Comcast Pays TiVo 16 Million (And Counting)

TiVo’s annual 10-k has revealed that Comcast paid $16 million (fiscal year ending 1/31/07) for continued development of the upcoming Motorola TiVo build. TiVo presumably received funding the prior year, and will receive a recurring subscriber bounty once the platform is deployed. I wonder if Cox sent Comcast a thank you card for footing the … Read more

Pandora Campaigns for Net Radio

I’ve written before about my love for Pandora and about the Copyright Royalty Board’s (CRB) attempt to kill it and other Internet radio services. Now Pandora, as part of a coalition called SaveNetRadio, is fighting back. The SaveNetRadio group (including listeners, artists, labels and webcasters) started a campaign yesterday with a petition to Congress protesting … Read more

Drool-Worthy Camera?

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A press release crossed my inbox today with the announcement of a new camera by DXG USA. Now I have a great digital camera, but this release promised multimedia nirvana in one little device, all for just $199.

Before I get to the catch, here are some of the features of the DXG-589V. It’s a combination 5 megapixel camera, VGA camcorder, video game player, digital music player and video recorder that takes input from TVs and DVD players. Video is MPEG-4 with 30 frames per second at a 640×480 resolution. For gaming, the device has a flip screen and 20 built-in, full-color games. Not particularly exciting for a real gamer, but for someone like me who just likes to have something handy to do while waiting in line, it sounds great.

So why the second thoughts?

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Netflix Launches Internet TV Group with ReplayTV Alum

Anthony Wood, founder of ReplayTV, has been tapped to lead Netflix’s new Internet TV group and is tasked to “deliver movies directly to subscribers’ televisions via the Internet.” The Netflix press release describes Wood’s career path: Until his appointment by Netflix, Mr. Wood, 41, was CEO of Roku, a digital media company that manufactures and … Read more

Tis the Season for Earnings

Wondering what kind of foundation is beneath your favorite gadgets and gizmos? Look no farther than the start of earnings season. Among this week’s contenders in the great earnings game are Yahoo, Motorola (my employer), and Google. Followed by Apple, Comcast and Microsoft next week, and Verizon and Time Warner the following. Recent news that … Read more

On Site at NAB Vegas

Do I have a great job or what? Last month I hit CTIA in Orlando, and now here I am at NAB. Blake (aka Sling founder/CEO) is giving the portable media keynote tomorrow and I’ll be manning our booth at Piero’s in the evening. So if you’re in Vegas… drop on by, say hello, maybe … Read more

Hands On With DLO Nano Shell

Let me start by saying I’m not a “case” guy. I don’t put phones, iPods, PDAs, etc in them — everything ends up “naked” in a pocket or backpack. I choose to believe the exterior of a product is designed to protect the delicate electronics inside and I just won’t sweat a scratch or two. … Read more

Redbox Fifth Largest DVD Rental Company

Since Davis is on safari and I know how much he loves DVD rental kiosks, I figure I better cover the Redbox news on his behalf: “We are extremely proud to join the nation’s top five DVD renters and reinforce our leadership position in the automated DVD rental category,â€? said Gregg Kaplan, chief executive officer, … Read more