You are eligible for an early upgrade if:

• You have a TiVo Premiere series DVR (TiVo Premiere, Premiere XL, Premiere Elite)
• You are a TiVo retail customer (e.g., you did not get your TiVo box through your cable company.

The software isn’t being deployed just yet, but you can reserve your spot in the queue now.

Now, just to get this out of the way, the Android app is slated to get these features in ‘summer’. And the long-awaited Android tablet app should finally arrive in ‘spring’. TiVo, please, release one Android app that runs on all Android devices – the Android SDK supports it. It is silly when we get multiple apps for different devices. So, my fellow Android users, be patient.

One of the most notable changes is the new Browse UI:

There’s also a lot more usability to the app when you’re away from home. For S4 users you can see and modify My Shows, the To Do List, and the Season Pass Manager. S3 users can view (but not modify) their To Do List, and view & modify their Season Pass Manager.

You can also now create a WishList Search from within the app. And when you re-order you Season Passes you can continue to use the app without waiting for the list to finish re-prioritizing. And all of the images in the app are now ‘retina’ quality, just in time for the new iPad. Here’s the complete list of improvements:

What’s New in Version 1.9
New features for iPad:
-Graphical full-screen Browse experience that makes it much faster and easier to find new shows and movies
-Collapsible folders

New features for iPhone:
-Added new retina images for iPhone displays

Other new features for both iPad and iPhone:
-Added “Keep Until I Delete” option for shows in My Shows
-Added recording options for shows set to record in the To Do List
-Create WishList for shows that aren’t airing right now
-Added My Shows, To Do List, Season Pass manager capability in Away mode for Series4 DVRs
-Added To Do List/Season Pass manager capability for Series3 DVRs
-Make Away mode more resilient to network drops
-Can use app while Season Pass recordings are reprioritizing
-Added new icons to My Shows
-Add live TV padding notification when recording a live event on TV
-Added Facebook single sign-on for easier Facebook login

Multiple performance enhancements and bug fixes including:
-Guide scrolling ahead by days bug fixed
-Allow background music to continue playing while using the app

*For DVR Discovery issues, please make sure your router firmware is up to date or contact customer support if you are still having problems

Now, as an Android-only household, I can’t wait to see these improvements on my devices.

On today’s call Tom Rogers stated that the transcoding box would ship “later this year”, which I believe is the first firm public statement.

From a technical perspective, based on my conversations with TiVo, the unit that comes to market will probably resemble the unit previewed at CES, but it may not be exactly the same. It is planned to be an Ethernet only device, most likely installed near the router in the home. It will stream content from TiVo Premiere units using the same system as the Premiere-to-Premiere Multi-Room Streaming (MRS) available today. The content will then be transcoded to H.264 and forwarded to devices running TiVo’s client app – such as Android or iOS phones and tablets. Users will be able to view the streams in real time, or they can be saved on the device for later viewing – which is how side-loading is accomplished.

The hardware itself is powered by Zenverge, so it looks like my prior speculation was close to the mark. However, the unit is not planned to have MoCA. I asked Jim Denney about this and he said that MoCA was considered, but given the envisioned use case it was felt that the added cost wasn’t justified. And after discussing it with him, I see his point. Even if the TiVo units are on MoCA, that MoCA network will need to be connected to a non-MoCA network to reach the client devices. And that connection point is a logical place to connect the transcoding box. It doesn’t really make sense to connect it to the MoCA network when it’d have to send the transcoded signal back over the same network to eventually be bridged off to the client network. Keeping the unit dirt simple – just a power connection and Ethernet – keeps it small and keeps the component costs down.

From a capability standpoint, the unit can accept and transcode up to four streams simultaneously. And on today’s call Rogers made the interesting comment that it could be a recording, or LiveTV. I believe the latter is new. Today streaming is only between units that have their own tuners, either Premiere-to-Premiere or Premiere-to-Preview, so there isn’t a need to grab a tuner on the remote device for ‘live’ TV. But for those who want to watch live on a second screen device, it’d be a necessity. (As well as for another application that’s coming, but I’ll leave that for another post. )

I asked about the streaming technology – is it based on Sling Media or Monsoon Multimedia, or anyone else? It is not. It is an in-house implementation using Zenverge’s silicon and developer tools. So it is unique, and the clients will come from TiVo. That gives me some hope. While Sling & Monsoon Multimedia treat their clients as a revenue stream, TiVo has been giving away their client software. And since you need a TiVo with an active subscription to use this transcoding box they have that revenue stream to draw upon. Rather than milking the customer for anther payment, I’m hopeful they will continue to provide the client software for free, relying on the sales of the hardware, and the TiVo subscription, for revenue.

If they do this it also makes me hopeful that they might publish the client APIs for 3rd parties to build support, as well as create clients for other platforms that aren’t Android or iOS. But that might be a bridge too far since I’m sure they’ll need to protect the content to keep the content owners happy, and that means they couldn’t tell others how to decrypt.

