Whether or not Microsoft has the right solution, the company has hit upon a problem in need of solving: how to store your digital stuff. Microsoft launched its Home Server at CES with the goal to create a storage hub for your media files. Some folks wonder whether consumers will buy into the idea of a home server, but with the explosion of storage-worthy digital media, there’s no question. In fact, I’m a little surprised there hasn’t been more mainstream coverage of the Home Server announcement (you know, beyond Engadget and Ars Technica) given its importance in signaling a new trend.

Let me give you my own house as an example. We have two active laptops (1 Apple, 1 PC), one active desktop (Apple), two digital cameras and three iPods. All of these devices generate and store media files that we want to preserve, preferably in our own home rather than on a remote server. My husband has managed this in a couple of ways, first by rigging an old Apple G4 tower to act as a server, and then by buying a Western Digital USB hard drive. Both solutions have worked (the USB hard drive is excellent), but the general public probably wouldn’t consider either, simply because the general public probably doesn’t think about digital storage at all.

Microsoft has the power to change that.

Read the rest of this entry »

MusicChoice
While at CES, TiVo announced a partnership with Music Choice to provide music videos. I was informed that this will be a free service for TiVo customers powered primarily by TiVoCast technology.

One True Media
One of the broadband initiatives announced in November may launch as soon as February. In a partnership with One True Media, folks can upload home video (fees yet to be disclosed) to the OTM website. Once uploaded, video can be “published” to the web, to DVD, or to a TiVo. Recipients will enter a code via their TiVo interface to receive the video, which should show up within 15 minutes.

TiVo Web Page
As reported on a few other blogs, the TiVo website is undergoing a facelift. More than just a new color scheme and Web 2.0 look, the updated site includes an enhanced personalized area and new features such as listings of the weekly top shows. Sounds like somewhere down the road, info from TiVo units may make it onto the site… such as pointing out scheduling conflicts.

Read the rest of this entry »

A periodic roundup of relevant news…

There’s only so much one can see and do at CES. Sadly, I missed out on catching the satellite TV and radio announcements up close and personal.

• Sirius unveils Backseat TV: Orbitcast
• DirecTV announces Sat-Go portable satellite TV system: Engadget
• VIP622 HD DVR introduced at Echostar press conference: LiveDigitally
• XM displays tons of “Mini-Tuner” car stereos: Orbitcast

For some time Netflix has indicated they would announce their download strategy in January… and here we are! Initially, they will offer about 1,000 streaming movies (via their web page, Windows PC required) at the rate of 1 hour of video for every dollar you spend on monthly Netflix service. Depending upon your available bandwidth, quality can scale up to near-DVD quality. Deployment begins today and will be available to all customers by June.

Netflix has come up with quite an innovative pricing strategy. In its current form (PC-only viewing), I’m not sure how many new customers they’ll acquire… But perhaps this service will limit some (high profile) defections to Blockbuster. Though they’ve introduced a pricing inequity issue with a staggered roll-out: Mike gets “Watch Now.” Dave does not. We both pay the same, yet his service is now superior to mine. Netflix better be prepared to activate everyone who requests the feature or risk alienating customers.

Read the rest of this entry »

At CES, I sat down with Digeo CEO Mike Fidler for a briefing on their new retail strategy. In the second half of 2007, they plan to release two Moxi dual tuning HD DVR models. The units on display (shown above) were enclosure prototypes, with no actual working hardware.

The first Moxi box will tune digital cable programming via a multistream CableCARD (”M-Card”). Unlike the two CableCARDs (1.0) used by the TiVo Series3, the Moxi box will require just one M-Card for dual tuning. (I’m told the S3 is physically capable of M-Card support with a software upgrade.)

The second Moxi box forgoes the M-Card, in favor of clear QAM and over-the-air (OTA) dual tuning. This higher-end unit will incorporate a 5.1 audio receiver and is built on the “AMD LIVE! Home Cinema reference design.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Roxio’s Mac TiVoToGo shipped last week… without the promised custom TiVo DVD menu theme. I pinged both TiVo and Roxio last week, but it took a little time to hear back with all the ongoing CES and Macworld nuttiness:

Toast 8 ships worldwide with a single multi-lingual build and the menu styles are several MB per style. Since the TiVo features are primarily US-oriented, we felt is was best to keep this style out of the bundle to keep the size as small as possible for anyone who purchases the download version.

Here’s the information on how to download and where to put the style:
http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.php?showtopic=15850

We have some other menu styles that we’ll be posting as well for free download. When we do, we’ll also be revising this one to offer more of an installer that puts the style in the proper place automatically.

Thank you (and your readers) for your patience!

By the way, I took a gander at the download… The file is actually a PSD, which I opened without problem in Photoshop. As in: How creative are you?

Yahoo was doing more than handing out Cold Stone ice cream (yummy, but huh?) in their CES tent… they also had some technology on display. The big news was the beta release of Yahoo Go 2.0 for many Java-capable cell phones (Windows Mobile not included) and providing free push email for Apple’s iPhone (announced over at Macworld).

But what caught my eye were the flat panel televisions over in the corner. The Yahoo football widget was on display on one TV. It’s extremely slick, allowing you to check out all sorts of scores, your fantasy stats, and live video PIP through the 10′ interface. Too bad they’re only offering it through Intel Viiv (a marketing term, not a technology) this season and excluding most PC owners. Hook me up next year, Yahoo?

I assumed the other flat panel would have Go TV — You know, the PC DVR software based on Yahoo’s acquisition of Meedio. Instead, they were demoing “My Channel” which they call a prototype at this point. While My Channel does include DVR functionality (guide, recording, live tv), the emphasis is on community and personalization (think Flickr, friend invites). Like Go TV, the software is PC-based and can be controlled via remote.
Read the rest of this entry »