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Geek Economics 101
–by Andrew McCaskey
A bit more digging into the details of the new Tivo Home Network Services that include podcasting, online movie ticketing through Fandango, and access to Live365′s hundreds of Internet radio stations. All the services are available to any broadband-connected TiVo user – meaning the Series II Tivo -at no additional charge.
What I did not anticipate is that there is apparently a waiting list for the upgrade. An additional “devil in the details” is that DIRECTV DVR with TiVo and TiVo Series1 DVRs are not eligible for this update. I knew that. I’m not sure if this is due to a limitation of the servers at Tivo that normally keep track of schedule downloads to the subscribers or why it is being rolled out selectively – but you might want to get on the waiting list for the overnight magic firmware download.
Tivo is really moving into the Home Media Center world – which I got a glimpse of at CES.
In addition to Yahoo Photos, Weather, and Traffic and the Tivo Desktop. which allows you to upload and download material to your portable device. There is the Tivo Digital Music Player that allows you play your computer stored mp3 collection through your TV Surround Sound speakers.
The basic price for almost all of this multimedia goodness = Free: transfer to your PC, or laptop, burn to DVD, transfer to the portable iPaq or Axim handheld.
If you don’t have a Tivo, check out your local Best Buy. Through the end of the month our local store is phasing out 40 Hour TIVO Boxes for $19.95. That’s right, less than $20. YMMV, but it may be worth a call to your local store.
The battle for the Digital home is shaping up. Microsoft X-Box as the stalking horse, Playstation-3, or Tivo – all have their sights set on you and your wallet. Pay attention, and you might be able to play the field for a while, and have some fun.
Especially if you add in a Slingbox. I digress .. but with all the money saved on the Tivo close-out, the Slingbox was free. . . so to speak. Geek Economics 101.
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