Stewtopia

What is Apple smoking?

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date February 7, 2006

It’s Tuesday morning, so what’s new for our pals at the iTunes Video Store? Looks like they bagged a big one – Showtime. It seems that premium cable didn’t want to be left out of the iTMS fun.

This morning, Weeds, Fat Actress, and Sleeper Cell launched on iTMS with their first seasons available to download. Nice thing here, they may be premium cable, but they are not premium prices. Same as before, $1.99.

So, with Showtime down, should we expect other premium cable shows to show up? There’s a certain mobster show that is due to start up in a few weeks that I’m sure would sell faster than fresh cannoli. Also, what about corporate parent, CBS? Maybe Survivor will make iTMS soon…

Weeds
Fat Actress
Sleeper Cell

Downloads

CBS selling Survivor on CBS.com

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date February 5, 2006

CBS going it alone will be selling new episodes of Survivor on CBS.com. Episodes will be $1.99 just like someone else we know, but they will expire after 24 hours after you download it. They’re using Windows Media 9.0, but not the version that is Mac compatible.

While this is interesting, I do wonder how well CBS will fare on its own. Given that iTMS is an end to end solution and it isn’t a rental, folks may be a little less inclined to pony up that 1.99.

Read

(Via eHomeUpgrade.)

Download

PDAs

Treo 800p soon?

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date February 2, 2006

It’s funny. I was just talking to a friend the other day about how I’d like to shy away from reporting on rumors on the site. No particular reason other than a. not liking to be wrong and b. trying to not look like too big a gadget fanboy. I suppose both are true.

Some guy from the boards over at TreoCentral is reporting the Treo 800p is due out on March 15. The new phone will feature a slimmer form factor, a sharper 320×320 screen, 128mb of RAM, a Wi-Fi option, Bluetooth 2 and 3.2 megapixel camera.

Sounds great, but something seemed kind of fishy when the poster mentioned that the guy from Palm demoed the new screen by showing the text of “Julius Caesar.” Considering the release date, this makes the whole thing seem a little fake.

Judge for yourself.

Read

(Via Engadget.)

Playstation Sony Xbox

PS3 Live?

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date January 31, 2006

Looks like Sony is planning an online service to launch with the new Playstation 3 to compete with Xbox 360 and Xbox Live. The folks over at Joystiq have been trolling the Playstation message boards and came up with a scan a user had uploaded from March’s Playstation magazine.

No real details other than Sony plans on matching Xbox Live “feature for feature and then some.”

Game geeks rejoice.

Read

(Via Joystiq)

General

Google misses numbers

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date January 31, 2006

I don’t normally talk about stock prices on the blog, but this one is of particular interest. Google missed their numbers by about 15% and their stock is trading at about 15% off of their closing price today. Tomorrow is going to be ugly for a lot of internet companies.

Read

Dish Network Media Servers and Streamers PVRs Satellite Television

Sling Media gets $46 million in funding

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date January 31, 2006

You know, I’m usually on top of new tech, first in line, etc. But I gotta be honest with you, I haven’t had much interest in the Sling Box. I understand it’s coolness factor – place shifting television is very cool. I know that if I traveled more, I might actually care more.

Anyhow, I think I started to get it a little more today. There’s nothing like a big cash infusion from Dish Network to realize that this is a pretty cool technology. With Microsoft threatening to enter this business with the update of Windows MCE, Sling will need all the money they can get there hands on.

Read

(Via Zatz Not Funny. . ..)

DirecTV HTPCs Microsoft PVRs

DirecTV and CableCard on Windows Vista Details

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date January 30, 2006

Thomas Hawk, digital media enthusiast, has a long write up of his recent blogger’s dinner with Microsoft exec, Jim Allchin. In a turn of events, it looks like DirecTV will have less draconian rules than cable as to how their services will work with PCs.

All CableCard enabled Windows Vista boxes will have to be certified by CableLabs, the organization that created the standard. So, not only will manufacturers have to get certified by CableLabs, but each shipping PC must be certified as well. Basically, it means that you can forget about building a CableCard enabled HTPC yourself. This will make it tougher for smaller manufacturers to build these machines, as well.

On the other hand, DirecTV will allow after market cards to be installed by individuals, rather than buying brand new boxes. This will certainly make DirecTV more attractive to tweakers than cable.

No word on pricing or timing, but there are many details of the hows and whys of satellite and cable and how they integrate with Vista.

Read
(Via HDBeat.)

PVRs Rumors Tivo

Cisco courting Tivo?

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date January 30, 2006

CNET is speculating this morning about a potential “partnership” between Cisco and Tivo. Could Cisco be Tivo’s potential white knight? Well, the deal kind of makes sense, but I think that this is someone at CNET’s HQ is not-so-secretely wishing in their heart of hearts that their Tivo won’t go away.

