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I’ve been happily using my 360 HD DVD add-on since last Christmas when my parents gave it to me as a Christmas present. Shortly thereafter, I signed up for a Netflix free trial to rent some HD content and have been using it since. I’ve gone through, for the most part, all the worthwhile HD DVD movies. Now, I’ve been catching up on some films that I haven’t seen but had heard good things about them.

I checked my email a few minutes ago to find out that Netflix is moving to Blu-Ray exclusively. I have to say I’m a little disappointed, but I figured it was coming at some point. The price of being an early-adopter I suppose. Here’s what the email said:

We’re Going Blu-ray

Dear Brian,

You’re receiving this email because you have asked to receive high-definition movies in the HD DVD format. As you may have heard, most of the major movie studios have recently decided to release their high-definition movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format. In order to provide the best selection of high-definition titles for our members, we have decided to go exclusively with Blu-ray as well.

While we will continue to make our current selection of HD DVD titles available to you for the next several months, we will not be adding additional HD DVD titles or reordering replacements.

Toward the end of February, HD DVDs in your Saved Queue will automatically be changed to standard definition DVDs. Then toward the end of this year, all HD DVDs in your Queue will be changed to standard definition DVDs. Don’t worry, we will contact you before this happens.

Want a Zune? It’s rumored that Microsoft will be dropping the price to $199 tomorow. If you’ve been eyeing one for a while, now would be a good time to get one. Of course, I’ve also heard that Zune 2 isn’t too far out, so hey, you may want to just wait a little while longer.

Tomorrow, Apple will be holding a special event to announce what’s rumored as being new iPods. Is Microsoft dropping the price in light of this ‘event’? An article on Engadget seems to indicate that it doesn’t, but who knows. Does it even really matter?

More info from Zune Insider.

I always thought of summer as a time to shed a few pounds. Following the trend, the Xbox 360’s will be losing a little as well, just in time for the new school year. Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360’s will finally be getting a price cut, effective tomorrow (August 8, 2007). The new pricing is as follows:

Xbox 360 Elite $449.99 (-$30)
Xbox 360 System $349.99 (-$50)
Xbox 360 Core $279.99 (-$20)

In addition, the Halo 3 Special Edition Console price will be $399.99 and feature a hunter-ish green hue with gold accents in certain places. A week or so ago, Microsoft also dropped the price on the HD-DVD add-on player to $179. So, things are coming down in price, finally, but does it have enough of an impact to make you purchase a console?

Some of you may be wondering just what this switch is. No, I’m not switching cellular carriers (I like Verizon). No, I’m not going to buy a PS3 now that my 360 is dead. I’d buy a Wii, but I don’t have any money. The switch is making the jump from a Window’s environment to a Mac-based environment. Granted, I wouldn’t make the switch any time soon, especially because I’m a sucker for good displays and want to see what the LED-backlit models look like.

Anyways, I’ve now had a few business days to get adjusted and aquainted with Mac OS X and the quirky mighty mouse. I’ve even toiled for a few moments from time to time trying to list the things I liked and disliked about the past few days. I haven’t had much luck, mostly because I’m working on a school iMac and having a limited account prevents me from really delving into the operating system, but so far, things have been alright.

A few things have come up through installing apps and properly configuring Ruby, Rails, and other related programs. The end and home do not function the same way as in other environments. Normally, hitting end would bring me to the end of a line, and home would bring me to the beginning. I’ve found this comes in handy in some text editors, making for some quick editing without having to reach the mouse. While reaching over and hitting control (or command… I don’t remember) and left or right isn’t too big of a deal, it still requires more work that hitting end with my pinky.

Yah, that’s a picky little issue that I’ve come a crossed. I’m sure there will be more, but other than that, I haven’t had too many problems. I have the occasional program hang, then managed to launch Front Row by trying to remedy the issue. That was a surprise!

So where does OS X stack up against Vista for me? I’m comfortable in Linux, so I’m quasi-comfortable with a Mac and a terminal. I like that I could probably consolidate my dual-boot setup of having personal stuff in Vista and having development / design work in Linux. I haven’t even begun playing around with the iLife sweet yet, and that seems like a large part of Apple’s promotional aspect of the Mac. Then again, I’ve only been at this thing for 3 days. In 10 weeks, I’ll report back with how I feel about things. Maybe then I’ll be more convinced to make the switch.