A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…

American Film Institute

American Film Institute takes video online

Mari Silbey: Not only has much of the AFI collection never been seen before, but the Institute is allowing online visitors to embed clips in their own sites.

TiVo on Twitter

Dave Zatz: TiVo is leading the way… when it comes to Twitter (and FriendFeed) and I’ve compiled a list of TiVo folks worth following.

Best Buy in the Digital Content Biz

Mari Silbey: It’s interesting to watch a retailer trying to expand its business model in the digital world. Beyond that, however, it’s fascinating to see how the digital living room is evolving. Best Buy is throwing itself into the ring with the likes of Blockbuster, Amazon, and Netflix, but also with cable, telco, and satellite operators.

Hands-on with the Seagate Replica

Dave Zatz: For a hundred bucks, I don’t think you can go wrong – a sleek, quiet, and cool drive with thought-free backup software.

A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…

Dicussing Boxee on TechVi

Dave Zatz: Last night, Ben Drawbaugh (EngadgetHD) and I discussed Boxee’s recent news with Randall Bennett of TechVi.

Fallout from the DTV Transition

Dave Zatz: It’s been two weeks since the digital television switch was universally flipped in what’s effectively a government spectrum fundraiser.

Hands On with the Sungale Widget Photo Frame

Mari Silbey: I’ve had something of an obsession with Wi-Fi photo frames ever since eStarling brought the first one (disastrously) to market. So naturally I jumped at the chance to get my hands on the new Sungale touch-screen, Wi-Fi, widgetized photo frame – colloquially known as the ID800WT.

New Logitech Squeezeboxes on the way

Dave Zatz: It’s been quite some time since the Squeezebox Duet and Squeezebox Boom Internet audio streamers hit the shelves in 2008. And word on the street indicates Logitech will be refreshing their lineup in short order.

A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…

Jailbreaking the iPhone 3.0 OS

Dave Zatz: In pre-announcing the iPhone 3.0 OS and providing preview software builds, Apple intended to give developers a leg up in producing/updating apps. Fortunately, it also gave the unsanctioned “iPhone Dev Team” enough time to get some of their jailbreak and unlocking apps ready fairly close to the official launch.

A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…

Hulu content headed to Roku?

Dave Zatz: After talking to Roku, Playboy has concluded “Hulu support is coming” to the $99 set-top box. Could this be the cable freedom Holy Grail we’ve been awaiting?

Sling.com enables OS X Slingbox streaming

Dave Zatz: While there seems to be a resurgence of Slingbox haterade, EchoStar isn’t sitting by idly. as promised back at Macworld, Sling.com has enabled OS X Slingbox streaming… via Safari 3 and Firefox 3 web browsers using a lightweight Java plugin.

Sharing digital media (legally)

Dave Zatz: Traditional supply, demand, production, and distribution rules don’t transfer cleanly from the analog world to a wired marketplace hawking digital goods. Other than an artificially lower resale value, what’s the difference between a ‘used’ ebook and a ‘new’ one?

Xbox 360: Welcome to the Social?

Dave Zatz: Tons of news out of Microsoft’s E3 keynote… The two primary themes revolve around enhanced social connectivity and expanded methods of physical interaction.

A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…

The future of Windows Media Center Extenders

Dave Zatz: Bad news for Windows Media Center fans these last few days, as we’ve received confirmation from both Linksys and HP that they’re discontinuing their extender lineups.

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.

A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny…

Has TiVo, Inc lost its way?

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.

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.

Bandwidth caps: round 27

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.

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.

Moxi HD DVR, in the flesh

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).

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.

AT&T Wireless bans Slingboxes

Dave Zatz: AT&T Wireless has pretty explicitly dropped the hammer on Slingbox owners, amongst others, via their revised terms of service.

Cable and wireless

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.

EchoStar at The Cable Show

Dave Zatz: Back at CES, EchoStar came clean with their Sling Media acquisition intentions in announcing the “SlingLoaded” platform – part DVR, part Slingbox.