Todd Explained

This Washington Post article explains the reason for the annoying commercial that plagued the HDTV coverage of the Olympic games. Apparently, NBC did Sony a "favor" by running it so often, without checking with Sony first.

Howard Stringer, chairman and CEO of Sony Corp. of America, was aghast when notified of the endlessly recycling commercial yesterday. After looking into the matter, he said the problem came about partly through a lack of -- what else? -- communication.

"We supplied all of the high-def equipment NBC is using for the games," Stringer said. "Then it turned out that NBC was unable to sell any ads on their HDTV channel. So somebody thought it would be a nice way of saying 'thank you' to Sony to drop in Sony commercials during some of the breaks. Unfortunately they didn't notify us and ended up using just that one spot. Our guys didn't know about it, but of course we're very embarrassed."

TiVo for sale

My replacement TiVo unit came back, but since I'd already set up a replacement box, I'm selling it on eBay. You know you want to buy it! Update: There's also 12-month 0% financing available!

Boy, 3, chokes to death on popcorn.

Which, begs the question, what the hell were his parents doing taking a three year old to see Alien vs. Predator?

HEY TODD!!!

Anyone else watching the Olympics in HD and want to swear off purchasing all Sony products for the rest of their lives? They're apparently the only company who bought time on the NBC HD feed, so at every single break, you get the exact same annoying commercial over and over and over again. Not to mention, in the ad, they're advertising an HDTV... to people who already own HDTVs! Quite possibly the worst demographic selection you can think of...

Weapons of Mass Education

Looking for Weapons-Grade Uranium? Try your local research University.

Asked why the research reactors had not been converted, Anson Franklin, a spokesman for the department's National Nuclear Security Administration, which is in charge of nonproliferation, was blunt. "There hasn't been enough funding," he said. He noted that in May, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham promised to seek conversion of all the reactors by 2014. But he said he could not give a schedule for the campus reactors.