Mari Silbey

Mari’s tech career started when she became the default “IT guy” in her first job out of college. Since leaving help-desk duties to the experts, she’s focused on trends in technology as a consultant, writer, reporter, analyst and at-home gadget tinkerer. Her current paid gig is with the non-profit organization US Ignite where she focuses on how networks and digital technologies impact smart cities. All posts on ZNF represent her own opinions and not those of US Ignite. Mari is a sucker for anything in the digital media space and covers interesting happenings in cable, telecom, and whatever else she feels like. Find her on Twitter at @msilbey.

TiVo Channel Change

There aren’t that many U-verse users and (relatively speaking) there aren’t that many TiVo owners either. But for the small number of folks that fall into both categories, there’s been an annoying little issue in trying to get TiVo to work with AT&T’s service: no way to change channels. Luckily, the problem now appears to … Read more

HDTV Rebate Deals

Chances are if you read this blog you already have digital cable, or satellite TV, or FiOS or U-verse, or some combination of the above. However, if you don’t, or if you’re looking to make a switch to digital cable, you can now get a combo deal on cable service plus an HD TV set. … Read more

Update on the Holiday Season

Consider this an ongoing thread. First, I was right in my snide comment about Wii availability. Second, I was wrong, or rather JP Morgan was wrong about an iPhone Nano. Third, there are already many things to add to the list including Slingcatcher (thanks, Dave), ultra-portable Mac (wishful thinking?) and TiVo Series 3 Lite. Let’s … Read more

Three Days Till the End of Internet Radio?

With three days to go before the Copyright Royalty Board’s new royalty scheme goes into effect and essentially kills off Internet radio, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has denied a motion to postpone the deadline. Maybe this is a good thing because it will force Congressional action, but it also leaves … Read more

Why Go HD?

HDTV is booming, but not for the reasons you might expect. Apparently Americans aren’t getting high-def sets primarily to watch TV, but for gaming and screening DVDs. In fact, a recent CEA study found that only 44 percent of HDTV owners subscribe to HD programming from a cable or satellite TV provider. Of course that … Read more

Where the Holidays Start in July

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It’s that time of year again. We’re more than halfway to the holiday shopping season and CES 2008, which means CE companies are starting to panic about what they can get on to store shelves or at least out of production in time to take advantage of the year’s biggest buying season and biggest PR event respectively. Without doing any in-depth research yet, here’s my list of what we might see around Black Friday time:

Retail Moxi DVR – Dave’s already covered this extensively, and I can’t wait to see how Digeo brings its two models to market. What are the price points? Who will sell them? Has Digeo had any problems with CableCARD certification?

Touchscreen iPod/Nano iPhone – The rumor is some iPod/Nano mash-up will come out later this year. I don’t think it will make my X’mas wish list. A touchscreen on a device smaller than the existing iPhone? I’d need tinier thumbs.

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Chillin’ at the Apple Store

Blogging at the King-of-Prussia Mall Starbucks with Kevin Tofel of jkOnTheRun (right) was really just an excuse to get hands-on with an iPhone at the nearby Apple store. Sum-up of my impression: keyboard is difficult but gets easier to use; something I was doing on the touch screen kept kicking me out of applications; EDGE … Read more