Zatz Not Funny!

Free March Madness Webcast Returns

Awesome, the NCAA and CBS SportsLine are serving up March Madness On Demand (again) online and for free! Sure, glued to my laptop may not be the ideal way to watch days of basketball but I’ll be able to view specific games that my local affiliate doesn’t broadcast (if necessary). Starting March 5th, the site … Read more

The Perfect Phone

My headline is a fantasy… There is no perfect phone. My favorite phone for purely email and voice has been the Blackberry 8700, but as a guy who runs a decent amount of multimedia, Windows Mobile is my preferred OS. (Though it frequently drives me crazy.)

I’ve been using the 6700 on Sprint since last summer and it’s time for change. The thing weighs a ton, no longer holds a charge, and I find the hidden keyboard too wide for comfortable thumb typing.

To borrow a term from Gizmodo, I’d like to build a Windows Mobile “Frankenphone” using the best features of the Dash, Blackjack, and 700w:

Dash

Form factor
Standard USB Connection
Windows Mobile 6 Update

Blackjack

3G Connectivity
Jog Dial
Extra Battery

Palm 700w

Software dialing enhancements
Touchscreen
3G Connectivity

TiVo Series2 Receives Minor Update

Broadband-connected Series2 owners: 8.1 becomes 8.1a… This release is a very small update, specifically targeted to address the TiVoToGo issue and provide some needed infrastructure for the new Amazon service.

Update: Dave’s Vista Upgrade

So much for getting Vista this month… or even next month. Looks like I’m slated for a mid-April delivery. I’m no math whiz, but that doesn’t seem like 6-8 weeks after US launch. “Express Upgrade” is a bit misleading… Bah! Between the numerous hotfixes in the works and at least one report that editing DVR-MS … Read more

TiVo Recruiting Video

TiVo’s been posting tons of job openings lately, so they put together an inside-look recruiting video and shipped it off to select boxes (TiVo Central). I may have had a few content suggestions prior to shooting…

Not Everyone Deserves 15 Minutes of Fame

There’s a new trend in online video that I’m entirely in favor of. Editors. And for that matter, producers.

Yes, people have learned that most user-generated content is trash and the way to make money is to provide better filters. Hence the recent Facebook/Ziddio announcement and efforts to offer promising video producers a little professional support.

On the Facebook front, the company has teamed with Ziddio.com to select top video submissions for feature placement on the Ziddio site. In addition, through Ziddio’s relationship with Comcast, these same top videos will be available through on-demand cable. Don’t waste time rummaging through heaps of crappy video. Let someone else do the rummaging for you, then sit back and enjoy the show.

How HD-DVD Copy Protection Was (Possibly) Defeated

Over the last couple of months, there have been reports of HD-DVD and Blu-ray copy protection being defeated and bypassed. I can’t say I’m an expert in this area and I haven’t slogged through the public AACS documents. While it’s unclear if these methods (and keys) are temporary “solutions” or if they will permanently bypass … Read more

TiVo Series3 8.1 Software Rollout Begins

Originally slated for a late 2006 release, the 8.1 update for Series3 units is finally rolling. Notable features include TiVoCast capability, KidZone, WPA support, and the Recently Deleted folder… plus “a number of bugs and issues” have been resolved. This update pretty much unifies (if not the code base) the functionality of the S2 and … Read more