Mar/100
TiVo posts $10.2m loss, remains on deathwatch
We’ve had TiVo firmly on deathwatch since 2005, and although the company’s shares have recently surged with the launch of the TiVo Premiere and another legal victory over Echostar, things are still looking somewhat bleak: the Q4 numbers are in, and everyone’s favorite DVR company just posted a $10.2m loss. Why? For the same reason that’s plagued the company for five damn years now: it’s hard to sign up new subscribers when the cable company offers a similar good-enough product for less money, especially when TiVo can’t access cable VOD. And let’s be brutally honest here: we love TiVo and we’re more than excited to get our Premiere review units, but we don’t think a revised interface is going to stem the tide — almost every feature of the Premiere is available on the TiVo HD, after all. We’ve offered up our suggestions on how to re-energize the company in the past — that new QWERTY remote is a great start — but until TiVo stops playing ball with the same cable companies that actively try and cut it off at the knees and starts going for the jugular with features and pricing, we don’t think things are going to get any better.
TiVo posts $10.2m loss, remains on deathwatch originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Mar/100
Google and Dish Network testing TV search on Android-based set-top boxes
We’ve definitely heard of a few different Android-based satellite and cable boxes in the past year, but it looks like Google’s exploring a real move into living room: the Wall Street Journal reports that El Goog and Dish Network are testing a TV search service on a new box that runs on “elements” of Android. (We’re taking that to mean it’s a stripped-down version of the OS tailored for a set-top, not some totally crazy remix.) The box features a QWERTY remote, and users can search both Dish content and other services like YouTube, which sounds like the same riff TiVo’s trying to pull off with the Premiere. Unfortunately, none of this seems destined to hit consumers anytime soon — the WSJ also says the trial “is limited to a very small number of Google employees and their families and could be discontinued at any time.” Okay, but can we at least get some hands-on pictures first?
[Thanks, Jordan]
Google and Dish Network testing TV search on Android-based set-top boxes originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Mar/100
Rambus and NVIDIA patent dispute gets a little closer to a resolution
We’re just a few tech-related legal cases away from changing our name to Enpatent, and the latest to push us that little bit closer is yet another ruling in the long and drawn-out battle between Rambus and NVIDIA. If you need a refresher, way back in 2008 Rambus accused NVIDIA of illicitly using five of its patents, and most recently a judge ruled that only three of those five had been violated. Now two more patents have fallen off the legal wagon, with the US Patent and Trademark Office indicating that only one of the three remaining was a true violation, a second was rejected, and a third got a mixed ruling. So, from a start of five Rambus is down to basically one and a half, but NVIDIA is saying it isn’t done yet, planning yet another appeal. Maybe we should call ourselves Enappeal instead…
Rambus and NVIDIA patent dispute gets a little closer to a resolution originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Mar/100
Murdoch confirms WSJ coming to iPad, device kept ‘under padlock and key’
Murdoch confirms WSJ coming to iPad, device kept ‘under padlock and key’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Mar/100
Google claims that Microsoft is encouraging third party anti-trust lawsuits
Google claims that Microsoft is encouraging third party anti-trust lawsuits originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Feb/100
Palm boss Rubenstein sends letter to employees, talks turnaround
There’s very likely a little unrest inside Palm’s corporate walls today on news that the company’s falling a little short of its financial expectations, so CEO Jon Rubenstein has wasted no time firing off an all-employee letter explaining the sitch while trying to calm some nerves in the process. As analysts had feared, Rubenstein clearly isn’t pleased with the way the company’s launch on Verizon has gone — but he’s already got a plan in place involving some 200 “Brand Ambassadors” deployed to Verizon stores to help get reps the straight dope on Palm products and a refreshed ad campaign across several mediums. Is it enough? That remains to be seen, but in the meantime, he’s quick to note that they’ve got around $500 million in cash in the bank just for a rainy day like this. There’s an all-hands meeting scheduled for after Palm’s earnings call next month — would be interesting to be a fly on the wall for that, wouldn’t it?
