http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/8538

XBOX 360 hardware woes Microsoft really hit it out of the park when it came to the Xbox 360's software-consider the slick Dashboard, the persistent Achievements and Gamertags, and the top-notch Xbox Video Marketplace. But the actuall 360 hardware is a disaster: chronically glitchy, prone to overheating, and all too susceptible to the "Red Ring of Death," which signals a critical hardware failure. Indeed, I'm already on my second Xbox 360 in barely a year, and just about every 360 owner I know has had to send their console back to Redmond for repair. In June, Microsoft finally did the right thing and owned up to the shoddy state of its hardware, extending the Xbox 360's warranty to a full three years and taking a $1 billion charge in the process.

HD format war drags on, begins to feel pointless
The back-and-forth battle between the Blu-ray and HD DVD camps continues to rage, with no end in sight. Blu-ray backers were telling us back in January that they had it all wrapped up, especially with the release of Blu-ray-packing PlayStation 3 consoles. But then something funny happened: the PS3 didn't sell nearly as well as expected (although sales are on the uptick thanks to recent price cuts). Meanwhile, prices for HD DVD decks fell steadily, while stand-alone Blu-ray price tags stayed stubbornly in the $400 to $500 range. Then, in August, HD DVD delivered a brutal sucker punch when Paramount and DreamWorks pulled their support for Blu-ray, choosing instead to go with HD DVD exclusively (word is the two studios were paid handsomely for crossing the street). As it stands now, the HD format war is at (in the words of Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer himself) a "stalemate." What's the punchline to this sad tale? By the time this slugfest is over, we'll probably be downloading all our HD movies anyway.

His blog also has a post about the SDK price cuts to help surge PS3 game development...