Their rationale is that Cisco has been making a bigger push into consumer electronics, specifically with their acquisitions of cable box maker, Scientific Atlanta, and home networking gear maker, Linksys.

In any case, I’m also not-so-secretly wishing in my heart of hearts that Tivo won’t go away(and that they will ship their CableCard Tivo soon), so we’ll be watching this story closely.

Read

(Via HD Beat)

Apple

Steve Jobs’ Magic Kingdom

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date January 27, 2006

Businessweek’s cover story today is about the recent Pixar buy out by Disney. The article focuses on Jobs’ return to Apple and his subsequent return to the CEO position, implying that the same may be in store for Disney.

While there has been lots of speculation as to what all of this means, I think that at best this merger could really get the ball rolling for digital distribution (READ: internet) of film and television. With Job’s influence, Disney could become a leader in this brave new world.

Read

Home Entertainment Portable Entertainment Rumors Sony

AIBO, Qualia Roadkill

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date January 26, 2006

Sony, in a cost cutting effort, has cut the AIBO and Qualia lines from production, according to Akihabara News. I think quite a few geeks will be sad to see the AIBO line die, but few will lament the passing of Sony’s Qualia line.

Qualia, FYI, is Sony’s ultra high end line of consumer electronics. This line includes a $27,000 projector, $12,000 rear projections television, $3300 headphones, and my personal favorite the $3300 2 megapixel digital camera.

The problems withe Qualia brand were not just with prices, but it was incredibly questionable if there was a market for such devices. Sony wasn’t successful in making Qualia truly aspirational products. I mean, if the incredibly rich don’t want them, why would John Q. Public?

Oh well, no one is crying over Qualia, but AIBO lovers, you might consider the Robosapien or some other more-human robot companion.

Read

Media Servers and Streamers Yahoo

Yahoo! Music makes Linksys plugin

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date January 26, 2006

For those of you using the Yahoo! Music Engine, you’ve just gotten a little bit of freedom. Similar to Apple’s Airport Express, the Linksys Wireless G Music Bridge plays music in remote locations (read: away from your computer) and Yahoo! has just wrote a plugin that will work with the device.

Not sure if this will be a free download for the folks that already have this device, but new customers will be able to pick up the device for $99 plus Yahoo! will have a $20 rebate (yay, rebates!).

Read

(Via eHomeUpgrade.)

Apple Downloads iTunes Portable Entertainment

Beavis vs. Cartman on iTMS

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date January 26, 2006

The announcements keep coming from our friends over at iTunes. Here’s a short list of everything added to iTMS:

MTV – Beavis and Butthead, Jackass, Punk’d, Gauntlet 2, and more
Nickelodeon – Spongebob Squarepants, Dora the Explorer, Zoey 101
Comedy Central – South Park, Drawn Together, Best of Standup

Looks like Apple must have signed a deal with Viacom. Should we expect VH1, Spike, and BET to follow? And what about Comedy Central’s “news” shows, The Daily Show and Colbert Report? Looks like the encoding monkeys in Cupertino have their work cut out for them.

HDTV Home Entertainment

Netflix + HD DVD = Peanut Butter + Chocolate

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date January 24, 2006

Two great tastes…(ugh, must not post while tired). Looks like you won’t have to rush right out to replace your old shiny discs with new shiny discs after all. Netflix announced they will have both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs when they launch. They don’t expect demand to be too high(I’ll second that), but want to support both formats for early adopters. No word on additional costs, but I haven’t heard anything about the cost of these HD discs.

Read

(Via eHomeUpgrade.)

Apple Downloads iTunes Portable Entertainment

Oh, and one more thing…

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date January 24, 2006

Man, no sooner did this deal get done and an Disney’s newest large stockholder is already making some improvements on his investment. Wanna download some Disney shorts for your iPod? 10 new Disney shorts popped on iTMS this afternoon (maybe I should rename this blog iTMSWatch, I spend waaaay too much time there).

Gotta hand it to Stevie for having all his mice… err, ducks in a row.

View

Apple General

Disney buys Pixar for 7.4bn

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date January 24, 2006

Looks like the Disney/Pixar deal is done. The New York Times (reg required) is reporting that the agreement was met this afternoon.

Oh, and sometimes, when I don’t have anything meaningful to say, I channel my inner 9 year old.

Read

General

Comments are open for business

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date January 24, 2006

I’ve had some complaints from my audience (thanks both of you) that I needed to open up comments. Fortunately, this blog doesn’t get much traffic, so hopefully it won’t become comment spam bait.