From my conversation with Jessica & Jim, the current plan is for streaming within the home, with side-loading for ‘on the go’ viewing. But not for place shifting streaming content outside of the home. Jim & I talked about this for a while, since I’m a long time Slingbox user and for me streaming beats side-loading hands down. He made the valid point that side-loading has some popular use cases – the most obvious is for when streaming isn’t an option, such as on an airplane. I know parents also use it to load up a bunch of their kids’ favorite shows to whip out on demand to pacify them, etc. So I’m not going to argue against side loading. It isn’t a use case that really interests me, but I acknowledge that it is valid.

As far as streaming outside of the home, Jim was sure to stress that it has not been “designed out” of the product. It isn’t currently planned, but it is something that could be added if there is demand. A lot of the concern is over quality of the experience, bandwidth requirements, etc. I made the point that I’ve been using a Slingbox since I had 768kbps upstream ADSL and only 2.5G EDGE data on my phone, giving me maybe 200kbps if I was lucky, and it was usable even with 320×240 resolution. And these days I have a 5Mbps uplink and 4G LTE on my phone, which has a 720p screen and HDMI output capabilities.

I’ve streamed HD video from my Slingbox PRO-HD from Worcester, MA to Seattle, WA and viewed it on my laptop while I’m out there for work. Being able to access my personal content at home, in real time, while I’m on the road just can’t be matched by side-loading. So I’m strongly in favor of TiVo enabling remote streaming as well. I argued that bandwidth costs continue to drop as speeds continue to increase, and device capabilities have never been greater. Now more than ever before streaming is viable.

I felt it was a good discussion and that TiVo is very much open to feedback on this issue. So it’d be good to hear from the user base. Do you want remote streaming? Or does local streaming and side-loading meet your needs?

No pricing or specific release dates are available at this time, so I can’t comment on that. But if they can bring this to market at a decent price point I think this would be very attractive, especially if they add remote streaming. By way of comparison, the DirecTV Nomad is $149, but you also need to subscribe to the Nomad Mobile DVR Service. My impression of this TiVo unit is that it is a one-time purchase, so it may retail for more than the Nomad. By while the Nomad is strictly store-and-forward side-loading, with real-time transcoding, the TiVo unit does streaming and side-loading, and it sounds like it will transcode for side-loading in better than real time.

I, for one, would be very interested in getting my hands on one of these units.

It isn’t quite the same as Chrome on the desktop, yet, but it is certainly a nice start. It provides a better experience as a daily browser than the Android browser, IMHO – which isn’t saying the Android browser is bad, Chrome is just better. Especially on the larger tablet screen, where the Android browser, evolved on phones, shows its limitations. Right now Chrome for Android is only available for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which fortunately both my phone and tablet run, so it isn’t yet available to the majority of Android users but I expect that will change.

It has some nice features too, like syncing your bookmarks and open tabs with the desktop. If you have a device running Android 4.0 I strongly recommend checking it out.

There is now a TiVo Platform SDK page up on TiVo’s site where prospective developers can sign up to receive more information. As the page states:“The TiVo Platform SDK enables third-party developers to build applications for TiVo devices, and for websites, mobile and tablet applications that need to interact with TiVo devices and services.”

I’ve signed up for more information. We’ll have to see if they give me a peek since I’m a blogger and not really a developer (I’ve done software development professionally, but not for several years). But I presume that at some point they’ll want to get the word out if they’re serious about attracting 3rd party developers to the TiVo platform. I’ve been saying for years now that TiVo really needs to create an ecosystem around TiVo to make it ‘stickier’ for existing users and to give prospective customers more reasons to make the jump. I had high hopes for HME (Home Media Engine) back in the day, and it got off to a good start. But then TiVo pulled back from supporting the public API for HME and the updates stopped. HME became an internal-only development tool for TiVo and their partners. A lot has changed in the intervening years, within and without TiVo, so I’m hopeful this time things will be different.

The Android app looks much like the most recent update of the iOS version, and includes pretty much the same functionality. The app works with TiVo Series4 (Premiere family) and Series3 (S3/HD) units, though some of the features only work with the Premiere:

• Browse the channel guide without interrupting the show you’re watching – View shows up to 14 days in advance
• Schedule TV show/movie recordings and ongoing (Season Pass®) recordings
• Browse your recorded shows list and play a show from the App
• Find exactly what you want to watch – Search across TV, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video & Blockbuster —and see integrated results on Demand to find what you are looking for
• Explore cast and crew while watching a show
• Comment about what you’re watching on Facebook or Twitter
• Use a TiVo remote control replica or our intuitive, gesture-based remote control
• Manage your ongoing (Season Pass®) recordings and your To-Do List – Delete and reprioritize recordings for your favorite shows
• Instantly schedule, search and browse for shows while you’re away from home

If you have an Android device running 2.1 Froyo or later, grab it now.

Note that this only works with TiVo Series3 (S3/HD) and Series4 (Premiere) units. It does not work with the old Series1 or Series2 units, nor any DirecTV TiVo model. The description does explicitly state that it works with RCN & Suddenlink provided TiVo units – and I’d guess it also works for Grande Communications and Charter customers, but it’d be good to have confirmation of that. Also, you must enable the Network Remote Control feature under Settings & Messages -> Settings -> Remote, CableCard, & Devices -> Network Remote Control. Or whatever the path is on your specific model and software revision – just look for it under Settings. If you don’t have it enabled, the app cannot connect to your box.

