New TiVo OS Update Removes Unofficial Premiere-to-Premiere Streaming

Posted on Saturday, July 23, 2011 by MegaZone

TiVo Logo A recent TiVo OS upgrade on the Premiere accidentally enabled Premiere-to-Premiere streaming support, for at least some users. We’ve known for a while that TiVo is working on this for new devices, but the feature is not yet complete and was not intended to be released. This was evident in the number of quirks, glitches, and bugs experienced by those who played with the streaming support.

Well, play time is over. A new TiVo OS update, 14.8b, is rolling out and it appears to kill the unofficial streaming support, pulling it back behind the development/beta curtain. Since it was never officially released it isn’t really removing functionality, but that’s cold comfort for users who have been using it. They’ll just have to wait for TiVo to complete development and make the official launch, which is expected later this year as it is required for the ‘whole home’ DVR functionality of the TiVo Premiere Elite and TiVo Preview.

Try to be patient and don’t reach for the pitchforks and torches just yet. TiVo was damned if they did and damned if they didn’t. The feature was plainly rough and incomplete, and not intended for public consumption. If they left it out there they would have to deal with the users complaining about the problems, even though it wasn’t an official feature. If they pulled it back to complete work out of the public eye they’d upset those users who have been using it. Since the feature was only of use to those with multiple Premiere units in the home, it is likely not a large number of users impacted by the removal.

Reported in the forums at TiVoCommunity, via EngadgetHD.

Posted in TiVo | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

R.I.P. Google Toolbar for Firefox

Posted on Saturday, July 23, 2011 by MegaZone

Firefox Logo Just after Firefox 5 released a support thread was started in their forums by users upset that Google Toolbar was not compatible with FF5. A lot of the posts were frankly demanding and entitled, and I posted a reply with some pointed words, wherein I also said “They may never support FF5, though I think they probably will.” Well, I thought wrong. On Tuesday, Google posted the following:

An update on Google Toolbar for Firefox

First of all, we’d like to thank all of our loyal users of Google Toolbar for Firefox. We deeply appreciate all of the feedback over the years that helped to make the product so useful. As we all know, over the past few years, there has been a tremendous amount of innovation in the browser space. For Firefox users, many features that were once offered by Google Toolbar for Firefox are now already built right into the browswer. Therefore, while Google Toolbar for Firefox works on versions up to and including Firefox 4 only, it will not be supported on Firefox 5 and future versions. Please see our Help Center for additional details.

I’d been a Netscape user since around 0.9 up through 4.79, until I made the jump to Mozilla Suite (aka Seamonkey). I used that until Firefox hit 1.0, when I transitioned to the latter. I adopted the Google Toolbar early in its life, as it added a lot of useful functionality to the browser. Last year I switched to Chrome full time, which has most of the Toolbar features built in or available as extensions, so I haven’t been a Google Toolbar user in a while. But as a long time user I sympathize with the users who now go with out.

Though it isn’t as big of a loss as it once would’ve been – many of the features first introduced in Google Toolbar are now built into Firefox natively. And many of the other Toolbar features are available through other FF extensions. As CNET Reports, form autofill, spell checking, bookmark synchronization, and a search box are built into FF, and suggestions and customer searches are both supported in the ‘Awesome Bar’. Google themselves have presented a helpful list of replacement extensions for users missing the features of Toolbar.

Personally, I say just switch to Chrome. But I know not everyone is willing to switch away from Firefox.

The Google Toolbar for IE lives on for now.

