Business 2.0 has a cool little write-up and gallery of Netflix envelopes evolving over the years… Story here, pictures here.

Years of experimentation went into creating the perfect DVD envelope. In 1999, Netflix started out with a heavy cardboard mailer. With only 100,000 subscribers, costs weren’t a concern yet. Then the company experimented with plastic envelopes, which proved not to be recyclable, and padding, which added too much to postage costs. Both top-loading and side-loading envelopes made an appearance.

As you know, TiVo came away with a huge patent victory versus Echostar last week. The judge hasn’t yet ruled on increasing damages for willful infringement, and not only hasn’t an injunction been awarded but apparently TiVo hadn’t even requested it as of Wednesday. Could settlement/licensing talks be going on outside of court? Regardless, TiVo’s legal team is tooting their horn this morning…

Apr 21, 2006 08:45 ET

Irell & Manella Trial Team Secures $74 Million Patent Infringement Verdict for DVR Market Leader TiVo

Jury’s finding of willful infringement by EchoStar means damages could be trebled

LOS ANGELES, Calif., April 21 — In a closely-watched trial involving one of the most popular forms of technology in the home entertainment market, law firm Irell & Manella LLP represented TiVo Inc. in its $74 million patent infringement verdict against EchoStar Communications Corp.

On April 13, a Marshall, Texas jury concluded that EchoStar had willfully infringed TiVo’s patent on its “time-warp” technology for digital video recorders (known as DVRs). Despite two weeks of testimony about complex technology and patent issues, the jurors needed only two hours and fifteen minutes of deliberations to reach the unanimous verdict.

The finding of willful infringement exposes EchoStar to potential treble damages. In addition, EchoStar faces a potential injunction that would preclude it from further distribution of infringing DVRs. TiVo’s general counsel Matthew Zinn noted after the trial that an injunction would be even more meaningful than the sheer dollar award.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re a photogenic Slingbox owner living in the DC area, check out this television opportunity posted to the Sling Community.

We have an interesting media opportunity coming up, and I would like to recruit a greater DC-area Slingbox owner to get a chance to participate in it! Here are the requirements:

• You must be a Slingbox owner, and have it installed in your home/apartment, which must be located in the greater DC area
• You must use BOTH SlingPlayer for Windows and Mobile software
• You must be congenial/charismatic enough to appear on nation-wide television

This will be for a prominent, nationally aired TV show. Taping will occur late this month or early next month. Just think, you could actually watch yourself on your Slingbox!

I was asked to participate in an online Nielsen survey evaluating two television commercials. I don’t watch many commercials these days thanks to TiVo and Netflix, but figured I’d take the time since Nielsen would inadvertently compensate me with a post.

The first was a short, innocuous ad for Glad Press’n Seal which was could be pretty interesting if you’re into new forms of cling wrap. I generally avoid the kitchen and have a feeling Glad charges a premium, so I wasn’t overly compelled to go shopping.

The second commercial was for Celebrex, that prescription pain medication. I wasn’t paying very close attention until they said one possible side effect is death. I’m not an advertising expert, but it seems to me if your product may kill someone and you’re legally bound to disclose that… maybe, just maybe, a television commercial isn’t the correct venue for advertising. The Nielsen survey did ask if I would request Celebrex from my doctor (no) and what I remembered most from the commercial (death).

It’s also worth pointing out the freaky pictograms (see below) used to describe my emotional response. I’m not entirely sure what that middle one with the sunny-side-up-egg-in-stomach indicates, though the explosion clearly represents IBS.

Read the rest of this entry »

I just couldn’t seem to find the time…

• Philips patents digital flags to prevent channel changing or content advancing during commercials. (New Scientist)
• The facts and fiction of 1080p. (Team Xbox)
• Podcasts outnumber radio stations. (eWeek)
• Windows Media Player 11 to be released this summer. (Thomas Hawk)
• Portable VLC released. (PortableApps)
• Windows smart-phone maker HTC profiled. (Business Week)

Rumor has it the TiVo sales call center is going 24/7, so I did a little poking around the TiVo store last night and uncovered a new partnership with Blockbuster. Netflix has stated there “is no work going on” in relation to TiVo, so why not play the field? For about $10 - $15 more than TiVo’s current 1 year hardware/service bundle, you can include a Blockbuster Online subscription (1, 2, 3). Why anyone would want to lock themselves into a contract for Blockbuster’s inferior Netflix service is beyond me… unless you can browse and reserve movies directly through the TiVo. I’m not sure what, if any, relation this development has to TiVo’s VOD aspirations, but I’ll be updating the post once TiVo removes the store links OR issues a press release with more details.

UPDATE: TiVo has removed the links. Hope you got your orders in and screenshots out!

As first disclosed at CES, Yahoo is moving into the PC DVR market in addition to providing other couch-based multimedia functionality. But why reinvent the wheel, when you can buy it? Congrats, Meedio — you’ve escaped ShowShifter’s fate! Back at CES, Thomas Hawk learned Go TV would be a free offering similar to Google’s method of buying up and distributing Picasa. I assume Yahoo will ultimately leverage the Meedio platform to interface with their music services and perhaps offer movie downloads. So I guess we can end speculation that Yahoo will buy TiVo… or can we?

Meedio says:
Today is a big day for the team here at Meedio; we have sold most of our technology to Yahoo!

David Brott, Jeff (beergeek), Kenny (fasttech), Pedro (flea0) and I are joining Yahoo!’s Digital Home team. We’ve had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Yahoo! in the past few months and we love the way they are developing the best, most user-friendly services for the Digital Home.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Sling folks allude to some enticing news with this job opening…

Sling Media says:

Job Title: Tech Lead, Mobile Embedded Software

Essential Responsibilities

• Directly participate in design and development of multimedia/networking software products using J2ME, BREW and Symbian operating systems/platforms.
• Architect multimedia software frameworks for Sling Media mobile software products that address the requirements of Slingbox client software.