On thing I want to call out, the app description says this is for your“Android phone or 7inch tablet”. That’s oddly specific. I don’t know why I wouldn’t work on a larger tablet, even if it isn’t fully optimized for them. Just as there are different versions of the iOS app for the iPhone/iPod Touch and the iPad there is probably a tablet-optimized version of the Android app. If you have a larger tablet and you give this a try, leave a comment about how it works for you. I’d also love to hear from Virgin Media TiVo users on whether this app works for you.

Some screenshots:

EDIT: TiVo published a video overview today:

The list of features includes:

• Local TV listings based on your service provider (US and Canada)
• TiVo DVR remote scheduling
• Netflix search interface: Miss an episode of your favorite show? i.TV helps you find it on Netflix
• Netflix controls: add shows to your Netflix disc and instant queue
• Bookmark feature for favorite shows
• Entertainment news that updates in real-time and filters by favorite shows
• IMDb and Wikipedia: one-touch direct access to show information on both
• Smart Lists, such as New Shows and Emmy Winners

The app is available for free from both the Android Market and the Amazon Appstore.

Judging from the screenshots it looks like the app has native support for both phone and tablet screen layouts and resolutions.

We propose a method to realistically insert synthetic objects into existing photographs without requiring access to the scene or any additional scene measurements. With a single image and a small amount of annotation, our method creates a physical model of the scene that is suitable for realistically rendering synthetic objects with diffuse, specular, and even glowing materials while accounting for lighting interactions between the objects and the scene. We demonstrate in a user study that synthetic images produced by our method are confusable with real scenes, even for people who believe they are good at telling the difference. Further, our study shows that our method is competitive with other insertion methods while requiring less scene information. We also collected new illumination and reflectance datasets; renderings produced by our system compare well to ground truth. Our system has applications in the movie and gaming industry, as well as home decorating and user content creation, among others.

The video below illustrates the system and several examples. It looks like something even a novice could use without much practice.

Via jwz’s blog.

Like most of the other apps, TiVoNetRemote works with the TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, and the TiVo Premiere family via the Network Remote Control feature. Also like the other apps, it includes a keyboard for easy text entry, like the TiVo Slide Remote. If you have a Windows Phone that’s been upgraded to 7.5, or you buy one of the new 7.5 devices, and you have a TiVo, it is worth checking the apps out. And there is a free trial version if you can’t bear to part with two bucks.

App screenshots:

Via WMPowerUser.com.

Lifted right from their post:

• Aardvark: Aardvark was a start-up we acquired in 2010. An experiment in a new kind of social search, it helped people answer each other’s questions. While Aardvark will be closing, we’ll continue to work on tools that enable people to connect and discover richer knowledge about the world.
• Desktop: In the last few years, there’s been a huge shift from local to cloud-based storage and computing, as well as the integration of search and gadget functionality into most modern operating systems. People now have instant access to their data, whether online or offline. As this was the goal of Google Desktop, the product will be discontinued on September 14, including all the associated APIs, services, plugins, gadgets and support.
• Fast Flip: Fast Flip was started to help pioneer news content browsing and reading experiences for the web and mobile devices. For the past two years, in collaboration with publishers, the Fast Flip experiment has fueled a new approach to faster, richer content display on the web. This approach will live on in our other display and delivery tools.
• Google Maps API for Flash: The Google Maps API for Flash was launched to provide ActionScript developers a way to integrate Google Maps into their applications. Although we’re deprecating the API, we’ll keep supporting existing Google Maps API Premier customers using the Google Maps API for Flash and we’ll focus our attention on the JavaScript Maps API v3 going forward.
• Google Pack: Due to the rapidly decreasing demand for downloadable software in favor of web apps, we will discontinue Google Pack today. People will still be able to access Google’s and our partners’ software quickly and easily through direct links on the Google Pack website.
• Google Web Security: Google Web Security came to Google as part of the Postini acquisition in 2007, and since then we’ve integrated much of the web security functionality directly into existing Google products, such as safe browsing in Chrome. Although our previous sales channel will be discontinued, we’ll continue to support our existing customers.
• Image Labeler: We began Google Image Labeler as a fun game to help people explore and label the images on the web. Although it will be discontinued, a wide variety of online games from Google are still available.
• Notebook: Google Notebook enabled people to combine clipped URLs from the web and free-form notes into documents they could share and publish. We’ll be shutting down Google Notebook in the coming months, but we’ll automatically export all notebook data to Google Docs.
• Sidewiki: Over the past few years, we’ve seen extraordinary innovation in terms of making the web collaborative. So we’ve decided to discontinue Sidewiki and focus instead on our broader social initiatives. Sidewiki authors will be given more details about this closure in the weeks ahead, and they’ll have a number of months to download their content.
• Subscribed Links: Subscribed Links enabled developers to create specialized search results that were added to the normal Google search results on relevant queries for subscribed users. Although we’ll be discontinuing Subscribed Links, developers will be able to access and download their data until September 15, at which point subscribed links will no longer appear in people’s search results.

