Let’s face it… if you’re a journalist, bashing TiVo is good for business. Very few companies inspire the cult-like loyalty and name recognition (a small player like) TiVo enjoys. There’s nothing like a negatory article to energize the masses. That could explain why every few months both the Motley Fool and Phillip Swann of TV … Read more
Democracy, who bill themselves as a free, open source, Internet TV platform, is now available for PC and Mac beta testing with planned support for Linux. The combination video player, publisher, and aggregator seems to be getting a decent amount of attention, but I’m not quite sold. I already have free software which handles video … Read more
Couldn’t make TiVo’s little Valentine’s Day singles soiree? Me neither… Fortunately my secret TiVo Valentine sent me some clever party favors and Davis Freeberg reported his W hotel experiences. I still haven’t decided if this was marketing genius or lunacy, but the folks in attendance seemed to have a good time.
TiVo offered up a little more Valentine’s Day love for us yesterday when they released TiVo Desktop 1.9.2 for OSX. So I went ahead and installed the brand-spanking new software. No new features as far as I can tell, but both Panther and Tiger are now listed as being fully supported. The good news: TiVo obviously has some Mac expertise on staff. The bad… if TiVoToGo for Mac were anywhere need ready to ship, I don’t think this package would have been released as an obvious stop-gap. The update doesn’t support Intel-based Macs, but I’m giving TiVo a pass on this one since Apple delivered 6 months early and few people have them in their possession.
Update: Bob Poniatowski, of TiVo Product Marketing, is hopeful an Intel-compatible TiVo Desktop will be available in 6-8 weeks. Additionally, Mac hacker Dennis Wilkinson has uncovered TiVoToGo-related code within 1.9.2. Makes ya wonder if Mac TTG is only 8 weeks out…
MovieBeam, who just received a large cash infusion, is relaunching in 29 markets this year. In fact, my neighborhood already appears to be online. Basically you buy the Linksys MovieBeam set-top box, every week a few movies are downloaded via a digital over-the-air (OTA) signal, and then you choose which you want to rent. The … Read more
I woke up to some depressing news this AM… Leon Nicholls, the sole developer of Galleon, has decided to move on to “other interesting technologies.” TiVo subscribers are losing a great resource, and TiVo, Inc. is losing a great advocate. I’m hopeful that TiVo enthusiasts with some coding chops will pick up where he’s left … Read more
A mysterious reader graciously wrote in with a clever hack that allows you to essentially re-record and edit your TiVo’d shows with no additional hardware or software. I haven’t tried it yet, as I do my editing and conversion on PC, but it looks interesting. Tivo can playback and record a TV signal at the … Read more
The Harmony 890 has finally hit the shelves and the reviews are trickling in. On top of the features his younger brother the 880 offers, the new model adds RF (to make it through those pesky cabinets and walls) and is fully backlit. But is that really worth the $150-$200 premium? With a list price … Read more