Dave Zatz, Author at Zatz Not Funny!

Interesting News Dave Hasn’t Covered

Never enough time… TiVo and do-it-yourself television. (CNET) $9.99/mo commercial-free BabyFirstTV debuts. (Associated Press) Apple FrontRow and QuickTime updated. (AppleInsider) Why the world doesn’t need Hi-Def DVD’s. (NY Times) EchoStar 1Q profit down on TiVo victory. (Business Week)

TiVo Adds Spam (Yet Again)

We started with Showcases and those “yellow star” menu items, then graduated to the pop-up ads, followed by advertising masquerading as downloadable video, and just this week Product Watch commercials-on-demand were launched. Having fun yet? Now the already cluttered Series 2 Music, Photos, Products, and More area is gaining a custom Lexus application. Would you like a little TV with your commercial?

See comments below for more opinion…

TiVo says: TiVo Inc., the creator and a leader in advertising solutions and television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today unveiled the first advertiser custom application, the Lexus Car Configuration Tool, that will be integrated into a Showcase on the TiVo(R) service. Adding to TiVo’s advertising product portfolio, the custom application provides advertisers with increased consumer engagement through unique interactive elements and an increased response rate over traditional campaigns.

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RSS Ads Removed

I’ve gone ahead and dumped the irrelevant Yahoo RSS feed ads. Ping me if you notice any weirdness over the next day or so.

Sling Media Applies For Patents, Alludes To SlingCatcher

Sling Media’s three Slingbox technology patent applications submitted last June have hit the US Patent Office database. Of particular interest is an allusion to the inevitable SlingCatcher device, a hardware appliance designed to receive streaming video for television display without requiring an intermediary computer. I imagine Aussie Ron can hardly wait!

The local clients can be any number of device types, including but not limited to desktop and notebook PCs, Web tablets, PDAs, embedded clients built expressly for the purposes of decoding the streams of the personal broadcaster, and other devices capable of receiving and/or playing a media stream over a network.

As with the local clients, the remote clients may include any number of device types, but not limited to desktop and notebook PCs, Web tablets, PDAs, embedded clients built expressly for the purposes of decoding the streams of the personal broadcaster, and other devices capable of receiving and/or playing a media stream over a network.

Interesting News Dave Hasn’t Covered

Never enough time… Blu-ray is doomed. (PC Magazine) T-Mobile Europe to ban heavy data usage. (jkOnTheRun) Commercial server-hosted MP3 HME application released. (MP3tunes) Microsoft unveils beta of Windows CE 6 operating system for embedded devices. (CNET) GE debuts one-second ad targeted at PVR users. (PVRWire) Warner Brothers to team with BitTorrent for movie sales. (Engadget) … Read more

TiVo Partners With Brightcove To Deploy Internet Video

Rocketboom not doing it for you? TiVo has announced a partnership with Brightcove to distribute Internet video. Sounds neat, but I’m still waiting for a Hollywood feature film VOD service.

Interesting factoid: One article stated there are ~400,000 TiVo units on broadband.

Associated Press says: The deal with Brightcove Networks Inc., to be announced Wednesday, means some TiVo users will soon have not only TV shows to record, but also Internet-based videos from Brightcove’s content partners. “This is the first partnership for us to get content directly to the TV set,” said Brightcove’s founder and CEO, Jeremy Allaire. Allaire said TiVo and Brightcove would pick an as-yet-undisclosed set of Web-based programs to debut in June on TiVo’s Internet-connected, Series 2 digital video recorders. The companies said the programs would be offered for free initially, but may carry advertising. The two companies later plan to provide a way for content producers using Brightcove to have their material distributed to TiVo machines. The content providers could decide to charge for the content, the companies said.

Interesting News Dave Hasn’t Covered

Never enough time… EchoStar XI DBS spacecraft launch scheduled for 2007. (Boeing) ATI sued for misleading HDCP claims. (Engadget) Prepare to do battle over DRM. (eWeek) VLC 0.8.5 released with Intel Mac support, many improvements. (TUAW) Someone Has to Pay for TV. But Who? And How? (PVRBlog)

TiVo Launches Product Watch: Commercials On Demand

As announced in November, TiVo is launching their targeted commercials service today. Presumably, one will select advertisement preferences through a new HME app on the recently updated Music, Photos, Products & More screen. As long as the ads remain voluntary and unobtrusive, I’m in favor of TiVo generating additional revenue… assuming they continue adding useful features (unlike this one) and keep fees reasonable. Though, as Om Malik suggests, TiVo’s continued push into advertising presents a business opportunity for another DVR maker to market itself as the anti-ad platform. Is there is a manufacturer brave enough to bring back ReplayTV’s commercial skip?

Wall Street Journal says: For the most part, the marketers won’t run traditional 30-second TV commercials. Instead, they will offer longer ads that attempt to be more informative than typical commercials. Kraft, for instance, will offer 20 different cooking videos that will show such things as how to grill its Tombstone pizza, potato-salad basics, or how to create a cantaloupe-and-Jell-O dessert. General Motors, likewise, will offer detailed video presentations about its vehicles. Ford is trying something more entertaining: one-minute takes of magicians Penn & Teller performing various tricks on a golf course, with a Ford vehicle shown nearby. TiVo users will be able to search for ads in several categories, including finance, lifestyles and travel and leisure. LendingTree’s ad, in the finance category, features personal-finance expert Suze Orman giving step-by-step overviews of different types of loans.