This is a Sellout.Woot deal that is sure to sellout fast! So if you want this, you’d better jump on it right away. They’re offering an Apple Recertified (aka refurbished) Apple iPad 64GB with Wi-Fi & 3G for only $479.99 + $5 S&H
. (Being first gen the 3G is AT&T.)
Sure, it isn’t an iPad 2, but even the Wi-Fi only 16GB iPad 2 sells new for $509.00. Amazon still sells this same model new for $554.97, and the full MSRP is $829.00. So this is a pretty solid deal. Grab one before they’re gone.
For as long as I can remember part of the TiVo UI is that a fourth press on the Fast-Forward or Rewind button takes you back to Play. That is until the 14.9 update hit the TiVo Premiere family. Now each of three presses increases the speed, but the fourth press gets you the dreaded error ‘Bonk!’. You have to press Play to return to normal playback, or press the opposite button an equal number of times to step back down. (If you pressed FF 3x, press RW 3x.) This change doesn’t bother me very much because I really don’t use FF/RW that often. I’m a 30-second-skip fan myself, when it comes to jumping through commercial breaks. I’ve seen a small but growing number of complaints about this change on TiVo Community, Facebook, and other TiVo-related online communities from those who miss the old behavior.
Unfortunately it sounds like it is hear to stay. It wasn’t meant to be included in 14.9, but it is a deliberate change TiVo is making, according to Margret Schmidt, TiVo’s Vice President, User Experience, on Twitter.
So some users were accidentally exiting out of FF/RW with the extra press. OK, I can see that. But it isn’t that hard to adapt and learn not to do that. Changing a long-standing behavior is disruptive to existing users, was this really a big enough problem to justify that? If so, how about adding a toggle to the settings just as was done for the changes in behavior for the Advance button? Default it to the new behavior but allow users to keep the old behavior if that’s what they prefer.
Yes, I know, “Big deal” I hear you say. So now you have to move your thumb a half an inch and hit Play instead of FF again. For someone who has been using TiVo for a while it is muscle memory now. And it is hard to overcome the established behavior. I expect there will be a lot of Badoop, Badoop, Badoop, Bonk “Dammit!” Badoop in homes of experienced users.
If you thought the existing Roku 2 boxes were small, wait until you get a load of the Roku Streaming Stick. Announced today on the Roku Blog to get a jump on CES, and intended to ship later this year, the Roku Streaming Stick looks like a USB drive. But it isn’t – instead of a USB connector on the end it has an HDMI connector, and it is actually MHL – Mobile High-definition Link. MHL is a mobile industry standard to allow smartphones to connect to MHL-enabled devices and provide HD content while receiving power from the device. On mobile devices MHL generally uses the microUSB connection on the phone and an MHL-enabled HDMI port on the TV. (There are also external MHL adapters available which will translate MHL to HDMI and provide power to the phone via the adapters power supply.) The actual signalling is neither USB nor HDMI, but unique to MHL, it just repurposes the connectors.
Right now only a few HDTV models from Toshiba and Samsung have MHL-enabled inputs, but it is expected that many vendors will be announcing 2012 models at CES with MHL support as usage is exploding on mobile devices. Since it uses the physical microUSB port already on the device for data and charging it eliminates the need for a separate microHDMI port, and this makes it easier to shrink the size of the device while also reducing parts count and therefore cost. As part of the announcement Roku states that they already have a deal with Best Buy to bundle the Streaming Stick with a new Insignia HDTV model later this year.
So what is the stick? It’s a Roku box, only smaller. It is Roku’s entry into the Connected TV, or Smart TV, market. The stick contains the main SoC (System on a Chip) – which is the CPU, video decoder, etc. As well as RAM, Flash, and 802.11n WiFi. It has all of the channels and software features of today’s Roku boxes – on a stick. Everything – power, video and audio output, and control is handled through the single MHL connection.
