I think I know what happened to the TiVo corporate blog…

Posted on Wednesday, February 14, 2007 by MegaZone

Well, at least part of it. I was playing around on LinkedIn today, updating my profile, and I started looking for people I knew to add to my network, then went a bit wider, and I found the profile for Nova Brown. This may explain a bit why she hasn’t posted anything in a while:

Current
* Freelance Content Strategist/Content Developer at Self (Self-employed)

Past
* Copywriter/Content Engineer at TiVo Inc

It seems she’s no longer with TiVo, which would explain why she’s no longer blogging. I guess they haven’t replaced her on the blog.

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Series3 software update is coming – 8.1.1

Posted on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 by MegaZone

TiVoPony announced today that the ‘Winter 2006′ update for the Series3 is finally starting to roll out. The release is 8.1.1 and it brings the Series3 to feature parity with 8.1 on the Series2 boxes – EXCEPT it still does not support MRV, TTG, or eSATA (as expected). TiVo is still working on those issues. It also has a number of bug fixes for issues reported under 8.0.1 on the S3.

Since the S3 population is relatively small, there is no priority sign-up for 8.1.1. It is already rolling out to a few boxes a day, as they test the waters to make sure there won’t be any issues. The ‘big switch’ will be thrown next week for all the remaining boxes.

Posted in TiVo | 1 Comment

I got interviewed

Posted on Sunday, February 11, 2007 by MegaZone

I was interviewed by The Gadgetress, who writes a blog for the OCRegister. This is it – about TiVo, of course. She had to edit it down because, frankly, I type too much. But I’m happy. :-)

Posted in TiVo | 2 Comments

TiVo and Amazon.com Announce New Service Enabling Amazon Unbox Video Downloads to TiVo

Posted on Wednesday, February 7, 2007 by MegaZone

TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), today announced “Amazon Unbox on TiVo,” a soon-to-be-launched service feature that will provide TiVo subscribers with the ability to rent and purchase movies and television shows from leading studios and networks including CBS, Fox Entertainment Group, Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Bros. Entertainment. Amazon Unbox on TiVo is currently in beta testing among a select group of TiVo subscribers and will be available soon to more than 1.5 million broadband-ready TiVo boxes.

Yes, the rumors from several months back were true and now the news is out. TiVo is working with Amazon to bring video downloads directly to the TiVo. You will be able to buy or rent videos from the Amazon Unbox site, and have them download directly to your TiVo. It’d be nice to see ordering directly via the TiVo eventually, completely eliminating the PC – probably developed as an HME application, like TiVoCast and Guru Guides. I think this was the missing piece to Unbox – getting the video to the TV, not the PC. This also gives TiVo another arrow in its quiver to compete with the video downloads for the Xbox 360, the Apple TV, and the coming downloads for the PS3. And it vaults them ahead of download-only services like Akimbo in terms of market penetration as all broadband connected TiVos will have access.

EDIT: There is a FAQ and a form to sign up to be notified when more news is available at http://www.tivo.com/amazon

EDIT2: There is also an Amazon page on TiVo Unbox

Posted in Amazon Unbox, Press Release, TiVo | 1 Comment

SlingPlayer Mobile for PalmOS Beta – Now Accepting Applications

Posted on Wednesday, February 7, 2007 by MegaZone

See the details here. The beta program for the PalmOS SlingPlayer, first announced last month at CES, is now accepting applications.

Requirements
- Slingbox (own any model)
- Treo 700p
- &/OR, we’ll take a few people with any of these:
Treo 680, Palm TX, or Treo 650
- Unlimited data plan is a MUST
- No conflicts of interest

Note the Palm TX. People asked after CES if the client would work over WiFi on Palm PDAs, and not just on Treos. The answer – yes, but only unofficially. Official support is limited to the 700p using EV-DO, but unofficially it may work on other Palm devices.

Anyway, this was enough for me – I ordered my Slingbox Pro and HD Connect tonight, and filled out my beta application. While I was at it, I also syndicated some feeds from SlingCommunity.com: sling_articles, sling_beta, and sling_employee.

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