Google Launches Smartphone Printing Service

Google is starting to roll out its Cloud Print service to mobile phones. What that means is that you’ll be able to open an email on your iOS or Android device, choose print from a drop-down menu, and send the message to a printer linked to your account — no USB cables or other wires required. … Read more

Microsoft Sues TiVo (Again)

Generally speaking, patent litigation bores us. However, we offer up this (abbreviated) story in the name of completeness. Given TiVo’s success in extracting $100 million from Echostar/DISH, they set their patent infringement sights on AT&T and Verizon. As AT&T U-Verse television service is powered by Microsoft’s Mediaroom, MS joined the fray and sued TiVo. Apparently, Softie’s initial … Read more

TiVo’s Charter Deal & Multi-Room Clues

TiVo’s gone ahead and inked themselves another deal with a cable provider: Charter Communications, Inc. and TiVo Inc., today announced that Charter is setting its strategy for the next generation of television into motion with TiVo Inc. Charter and TiVo have finalized a multi-year agreement that will leverage the TiVo user interface to bring a … Read more

Cablevision to the Cloud!

After years of wrangling, Cablevision has launched a remote-storage DVR service letting subscribers record and store programs on the operator’s network with no need for a local hard drive. Jeff Baumgartner confirmed with Cablevision spokesman Jim Maiella that the service, called DVR Plus, launched in the Bronx last week with a price tag of $10.95 … Read more

A Few FiOS TV DVR Notes (versus TiVo)

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As regulars know, we recently left the cable hegemony behind in favor of Verizon’s FiOS TV…. to overcome switched digital video (SDV) tuning adapter flakiness and a CCI Byte content lockdown that essentially neutered our TiVo ecosystem. And, on the technological front, we couldn’t be happier. (But I may follow up with a less glowing billing and support post, as many of you cautioned.)

We’re a three TV/DVR household, although currently only possess two televisions — one powered by a TiVo Premiere and the other powered by the Verizon FiOS DVR shown above. So the question is, what DVR will power TV #3 when the time comes?

Now that Cox Communication’s CCI Byte “guilty until proven innocent” restriction is behind me, TiVo once again provides multi-room viewing. Although my mothballed TiVo HD and Series 3 may not have the bandwidth to move content wirelessly in real time between DVRs, the way I could Premiere to Premiere. On the FiOS TV front, most of us are still running Interactive Media Guide (IMG) 1.8… which doesn’t utilize a 16:9 UI and multi-room viewing is limited to a DVR hub feeding set-tops. However, testing is underway for version 1.9 and deployment should begin in the near future. And I’m quite interested…

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DOTD: 32″ Sony Bravia HDTV with Integrated Blu-ray @ $470

Today’s deal of the day comes to us via Dell’s official eBay account… Where they appear to be liquidating a number of new 32″ Sony Bravia LCD HDTVs. We’re probably in agreement that 32″ is too small to act as a primary television. However, it could be a reasonable size for a bedroom or den. … Read more

The Southeastern US GPS PSA

ZNF insider “MethodicJon” caught Engadget’s coverage of potential GPS interruption and suggested we run a public service announcement. And so we are. From the FAA advisory to pilots: The Department of Defense will conduct GPS tests on January 20th through February22nd, 2011. During testing, the GPS signal may be unreliable or unavailable. As you can see from … Read more

XBMC Turns Jailbroken Apple TV or iPad Into 1080P Media Center

XBMC is a highly customizable and powerful media center application that can run on computers and a number of other devices. In fact, the project started its life as Xbox Media Center, thus the acronym. But my how XBMC has grown in recent years. Last night the developers announced that the app has been ported to … Read more