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Engadget Reviews the Toshiba Thrive

Posted on Saturday, July 23, 2011 by MegaZone

Toshiba Thrive Toshiba Thrive reviews continue to pop up around the blogosphere, and Engadget’s is the latest. It is one of the longest and most in depth reviews of the Thrive that I’ve seen, and it is well balanced. If you’re thinking about picking up a Thrive, you owe it to yourself to read through this review. The conclusions are a qualified positive, while acknowledging the Thrive isn’t for everyone. Just a sample:

Inevitably, whenever a new tablet comes out, we find ourselves asking, “Why would you choose this over everything else?” And to be honest, in a marketplace with so many forgettable options it’s not always an easy question to answer. In the case of the Thrive, at least, you’ve potentially got enough built-in reasons to count on both hands. It’s got full-sized USB and HDMI ports, not to mention an SDXC slot allowing you to make good use of one of the memory cards you’ve no doubt accumulated over the years. It comes with lots of useful apps — some of which cost money — which means if you’ll be up and running immediately (and so will any low-tech person you give this to as a gift). It runs Android 3.1 at a time when most tabs don’t. Oh, and it’s priced to sell. It starts at $429 for 8GB, making it stand out in a market that absolutely does not need another $500 or $600 slate. We say, get the 8GB version, pair it with an old SD card, and have yourself a party.

So if the features unique to the Thrive are useful to you, it isn’t a bad choice. But if not, there are slimmer, sleeker tablets with longer battery life that are probably better choices. Read the full review for all of the facts.

Posted in Android, Blogs | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

“This is your universe. This, is your universe on wormholes.” Farscape Hits Blu-ray

Posted on Saturday, July 23, 2011 by MegaZone

Amazon Logo Nearly nine years after the fact I am still pissed with SciFi… sorry, ugh, SyFy… for cancelling Farscape back in 2002. It remains one of my favorite TV series of all time, in any genre. And it is coming to Blu-ray November 15th. Well, most of it is – the first four seasons. The Peacekeeper Wars, the bone SyFy threw the fans to wrap up the loose ends they left by cancelling Season 5, hasn’t been slated for Blu-ray yet.

You can pre-order a box set of the complete seasons 1-4 for $139.99 (30% off the $199.95 MSRP), or you can pre-order individual sets for seasons one, two, three, and four for $48.99 each (also 30% off the $69.95 MSRP). And remember Amazon has pre-order price protection – if the price drops at any point before release you’ll get it for the lowest price, even if it increases again before the release date.

I’m sorely tempted by this, but I already have the complete series (including PK Wars) on DVD. Maybe I’ll put it on my Amazon Wishlist… but HD… must resist!

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ONO On Track For September TiVo Launch in Spain

Posted on Saturday, July 23, 2011 by MegaZone

TiVo Logo Just over a year ago, during the site’s hiatus, TiVo announced a deal with Spain’s largest cable operator, ONO, similar to their deal with Virgin Media in the UK. In fact, very similar, the same Cisco hardware Virgin is using in the UK will be used in Spain. As usual with TiVo, no time frame for deployment was given at the time of the announcement. But in February 2011 word came out that Ono would be launching TiVo in September.

Now we have new reports confirming the launch is on for September, and providing some more info. The launch of TiVo isn’t just adding TiVo to Ono’s existing service, Ono will be launching their first HDTV channels and TiVo will be the platform for the new service. That should provide a nice boost to TiVo demand.

Ono’s HDTV initial channels will be Mediapro’s Gol TV, News Corp.’s Fox, Sony’s AXN and Sony TV, Viacom’s MTV Live HD, Spain’s national public broadcaster TVE HD, Grupo Planeta’s national private broadcaster Antena 3, Mediaset España’s Telecinco HD and Mediapro’s laSexta HD. Those viewers in the Catalonia region will also have access to the public channel TV3 HD.

It is nice to see TiVo executing on these global deals, they have a number of them in the pipeline. We’ll see in a week if the Best Buy Insignia TiVo-loaded HDTVs launch as leaks indicate. TiVo has deals in the US with Cox, Charter, and Comcast working their way toward roll out. TiVo has DVR development deals in place with Technicolor and Samsung for the global market. And their next international carrier launch should be the largest satellite television provider in Northern Europe, Telenor’s Canal Digital, serving Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. I suspect that may involve the Technicolor and/or Samsung DVR deals as both are for European satellite DVRs.

Via Rapid TV News.

Posted in Cable, HDTV, TiVo | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment