Of Course Apple’s Anti-Competitive

Of course Apple’s anti-competitive. They’re savvy business people, protecting their turf. But, are they (or AT&T) breaking any laws with the iPhone app “approval” process? The Wall Street Journal reports that the FCC’s launched an inquiry with letters out to Apple, Google, and AT&T. What triggered these government queries seems to be the rejection of … Read more

Congrats to Vudu, Lands on HDTVs

Despite sluggish hardware sales, two rounds of layoffs, and flirting with disaster, a shift in strategy along with a rumored cash infusion has landed Vudu some interesting licensing deals. While Entone (who?) and Vizio were the first to announce Vudu integration, it looks like LG HDTVs will be the first to stream Vudu video on … Read more

I Gots The Xbox Live Preview

The Xbox Live Preview we discussed a few days back has landed on my console. There’s nothing earth shattering here, but it’s a well rounded update and I’m am happy to see a more full-featured 10′ interface for Netflix Instant Viewing (which I hope comes to both my Roku and TiVo boxes). The quick video … Read more

Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our other blogs: Your Personal Photos, Music, and Video on TV Where should the processing occur to encode personal content for TV viewing? In the Verizon set-up, the processing takes place in a PC, and then content is transferred via MoCA. But it’s also possible to have the … Read more

Enjoying 1 vs 100 Interactive Xbox Trivia

Not exactly new, although still in beta, I wanted to mention 1 vs 100 on Xbox Live. It’s a console port of the trivia television show, which I’ve never seen but is similar to say a Who Wants to be a Millionaire with audience participation. As I commented on NewTeeVee a few weeks back, 1 … Read more

Has Best Buy’s Twelpforce Already Failed?

Is this who you want representing your brand? Last week, Best Buy (BBY) launched an audacious online engagement experiment in allowing hundreds of employees to man their Twitter feed. “Twelpforce” aggregates rank and file employee contributions into a single Twitter account. However, unlike say a Sprint (S) or Comcast (CMCSA) who utilize communications and service … Read more

Re-upping with the CableCo

While I dig pay television content and broadband, I can’t say I always dig the cable company. Historically, I haven’t had the greatest experiences with things like billing or installs. Those installs, in particular, have been a recurring pain point. With a 25% no-show rate, the possibly high contractor who had to be escorted out … Read more

Messing Around With Card.ly

For some time, I’ve considered developing the vacant davezatz.com into a simple landing page directing folks to my various online haunts. But I never found the time or motivation. Enter: Card.ly. This new web service offers pretty much what I was shooting for, currently supporting a few dozen web services and providing a number of … Read more