Continue reading Palm boss Rubenstein sends letter to employees, talks turnaround
Palm boss Rubenstein sends letter to employees, talks turnaround originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Feb/100
Palm boss Rubinstein sends letter to employees, talks turnaround
There’s very likely a little unrest inside Palm’s corporate walls today on news that the company’s falling a little short of its financial expectations, so CEO Jon Rubinstein has wasted no time firing off an all-employee letter explaining the sitch while trying to calm some nerves in the process. As analysts had feared, Rubinstein clearly isn’t pleased with the way the company’s launch on Verizon has gone — but he’s already got a plan in place involving some 200 “Brand Ambassadors” deployed to Verizon stores to help get reps the straight dope on Palm products and a refreshed ad campaign across several mediums. Is it enough? That remains to be seen, but in the meantime, he’s quick to note that they’ve got around $500 million in cash in the bank just for a rainy day like this. There’s an all-hands meeting scheduled for after Palm’s earnings call next month — would be interesting to be a fly on the wall for that, wouldn’t it?
Continue reading Palm boss Rubinstein sends letter to employees, talks turnaround
Palm boss Rubinstein sends letter to employees, talks turnaround originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Feb/100
Analysts turn sour on Palm stock, cite weak sales on Verizon
It’s unclear how the data’s being collected, but a handful of analysts have started backing away from Palm this week on some information that the phone’s webOS debut on Verizon has proven something less than bombastic at the sales counter. Of course, it’s no secret that Verizon has poured less money, time, and energy into its marketing of the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus than Sprint has with the original versions, but Palm and the market analysts following its progress may have been banking on the unspoken “if only this were on Verizon” factor to counteract that a bit. The biggest concern seems to be that Palm’s on the cusp of being washed into irrelevancy by a massive Android push, with a couple stock downgrades and price target cuts making their way into the hearts and minds of the market makers. Again, it’s not clear exactly where the Verizon sales figures are coming from — and we’d be remiss in thinking that analysts always (or even usually) know what they’re talking about — but this could be an early sign that the tide is turning. Come on, Palm: more carriers, more hardware, more features.
Analysts turn sour on Palm stock, cite weak sales on Verizon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Feb/100
Cablevision’s new ‘PC to TV Media Relay’ slings PC media to your cable box, fuzzy on the details
It’s been done before, and in many ways, but Cablevision’s new plan for slinging what’s on your PC to your TV might be one of the most interesting tries yet. Dubbed “PC to TV Media Relay,” the new service will let subscribers that get their broadband internet and cable TV from Cablevision load up a bit of software on their Windows PC (a Mac version is forthcoming) that pushes whatever is on the computer through to a dedicated channel on the cable box. The real win here is the absolute lack of new hardware that’s required (as far as we can tell), though we’re guessing Cablevision is doing something fancy on the back end to route the video locally instead of streaming it over the entire internet. The service will start trials in June, and is a pretty overt move to keep users from dropping their cable TV service altogether as internet video continues to gain steam and Intel Wireless Display makes something like this into default functionality. In all, it’s hard not to see this as just a stopgap, but it’s certainly an intriguing one.
Cablevision’s new ‘PC to TV Media Relay’ slings PC media to your cable box, fuzzy on the details originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Feb/100
Motorola cable boxes to get Blur, connect with phones
Now that Moto’s phone and set-top box divisions are being split out into their own company, it looks like there’s some convergence afoot: the MOTOBLUR interface found on the CLIQ and the Backflip is currently being tested on the company’s cable boxes with a tentative release scheduled for this year. That’s the word according to CEO Sanjay Jha, who also told the Wall Street Journal that he wants Moto’s phones and set-top boxes to eventually support a common platform so they can “share media and features” — lending credence to those old rumors about Android-powered Moto cable boxes. Of course, getting custom software on cable boxes requires negotiating with cable companies, which is an even slower and tougher process than working with cell carriers, so we’re not holding out hope that we’ll see the fruits of this labor any time soon — but it’s nice to think about, isn’t it?
Motorola cable boxes to get Blur, connect with phones originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Feb/100
James Cameron sees Avatar on Blu-ray 3D in November, HDTV manufacturers mark their calendars
Fox has been slow to show its hand concerning the Avatar home video release schedule, but that didn’t stop director James Cameron from spilling assorted dates and SKUs in a Wall Street Journal interview. He’s pegged a standard DVD & Blu-ray release for April 22, with a special edition DVD and Blu-ray 3D version arriving in November. Considering how much electronics companies have invested in bringing 3D to market this year and specifically Panasonic’s push to make Avatar a box office smash the timing seems right on target. Whether you love the Na’Vi just a little or far, far too much, budgeting for a 3D related Black Friday upgrade to go along with blue body paint for Halloween is seeming like a more sensible option every day.
