Trying something a bit different here..

We often find ourselves commenting on a variety of stories around the blogosphere. Topics that we’d maybe like to cover but just don’t get to, content that is slightly off topic, or news that doesn’t justify an entire post. So the experiment here will be aggregating some of our recent web comments back to ZNF. To get going, the initial batch is mine. But I’d like to also include Dale, Davis, Brent, and Mari if they’ve got the motivation to keep track of their contributions.

Related, I continue to micro-publish on Twitter - tweets can be viewed as a web page, subscribed to via RSS, followed within your own Twitter account, added to FriendFeed, viewed in the ZNF sidebar, etc.

And, now, onto the blog comments:

Netflix: Faulty Hardware Took Us Down
Interesting that they blame one piece of hardware, when it looks like all Netflix’s distribution centers were out of commission for a time. Unless they took the others offline until they identified the problem, or they have multiple instances of that one piece of hardware. Still smells like a software issue…

New Palm Treo Pro to be made by HTC
HTC designed at least one other Treo - I think it was maybe the 750. And of course they’re also supposedly behind the Xperia X1. What I don’t get with the Treo Pro is the meager 2mp camera. Also the timing is a bit weird with the new 800w on Sprint. Who can figure Palm out.

Buffalo LinkStation Mini: small backup drive with big capacity, remote media streaming
I wonder how it really works in a mixed-OS environment? I had an earlier LinkStation that allowed me to store/see files from PC and Mac, but one of them couldn’t see the other’s files on the NAS. It also had a loud fan, though this Mini obviously has no fan. Mirroring option is very attractive… But I’m tired of the clutter and wonder if I should get a Time Capsule to replace my USB Maxtor.

Rekindling Interest in Amazon’s E-Book Reader
I’ve seen three Kindles in the wild. Two in cafes and one on a cruise. The design isn’t as sexy as I’d like given the price point. I’m shallow like that. But the big problem for me is that I don’t read enough books to get a decent return on my hardware investment. Drop the price by 50% and their customer base would increase exponentially. Can’t do that due to costs? Fine, give me a Kindle iPhone App and you’re selling tons of razor blades without needing to mess with razors.

Sneak Peek: The WB Launches Tomorrow
I’ve been looking at the WB beta video site for awhile too - I like the more singular focus on per show pages and large nav elements (compared to Hulu), but agree the interface could use some work. Would like to see them build communities around series and would like to see them offer entire series - these seemed to vary during the beta and I’m not sure what will hit the web tomorrow. Most interesting to me, though probably less relevant to the masses, is their television content offerings which didn’t originally air on the WB. Interesting licensing questions here…

TiVo To Partner With Entertainment Weekly
TiVo’s “partnering” with Entertainment Weekly pretty much sounds like another Guru Guide. These things have pretty limited value in my opinion - both as a customer and in evaluating the cross-marketing potential. If Guru Guides evolve to the point where customers can share recommendations with friends, I’d be more interested…

Do you want your devices pre-loaded with content?
The ZunePass and Rhapsody models can probably be understood by consumers and be economically viable if a major market player like Apple introduced similar. Mark’s proposition is unsustainable if Apple intended to make money on the service.

Pre-loading content may work if you’re talking about dropping a few current artisits or hits that the studios want to push as a way to upsell albums or additional tracks. But, yeah - as far as lots of content and hitting relevant genres, good luck. Maybe it works with the teen crowd, but our adult tastes are eclectic.

I think I remember an old Samsung Yepp MP3 player I had years ago having a bunch of tracks on it. I’m sure it didn’t persuade me to buy the album and it didn’t incentivize me to buy that player over another.

TiVo held their quarterly call yesterday and, while I don’t pretend to be financial analyst, I’ll share my uninformed observations.

As TiVo sometimes does, the Investor Relations group began their earnings day by releasing a bit of fluff news to the press - I don’t know if this is designed to distract the market to soften the blow, juice the stock price, or what. Regardless, I didn’t bite.

