Leaving comments across the blogosphere…
Control TiVo With Your iPhone for $3
I’m sorry, but a TiVo touchscreen remote is so much less efficient than the Glo remote. I don’t want to look down to change channels. Nor do I want to keep my iPhone on for a two hour Lost episode. I also prefer to adjust the volume on my television.
Boxee Gets ABC
Of course the challenge with services like Boxee, PlayOn, NeurosLINK is keeping up with the providers since as far as I can tell the stuff is being scraped. And should the providers make a change, these other guys will need to race to keep up. PlayOn’s had one or two Hulu outages for example when Hulu changed their site somewhat. Ideally, all the networks get on Hulu. And then Hulu gets on a box. Every episode, every season. (Of course, licensing doesn’t work that way with the various guilds and entities that all must be paid at rates that slide around depending on length of availability, release timing, etc – no one can afford it all.)
Apple TV Stays on its “Hobby” Horse
The bottom line here is that the living room is still a tough nut to crack if offering a separate box. The cable and satellite cos really have a stranglehold on the living room here in the US. (I wish we’d see a UK Freeview-esque movement which might open up the set-top box space.) Additionally, Bruce’s point is well taken. AppleTV is still too much of a closed ecosystem (without hacking) which in keeps many of the early adopters away – who often kickstart new tech adoption.
DISH Network coming to Windows Media Center
Draco? I thought it was Stargate. Too many codenames! Although, it’s possible there are two initiatives. Relaying ViP 211 content to a Media Center and some sort of Internet streaming. Then again, with the whole SlingGuide they may shift gears and this project could suffer the same fate of DirecTV’s MCE tuner.
MPAA vs RealDVD — Why You Care
No mention of the DVD Copy Control Association? They’ve licensed CSS to DVD-burning kiosks. So they, and the MPAA, may not necessarily be against sharing the tech and permitting archiving. (Before HD DVD was killed, Windows Vista archiving was demo-ed/pitched by Microsoft at CES.) But they didn’t produce, validate, or vette Real’s protection scheme. And it’s not Real’s technology to use without license. Having said that, I do agree many large companies are overzealous in claiming DMCA violations that appear to trump pre-existing fair use consumer protections. (In fact, I’m tired of YouTube takedown notices.) At the end of the day, most folks who want to archive their DVDs already know how. (Basically, I don’t believe there’s a market for Real’s software.) And I don’t see individual consumers, who don’t share their files on BitTorrent, being dragged into court for bypassing an encryption scheme or stealing.