Aardvark is the one I’ll miss the most, because it is the one I used the most. I asked a couple of questions, but I’ve mainly been answering other users’ questions since the very early days of the service. I don’t know, I kind of get a kick out of having random questions pop up in Google talk. Looking at my history I answered my first question on July 6, 2009 and my most recent, number 443, on August 22, 2011. Coincidentally they both involved TiVo. I could see something like this getting built into Google+, asking your circles for answers, etc.

Google Desktop I still have installed, but I haven’t really used it in ages. I installed it mainly out of habit. I have to agree with Google, with most of my work in the cloud I just don’t really need the features of Desktop.

Fast Flip… I never got this. Did anyone really use this?

Google Maps API for Flash – I’m not sure I’ve encountered a Flash app that used it, and I’m not a Flash developer, so I don’t care.

Google Pack is something else I still have installed. But I won’t miss it. I use Google Pack just because it makes installing a few apps on a new machine easier. I have Skype, RealPlayer, Adobe Reader, Google Picasa, Google Chrome, and Google Earth. I don’t use the Pack version of Google Apps because they’re actually the Gmail versions. Since I use the full, hosted Google Apps I use the special versions downloaded from there. Losing Pack just means a little more work when first installing these apps on a new box, no big deal.

Google Web Security has been spread around into other products, so it isn’t really a loss. Having the features transparently embedded elsewhere is better.

Image Labeler – I’d never even heard of this before now.

Notebook – I vaguely remember hearing of this, but I never used it.

Sidewiki – This I still have installed, but it is more force of habit. It was something that I thought was kind of curious when it launched, and I played with it for a bit, but it never caught on. It felt like a waste writing notes when it seemed like no one else was using it, and since no one else was using it there were rarely other notes to read. I expect to see more commenting hooks into Google+ that will probably catch on more than Sidewiki ever did.

Subscribed Links is something else I’d heard of, but never used myself, so I won’t miss it.

I can’t argue with Google phasing out these products and services and putting the resources into more important products, or into new ideas. I’m glad Google takes risks with projects like these, trying new things to see what sticks. If something is successful it gets beefed up into a more complete product. If it is partially successful then the pieces that work get recycled into other projects. And if it just doesn’t catch on enough to justify continued effort, then it is a learning experience. Google doesn’t need everything to be a smash hit, but they need to keep trying things because no one can say what the next smash hit product will be.

So what do you think about the cuts? Leave a comment!

Hello everybody out there using minix –

I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and
professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing
since april, and is starting to get ready. I’d like any feedback on
things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat
(same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons)
among other things).

I’ve currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work.
This implies that I’ll get something practical within a few months, and
I’d like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions
are welcome, but I won’t promise I’ll implement them

Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi)

PS. Yes – it’s free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs.
It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never
will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that’s all I have .

As you might have guessed from the name of the poster, or the image of Tux I’m using for this post, the project is what the world came to know as Linux.

But “One of the most important software projects in history”? I think that’s a fair statement. You may not be a ‘Linux geek’ – you don’t run a Linux desktop, maintain a Linux server, etc. (Yes, I’m sure some of you do.) But odds are you use Linux every day.

Android, of course, is based on the Linux kernel . So if you use an Android phone, Google TV, etc., you benefit from Linux. ChromeOS is also based on a Linux kernel.

Many home routers and WiFi access points use the Linux kernel. TiVo famously uses the Linux kernel in their products. Google’s servers run a custom version of Linux. The New York Stock Exchange runs on Linux – frankly countless corporations use Linux for core servers, trying to list them all would be pointless. The ‘LAMP’ platform is an industry standard – where LAMP is Linux, Apache, MySQL, and Perl/PHP/Python. (The P tends to vary.)

Linux powers cash registers and ATMs. It is used in set top boxes and automotive applications.

Linux is used in network gear that caries vast quantities of Internet traffic. My day job employer, F5 Networks, uses the Linux kernel on our boxes, which are used by pretty much all of the leading banks and financial institutions, major corporations, and web services that you probably use every day. Ever use Facebook? Or Microsoft’s Xbox network? Your traffic very likely passed through a box running the Linux kernel.

Beyond the direct effects of having a free and open source UNIX-like operating system available to jump start countless projects, and avoid reinventing the wheel and/or paying big fees to license a proprietary platform, Linux has had an even greater impact by popularizing open source. The success of Linux inspired countless open source projects. It helped people realize you can do open source and still be a successful business. Linux is free and open, but it is still a big money maker for countless vendors. The two aren’t exclusive. I feel that Linux did more to raise awareness of this than BSD or GNU which preceded it.

My first exposure to Linux came nearly twenty years ago, not long after it released. I was in college at the time and I remember downloading it in the campus computing center to try out. What has since been jokingly dubbed the ‘stack of floppies’ distro, since that’s how you got it. I vaguely remember it being eleven 3.5″ floppies, but time may have fuzzed that memory. Later moving on to my first ‘real’ distro, Slackware. Still later on, in my professional career, I was a Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) for a while, having long since switched to Red Hat Linux as my primary choice. I also worked with SuSE, RHEL, CentOS, and a few others. (Sorry, I was never a big Debian fan for some reason.) Linux never really caught on in the desktop world, but it did well for itself everywhere else. And with mobile devices like smartphones and tablets setting the world on fire, and conventional PC sales slipping, Linux may win the long game yet.