James Cameron sees Avatar on Blu-ray 3D in November, HDTV manufacturers mark their calendars originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Feb/100
Wall Street Journal: Windows Mobile 7 coming next week
We pretty much knew that Windows Mobile 7 is coming next week at MWC, but the Wall Street Journal has a piece up confirming the announcement, along with a few other interesting details. As we’d heard, the new UI is a riff on the Zune HD interface, and the OS “reflects a much tighter focus” on hardware / software integration, all based around a “small number” of hardware chassis specs — pretty much what we’ve known, but it’s interesting that the Journal’s source says the plan is to “limit the wild variation” that’s typically been the hallmark of Windows Mobile. The WSJ also says that the long-rumored Pink project is a separate phone designed to replace the Sidekick — which we also basically knew — but that it won’t make an appearance at MWC at all. Hmm, sounds like someone ought tell all those Twittering Danger employees. We’ll see what happens — it all goes down early on Monday.
Wall Street Journal: Windows Mobile 7 coming next week originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Feb/100
Apple to sell 99 cent TV shows at iPad launch?
Today’s “people familiar with the discussions” prattle carried by both the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times has Apple reducing the price of some of its US television shows to 99 cents in time for the iPad launch. A quick search through the iTunes store makes it apparent that Apple has already been experimenting with the 99 cent rate (and a few freebies) on select iTunes episodes; shows that previously ran $1.99 for standard definition quality or $2.99 in HD. Of course, this could all change by the time the iPad launches since the talks are ongoing. Unfortunately, discussions between Apple and content providers to provide a monthly TV subscriptions have stalled according to sources at the Wall Street Journal, although Apple remains open to the idea.
It’s worth remembering that prior to adding video support to its iPods, Steve Jobs regularly lambasted the idea of watching video on a tiny, handheld display. The iPad, with its big 9.7-inch 1,024 x 768 pixel IPS panel, is certainly better positioned for video consumption so it’s no surprise to hear rumors that Apple’s trying to jump start its video business by getting back to the magical 99 cent price point it so loves.
Apple to sell 99 cent TV shows at iPad launch? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 02:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Feb/100
Motorola to roll out revised plan, schism not so clear-cut anymore
Remember Motorola’s decision to pause the sale of its largest division? Change of plans again, folks. According to The Wall Street Journal, the company’s getting ready to reveal a new initiative, whereby it still sells its wireless networking business, but the set-top box and core handset business would instead be spun off into a new, publicly-traded company. That’d invariably leave a pretty small Motorola — less than one-third its current size in terms of sales, selling primarily public-radio system and bar-code scanners. Would the newly-minted company get a new name, logo, and series of catchy, name-inspired puns? Our guess is it’d retain the Moto name — why waste such good branding — but it’s not confirmed either way. Plans are still being finalized, but we’re watching this closely.
Motorola to roll out revised plan, schism not so clear-cut anymore originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Feb/100
Google’s Nexus One ‘equipment recovery fee’ slashed to $150, still a pain
So the good news here is that Google appears to have heard the cries for help, having taken a chainsaw to its brutal $350 “equipment recovery fee” that had been lumped on top of T-Mobile’s $200 ETF for subsidized Nexus One contracts canceled in the first 120 days. The bad news, though, is that it still exists at all — a hairy precedent for an industry being watched with eagle eyes by the FCC right now. The company has knocked $200 off the fee, bringing it down to $150; in other words, if you break your contract, you’ll pay the same ETF that Verizon now charges on its “advanced devices.” Whether that was a deliberate move to let ‘em say that they’re no more expensive than Verizon is unclear, but let’s be honest: $350 is extreme, $550 was highway robbery. At least we’re going in the right direction.
