I managed to miss this a couple of weeks ago, but TiVo and Sling are both winners in the 2006 Engadget Awards!
Home Entertainment Device of the Year
Readers’ Choice: Slingbox PRO
Editors’ Choice: TiVo Series3
It is a hard choice between the two, they’re both great products, so it is nice to see them both win.
The rumors have been swirling for a while, but today Palm issued a press release stating that tomorrow Jeff Hawkins, founder of Palm (and Handspring) will host a live video webcast to describe a “new category of mobile device.” This will be held just after the official announcement at the D: All Things Digital conference. Unfortunately, the webcast is only open to ‘credentialed media’, plus industry and financial analysts. I’ll have to see if I can view it tomorrow.
Details are sketchy, but the general feeling is that it is going to be something along the lines of an UMPC (Ultra-Mobile PC) or a web tablet like the Nokia N800. It will almost certainly run Linux, as Palm officially announced that they would be delivering a new Linux-based mobile platform later this year, back in April. And it will likely use Opera as a web browser, as Palm also announced a deal with Opera in April. It is also likely to support Palm OS Garnet (the current revision of the OS) applications, as Palm holds a perpetual license to it. (Quick aside: Palm had split into two entities - Palm, the software side, and PalmOne, the hardware side. Palm, and the Palm OS, was acquired by ACCESS. PalmOne acquired the rights to the Palm name, and renamed themselves back to Palm, and acquired the perpetual license from ACCESS for Palm OS to allow them to continue to use and develop it in their products.)
So it is probably Linux-based, with Opera for browsing, and backwards compatibility with existing Garnet applications (which I hope includes SlingPlayer Mobile), and most people seem to expect some kind of tablet form factor. Anything else is really guess-work. Will it have WiFi and/or cellular data connections? Will it support voice connections? How much memory will if have? Is it all solid-state (Flash) or does it have a drive? What kind of memory expansion does it have (if any)? SD? MiniSD?
I’m a long time PalmOS user. I started with a Palm IIIx back in 1998. I eventually moved up to a Handspring Visor Deluxe. and then a Sony Clie NZ-90. I wanted a converged device, but I wasn’t happy with any of the earlier devices. The original Qualcomm/Kyocera pdQ was a brick! It looked pretty much like a Palm IIIx and a cell phone someone had glued together - which was about what it was. The second generation QCP 6035 was a much more polished product, but I was enjoying the Visor’s expandability. The Kyocera 7135 looked like what I’d been waiting for - a slim flip-phone with a color screen. I used to check in regularly with my Verizon store, waiting to get it. Unfortunately, Verizon took forever to support it. And, in the process, the Verizon sales reps I talked to lied to my face a couple of times, which convinced me to dump their service completely. The NZ-90 had come out, so I picked one of those up and switched to AT&T Wireless to get a BlueTooth phone to use with it for data. (On top of everything else, Verizon didn’t offer any BlueTooth phones at the time either. And we’ve come full circle. AT&T Wireless became Cingular, and now it is AT&T again.)
Once I had the NZ-90, with it’s big (for a PDA) 480×320 color screen and built-in keyboard, I couldn’t go back to gray-scale devices like the early Treos. The Treo 600 almost swayed me, but the grainy 160×160 display kept me away. It was the Treo 650 that finally hit the sweet spot for me. The 320×320 display was almost as good as the Clie, and it was everything I needed in one well-designed device. I made the jump and I’ve been very happy with the Treo. This February I made the small jump to the Treo 680, which is a nice improvement on the 650 in most ways. I’ve used other smart-phones, like the Motorola Q and the Treo 700w, but I don’t think they compare to the Palm OS Treos.
So, after all that, I’m very curious to see what Palm is going to announce tomorrow. I’m hoping for something as revolutionary as the original Palm was in its day, or the Treo has been more recently.
I picked this up from Palm Infocenter.
A reminder,as previously posted, TiVo reports their first quarter 2008 results tomorrow along with their quarterly conference call. Details on the call can be found at: http://www.tivo.com/ir
Retro-gaming has been hot for a while now. A lot of people, myself included, use MAME (The Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) to play classic games on our PCs. The graphics may not be bleeding edge, you’d never mistake it for a PS3 or Xbox 360, but it can be fun to play the games you used to enjoy. Personally, that tends to be games like Star Castle, Time Pilot ‘84, Zaxxon, Tempest, etc - games that voraciously ate my quarters back in the day. 