And it all started with one man doing something as a hobby twenty years ago. On the one hand I feel like “Wow, has it really been twenty years already?” But even more so I feel “Wow, have things really come so far in only twenty years?”

That one simple post was the start of something unimaginably huge.

Happy 20th Birthday, Linux.

And thanks for the gift, Linus.

We’ve been looking forward to SlingPlayer Mobile for the iPhone since Sling showed an early prototype to Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) attendees last year. SlingPlayer Mobile promises to put our home television experience in the palm of our hands, with full support for changing channels on your home set-top box, viewing and pausing recorded content on a TiVo or other DVR, and select new programs to record. The company says they’ll submit a finished version to Apple for release in the online App Store later this quarter, and pricing is yet to be determined.

For Mac users, Sling will be showing off the new SlingPlayer for Mac HD, a web-based version of SlingPlayer that will be available on sling.com. The player will support Safari and Firefox web browsers on the Mac OS X platform when it’s released later this quarter as part of sling.com, and will support streaming HD content to a Mac desktop or laptop computer from Slingbox PRO-HD hardware.

These Apple-centric announcements follow the recent release of a new SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows Mobile Professional and Standard devices, with support for fifteen new handsets and four new screen resolutions. The software is $29.95 for U.S. users, and is available as a free 30-day trial for those who wish to try before they buy. Last week, Sliing also posted a public beta version of SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry handhelds, officially supporting several BlackBerry Bold, Curve, and Pearl models with 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity. The company says users may also find BlackBerry smartphones with slower connectivity such as AT&T’s EDGE Network will stream video successfully, but Sling will only officially support 3G and Wi-Fi connections.

We’re expecting more news from Sling Media at CES later this week, and we’ll keep you posted.

Toast 10 Titanium also includes AVCHD Archive, which makes it easy to burn content form HD camcorders to BD or DVD, Web Video To Go, which allows users to grab video from websites to save locally or transfer to portable devices, place-shifting support which streams content from the Mac to a Streamer application on an iPhone or iPod Touch, and a number of others.

Toast 10 Titanium goes on sale today at http://www.roxio.com/ for $99.99, with special pricing at MacWorld Expo January 5-9. The High-definition/Blu-ray Disc (HD/BD) plug-in, which is required to author BD discs and is normally $19.99, is available free to those who purchase Toast 10 Titanium from http://www.roxio.com/ through February 5, 2009. Toast 10 Titanium Pro is also available for $149.99.

Press release:

Jan 5, 2009 06:30 ET

Roxio Launches Toast 10 Titanium at Macworld Expo

Also Introduces Pro Version Packed with Advanced Photo, Video, and Audio Capabilities

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Macworld Expo, Moscone Center — Roxio®, a division of Sonic Solutions® (NASDAQ:SNIC) , the leader in digital media software, today announced the immediate availability of Toast® 10 Titanium, the latest version of the company’s market-leading burning and digital media software for the Mac®. The latest version helps greatly enhance and extend Mac OS X and iLife® applications with a broad range of additional capabilities for creating, sharing, and enjoying personal digital media content.

Toast 10 delivers groundbreaking digital media functionality to Mac users with a range of pioneering features that includes: Mac2TiVo for sending home movies and other video content from a Mac to a TiVo® DVR; an audiobook creator for converting audiobook CDs into files compatible with portable devices; AVCHD™ Archive for quickly backing up original content from high-definition camcorders onto DVD or Blu-ray Disc (BD), and a Web video file capture and conversion tool that allows Web-based video to be enjoyed on DVD or mobile devices. Toast 10 Titanium is available today at http://www.roxio.com/ and at Macworld Expo booth #2238.

“Toast is far more than better burning on Mac OS; it’s about enabling users to manage, create, enjoy and simply do more with their personal library of digital photos, music, and video,” said Vito Salvaggio, vice president of consumer products, Sonic Solutions. “This latest version will have special appeal to consumers that want to easily move digital media between their Mac and digital devices such as the iPhone® and TiVo®, or enjoy Web-based video content offline.”

New in Toast 10 Titanium:

– AVCHD™ Archive — Backup original video from AVCHD camcorders direct to DVD or BD media in one easy step. Use the discs in BD players or as source materials in future iMovie or Toast projects.

– Mac2TiVo — Send standard definition and HD video from your Mac to your TiVo DVR for viewing on your TV.

– Web Video To Go — Save Web video from your favorite video sharing sites to view offline, burn or convert it for viewing on portable players such as an iPod or iPhone.

– On-the-go Entertainment — Stream and watch television programs, such as EyeTV recordings and TiVoToGo transfers on your iPhone or iPod touch over Wi-Fi with the new iPhone native application Streamer®.

– Portable Audiobooks — Convert audiobook CDs into single audiobook files for playback on your iPod or other portable player — complete with individual chapters — no more individual audiobook chapter files scattered throughout your iTunes library or iPod.

