It has been about two years since Apple last released a major firmware update for its Apple TV platform, so the release of Apple TV 3.0 today will come as welcome news to those who own the device. 3.0 is largely as rumored: Adding support for both iTunes LP and iTunes Extras.
The Pixi, Palm’s second webOS-powered smart phone, finally has a price and a U.S. street date. This morning, Sprint said the device will arrive at market Nov. 15. Price: $99.99 with a two-year contract and after $150 in rebates. Not the most aggressive of prices considering that Amazon is currently offering the Pre, Pixi’s elder sibling, for $99 with two-year contract as well.
It’s not the $974.5 million TiVo had been looking for, but the $200 million in sanctions against EchoStar’s Dish Network the company has been awarded isn’t exactly petty cash, either. On Friday, a U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of Texas ordered the satellite broadcaster to cough up that sum for its continued infringement of TiVo’s “multimedia time warping system” patent.
AT&T and Verizon have run afoul of TiVo’s video patents. Reporting a second-quarter loss and projected results below Wall Street expectations Wednesday, the digital video recorder pioneer said it is suing the two telecoms for infringing on its patents for technology that allows DVRs to simultaneously store and play back programs, pause live television and deliver other features.
There’s not much of a business yet in Apple TV, as Apple’s leadership often notes. But there may be soon, with the market for connected TVs evolving as it has been. In a research note issued this morning, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says the time is right for Apple to release the next iteration of Apple TV and to begin work on a full-fledged Internet-connected television set.
The great truism about rebates is that anything less than 100 percent redemption is free money for the companies offering them. That’s something Palm and Sprint are clearly counting on as they bring Palm’s new Pre handset to market with a $100 rebate.
Repudiating claims that Blockbuster intended to file for bankruptcy earlier this month, spokesperson Karen Raskopf said the troubled video rental chain has “lots of plans to grow our business.” If inking a video-on-demand deal with a declining DVR pioneer is one of them… well, that’s not much of a plan, is it?
How do you persuade TV viewers to watch advertisements when the DVR has accustomed them to skip through them? That’s the dilemma facing television and cable networks today, one that’s so far defied a solution. But perhaps not for much longer.
The biggest news to come out of Apple’s “Let’s Rock” media event tomorrow may not be an iTunes 8 or a refresh of the company’s iPod line. It may not even be that rumored AppleTV with DVR and TV tuner capabilities–though that would certainly be a nice surprise. No, the biggest news to come out of “Let’s Rock” will be Steve Jobs and his health and health-problems–life-threatening or not.
Lest there be any doubt that DVR functionality was purposefully left out of Apple TV, consider this patent recently unearthed by AppleInsider. Filed in October of 2006, the patent describes not just a version of Apple TV capable of browsing and recording live TV programming, but a touch-based remote that could be preloaded with [...]
Leave it to ABC to devise a service that offers all the convenience of video-on-demand with all the annoyance and vapidity of broadcast TV in one joyless package. This morning the network and its affiliates announced fast-forward-disabled video on demand, which prevents viewers from bypassing commercials.
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
12:58 AM: Breakfast: Two schools of fish from Tokyo Bay. Calories: 782,000. How I was feeling when I ate this: confused, irradiated, hating my size.
11:37 AM: Exercise: “Taxi Stomp” (alternating legs, for 30 blocks). Calories burned: 148,900,183.
1983. The Beatles announce their first tour in thirteen years, but likewise announce that Michael Jackson will be going on tour with them as a one gigantic mega-concert event.
Best video mashup ever.
A Facebook Memorial
Wow.
Worth it for the Rickrolling photo alone.
Excellent.
Flughumor!
… you vacuous, toffee-nosed, malodorous perverts
Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine meet the kakapo — a fat, flightless and very randy rare parrot.
D is unlike any other executive conference. Since its debut in 2003, D has brought to life the energy and excitement of the digital revolution in an unscripted, upfront and unparalleled way. Read more »
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