Dave Zatz, Author at Zatz Not Funny!

Question of the Day: Blackberry Slingplayer?

Another day, another question! Actually, we probably won’t do this daily and this question came in yesterday. A fellow tech blogger asks:

Would you clear something up for me? Is there a Blackberry version of the Slingplayer and is EDGE fast enough to support it?

Sling doesn’t currently provide placeshifting software for the Blackberry platform… which is too bad as Windows Mobile drives me crazy. While getting briefed on Sling’s CES announcements a few weeks ago, I did inquire about Blackberry support. They are aware of consumer interest in such a product, though I wasn’t able to determine if something is or is not being developed at this time. Either way, I wouldn’t expect support in the near future. To recap, Sling does offer Slingplayer Mobile for Windows Mobile PocketPC and Smartphone editions ($30), while Symbian and Palm clients are currently in beta testing.

Digital Media Bytes: Zune Edition

A periodic roundup of relevant news… Microsoft eying WiFi-enabled Zune filling stations: Engadget Flash-based Zune due in Q407, better WiFi soon: Digital Music News Microsoft made Zune because partner hardware “sucks”: Bloomberg Universal and Sony prohibit Zune sharing for certain artists: Zune Thoughts Europe dreaming of a brown (Zune) Christmas: Washington Post

Hands On With Netgear Dual Mode Skype Phone

I must preface this post by saying Netgear gifted me with their new $199 Dual Mode Skype Phone, part of my CES Blogger In Residence prize package (AKA ‘Dave got paid’). So, it’s entirely possible I’m not objective and therefore I won’t do a formal review. Having said that, quite a few products sit (unopened) on my floor for months waiting to be reviewed… whereas I immediately put this phone into production when I returned from CES.

Unlike Netgear’s previous WiFi Skype phone, this model has a base station which you wire to your home router. The base station will also accept a telephone connection from your “land line” — hence the “dual-mode” moniker: Skype + Land Line. Which brings me to the first point (of two) that I wanted to share…

Question of the Day: Repair or Replace iPod?

I get a decent amount of questions via email covering a variety of topics — Believe it or not, I try to answer everything that comes my way. I don’t know why I didn’t think of doing this sooner, but I’m going to start running selected questions and answers. Perhaps my response will be useful to a larger group, and perhaps you readers will have alternate suggestions worth considering.

First up we have a question from a long-time supporter of the site. The last time I heard from John he was debating between television models at Best Buy. We had a few back and forths and then he didn’t take my advice. Ha! This time around, I think John and I are in agreement:

I bought an 20 gig iPod 2 yrs ago but now it has some sort of – can you believe it – frown face. Apple wants $250 to “fix” it. I have all of my tunes backed up so it’s not a problem to start over. What do you recommend? Also, have you ever heard of the frown face icon on the iPod? Weird I know.

Hands On With Netflix Downloads

I wasn’t one of the lucky 250,000 to receive Netflix’s new movie download service, but my buddy Matt got the hook up. Matt and I go way back and he’s always kept me current on the video game industry. As roomies in college he made sure we had 3DO and the Japanese Nintendo 64 months before US release… not to mention the Sega Saturn and the first Playstation, plus a huge Mitsubishi monitor to game on.

Anyhow, Matt’s Watch Now tab is active and he spent some time playing around with it:

It works fine — easy installation, no interruptions during the stream. Video quality is good. But the library of titles SUCKS right now (all old stuff). And uhhhhh, sitting at my desk to watch a movie… sucks too. Kinda cool overall, but I don’t see myself using this. I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it better!

TiVo @ CES Odds & Ends

MusicChoice
While at CES, TiVo announced a partnership with Music Choice to provide music videos. I was informed that this will be a free service for TiVo customers powered primarily by TiVoCast technology.

One True Media
One of the broadband initiatives announced in November may launch as soon as February. In a partnership with One True Media, folks can upload home video (fees yet to be disclosed) to the OTM website. Once uploaded, video can be “published” to the web, to DVD, or to a TiVo. Recipients will enter a code via their TiVo interface to receive the video, which should show up within 15 minutes.

TiVo Web Page
As reported on a few other blogs, the TiVo website is undergoing a facelift. More than just a new color scheme and Web 2.0 look, the updated site includes an enhanced personalized area and new features such as listings of the weekly top shows. Sounds like somewhere down the road, info from TiVo units may make it onto the site… such as pointing out scheduling conflicts.

Digital Media Bytes: Satellite Edition

A periodic roundup of relevant news… There’s only so much one can see and do at CES. Sadly, I missed out on catching the satellite TV and radio announcements up close and personal. Sirius unveils Backseat TV: Orbitcast DirecTV announces Sat-Go portable satellite TV system: Engadget VIP622 HD DVR introduced at Echostar press conference: LiveDigitally … Read more

Netflix Adds Streaming Video (PC only)

For some time Netflix has indicated they would announce their download strategy in January… and here we are! Initially, they will offer about 1,000 streaming movies (via their web page, Windows PC required) at the rate of 1 hour of video for every dollar you spend on monthly Netflix service. Depending upon your available bandwidth, quality can scale up to near-DVD quality. Deployment begins today and will be available to all customers by June.

Netflix has come up with quite an innovative pricing strategy. In its current form (PC-only viewing), I’m not sure how many new customers they’ll acquire… But perhaps this service will limit some (high profile) defections to Blockbuster. Though they’ve introduced a pricing inequity issue with a staggered roll-out: Mike gets “Watch Now.” Dave does not. We both pay the same, yet his service is now superior to mine. Netflix better be prepared to activate everyone who requests the feature or risk alienating customers.