– Music Builder — Expand your audio library by capturing streaming audio. Toast now automatically splits captured songs into tracks, tags them with title and artist information, and then sends them to iTunes.

– Folder Sync — Synchronize folders bi-directionally between multiple computers, network volumes or external hard disks.

– Stunning DVDs — Create personalized DVDs with any of the over 20 new DVD and Blu-ray Disc menu styles — available in both full screen and high-definition widescreen versions.

Introducing Toast 10 Titanium Pro

Today Roxio also released Toast 10 Titanium Pro aimed at prosumers, creative professionals and designers, as well as photo and video hobbyists. In addition to offering everything available in Toast 10 Titanium, Toast 10 Pro includes the High-Definition/Blu-ray Disc plug-in as well as these award-winning, third-party applications for developing advanced photo, video, and audio projects:

– HD/BD Plug-In — Author HD video content on to standard DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. Take high-def (HD) video footage from AVCHD™ camcorders, TiVo® and EyeTV and create Blu-ray Discs or even standard DVDs with HD content that can be played on any standard Blu-ray set top box or PlayStation® 3 game console.

– SmartSound Sonicfire™ Pro — Orchestrate the perfect sound track to accompany videos and slideshows. Use Sonicfire Pro’s unique automatic “Mood Mapping” feature or select from a library of included music tracks and adjust the mix and feel of the score to perfectly match your videos and slideshows.

– BIAS SoundSoap™ — Remove unwanted noise like wind, hisses, scratches, and pops from LPs, cassettes, or almost any audio, music or video soundtrack.

– LightZone™ — Produce striking photos in a simple and intuitive way. Sophisticated features such as zone mapping and relight give you the control to achieve professional quality results.

– FotoMagico™ — Turn pictures into spellbinding slideshows with a few simple clicks, and then present them in high definition. Innovative text, transition and alignment tools ensure astonishing results. Burn your slideshow to DVD or Blu-ray Disc for easy viewing and sharing.

Pricing and Availability

Toast 10 Titanium is available direct from Roxio at http://www.roxio.com/ for $99.99. Special pricing is available at Macworld tradeshow, running January 6-9. An accompanying High Definition/Blu-ray Disc (HD/BD) plug-in, which is needed to author Blu-ray Disc video, is sold separately for $19.99 and is available free for those who purchase Toast 10 Titanium online at roxio.com through February 5, 2009. Toast 10 Titanium Pro also goes on sale today for $149.99.

About Roxio

Roxio®, Sonic’s Consumer Products Group, provides a range of award-winning digital media creation, management, preservation, sharing, and enjoyment applications, field-proven SDKs, and Web-based services. Roxio solutions offer the perfect blend of ease and power, enabling consumers to achieve professional results from their photo, video, and music projects with minimal effort. Roxio’s flagship applications, Creator for the PC and Toast for the Apple Macintosh, are the best-selling products in their respective categories in North American retail.

Roxio’s parent company, Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ: SNIC; http://www.sonic.com/) enables the creation, management, and enjoyment of premium and personal digital media content through its Hollywood to Home™ products, services, and technologies.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward looking statements that are based upon current expectations, including the launch, distribution, and market acceptance of Roxio Toast 10 Titanium and Toast 10 Titanium Pro. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements as a result of various risks and uncertainties, including those discussed in the Company’s annual and quarterly reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This press release should be read in conjunction with the Company’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and other reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which contain a more detailed discussion of the Company’s business including risks and uncertainties that may affect future results. The Company does not undertake to update any forward looking statements.

Sonic, the Sonic logo, Sonic Solutions, Roxio, the Roxio logo, Toast, Roxio Streamer, and Hollywood to Home are trademarks or registered trademarks owned by Sonic Solutions in the United States and/or other countries. All other company or product names are trademarks of their respective owners and, in some cases, are used by Sonic Solutions under license. Specifications, pricing and delivery schedules are subject to change without notice.

Source: Roxio

CONTACT: Chris Taylor of Roxio, +1-408-367-5231, Chris.Taylor@roxio.com

Web site: http://www.roxio.com/
http://www.sonic.com/

Along with the new player and new feature support comes a new DivX certification, the DivX Plus Certification. Hardware vendors who certify their products at this new level will support the new DivX 7 formats, while older DivX Certified products will likely only go as far as the DivX 6 equivalent.

The press release:

Jan 6, 2009 08:00 ET

DivX Announces Release of Next-Generation, H.264 Based DivX® 7 Software

New Release Enables High-Quality, HD Video Experience on PC and Devices

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — DivX, Inc. (NASDAQ:DIVX) , a digital media company, today announced that the latest version of the Company’s flagship video software package, Version 7 of DivX® for Windows, is available for download on the company’s newly redesigned website at www.divx.com.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081124/LA48153LOGO)

The new release of the popular video software is based on the cutting-edge H.264 video compression standard, which allows for high-performance, high-quality digital video at up to 1080p HD resolution. The software is available in two versions, the free DivX for Windows download which supports DivX video playback, and the DivX Pro for Windows download which enables DivX video creation.

