How To Change Maps On Sony GPS

As long as I've been using my Sony Nav-U GPS, I've discovered it to be both fun, and as annoying as a video-game deprived, snot-nosed kid in church with no kleenex and short sleeves.

The NV-U70 GPS unit is one of the smaller units on the market, memory-wise. It only has 1 gig of useable space. The problem with 1 gig is that the maps of Canada and the U.S.A. take up more than 1 gig.

To get around this problem, Sony included a DVD with various maps of North America. You can pic and choose, mix and match, which maps you want. I've never had to do this before, but since Suz and I are off to Florida tomorrow, we needed to add the southern states to our maps.

When I inserted the DVD-ROM, it installed in a few seconds. Easy. I selected "Map Manager" which lead me to a very simple map-selecting screen, which was perfect for me, being a dim-witted guy. All you need to know is where you are travelling, what it looks like on a map, and some simple math. All of which I was supposed to learn in grade 2.

The map options were:

• Full USA


• West USA


• East USA-A


• East USA-B


• Canada-A


• Canada-B


• Hawaii


• Puerto Rico


• Alaska

When I selected a particular map, the corresponding states/provinces were highlighted, and the size of the map, in MB, would appear in the bottom corner along with how much space, in MB, was left.

I deleted "Canada-A" which included about 50% of the U.S. and replaced it with "Canada-B" which only included the northernmost states. That freed up another 450 MB or so for another map. The second map I chose was "East USA-A" which included, as Homer would say, America's wang.

The next part was the hard part: Waiting. Waiting usually isn't very hard to do. But when you really want something and are forced to wait and wait for an unreasonable amount of time, it can get frustrating.

Ask any video-game deprived, snot-nosed kid sitting in church.

Get this. It took one and a half hours for the maps to be transferred to the Sony NAV-U. Wow. I could've watched an entire movie. Or written 90 high quality answers for Useless Advice From Useless Men. But instead I played Killer Instinct on my old SNES. It was time well-spent.

And now I'm going to spend some more time relaxing and having fun in Florida. See you all in some form or another when I get back next week.

What To Do With Your HD DVDs

If you haven't heard the news already, the long-fought Hi Definition DVD format war pretty much ended when Warner Bros. switched from HD to Blu-ray. HD DVD currently only has Universal and Paramount studios backing them, while six major studios, like Disney and 20th Century Fox, are all backing the Sony. So, now that Blu-ray has essentially won the Hi Def DVD war, i hear you asking yourself, "Is HD DVD really dead?" and "What am I going to do with all my HD DVD movies?" And what about that obsolete HD DVD player?

Let DMC & ME give you some ideas.

HD DVDs are round and therefore, by nature, can fill a variety of needs. You could sell your HD DVDs as totally rare "designer" coasters... at garage sale prices! How about sabotaging Blu-ray's chances at success by jamming stacks of HD DVD discs into the display models at Wal-mart? Who needs knifes? Spread butter with your HD DVD discs. They're even dishwasher safe.

There are so many possibilities. You could donate the discs to a local gun club as clay pigeon replacements. Or, you could brighten the day at a very poor dog-training school that can't afford frisbees.

The discs sure seem easy to get rid of now, don't they? But what are you going to do with that bulky HD DVD player? You can use it as storage for a single, medium-sized pancake. Ah, you never thought you'd see Toshiba make a pancake cozy, did you? With the disc tray ejected, tether it to the dashboard of your 1989 Ford Tempo winter beater for an instant hot-chocolate holder. Or, pair it up with your 1980 Toshiba Beta and start an obsolete technology museum. (I'd suggest donating half the proceeds to a worthy cause - like hungry families of ex-Toshiba employees).

Got any other ideas? Use your imagination! Like they said, HD DVD isn't dead. It's just a roaming, exiled and unwanted zombie looking for a home, but it's certainly not dead.

R.I.P. HD DVD

The war is over. That's right. The 2-year long HD DVD and Blu-Ray war is, for all intents and purposes, over. And the loser? Toshiba.

For the second time no less. And that's gotta hurt.

Warner Bros., the largest movie company with the most titles, announced on Jan. 4 it is abandoning HD DVD in favour of Sony's Blu-Ray. And this announcement came just days after Christmas shoppers spent millions of dollars on 1080p HD DVD equipment. Including my Suz who surprised me with the new player seen at left on Christmas morning.

Three years ago, when information was sketchy at best, I talked about the upcoming HD DVD/Blu-Ray battle, and related it to the BETA/VHS fiasco of the 80s. But then, I think most technodorks did too. Back in the 80s Toshiba was a Sony ally. This time around, Toshiba was one of the primary developers of Sony's rival HD format, which is very unfortunate.

Those perky folks at Toshiba were caught completely off guard by Warner's ill-timed announcement, just before the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, effectively sucking the perk right out of them. In retaliation they softly threatened Warner by mentioning "contractual agreements" in their press release, here, then went running up and down the streets declaring "We're not dead!"

Meanwhile, the Sony guys were jumping up and down, popping the bubbly, and screaming "Konichiwa! Konichiwa!" or something that actually means Yay.

The end result has consumers experiencing these same mixed emotions. There are a lot of upset consumers who banked on HD, or thought their players would be safe as long as the war continued. Warner Bros. primary goal was to end the consumer confusion and get people buying Hi Def instead of waiting it out. They've certainly pleased some consumers, and dealt a harsh blow to the rest, like me, when they turned their backs on HD DVD.

On a more amusing note, this format war was so good Hollywood couldn't write it. "HD DVD: The look and sound of perfect failure."