Part of the MHL standard is that the TV’s remote control is used to control the attached MHL device using CEC (also used on HDMI). With phones this is so you can connect the phone and then sit back on the couch to watch – without a twenty foot MHL cable allowing you to control things from the phone. This works nicely for the Streaming Stick, though it implies the gaming features introduced on the Roku 2 family will be absent as there is no Bluetooth motion controller for the stick and TVs will generally lack such controls.
I have to say, this seems like a very clever solution. Roku rightfully points out that people don’t replace their TVs every two years, yet technology advances rapidly. With mobile devices we have a constant increase in storage, memory, and CPU power, and connected TVs suffer from lock in. What you buy today is what you’re stuck with for however long you keep the TV – and that connected experience will probably seem pretty dated in five years, let alone ten. Software upgrades will only go so far before they run into technological limits. Just as the Series2 TiVo couldn’t support Netflix, YouTube, etc., because it can’t decode H.264, today’s connected TVs may be left out in the cold by the next evolution in video codecs. And even if the hardware is capable, companies won’t update the software for old devices forever.
The Roku Streaming Stick offers the advantages of a decoupled STB, which can be readily (and relatively cheaply) upgraded as technology advances, plus the advantages of a tiny form factor and integration into the TV. Since control is through the TV and it offers a full Roku experience, it should be much like owning a ‘Roku Powered’ connected TV. Perhaps the only slight difference will be having to select the MHL input instead of a dedicated ‘Apps’ button. But if they’re successful in partnering with vendors, such as Insignia, there may well be a ‘Roku’ button on the remotes.
The combination of the form factor and use of MHL is what makes this work. I wonder if we’ll see this imitated by other vendors as well. Google TV, Apple TV, Boxee – all on a stick?
There aren’t any images of an actual Roku Streaming Stick yet, but Roku did post these renders:
Woot! is offering a refurbished Toshiba Thrive 10.1” 16GB Android Tablet with Wi-Fi for only $279.99 + $5 S&H.
This is a pretty sweet Android Tablet, back when I was debating what tablet to buy it came down to the Thrive and the ASUS Transformer. In the end I decided on the Transformer (and then ended up holding out for the Transformer Prime anyway, which I now have on back order), but it was a near thing.
The Thrive has specs pretty much the same as all the other Android tablets of the same generation. It has a 1GHz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 CPU, a 10.1″ 1280×800 display, 1GB RAM, 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth, 5MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, 16GB of built-in storage, etc. It is a little bulkier than the other tablets – but that is due to its unique features. The back cover of the tablet is removable and swappable for different colors, though the main reason it is removable is to allow the battery to be swapped. This is the only Android tablet I’m aware of with a removable battery.
The bulk is also due in part to the inclusion of full size ports. While other tablets may have microUSB, microHDMI, microSD – or may even lack some or all of these features entirely, relying solely on a proprietary connector – the Thrive has a full size USB port, a full size HDMI port, a full size SD slot, and a miniUSB port, in addition to a docking connector. The inclusion of full size ports allows you to use standard cables, and to connect standard USB input devices (keyboard & mouse) if you wish. Connect a keyboard and mouse to the USB port (using a USB hub if you need to), and connect the HDMI to an external display, and you can use the Thrive like a desktop machine.
The 16GB Toshiba Thrive sells new for $399.98 at Amazon, so this is a pretty good deal.
Today’s Sellout.Woot! deal is a refurbished Roku XDS 1080p Streaming Player for only $59.99 + $5 S&H
. It isn’t one of the new Roku 2 family, but this is the top end model from the previous generation for less than the low-end Roku 2 HD, and just $10 more than the budget Roku LT. MSRP for this model was originally $99.99.
For your money you get 1080p output via HDMI or component video, as well as composite video, optical digital audio, and RCA stereo connections. Network connectivity is via a wired Ethernet port or dual-band 802.11n WiFi, and there is a USB port for external media. That’s more hardware features than most of the Roku 2 units, and in the software about the only thing you won’t get is gaming support. If you’ve been thinking about picking up a Roku LT, or even a Roku 2 HD, I’d seriously consider this deal instead.
