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Archive for November 4th, 2005

Will Google buy TiVo? Here’s how it could make sense

Posted Friday, November 4th, 2005 at 22:34 by MegaZone. Filed under TiVo

That’s not as an outlandish idea as it might sound. In fact, columnist Rick Aristotle Munarriz of the investing news and advice site The Motley Fool mentions TiVo first in a list of companies he thinks “may be in the process of dolling themselves up in front of the dressing room mirror because they can hear Google pulling up in the driveway.”

Personally I can’t take the “Will X buy TiVo?” stories that seriously, since I’ve been seeing them for years now - Apple, DirecTV, Sony, Google, the names just change over time. Though, in this case, I could see synergy between TiVo and Google for targeted ads, demographic info, etc. And we know Google is interested in such things based on their proposal to supple the city-wide WiFi for San Francisco, in exchange for the usage data. But they don’t have to buy TiVo to do that, they can partner with TiVo, even just license the platform of they wanted, like DirecTV, Toshiba, Humax, etc.

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New age signing bonus â€” free TiVo

Posted Friday, November 4th, 2005 at 22:27 by MegaZone. Filed under TiVo

Now, Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center is hoping nurses will choose to spend their working time at the Brockton hospital â€” and they’ll get TiVo if they do.

This is an interesting incentive, and it makes sense. It isn’t just a gadget incentive, it is specific because TiVo helps them not miss the shows they like in exchange for working a longer shift. Clever.