The DivX Player, which is included in all versions of the DivX software download, offers free support for H.264 files that use the popular .mkv file extension. The DivX Converter, which is available in the DivX Pro package or as a 15-day free trial in the free DivX for Windows download, enables easy one-step conversion of digital video files into the new DivX Plus™ format, which is based on H.264 video and the high-quality AAC audio format.

The Company also announced the launch of the DivX Plus™ Certification program, which will enable consumer electronics manufacturers to add support for the new format to a variety of devices, including DVD players, Blu-ray players, digital televisions, mobile phones and more. The first DivX Plus certified devices are expected to ship from major consumer electronics manufacturers by the end of 2009.

“The release of DivX 7 for Windows marks a true milestone for digital video users everywhere,” said Kevin Hell, CEO of DivX, Inc. “Eight years ago, the first DivX video software helped create the market for high-quality video on the PC. We then worked with a global ecosystem of licensees to extend that support beyond the PC to a variety of devices so that consumers all over the world could enjoy their videos anytime and anywhere.”

“H.264 has now emerged as a powerful new standard for digital video,” Hell continued, “With the release of DivX 7 and the DivX Plus HD certification program, we’re primed to extend the digital video experience even further by making it easy for anyone to create, play and share true HD H.264 video and play it back on the PC, in the living room and on-the-go.”

For more information about DivX 7 for Windows, visit www.divx.com.

About DivX 7 for Windows

DivX® 7 for Windows is a free download that provides everything consumers need to enjoy high-quality digital videos on the computer, including HD H.264 (.mkv) videos with AAC audio and videos created using all previous versions of DivX technology. Consumers can also play DivX files (.divx, .avi) on millions of DivX Certified® devices today. Look for DivX Plus Certified devices later this year that will support playback of all DivX and DivX Plus files, as well as .mkv (H.264/AAC) videos from the Internet. The DivX 7 for Windows download includes the following products:

— DivX Player
Watch HD DivX videos on the computer
— DivX Community Codec
Play DivX videos with third-party software
— DivX Web Player
Enjoy HD DivX videos in a browser
— DivX Converter (full version in DivX Pro of 15-day trial in DivX for
Windows)
Convert to DivX video in one step
— DivX Pro Codec (full version in DivX Pro of 15-day trial in DivX for
Windows)
Create and play DivX videos with third-party software

About DivX

DivX, Inc. is a digital media company that enables consumers to enjoy a high-quality video experience across any kind of device. DivX creates, distributes and licenses digital video technologies that span the “three screens” comprising today’s consumer media environment–the PC, the television and mobile devices. Over 100 million DivX Certified® devices have shipped into the market from leading consumer electronics manufacturers. DivX also offers content providers and publishers a complete solution for the distribution of secure, high-quality digital video content. Driven by a globally recognized brand and a passionate community of hundreds of millions of consumers, DivX is simplifying the video experience to enable the digital home.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical in nature constitute “forward-looking statements.” Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding DivX’s visibility within the investment community. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause DivX’s actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to: the risk that customer use of DivX technology may not grow as anticipated; the risk that anticipated market opportunities may not materialize at expected levels, or at all; the risk that the Company’s activities may not result in the growth of profitable revenue; risks and uncertainties related to the maintenance and strength of the DivX brand; risks associated with DivX’s ability to penetrate existing and new markets; risks regarding the effects of competition; the risk of DivX’s dependence on its licensees and partners; risks related to the effect of intellectual property rights claims; and other factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of DivX’s most recent report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. DivX is providing this information as of the date of this release and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081124/LA48153LOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
photodesk@prnewswire.com

Source: DivX, Inc.

CONTACT: media, Tom Huntington, +1-858-882-0672,
thuntington@divxcorp.com, or investor, Karen Fisher, +1-858-882-6415,
kfisher@divxcorp.com, both for DivX, Inc.

Web Site: http://www.divx.com/

SuperSync makes it easy to create a main library, and have a subset on computers and laptops around the house. By offering an easy way to visually compare and merge multiple iTunes libraries, all music, movies, and playlists can be synced across all devices. Any new content that is added on one computer can be uploaded to the master library.

Use SuperSync to:
* Keep track of all music across multiple computers – Mac OS X, Windows, and iPod
* Compare and merge any two music libraries
* Move music, videos, and playlists from one iTunes library to another
* Export all or a subset of a library as a well-organized directory of tracks
* Find partial albums, duplicates, missing tracks, corrupt files, and other common music library problems
* Intelligently import media from a hard drive, iPod, or network drive without duplicates
* Easily move a music library from Windows to Mac, Mac to Windows, or any combination
* Access a home music library from anywhere – upload/download songs, movies, and playlists
* Share a common library with multiple iTunes users on a network drive
* Access your MP3′s and playlists from Tivo

More information in the full release.

TiVo Desktop stores the TiVo Web Video subscriptions in files under C:\Documents and Settings\[account name]\Local Settings\Application Data\TiVo Desktop, at least on WinXP. The files concerned are RssFeeds.xml and wspc.xml – with DownloadQueue.xml of lesser concern. What seems to happen to me is every so often TiVo Desktop up and wipes out wspc.xml, which is the main file. I’ll find the file back to its default 1KB state without any subscriptions. Having done my share of development and support I suspect what happens is that when the server is updating the file something goes awry and instead of the updated copy being written it is wiped out. Then the default file is recreated when the server sees it is missing.

