May 15th, 2009 | Posted in ZNF | 
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A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…
Asus Eee Top
Hands on with the Asus Eee Top
Dave Zatz: Being a fan (conceptually) of the Audrey and Icebox computing appliances of lore, I placed the 15.6″ all-in-one PC in our kitchen. Where I believe it belongs.
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May 2nd, 2009 | Posted in ZNF | Comments Off
A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…
Has TiVo, Inc lost its way?
Dave Zatz: The New York Times is out with a piece covering a number of TiVo’s advertising initiatives. Which I was ready to let go, until I came upon this beauty: “TiVo is not the only company devising a solution to commercial-skipping.”
Hands on with Eye-Fi Explore Video
Dave Zatz: The Eye-Fi folks recently shipped me their new 4GB ‘Explore Video’ WiFi card ($99) for review. Unfortunately, the higher capacity SDHC card is incompatible with my aging SD-only digital cam (and I no longer own a Zi6). So we’ve kept it in the family, and Brent’s posted a hands on review over at Geek Tonic using his more capable camera.
Cablevision breaks the speed barrier and more
Mari Silbey: Cablevision is going renegade. Unlike many other operators, the company has come out against bandwidth caps. And now to add to that rebel stance, Cablevision is introducing a new speed tier at $99.95 per month with 101 Mbps downstream.
A non-geek look at Moxi’s HD DVR
Dave Zatz: I’m still getting familiar with my loaner retail Moxi HD DVR ($800, no fees). The Moxi UI is high def lusciousness and it offers some compelling features beyond requisite DVR functionality – such as the ticker, media streaming, and web browsing (!). And not an ad in sight. However… The interface does take a bit of getting used to.
April 24th, 2009 | Posted in ZNF | Comments Off
A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…
Amazon VOD in HD finally arrives (Roku & TiVo)
Dave Zatz: Two years after launching “Unbox” on TiVo (~$250), Amazon (AMZN) has finally rolled out HD video on demand. Early reports from various sources indicate excellent quality.
Adobe’s Flash-y set-top demo at the NAB Show
Mari Silbey: Adobe’s announcement to bring Flash to the living room is undoubtedly the biggest news out of this year’s NAB show. While much of the focus of the annual event put on by the National Association of Broadcasters goes to the business of producing content, there are always a few flashy tech demos in the mix as well.
Mari Silbey: Get used to it. We’re going to be talking about bandwidth caps for a long time to come. To sum up the latest happenings, Time Warner Cable sparked fresh outrage with the recent news that it would be testing consumption-based billing beyond Beaumont Texas.
Digeo to unveil Moxi payment plans
Dave Zatz: Later this week, Digeo will unveil two interest-free Moxi HD DVR ($799, no fees) payment plans. While I would have preferred to see a straight up price cut, this may may reduce the sticker shock for some and/or make the device more accessible.
April 13th, 2009 | Posted in ZNF | Comments Off
A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…
ZeeVee takes on Boxee with Zinc (OS X)
Dave Zatz: I was away on a business trip when Zeevee launched their re-branded “Zinc” multimedia front-end for Windows. However, CEO Vic Odryna was kind enough to still pass me a pre-release Mac OS X build to play with.
Arrington’s Crunchpad “leaked”
Dave Zatz: The embargo-phobic Michael Arrington, of TechCrunch fame, may have staged a “Crunchpad” leak to build buzz for his upcoming web tablet. I appreciate the economical and minimalistic hardware project goals. However, the relatively quaint notion of a single function Internet device may not fly in 2009.
HP MediaSmart Server: Time Machine fine print
Dave Zatz: I had pretty high hopes for my recent HP MediaSmart (EX485, ~$500) acquisition but, after a fun-filled day of disaster recovery, I’m second guessing my purchase.
Dave Zatz: Hot on the heels of Digeo’s net-centric content additions announcement, I’ve finally gotten my hands on a Moxi HD DVR ($800, no fees).
