A new set-top maker has entered the fray to the tune of $17.5 million in capital investments. The company, Building-B, says it will have a product in retail this fall that will combine broadcast TV with VOD and Web video. Sounds great. But haven’t we heard that somewhere before?

There’s a reason no one else has come out with a successful “God box” yet. It’s damn hard to make. Plus, the big guys - primarily Cisco and Motorola (my employer) - have proven that profit is more easily made elsewhere. In set-tops that do less, but for a lot less money.

At least in today’s environment, it’s hard not to be skeptical of Building-B’s chances for success. I predict we’ll see several more companies try to make a God box work (including Digeo this year), but it will be a couple of years yet (if not four or five years) before someone really makes a go of it.

Yes, we’re all pyromaniacs at heart. First there were the exclusive new pics of AT&T’s fiber node blow-up, and now there’s a Verizon story of a FiOS installer possibly starting a fire when he drilled through an electrical main. Fire or no, Verizon has a great post up on its policy blog addressing the issue and explaining what Verizon did to make amends. (Some people think the post was a bad idea. I disagree.)

One critical detail: “Importantly, the incident has little to do with Verizon’s fiber or FiOS technology. This was the sort of accident that could happen during a lot of household projects like building a deck or installing a dryer vent hose.”

This is why I avoid household projects.

I’m a few days behind in my news reading after a week of lounging on the beach, so I just caught Engadget’s Samsung’s IP phone post. Supposedly it shows TV on its miniature screen, allows video conferencing, plays music and offers access to online shopping. Since I love the Verizon IP phone Dave and I saw demo’ed back in July, you’d think the Samsung version would tickle my fancy. Not so much.

Both with the video and the music, you’re not getting either great quality (big screen/nice speakers) or the convenience of portability. And shopping on this phone while my PC is nearby? I can’t imagine it.

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Emerging Media Dynamics has a report out claiming that 20% of broadband homes (roughly 12 million households) will have media extenders by the end of this year. Anybody else astounded by that number?

The report is including in this category devices like Apple TV, the Xbox 360 and Sling’s SlingCatcher. All of these products are brand new so it utterly shocks me that 12 million people will have them by the end of 2007. Wishful thinking?

I’ve switched over to a new work laptop, and it’s significantly bigger than my old laptop. Yes, bigger. I decided I wanted a large, wide-screen device since I stare at it virtually all day long. The trade-off, of course, is that my new laptop is harder to carry around. Should I get a UMPC for portability purposes? (assuming I could afford one) Or would I just hate myself for complicating life with multiple, every-day-use computers? What do you think?

That is, does anybody read books anymore?

Like 8.3 million other people, we bought the final Harry Potter book for our household on Saturday. The huge sales would seem to suggest that people are still engaging in the offline activity. But, beyond the Harry Potter series, I wonder how many people actually read regularly just for the fun of it. Between the people who never liked reading in the first place, those who now listen to podcasts or audio books, and those who read everything online (including Harry Potter), books seem to be getting the squeeze.

What about you? Do you still read books for fun? Or are you too busy IMing, Facebook-ing, Google Reader-ing and video watching?

In the CE world, success is all about timing. Verizon debuted its Verizon One gadget years ago, but that was before the widget craze, before FiOS was a household word, and before streaming radio and digital photo frames raised the profile of non-computer, Internet-connected devices.

In its latest form, the Verizon One is now called the Verizon Hub, and Dave and I got a chance to see it during our recent visit to Verizon HQ. I love this thing. In brief, it’s a cordless-phone-plus-widget-station that lets you make calls, get news, weather and traffic, share photos and control your FiOS TV (Motorola) set-tops. There are plenty of things it doesn’t do, like let you surf the Web, but that’s what your computer is for. And with the Verizon Hub you won’t get distracted by all of the unread emails in your inbox when you just want to check traffic.

The Verizon Hub has a gorgeous display, a POTS connection (no VoIP), Wi-Fi and an Ethernet port. I’m drooling over the device, but ultimately I think its success will depend on cost. This is a whole new gadget category and it will take a reasonable price point to get the unwashed masses to try it out. That said, if there was ever a time when the Verizon Hub could be successful, it’s now. Lots of people use widgets and RSS feeds, and lots of people like to show off photo slideshows. This isn’t a complete paradigm shift anymore. — More pics after the jump.

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