This is infuriating and frustrating. And it is a rookie bug. There are ways around this – a simple one is A/B files. Write a ‘B’ file then, only when you confirm the file is correct, remove the ‘A’ file. Then reverse that the next time. Or keep the file in memory until you do a checksum and confirm the file was written to disk successfully, and if not, try again until it is. And considering the subscriptions can only be managed from the cloud, and my TiVo still thinks I’m subscribed to these channels, in the worst case the subscriptions should be reloaded from TiVo’s servers.

I’m a geek, and when it stops working I know where to go looking for answers. But if this happens to an average user I’d expect them to be baffled – their TiVo would still show them subscribed but they wouldn’t be getting any new content. And the resolution isn’t clear – you basically have to delete and re-add the subscriptions so the server recreates them. Or, if you’re a geek and kept a backup copy, recreate the file manually. Of course this means it goes and re-downloads lots of old content.

And that’s not the only serious bug, it also fails to clean up after itself. After downloading content and transferring it to the TiVo, it is supposed to delete the downloaded file – and it does, most of the time. But it misses some and over time they build up. I’ve found multi-gigabytes of orphaned download files left using up space on my drive. If you subscribe to HD versions of content the ‘leaking’ burns space faster. Before Revision3 was added to TiVoCast I used to subscribe to many of their shows via TiVo Web Video, and they were HD versions. Just a few of those left behind can add up to a GB. You can check to see if TiVo Desktop is leaving files behind in C:\Documents and Settings\[account name]\Local Settings\Application Data\TiVo Desktop\Downloads I just removed 746MB of orphaned files from the past couple of months, and that’s after I’d dropped all the Rev3 HD shows.

Bugs happen, I know that, but these have gone unpatched for a while now.

These are hardly the only issues, just the two that really get under my skin. But there are other changes that really need to be made. And why is it that the TiVo Web Video interface on the TiVo itself seems to be stuck in the past, rarely reflecting the current episodes on the feeds? That makes the ‘Download Past Episodes’ feature useless. These are RSS feeds, would it really be so hard to make the server pull in the updated list automatically? And now that HD TiVo models can decode H.264 and VC-1 it would be nice if we could skip the transcoding entirely for compatible downloads.

I love the concept of TiVo Web Video, but it feels more and more like abandonware. All the attention goes to TiVoCast where TiVo can make business deals, and TiVo Web Video just rots on the vine. I know there are third party solutions to replace TiVo Desktop, but the point is this is what most TiVo owners will be aware of and use. TiVo needs to fix this issues if they’re serious about this as a product feature.

But Requiem 1.8.2 was also released, which enables DRM removal in iTunes 8.0.1 under Windows. The discussion thread in the Hymn project forums has the details. If you need iTunes 8.0.1 you can get it for Windows or Mac from OldApps.com.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, I do not support or condone piracy. I stress that Requiem strips the DRM but does not strip personally identifiable information. If you share the freed files they can be linked to your iTunes account. I support the use of Requiem solely for personal fair use, being able to use the music on non-Apple devices – like streaming to a TiVo or loading them on your non-iPhone smartphone.

I’d link to Requiem, but Apple sends out cease and desist notices to sites that do, so I’ll just say use Google, it is available via BitTorrent.

The version number is 11.0-01-2-648 on my S3. This update includes the changes seen in the 9.3.2 update that hit Series2 systems recently. Aside from those changes I don’t see any other differences. I looked through all the menus but nothing seemed different to me. I’m sure there are under-the-covers changes to warrant a major revision number jump. I’m guessing WMV/VC-1 decoding is in there for Netflix streaming support. And maybe some other surprises.

This version includes the following:

Version 2.5.4:
———————-
* Fix ToGo looping bug on null recording date (1811137)
* Added user-selectable range for local radar image (100, 300, 600 miles) in Weather
* auto-subdirectory publishing for GoBack, avoids the need to do it yourself and also avoids bugs in TiVo folder navigation in older TiVo service releases (Series 3 and HD should be OK without this).
(Probably needs some work to handle DOS shortcuts; should be OK on UNIX and OS X.)

* XML parsing of recording meta-data for non-Galleon-created video files in GoBack areas. e.g. if you post-process .TiVo files into .mpg, just put the XML output containing the show details, in the same format as it comes from the TiVo, into a .xml file with the same prefix. If you use tivodecode to unwrap .TiVo files, the metadata are in the -02-0002.xml file generated with the -D (dump-metadata) option.

* Enabled store-by-show handling in GoBack server (available on GoBack preferences pane).
* Fix for linux Makefile (1815568) and init script for distro independence

Known problems:
* not all galleon skins in HD cover the screen–use tivo skins
* still some layout glitches in HD
* still some HD menu highlights are too big for text

Versions for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux can be downloaded from SourceForge.

Galleon is one of the, if not the, longest running TiVo HME applications, actually stemming from pre-HME days as JavaHMO. It packs a lot of features into one application and really enhances the TiVo experience.