TiVo shuttering Rewards program, screwing its best customers
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Apparently TiVo sent around an email notifying its loyal overpaying customers that it’s shutting down the TiVo Rewards program on May 28th of this year. This won’t matter to the vast majority of TIVo customers, no no, this decision only screws the company’s staunchest word-of-mouth advocates. You know the kind, the alpha geeks obsessed enough with the company’s products to others spend their time zealously recommending it to friends and family in the hopes of spreading the premium DVR experience (and earning some points while they’re at it). Shutting down the program is one thing, but expecting the most loyal segment of TiVo’s cutomer-base to turn in their points before the next series of hardware comes out is beyond lame and decidedly un-TiVo.
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XM and Sirius extend merger deadline, blame FCC for not understanding their love
Filed under: Portable Audio
The XM / Sirius merger soap opera never ends, does it? Although the original deal allowed for either company to walk away risk free on March 1 if government regulators didn’t approve, the two companies have looked each other deeply in the eye and re-affirmed their love for each other — for another two months. That’s right, they’ve only extended the deadline for a whopping eight more weeks — it’s like no one at either company has noticed that this no part of this process has actually been on schedule or gone smoothly. Seriously, if we thought we could put a merger on deathwatch, we might actually do that here. Ah well, here’s to young love — too bad most of those stories end up with everyone dead, eh?
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Movie Gadget Friday: TRON
Filed under: Features, Misc. Gadgets
Ariel Waldman contributes Movie Gadget Friday, where she highlights the lovable and lame gadgets from the world of cinema.
Previously on Movie Gadget Friday, we traveled across war-torn galaxies in the 1978 version of Battlestar Gallatica. Moving forward a few years to 1982, we’ll take a look inside the computational arcade culture of TRON. Saturated with neon suits and Pac-Man blips and bleeps, the sci-fi cult Disney film has achieved pop culture status over the years.
The ENCOM Digitizing Molecular Laser
Using a matter transform sequence and a grid matrix, the ENCOM Digitizing Laser is able to transport physical matter into a digital space. The laser is able to lock on a target and dismantle the molecular structure on a cubic grid. When used for its original intentions, the molecules remain suspended in the laser beam. However, the Master Control Program is able to deviate this sequence into transporting the restructured molecules into a digitized computer game world where TRON resides. The molecules can then be shifted back safely into the physical world by selecting the run mode through the laser system. Surprisingly, the only side effects the laser has on humans is minor disorientation and temporary memory loss. Phew. More after the break.
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Apple “actively courting” Sony for slot-loading Blu-ray drives?
We know, we’re getting tired of Apple Blu-ray rumors as well — they’re right up there with refreshed Cinema Displays in terms of rumor persistence — but until Steve and the gang actually shove a drive into a machine we’re stuck with them. The latest says that Apple is actively pressing Sony for slot-loading BD-R drives but quality control issues are gumming up the plan. Reportedly, this latest ho-hum MacBook Pro refresh was to feature BD-R drives, but all Sony could muster up were Blu-ray / DVD±RW drives, which Apple refused. That seems a little odd, frankly — now that the format war is over and the competition’s already shipping mid-range laptops with slot-load BD-R drives, you’d think Apple would want to cash in that Blu-ray Disc Association membership card with whoever can supply the drives. As always, we’ll see when we see — it’s gotta happen sometime, right?
[Image courtesy of dadako.com]
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Sega Toys’ Body Trainer headset coaxes you into working out
Filed under: Wearables
Oh sure, we’ve seen gadgets used as motivational tools before, but Sega Toys is apparently banking on you not being a hothead. Otherwise, you just might fling its Body Trainer headset from your dome as soon as you hear “please exercise a little bit harder” over your incessant panting. Nevertheless, those with oodles of self-control may actually benefit from having a personal trainer (of sorts) in their ear while working out, and by monitoring the wearer’s heartbeat via a sensor, it can blurt out messages at the appropriate time to help users through their session(s). Reportedly, this nifty exercise buddy is set to launch in Japan this April for ¥5,775 ($54), and while we’ve no idea if this thing is destined for US soil, we can definitely see it being used more so for its musical abilities and less for its steadfast encouragement.
[Via CNET]
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