Dave Zatz, Author at Zatz Not Funny!

Get Your Free Movies On Roku

As anticipated, Roku recently began exerting control over their home screen, post UI refresh, with initial updates consisting of massive banner ads (boo) and a video store (yay)… via M-Go. A joint venture of DreamWorks and Technicolor, M-Go offers video rentals and purchases on a variety of platforms – similar to an Amazon Instant or … Read more

TiVo-Powered RCN2GO Video Portal Launches

Lo and behold, the TiVo-powered RCN2Go video portal appears to have soft launched for RCN cable customers. While details remain sparse, RCN TiVo subscribers now have access to an “exclusive preview” that features “hundreds of shows” — and, ultimately, all RCN subscribers will receive access at a later date, albeit without TiVo-specific DVR management capabilities. … Read more

Cox On Demand Finally Coming To TiVo?

After three years of radio silence, will Cox On Demand finally arrive on TiVo? According to one TiVo Community forum member, Cox Communications employees in his region have been distributed memos that communicate on demand services will be deployed to Rhode Island region TiVo units in early to mid-December. While TiVo’s implementation thus far hasn’t been … Read more

Roku Slingbox App Vanishes from Channel Store (It's Back!)

Having returned from vacation, I was geared up to revisit a few sidelined projects — including the new Roku Slingbox channel. Unfortunately, it’s vanished from my Roku without a trace. According to Sling support:

With the Roku and the iPhone we are having an issue with the units connecting. We are working on this issue and should have it solved in a timely manner. If you look at your Roku you will see that Roku has removed the App so that it can be corrected and work perfectly with Android and Apple phones. If you keep looking at the forums we will keep everyone updated when the fix come out.

Now I’d heard of some connectivity issues,

T-Mobile: Taking the Uncarrier Overseas

Those of you who follow me on Twitter are most likely aware of my recent move from Verizon Wireless to T-Mobile. While I’d been very satisfied with Verizon’s coverage the last couple years, their egregious recurring $2.99 fee for visual voicemail (on Android) stuck in my craw every month… and basically pushed me into the arms of T-Mobile with, what I like to call, more “humane” pricing. Having said that, I wasn’t motivated to actually pull the trigger (and incur a substantial early termination fee) until T-Mobile introduced possibly insane International perks: Unlimited and free texts and EDGE data while overseas, paired with 20 cents/minute calls.

Geeky Elgato & Pogoplug Stocking Stuffers

Both Elgato and Pogoplug have released new products this month… and the two gadgets are somewhat out of character, as the companies expand their product lines and seek new customers this holiday season.

Elgato, best known for video-related solutions is trying something completely with their Smart Key ($40). The doohickey uses low power Bluetooth to report its location to an iPhone or iPad, similar to others in this space such as StickNFind. While its primary use case may be attached to a keyring, Elgato also proposes throwing the Smart Key into a handbag or suitcase to keep an eye on one’s belongings. Beyond an iOS app,

Next Gen: Xbox One vs PS4

The next generation gaming consoles have arrived. And, while the enclosures are more subtle this time around, it certainly appears that Sony engineers have schooled Microsoft on hardware design with the PS4 featuring a substantially more compact and elegant form… that doesn’t, yet again, require a massive power brick as the Xbox One does. However, … Read more