And it can be more convenient than setting up my Atari Jaguar for a game of Tempest 2000. Although I do own a custom rotary controller for that. 
The trend has also manifested with retro-games ported to cell phones, PDAs, etc. Since many of these old games were originally written to run on simple 8-bit systems, mostly the venerable 6502, they don’t need a lot of resources. A modern cell phone has more processing power and memory than any of the first several generations of home gaming consoles or arcade machines.
There are also emulators and retro-gaming packages for modern devices like the Nintendo DS or the Sony PSP. There is a little irony in someone buying a PSP, with all of its power, to play retro-games that could probably run in just the memory controller.
Now, GamePort Retrogames, LLC is designing a handheld gaming system designed for retro-gaming. It is designed to accurately reproduce a number of early gaming platforms to run the original ROMs. It uses an SD card to store games, making it easy to expand the storage and carry a library of your favorite ROMs. The screen is a slightly off 480×234, but it also has a standard composite video out to connect to a TV. You can get all of the details here.
Pricing and availability are not yet known, but if the price is reasonable, I would be tempted to pick one up.
I picked this up from Ubergizmo.
Three years ago there was speculation that TiVo would be available in Australia by the end of 2004, but it never came to pass.
Until now - TiVo will be available in Australia in 2008: Seven Media Group, one of Australia’s leading integrated media companies, and TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in digital video recorders, today announced that Seven will be bringing TiVo to Australia in 2008.
Under the mutually-exclusive agreement, Seven Media Group will lead the creation of the digital platform to enable TiVo’s digital video recorder and service, including the award-winning TiVo user interface. The platform will be available for use by other broadcasters and broadband content owners to create a compelling, interactive, free to air digital terrestrial television offering. The TiVo® Service will be available across Australia and will include internationally recognized TiVo features like SeasonPassâ„¢ recordings and WishList® searches and allow users to access broadband content on their TV. Through its new partnership with TiVo, Seven will deploy TiVo’s leading interactive advertising capabilities to develop new integrated interactive advertising strategies for their very substantial number of broadcast advertisers.
It is good to see TiVo expanding into another international market.
Over the weekend I received another TiVo Rewards Referral, this one from Christopher. Thank you!
TiVo is running a Father’s Day promotion at TiVo.com/dad with deals on the Series3 and Series2DT. You can save $200 on a Series3 - $800 for a Series3 with a $200 Service Gift Card or $900 for a Series3 with a $300 Service Gift Card. The Series3 is normally $800 by itself. You can also save $150 on the Series2DT, both 80- and 180-hour models. 80-hour $300 or $400 with the same service options, 180-hour $400 or $500. Or you can get a bundle of a 180-hour S2DT, TiVo WiFi adapter, and Glo Remote for $459 or $559.
However, I would have to recommend a better deal on the Series3.
As I posted the other day, there is a $200 rebate on any Series3 purchased between May 27 and June 16, 2007. Amazon now has the rebate form up (PDF), and it is the same as the previously posted copy at DVRUpgrade.com (PDF). It has not shown up yet on the TiVo rebates page, but it is a holiday weekend, and it only went into effect today.
Amazon.com did not raise their price after all - they’re selling the S3 for $606.95, $406.95 AFTER REBATE!
If you want to buy a Series3 with expanded storage, check out DVRupgrade’s Series3 page. The stock S3 has 250GB - they have 400GB @ $699, 500GB @ $1,049, 750GB @ $1,249, and 1TB @ $1,399. All before the $200 rebate. WeaKnees.com also sells expanded units. (They have a 1TB box, but it is hidden.) Pricing is the same, but purchasing from DVRupgrade via the link supports the site.
If you’re going to connect the TiVo wirelessly, don’t forget the TiVo Wireless G USB Network Adapter.
As always, when you active your new TiVo, the TiVo Rewards referral is appreciated. If you’ve been waiting to pick up a Series3, now is the time!
From the list #79 TiVo Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder, #32 Sling Media Slingbox Pro, #99 Sling Media SlingPlayer Mobile. The full article is here. As someone who uses all three of these, I certainly agree with these picks. I use a few of the other items too - #26 iPod (though I have an older model), #31 Gmail, #34 YouTube, Firefox, #43 AVS Forum, #53 Google Maps for Mobile, #55 Kaspersky Anti-Virus, #58 Digg.com, and #61 Apple iTunes.