Zatz Not Funny!

Moxi Reborn! In Canada.

It’s good to see that Arris, a cable and broadband company, hasn’t given up on their (dirt cheap) Moxi acquisition. Thanks to Shaw Cable, our Canadian neighbors to the north can pick up the next generation Moxi HD DVR and Moxi Mate as the Shaw Gateway and Portal. Featuring a very healthy, and perhaps industry leading, HD 6 tuners! (Making its 500GB hard drive seem somewhat undersized.)

Marcus turned us on to the news and wonders:

So I called Moxi and spoke with a nice dude named David and got the same response when I speak with Tivo about upcoming products, “I dunno”. And why Canada? And do you think this will ever hit retail in the states?

Despite Moxi’s Emmy Award winning interface and functionality that was, at one point, ahead of its time, the various champions/owners never managed to get traction here in the US as a set-top provider for the likes of Charter or in retail. In fact, under Arris, the Moxi branding appears to have been abandoned. At least in terms of Shaw’s whole-home PVR solution. But, given that the new Gateway product has been engineered with support for CableCARD technology, I’d say the intention is… or was… to market this product here in the US.

Best Premium iPhone Video App?

I habitually subscribe to all sorts of audio and video services. While I do enjoy my fair share of quality entertainment, it’s more about ensuring a breadth of content and playback options. Over the last few months a selection of mobile streaming video apps have enabled me to regularly conquer the gym hamster wheels cardio gear. … Read more

TiVo Premiere To Access Xfinity On Demand

Remember the mysterious screengrab that TiVo accidentally released at the Premiere launch? Well, a year later, they’ve finally come clean. Comcast, er Xfinity, On Demand will be made available to TiVo Premiere DVRs in select markets – and San Francisco is up first. Although no specific ETA was provided beyond “early next year.” Presumably, the companies are getting it done using back channel communication methods, facilitated by SeaChange, and similar to those seen with RCN, Suddenlink, and perhaps what’s coming to Cox.

From TiVo’s press release:

$0.99 Big Fish iPad Games for Mother’s Day

If you’re addicted to iPad games, you can’t do better than the deal Big Fish Games is running for Mother’s Day. Games that usually range $6.99-$9.99 are only $0.99 (on iPad or iPhone) through Sunday. Most of them are some variant of the Hidden Object/Puzzle and Adventure Quest genre – good for your own leisure … Read more

Jabra Cruiser2 Bluetooth Speakerphone Review

It’s been almost exactly two years since I picked up the solar-powered LG Bluetooth hand-free gadget. For the first few months, I used it extensively in the car – very rarely needing to plug it in for supplemental juice. But the speakerphone eventually ended up collecting dust on the desk for quite some time, as I reverted back to my most favored Jawbone Prime, which has the right mix of style, comfort, and performance. As my car talk time began to increase several months ago, I pulled the LG out of cold storage. In 2011, its audio performance on either end is probably never stellar. More annoying is the tiny power button that needs to be held down a second or two and no standby mode. And, thus, my search for a replacement began.

Unfortunately, solar power speakerphones really haven’t taken off the way one would have hoped — there just aren’t too many options. So I settled on the more traditionally charged Bluetooth units, with two in particular standing out: The BlueAnt S4 and Jabra Cruiser2. They both run about $70 these days, and I was leaning towards the BlueAnt given its potentially useful voice control and styling. Yet, I came across the Jabra on a Costco run this week… and an impulse purchase ended the debate.

Best Blu-ray Player For Netflix Streaming?

Tech of the Hub got their hands on a trio of 2011 Blu-ray players and set about determining what model provides the best Netflix experience. Which works out well, as I’m in the market for a new, connected Blu-ray player. On the Netflix front, the 802.11n-capable Panasonic DMP-BDT210, LG BD670, and Samsung BD-D5700 seem to provide … Read more

i.TV Guide App Updated; Two TiVo Notes

One of the more impressive unaffiliated TV guide iPhone apps has seen a massive makeover. In fact, i.TV 3.0 completely drops movie listings, trailers, and theater ticket purchases to exclusively focus on television content… including shows located on Hulu and Netflix. The interface refresh is more than skin deep, and i.TV now brings native support to the iPad. It’s definitely a (free) app worth checking out if your television provider doesn’t offer one to your liking.

On the TiVo front, i.TV has been the unofficial, official TiVo iPhone app. So someone may want to suggest that TiVo, Inc update their website (shown below right) as their screengrab is no longer relevant — i.TV has dropped that virtual TiVo remote control during the redesign. While it’ll return in some form at some point, the virtual Roku remote is gone for good.

Last year, we uncovered a minor security issue related to i.TV and TiVo DVR scheduling:

Why Is Amazon Crediting Customers For HD VOD?

It looks as though at least some of us are being credited by Amazon for high definition video on demand rentals or purchases that may not have actually achieved sustained HD streaming. A friend and I both received this email within in the last 24 hours:

As someone who has purchased digital movies or TV shows in high-definition (HD) from Amazon Instant Video, we wanted to provide you more information about how we deliver HD content. It is our goal to provide you an uninterrupted viewing experience without any video reloading or “buffering.” To provide you uninterrupted viewing we may lower the resolution of HD videos to standard definition during streaming playback. We do this if we detect that your Internet connection to our service may not be fast enough to support HD playback. For more information on viewing HD videos from Amazon Instant Video, please visit our Help page here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200256920

Because you may not have been able to playback one of your rentals or purchases in HD quality, we have issued you a one-time Amazon Instant Video credit of $1 for each of the HD movies and TV episodes you have purchased from us for a total amount of $23. In order to apply the credit to your Amazon Instant Video account, please click here,
http://www.amazon.com/instantvideo/hdcredit