Well this could put a damper on Verizon’s currently cozy relationship with the cable industry. According to the New York Post, Verizon – like so many companies – is in talks with “major programmers” about creating a national, Internet-based pay-TV service. The Post says that while Verizon has pursued access to particular shows in the … Read more
Via Rich DeMuro, we learn that Apple is on the hunt for Music Programmers to curate content for their new iTunes Radio service. Potential digital DJs are expected to have 5 years experience and a willingness to attend concerts on the clock with: a strong understanding and background in how the music business operates. Experience and … Read more
I was absolutely delighted when Netflix (finally) hit my TiVo Mini. Yet others weren’t quite as enthusiastic… as outputting video at 1080p/24 not only brought down the Netflix app, it also rebooted the Mini. Ouch.
Fortunately, TiVo responded in short order and has deployed an OS update to both the newly released Roamio DVRs and the Mini:
Two important fixes in this release:
- reboots related to Netflix with 1080p
- reboots related to Pandora
In other TiVo update news… CEO Tom Rogers indicated that they company is still on track for out-of-home Roamio Plus and Pro video streaming to Apple mobile devices come October:
Best Buy has just announced they are replacing their “Reward Zone” loyalty program with “My Best Buy” — promising greater rewards, such as free shipping, and more mobile integration, including bonus points for “checking in” at stores. And certainly my Best Buy expenditures have increased given permanent Amazon price matching (and their recent store redesign doesn’t hurt). … Read more
Fellow tech enthusiast and DC neighbor Joel Ward continues his role as a Features contributor here at Zatz Not Funny. Beyond ZNF, Joel can be found at Joel Explains It All and @joelsef on Twitter.
We’ve been evaluating the Slingbox 500 ($300) at the Ward household these last few months. And the timing was good: We went on a week-long vacation, giving us the perfect chance to try out the truly remote access features of the Slingbox. We also played with it while traveling around town, which was fun—including watching Bill Maher at the pool and catching a preseason Washington Capitals game while at a Nationals game.
However, the best use case is travel. This thing is made for travelers. I’d say we probably aren’t the key demographic for a Slingbox as we don’t travel too much. Yet it’s still very nice to have this option available when we are on the road, or even just traveling around town and finding ourselves—or our kids—bored out of our minds.
Netflix was just enabled on about 40,000 Virgin Media TiVo boxes housed in Peterborough, Crawley, Andover, Londonderry and Swindon (UK) as a pilot – with all 1.7 million deployed units expected to receive the app later this year. Beyond enhancing the experience for Virgin/TiVo customers, this deal is also notable as the first time Netflix has been offered via a pay television provider. And TiVo CEO Tom Rogers referred to the licensing complexity yesterday from a Merrill Lynch conference:
We enabled Netflix, as I said, through our retail device but because of the peculiarity of the over-the-top studio agreements, Netflix couldn’t be offered to a cable owned set-top box and still can’t be. I personally believe that’s going to be solved […] Virgin Media, because you have a different rights situation over there, Netflix could offer itself through a cable operator owned set-top box.
Related, RCN has stated publicly they’d like to bring Netflix to their US cable customers and were “eager to reopen the dialogue” back when Netflix’s STARZ agreement had expired… yet we haven’t heard anything more on the matter.
We have a love-hate relationship with the CableCARD. -Tom Rogers, TiVo CEO