSF have joined hands (first mentioned here by Lucas) to create the official, noncommercial GNU hardware/free software database, this is a very important cause IMHO."

ford23 writes "CNN has a story on Hollywood and how it portrays Hackers to the public, and how the view on them has changed as the issues of hacking have evolved. Listed and discussed are 9 movies that have had the most effect on the image of hackers, WarGames and The Matrix naturally included." Tragically they also included The Net. At least Real Geniuses offsets it.

d0om asks: "I'm curious if there is a program that allows one to view a graphical, three-dimensional representation of data, much like in the Matrix concept in the book Neuromancer where you have a grid of different blocks of data, all presented visually. I'm curious if anyone can recommend anything of this sort to me."

What can you really say about Steven Seagal's Exit Wounds that everybody doesn't already know? It's genial, and horrendously-acted (cept for DMX); the story line is absurd; the writing is mindless. It's also fun. There's no point in wasting much time discussing this predictable action film, except that it does suggest something far more interesting: the exit of the Hollywood Superhero. Technology is the Superhero now. (Read more.)

zosa asks: "I'm looking for a resource that details which cell phone makers use which processor cores in their different cell phone models (and any other hardware details if possible). It seems you can get some details on the IC vendor's sites (TI, ADI, ARM etc.) but it is hard to find out the details of who is using what processor core(s). In addition I know that not all of the cell phone makers develop there own software. Maybe someone here knows of a place where I can find a matrix of manufacutrers, models, software developers and CPU/DSP cores for the cell phone industry (one can dream)."

The Hacker Ethic is a brilliant book.Written by young Finnish philosopher Pekka Himanen, with contributions in the same volume by Linus Torvalds and Sociology Professor Manuel Castells, this little book blows away the myth that getting important things done requires stodgy and outmoded forms of organization, or a slavish devotion to work. Just the opposite -- Himanen demonstrates with modern and historical examples that there's a sea change underway in the way that work happens. (Read More.)

So, I'm sitting here half-watching the Super Bowl and admiring some of the new commericials. So far, I think that the E*trade Monkey with Horse ad has been really good, as has the Kasparov vs. The Machines - the accenture and cingular ads have been, IMHO, as bland as Wonder bread. That, and the Cingular icon looks like a bold color version of the X icon, or something. The E*Trade Matrix rip-off ad was good as well - but with one quarter left, I'm not as impressed as in past years. What do you folks think?Update: 01/29 06:29 PM by H :Check out AdCritic's Superbowl site.

wirehead_rick writes "Imagine 'The Matrix' style special effects for the replay of sports action. Being able to see a 360-degree stop action view of that receiver's foot on the line in the end zone." USA Today covers some whiz-bang video technology being debuted in the Super Bowl.

If you seek updates this evening, you're in luck. Below, we have some additional information for you on: the state of the dot-com-economy; more information (and a link to a very neat site) about your private bar-coding adventures; more about the bad things that can result from farming out your spam prevention; and the threads being plucked ungently from the fabric of the Matrix sequels. Enjoy.

Below: More comments spawned by Jon Katz' columns on the events in Colorado. These words speak for themselves.

jopasm writes "The Matrix sequels may be in trouble. They've had one of the major actors pull out due to scheduling conflicts and Keanu is rumored to have broken his ankle while in training. Scifi.com is carrying the rumour/style. " Yes, Michelle Yeoh ^[?] (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) has pulled out - but the other part to remember is that SAG ^[?] will almost be certainly going on strike, delaying production in any case.

First of all, Merry Christmas Eve. Can't think of a better place to be. As for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, round up all the women and teenaged girls you know who thought Charlie's Angels was awesome and take them to see the real thing, perhaps the greatest and most beautiful kung fu movie ever made. "Crouching Tiger" makes The Matrix's martial-arts choreography seem primitive.