HI DEF DVD WAR OVER

Wal-Mart sells the most DVDs in the country and this past week decided to go with the Blu-ray hi-def format, dumping HD DVD altogether. The nail is pretty much in the HD DVD coffin at this point.

By Franklin Paul, Reuters

NEW YORK - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has decided to exclusively sell high-definition DVDs in the Blu-ray format, dealing what could be a crippling blow to the rival HD DVD technology backed by Toshiba Corp.

The move by the world's largest retailer, announced on Friday, caps a disappointing week for HD DVD supporters, who also saw consumer electronics chain Best Buy and online video rental company Netflix defect to the Blu-ray camp.

In a statement on its Web site, Wal-Mart said that over the next few months it will phase out sales of HD DVD systems and discs. By June, it will sell only products in the Blu-ray format which was developed by Sony Corp.

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SANDWICH BOARD JUSTICE - JUDGE ORDERS THIEVES TO WEAR SIGNS

Now this is justice ... Hemingway style.

Don't shoplift in Alabama because Attalla City Judge Kenneth Robertson Jr. is laying down the law but good. Shoppers entering the Wal-Mart Supercenter in town recently witnessed two shoplifters standing outside with signs which read:

"I am a thief, I stole from Wal-Mart"

Gotta love it. Robertson Jr. ordered the two petty crooks to wear the signs for four hours each on two successive Saturdays.

"The only comments we've heard so far have been positive," store manager Neil Hawkins told the local press. "Most of them thought it was a good thing."

One of the shoplifters, Lisa King Fithian, 46, did the deed in order avoid a two-month jail sentence. Throughout the day, however, she maintained her innocence, saying her conviction was based on a misunderstanding.

Her story? She said she was taking a $7 item to the service desk because it would not scan. You never know ... Could be.

Outside the store, she said people who saw her wearing the sandwich board commented that the punishment was cruel.

Sandwich board justice isn't cruel. Chinese water torture is cruel. This is just funny.

Wal-Mart manager Hawkins doesn't think it's cruel in the least. "Maybe they'll think twice about doing it," he said.

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