The quarterly results seem generally positive… TiVo was guided to just their third profitable quarter (!), though this is largely due to a continued reduction in marketing expenditures - perhaps accounting for the net loss in subscribers. While the majority of these folks retired from the obsolete DirecTiVo platform, stand-alone TiVo unit subscriptions were also in decline. (Fully amortized Lifetimed units also push the subscriber number down, but they didn’t volunteer exactly how many that is.) However, TiVo has no debt, plenty of cash on hand, and I get the sense they feel like they’ll be coming into even more related to EchoStar’s patent infringement. Going forward, TiVo expects to pick up additional customers via newer channels consisting of the MSO dealios (Comcast, Cox) and their Australian offering.

Related to the tech itself, I didn’t come across many interesting nuggets. It’s expected that Cox will begin offering their custom TiVo solution this fall in New England. Related, Comcast is expected to increase both their marketing and market presence beyond New England beginning next month. Specific regions weren’t disclosed, but I heard something somewhere a long while ago that Denver was to be one of the initial sites. We shall see.

In regards to a Series4 Tru2way TiVo unit, it doesn’t look we’ll be seeing anything soon. Surely not in 2008. According to CEO Tom Rogers:

The retail Tru2way issue, we have agreed with the cable industry that we would look to provide a OCAP or Tru2way retail device. It is something that we would like to do, meaning something that a consumer could go into any retailer and purchase and plug it into any cable system anywhere in the country and it would just work. There are a number of CEs that are focused on Tru2way devices. Our view is that that whole regime is going to take more time to be clarified and to get the ability for players such as ourselves to build on a national uniform homogeneous basis. We are not alone among the consumer electronics players seeing that that is going to be a slower process than the cable industry may have liked, and certainly issues that we see along the way we bring to CableLabs’ attention, although there isn’t any one at this point that I would necessarily say conflicts with our objectives.

I can’t say I’m surprised with TiVo’s conservative approach given recent industry reports. I’m not even sure this needs to be a priority. However, an interim solution of a TiVo HD with integrated SDV tuning adapter would go a long way towards maximizing TiVo compatibility within the shifting cable landscape. In other cable marketplace news, TiVo doesn’t seem overly concerned with Cablevision’s network DVR. According to Rogers, “a lot of legal issues that still need to be resolved on that front” and there’s an “inadequate capacity at this point for broad scale deployment of a network DVR solution.”

Seeking Alpha TiVo Call Transcript
TiVo Quarterly Earning Release

Flight Day continues…

Finally, we’re starting to see some reasonable alternatives to the prematurely killed Boeing Connexion in-flight Internet offering. AirCell is the company behind JetBlue’s testing, Virgin America’s promised network, and the now active American Airlines “GoGo” WiFi service. And early reports are positive. Mostly.

Not only did the FCC rule there’s no place on flights for cell phone chatter, (thankfully) AirCell has concluded the same - and is restricting VoIP traffic. At least they thought they were. Unfortunately, Andy Abramson has found a work-around by using Flash-based VoIP client Phweet. There’s not many I know more connected, always-on, Internet-craving than I. Yet, I’d rather remain net-free on flights than be subjected to folks yammering on headsets all flight along. Is it just me?

Woot’s offering the TiVo HD (refurb) for a low $165, shipped. Like all Woot deals, you’ll need to act fast. As in today. And before they sell out. I believe this is the lowest we’ve seen THD and it’s a great price to get in on. With the money you save, I suggest picking up the very nice TiVo Glo remote to replace the traditional TiVo controller - unless you’re using a Harmony or similar.

(via Gizmo Lovers)

Over the last two years, I’ve flown probably 20 round trips between the DC Metro and Bay Area. My choice of airlines with non-stop flights is limited to United, JetBlue, or Virgin America. United offers the most favorable rewards program, especially considering their global reach (when cashing in). However, they’re usually the most pricey and I’ve become hooked on in-air live TV. Which leaves JetBlue and Virgin America.