Google’s Nexus One ‘equipment recovery fee’ slashed to $150, still a pain originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Feb/100
Analyst: Apple to be ‘nimble’ on iPad pricing, athletic on pommel horse
Apple’s $499 starting iPad price tag is already lower than many people — and a few competitors — expected, but apparently Steve and company have left themselves a little wiggle room: Credit Suisse analyst Bill Shope says that Apple told him it’ll remain “nimble” when it comes to iPad pricing, suggesting that the price could drop if sales don’t meet targets. That’s not a hugely surprising thing to say, considering Apple’s trying to be the first to achieve real success with a ‘tweener device and strong pressure from netbooks, laptops, and smartphones threatens to collapse the space entirely, but a lot of people are taking it to mean some kind of drop is a done deal — particularly since Apple cut the price of the first-gen iPhone by $200 just a few months after it launched and saw already-solid sales triple. We’re honestly not so sure, though: Apple always tells investors that it’s confident in how its products are priced but responsive to market changes, and it’s not like a smaller price cut boosted the Apple TV into hit product territory. We’ll see what happens after the iPad actually goes on sale — we doubt we’ll see any changes for another few months at least.
Analyst: Apple to be ‘nimble’ on iPad pricing, athletic on pommel horse originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Feb/100
Deutsche Telekom rumored to be eyeing T-Mobile USA spinoff
Not a week goes by that we don’t hear of investor pressure on Deutsche Telekom to strengthen its financials and offload underperforming units — T-Mobile USA included — and the American outpost is back in the spotlight this evening coming off a report out of The Wall Street Journal that a spinoff might indeed be in the works. According to our favorite “people familiar with the matter,” DT has reached out to a few banks with the goal of raising enough capital for T-Mobile through an IPO that it’d be able to continue to fund its network build-out, something that’s going to become increasingly critical as it fends off 7.2Mbps HSPA and 4G competition from all of its national competitors. There are a few scenarios allegedly being discussed, ranging from a full-on excision of T-Mobile from its corporate parent to a merger with another US wireless firm — but the plan gaining most traction internally is said to involve selling around 20 percent of the carrier to investors while hanging onto the rest, a situation that would get the underperforming unit’s financials off DT’s books. Ultimately, whatever comes of this probably won’t happen for a few months while the options get mulled, but considering what went down in the UK, this certainly seems plausible.
Deutsche Telekom rumored to be eyeing T-Mobile USA spinoff originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Feb/100
Major textbook pubs partner with ScrollMotion for iPad development
Putting traditional print publication on an iPhone screen is old hat for ScrollMotion, and now it’s taking that know-how to a larger screen. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Kaplan, Pearson Education, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt K-12, and the educational sector of McGraw-Hill have all made deals with the company to develop textbook apps and test-prep / study guide apps for the Apple iPad. No other details are given and we unfortunately lack any timeline. It certainly makes the machine more classroom-viable, but we’ll hold judgment until we see what actually comes of this partnership — your move, Kindle.
Major textbook pubs partner with ScrollMotion for iPad development originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Jan/100
Study finds people want more from their Kindles, less from their newspapers
This may come as a surprise to you (although probably not, you smart devil), but it turns out that plenty of people are dissatisfied with their current e-reader options — according to a recent study conducted at the University of Georgia. The study was conducted over a six-month period where participants read the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on a Kindle, then provided feedback. The results were, well — not entirely shocking. Younger adults found the Kindle to be lacking because it had no touchscreen or other applications (though to be fair, neither does the print version of the paper), while older adults seemed more satisfied, but also reported missing the crossword puzzles and comics of a real, live newspaper. Pretty much everyone agreed that the screen was nice and comfortable to read on, but almost no one was a fan of the price. All in all, there’s not terribly much here that we think is overly telling — besides (of course) the fact that paper rules.
Study finds people want more from their Kindles, less from their newspapers originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Jan/100
Totally blow out the big game! Part V: Super Bowl XLIV
Sure, the Wall Street Journal says there’s only 11 minutes of actual action in every NFL game, but on Super Bowl Sunday we’ll be prepped to catch every one of them — and all the commercials, play stoppages and halftime shows in between — in the best quality possible. The Colts and Saints both came close to racking up undefeated regular season records but missed, due either to lackluster play and late season injuries or just a decision to play Curtis Painter. While that means the ‘72 Dolphins get to hang onto a glorious past for one more year, these pass-happy offenses of the future are expected to light up the scoreboard all night and we’ll need to make sure our equipment is up to par for a 2010 Super Bowl experience.
Continue reading Totally blow out the big game! Part V: Super Bowl XLIV
Totally blow out the big game! Part V: Super Bowl XLIV originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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