April 5th, 2009 | Posted in ZNF | Comments Off
A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…
TiVo’s pause menu spam hits S3/HD units
Dave Zatz: TiVo’s newest form of advertising, which debuted a few months back on Series 2 units, has now begun to encroach on the Series 3/TiVoHD platform.
Dave Zatz: AT&T Wireless has pretty explicitly dropped the hammer on Slingbox owners, amongst others, via their revised terms of service.
Mari Silbey: Even though most of the wireless action is out at CTIA this week, there is a presence at The Cable Show as well.
Dave Zatz: Back at CES, EchoStar came clean with their Sling Media acquisition intentions in announcing the “SlingLoaded” platform – part DVR, part Slingbox.
March 28th, 2009 | Posted in ZNF | Comments Off
A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…
New Netflix Survey offers clues
Dave Zatz: Looks like Netflix is once again soliciting feedback via a branching web-based survey.
Catching up with Boxee (And introducing TechVi)
Dave Zatz: Randall Bennett, who you may recognize from Engadget and CNET, has independently launched an online video show called TechVi. In addition to hosting a panel riffing on recent tech events, Randall landed his first interview early this week with Boxee CEO Avner Ronen.
Will online streaming kill the best new show on TV?
Mari Silbey: It takes money to distribute video online – encoding, storage, management, and actual delivery – which makes short work of the dollars online advertising and download fees do bring in.
Let’s get cumulus: Your Cloud or mine?
Dave Zatz: At CES, I spent some time checking out the promising Pogoplug ($80) – which is both a device and a service. The small Linux device, available next month, turns any USB drive into both local and remote networked storage.
March 18th, 2009 | Posted in ZNF | Comments Off
A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…
Pandora & IHeartRadio released on Blackberry
Dave Zatz: Two new (and free) music streaming apps have joined Slacker on the Blackberry this week.
iPhone 3.0 OS channels Xbox Live (plus cut & paste)
Dave Zatz: The first half of Apple’s presentation was geared towards developers and hardware partners, introducing support for new payment and device connectivity options. Both of which had me drawing comparisons to Xbox Live.
What’s next for Roku? (beyond YouTube & Blip.TV)
Dave Zatz: As I discovered last month, it looks like YouTube is headed to the little $99 Roku media player. And it turns out GOOG may not be the only new partner joining Netflix and Amazon Video on Demand.
New iPod Shuffle – shiny but tiny
Mari Silbey: Apple is making hay again with yet another news announcement: A very very tiny [iPod] Shuffle with 4GB of storage and a talking interface… Right off the bat I see a lot of things I don’t like about the new music player.
March 8th, 2009 | Posted in ZNF | View Comments
A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…
Amazon VOD in HD on TiVo – coming soon?
Dave Zatz: After reading my post wondering where Amazon VOD in HD is, multiple sources have confirmed for me that TiVo’s implementation is currently in testing. While I still don’t have concrete timing details, and suspect we’re waiting on Amazon.com at this point, I’m told video quality is outstanding.
Letting the GiiNii out of the bottle
Mari Silbey: GiiNii was perhaps the biggest surprise out of CES in January. The company seemed to appear out of nowhere with a brilliant line-up of CE devices including C-U-C-Me cameras, PixPlus Wi-Fi photo frames, and a touch-screen, Android-based handheld called the Movit Mini (think iPod Touch with an Android OS).
Dave Zatz: It’s been awhile since we’ve talked Vudu here on ZNF, so it’s time for a 2009 status update.
Samsung BD-P1600: Blu-ray, Netflix, Pandora
Dave Zatz: Meet the new BD-P1600 ($299.99), one of Samsung’s CES Blu-ray player announcements. This relatively slim piano black deck slipped into many Best Buys around the country over the last few days.
Mari Silbey: Last week Slacker sent me some accessories to try including a G2 dock, car charger, and arm band. They’re all available online for under $30 along with an FM transmitter (for the car) priced at $39.99.
February 28th, 2009 | Posted in ZNF | Comments Off
A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…
CBS launches TV.com iPhone app
Dave Zatz: CBS may have recently lost out on Hulu content, but they’re pressing forward with their re-imagined TV.com initiative. And, yesterday, they introduced a free TV.com iPhone app.