While both airlines offer seat-back entertainment and services, for this post let’s focus on the free television programming experience. JetBlue provides DirecTV programming, while Virgin America “Red” serves up DISH Network. JetBlue clearly offers more channels than Virgin America, perhaps twice times as many. Additionally, JetBlue offers some of the “locals” - such as NBC. And a portion of channels you think Virgin America might tune brings up a post-installation DISH video or subscription screen - surprising after a year in service. So, on the content front, JetBlue provides more choice and a better viewing experience.

In terms of control, JetBlue television interaction is limited to a fixed panel on an armrest… which a seatmate may accidentally lean on, adjusting your volume or screen brightness. By way of comparison, VA’s armrest controls reside in a cubby mostly protected from inadvertent elbow channel changes. Additionally, the controller is tethered and can be removed from the armrest. However, VA provides a more natural way (in this day and age) of interaction by providing a touch-sensitive screen. Regarding those LCDs, JetBlue’s appear to be 4:3 while Virgin America uses a larger widescreen. Add in Virgin’s programming grid guide and VA wins on the interaction front.

(more…)

Just a few week ago, Vudu expanded their content library with the introduction of adult titles. And in just a few weeks, Vudu will announce the availability of 1,000 HD movies. However, between the here and there rumors of Vudu’s demise have sprung up. While it appears true nearly 20% of their staff was laid off last week, CE Pro spoke to Vudu and may have put some of these imminent doom claims to bed.

Vudu does indeed have a tough row to hoe  - competing against the likes of Apple TV and every cable set-top box in offering movie rentals (and purchases). Yet, given the nature of the layoffs (including the marketing director) I don’t get the sense Vudu has run out of time. Not to mention - as seen with companies such as Akimbo and ReplayTV, it’s frequently a slow death in the consumer electronics space.

What’s most likely is that the Vudu investors/board are displeased with sales numbers and exposure, and at the same time are looking for ways to cut spending. Indeed, the (implied) near-term nationwide Best Buy rollout should give them hope. If there’s money left, now isn’t the time to pull the plug. But it does seem like they’ve decided it’s time for some new blood.

Kevin Rose (Digg, Revision3, Pownce) may have an inside source at Apple - which wouldn’t be surprising given his elite status amongst the digerati and Bay Area location. He’s heard that the entire iPod lineup will see a refresh and iTunes 8.0 will be introduced by the end of September. (Apple’s free iPod promotion ends 9/15…) I’m not extremely fond of the Nano Fatty and wouldn’t mind seeing it replaced with the rendering Rose provided (above) - similar in form to the previous Nano that I’m a fan of.

Supposedly, iTunes 8.0 provides new features and functionality worthy of something more than just a point upgrade designation. Which lines up nicely with our quarterly iTunes music subscription service rumor and iPhone 2.1 update. This time around the claim is $129.99 for a year of unlimited downloads and playback. Works for me if it pans out - cheaper than satellite radio without the continuous network connectivity requirement of a Pandora.

No doubt, Hulu’s been kicking butt in growing their web audience by providing legit, mainstream television content. And word is they’re now considering international expansion. So Engadget’s ‘Best portable Internet device‘ query has got me thinking… Are there any mobile devices capable of streaming Hulu shows?

Let me start by saying “best” is a relative term term - In my experience, the iPhone provides the most efficient and enjoyable way to browse the web on a small form factor device. However, it’s obviously not the “best” browser for visiting sites that embed Abode Flash. While Apple’s gone outside the browser to offer YouTube via a custom interface and H.264 content, a large percentage of web video is off limits. Such as Hulu.

The Nokia N800 and N810 Internet Tablets also utilize a highly regarded web browser - Mozilla-based and with Flash support. Though, you’ll probably need to use the stylus… Supposedly YouTube does OK, but reports on Hulu have been mixed as Steve O’Hear of Last100 and I discovered this AM - seems like the CPU and/or Flash version aren’t sufficient to present smooth video playback.

Other than bringing a Windows UMPC into the mix, is anyone aware of a mobile device that’s capable of streaming Hulu video?

(And let’s not even talk about Netflix Watch Instantly and Microsoft DRM… Though, Silverlight will be going mobile - which might have come in handy at NBCOlympics.com this month.)