Dish Network just held a ‘Team Summit’ and some interesting news is making its way out. SatelliteGuys.us posted a report from the General Assembly which includes an overview of upcoming Dish Network DVRs, including what I think is the most interesting – the 722s, with built-in Slingbox!
Then Mark and Leslie introduce something that blows me away… The 722s. Its a 722 with Sling technology built in. Besides having Slingbox technology built in it also has Clip and sling which will let you send clips to friends. The 722s has a totally new interface, it has a guide with channel logos plus a totally new UHF remote, which features a touchpad and a trigger below it. This s a amazing unit. The front of the 722s also features al touch technology with no buttons and is backlit instead of using LCD’s. They are looking at having 1TB drive at launch, however 500 GB will be used by Dish and the DVR will come loaded with name HD movies preloaded on the drive. The 722s also has a built in browser (although Jackson said it will only go to certain sites and will be tightly integrated with Yahoo.)
But it is more than just a Slingbox with Clip+Sling – it is a SlingCatcher too!
Out comes Sling CEO Blake Kerkorian and he talks about the Slingbox and talks a little more about the 722s. The 722 will be able to do Clip & Sling and Slingcatcher, plus it will be able to run more applications as well.
So it is a Dish PVR, Slingbox, and SlingCatcher all in one. And from a follow-up post in that thread, it will be an HD Slingbox, like the upcoming Slingbox PRO-HD.
This isn’t really surprising in general, since EchoStar purchased Sling Media last year, but I think this is the first time we’ve heard of this as a real product and not just speculation. And being a SlingCatcher too wasn’t something I’d seen discussed before. The built in web browser is interesting, though it is a shame they have it restricted. (And I’d presume that only works for boxes connected to broadband, same with the Slingbox capability.)
That’s not all they talked about at the summit. The 700MHz spectrum Dish picked up at auction recently was mentioned, unsurprisingly, as a carrier for Dish Mobile. So you’ll be able to access Dish Network content in your car, on your boat, etc.
There are other new Dish STBs as well, the 222k and 722k lack OTA tuners, but a tuner module can be added. And apparently the module provides dual OTA tuners, instead of the single OTA tuner in today’s ViP722. And the tuner module also adds an RF modulator so you can distribute the output through the home over existing coaxial cable on channel 2 or 3. As well as some new two-way remotes, which apparently can store all of your DVR settings and resend them to a new box if you have to have your STB replaced.
Check out the thread at SatelliteGuys.us for all the details.
Disclaimer: I’m currently employed by Sling Media, which is owned by EchoStar.
Well, I guess there is a little bit of acquisition fever going around the technical press. Yesterday CBS acquired CNet Networks, and today Conde Nast acquired Ars Technica. Conde Nast owns Wired, and this means that Ars Technica will basically become part of Wired.com. The news was broken by TechCrunch, who report they’ve confirmed it. The price is unknown, but TechCrunch believes it is around $25 million.
So, where’s my buyout offer? 
Laplink’s servers were so hammered yesterday due to their free PCmover offer that not everyone who wanted it could get through. So they’ve kindly extended the offer through today. I jumped on it very early yesterday, just after I posted here, and I also took advantage of the low promotional pricing on PC Sync, Uniblue Registry Booster, and Raxco PerfectDisk 8. Their servers were so hammered my order didn’t actually complete until today, so I just downloaded the software a little earlier today. I’ve already run Registry Booster, and my first impression is that it has sped up my system, both booting and starting applications. I’m running PerfectDisk right now, we’ll see how that goes. For $10 I figured why not try it.
So if you couldn’t get in on the offer yesterday, don’t miss out today.
It looks like TiVo has just added to more channels to TiVoCast. First up is beYOU.tv, which has the tag line“Videos to exercise your mind, body and soul.” And they describe themselves thusly:
beYOU.tv is an online resource for instructional fitness, health and wellness videos. We make it possible for people to connect with each other and to a world of national experts, celebrity teachers and local talent in yoga, Pilates, boot camp, dance, tai chi personal growth, spiritual growth and more.
You can subscribe online, or on your TiVo via Find Programs & Downloads -> Download TV, Movies, & Web Video -> Browse Other Videos -> All -> beYOU.tv
And next up is Zipidee Action Sports.
Welcome to Zipidee, the premier online marketplace for action sports videos! We hope you enjoyed the latest featured title. Each week, Zipidee will highlight some exciting footage from our video library on TiVo. Full-length titles are available to rent or download.
Zipidee looks like a general purpose video download site, as they put it in their ‘About Us’ page:
Zipidee is the Internet’s largest digital Prosumer Generated Content (PGC) marketplace for instructional, educational, health and fitness, sports, and special interest content. Zipidee has a rapidly expanding seller network of more than 1000 content producers and distributors and over 150,000 repeat customers. The Zipidee marketplace receives over 500,000 visitors per month, browsing through more than 1.5 million pages of digital goods for sale. Our platform provides the tools for media owners, from aspiring media moguls to large media companies, to market and sell original digital goods, including video, audio (books and music), eBooks, mobile content, and more, to complement existing sales channels. By giving sellers the freedom to choose how they distribute their digi-goods, from business model to price point, Zipidee allows buyers and sellers to rule and transact in an open marketplace.
Action Sports is just one of several categories of content on the site. It looks like the TiVoCast channel is basically marketing for the site – “Hey kid, first one’s free.” Give out samples of content, compilations of clips, etc, and hope to interest people enough that they come to the site and pay to download more. Not a bad plan. You know what would be really interesting? If they became a full content partner with TiVo so we could download the content from, and to, the TiVo directly.
Anyway, as you probably know, you can subscribe online or on your TiVo via Find Programs & Downloads -> Download TV, Movies, & Web Video -> Browse Other Videos -> All -> Zipidee Action Sports
Still no TekZilla in Web Video. I’m starting to suspect that the hold-up is that TiVo is working some larger deal to bring Revision3 content into TiVoCast instead of via Web Video. One of the reasons I suspect that is that Revision3 just recently announced an agreement to bring their content to DivX Connected devices. And all of Revision3′s shows are available in HD, so they’d make fantastic additions to the TiVoCast lineup for the Series3 and TiVo HD.