Get your OS X Hulu fix via Plex
Dave Zatz: When one door closes, bust through a window? OS X users still seeking a Hulu fix after the Boxee run-in should download the new version of Plex.
Netflix streaming, the Internet’s changing our brains, and Cable goes online
Mari Silbey: I’ve been virtually absent from ZNF for the last two weeks, and my backlog of posts is growing out of control. So, in an attempt to catch up, here are a few related items I’ve found interesting of late.
Dave Zatz: If you collect as many gadgets as I do, it’s inevitable a percentage will outlive their usefulness. Which is why LifeHacker’s recent coverage of Best Buy’s expanded recycling program is nicely timed.
February 22nd, 2009 | Posted in ZNF | Comments Off
A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…
The free media-centric iPhone apps of the week
Dave Zatz: Roxio Streamer is a brand new app that hooks into their OS X Toast 10 software ($80) to transcode and stream transferred TiVo video, EyeTV recordings, and a variety of other media from Mac to iPhone or iPod Touch over WiFi.
Cable’s new approach to Placeshifting
Mari Silbey: Although we’ve seen some minor attempts by cable operators to let subscribers place-shift their TV programs – witness Comcast’s Any Room initiative – for the most part cable TV customers are stuck watching their shows in one place. Today several news outlets are reporting that the big cable companies have a plan in the works to change that.
Dave Zatz: I sort of figured this day would come… Based on my perception of the licensing/royalty complexities and content providers fear that a current web video catalog piped to the television competes with live broadcasts. Hulu has shown their true colors – spawned of big media and beholden to big media.
Choosing a broadband card (Verizon or Sprint)
Dave Zatz: In choosing a broadband card and service, most modern 3G hardware should be fine. Assuming you can get a good deal (which you usually can), the key factors in making a decision are access, coverage, and contract terms.
February 14th, 2009 | Posted in ZNF | Comments Off
A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…
Dave Zatz: After months of leaks, speculation, and zero inventory, Amazon’s second generation e-reader has arrived.
Dave Zatz: With improving sales and increased consumer awareness of network-sourced content, perhaps AppleTV will graduate from “hobby” status later this year. At the very least, Apple’s showing a bit of life around this initiative by distributing a customer survey.
Netflix Queue Manager for Windows Mobile
Dave Zatz: CES is a huge event, so it’s no surprise we might have overlooked a few hidden gems… such as the Mobile Manager for Netflix demo-ed at CntrStg. As you might expect, given the app’s name, Mobile Manager for Netflix allows you to manage your queue(s) and see the discs you have at home.
Archerfish brings video analysis to Placeshifting
Dave Zatz: One of the most frequent requests I received while employed by Sling Media came from small businesses and higher-end home owners looking for more enterprise-esque video monitoring with placeshifting features, but at reasonable prices. While Sling hasn’t yet acted on this demand, video analytics firm Cernium answers the call next week with the release of Archerfish.
February 8th, 2009 | Posted in ZNF | Comments Off
A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…
Roku’s Amazon VOD in Beta. YouTube next?
Dave Zatz: We knew Amazon Video on Demand was headed to Roku’s media streamer ($99) early this year. And now, via their forums, we have word that the service has entered private beta.
Pulsar, Satellite Radio on OS X
Dave Zatz: Earlier this week, I received Rogue Amoeba’s periodic email newsletter. Among other things, I learned they’re pretty far along on Pulsar – an OS X app that allows you to stream XM or Sirius online radio stations.
Netflix contemplates higher tier video streaming
Dave Zatz: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings previously and repeatedly seemed to indicate they’d never introduce a pay-per-view video download model or higher tiers of video streaming. However, it looks like that topic has been reopened for discussion. In a customer survey going around, Netflix wonders if we’d pay an additional $10 a month to stream “HBO original series and movies.”
Dave Zatz: TiVo Desktop 2.7 has hit the streets. This Windows software update packs several enhancements.
LONDON - Steve O'Hear reporting from the trenches of convergence (more)
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