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The Clicker: Is TiVo Killing Television?

by Stephen Speicher posted Dec 29th 2006 at 4:36PM

Stephen Speicher contributes The Clicker, an opinion column on entertainment and technology:

If you're like me, there is a very good chance that you say a weekly "Thank you" to the DVR gods. For me (and I'm sure for many other readers also) it's hard, nay impossible, to even imagine a world without the commercial-skipping-goodness that is TiVo. No longer does one feel compelled to rush home to see if Ross and Rachael will work things out and finally be together. In this oh-so-modern world we're free to see Ross and Rachael's present-day counterparts, Jim and Pam, awkwardly stumble through their feelings on OUR schedule.

I don't mean to overstate the importance of DVRs. However, if one were to rank the DVR on a technological progress chart, it would most likely place somewhere between cavemen discovering fire and Jonas Salk's introduction of the Polio vaccine. It's just that good.

So why, then, is TiVo killing television?

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The Clicker: Living on the Grid

by Stephen Speicher posted Nov 17th 2006 at 6:40PM

Stephen Speicher contributes The Clicker, an opinion column on entertainment and technology:

Riddle me this -- what do you get when you cross the cost savings of a peer-to-peer network with the stability, reliability, and security of a traditional CDN (Content Delivery Network)? The answer, if one Seattle startup has its way, might just be on-demand DVD-quality video at a fraction of the current cost.

Sitting atop Seattle's famed FX McRory's building in the picturesque Pioneer Square, a group of 15 dedicated employees at GridNetworks is attempting to go where many have ventured but few have succeeded; they're attempting to morph the concept of peer-to-peer into a business.

Last week I sat down with GridNetworks CEO, Jeff Payne, and VP of Sales and Marketing, Bo Wandell, to get the lowdown on their new service. Click on to find out what I gleaned from their vision for Grid.

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The Clicker: Dear Microsoft, "help me help you."

by Stephen Speicher posted Nov 2nd 2006 at 9:08PM

Stephen Speicher contributes The Clicker, an opinion column on entertainment and technology:

Whenever the subject of Microsoft's WMV codec comes up, I can't help but break out into my best Jerry McGuire impersonation. "Help me help you," I beg. "Help me help you." Yet, despite my ability to do a spot-on Tom Cruise impression, Microsoft just refuses to answer my pleas.

Perhaps I should back up.

Earlier this week Microsoft rolled out their highly-anticipated Xbox 360 update. The update was chock full of bug fixes and new features. However, to me, one of the most exciting new features was their long-overdue update to the 360's UPnP client. That's right; they finally added the ability to stream video from your computer to the 360. While it's technically always been possible to stream (using the 360's Media Center Extender technology), the new update gives the masses who aren't yet using a Media Center box a quick and easy way to stream video to the television. Or does it?

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The Clicker: Doing Europe with just an iPod and super.fi's

by Stephen Speicher posted Oct 20th 2006 at 11:29PM

Stephen Speicher contributes The Clicker, an opinion column on entertainment and technology:

These past few weeks I did the unthinkable -- I traveled through Europe without a laptop. Oh sure, to those Luddite readers among us (all two of you), this might not sound like an impressive feat. However, to me, traveling without a laptop is something akin to a diabetic traveling without insulin, one of those peanut-phobic people traveling without an EpiPen, or Paris Hilton traveling without her Valtrex Tinkerbell. In other words, it's a tall order. You see, when it comes to international travel, a laptop is often a little like an Army drill sergeant during boot camp; it is my mother, my father, my email, my Skype, my IM, my DVD player, my torrent client, my television, etc. Stated succinctly, it's my world. Ditching it wouldn't be easy. Much like an expedition to climb Everest, this endeavor required careful planning.

The first gut-wrenching decision was that all communication would be done via internet cafes and hotel business centers (note to self: change all passwords). It was a tough call, but, hey, it's called a vacation for a reason. Giving up email access to friends and colleagues was one thing. Giving up entertainment was something altogether different and NOT something I was prepared to do. I would need a steady stream of television and movie content, and I would need it to come in a small sturdy package. In short, I would need some sort of portable media player.

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The Clicker: Digital content -- why the sense of entitlement?

by Stephen Speicher posted Sep 22nd 2006 at 11:57AM

Stephen Speicher contributes The Clicker, an opinion column on entertainment and technology:

There is something that I've never really understood when it comes to the digital entertainment debate. That is: where do people get their sense of entitlement with regard to content? Don't get me wrong -- I understand the hatred of DRM. I too have been bitten by incompatible formats and locked-down systems. I understand the digital claustrophobia one feels when in the ~~bear hug~~ warm embrace of DRM. DRM is often a nasty (if necessary) evil, and its existence nearly always degrades the user experience. I understand all that. What I don't get is the sense of entitlement people feel for the content itself. After all, it's not really our content. At the end of the day if that's how content owners choose to sell it, isn't that their right? Isn't ours simply a choice of to buy or not to buy?

Somewhere along the line people started to lose perspective in this whole DRM debate. Somewhere along the line people started to categorize music, movies, and other forms of entertainment as exempt from the normal rules of commerce. Well -- that's not quite true. It's not that people gave blanket exemptions to entertainment "theft." It's that for some odd reason, people determined that they were the ones who should choose what was right and wrong when it came to the buying and selling entertainment content. Instead of the all-too-familiar set of rules for selling goods (i.e. the seller and the buyer mutually agree on the terms of sale; if either of the parties doesn't agree, there is no transfer of goods) consumers felt perfectly justified in writing their own personal rules. Often times, merely because they could.

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The Clicker: TiVo and cable -- they're like BFF, right?

by Stephen Speicher posted Sep 7th 2006 at 6:43PM

Stephen Speicher contributes The Clicker, an opinion column on entertainment and technology:

Every now and again an advertisement is so perfect that one must draw attention to it. Sometimes it's the humor that sits up and demands to be seen. Sometimes it's the spot-on commentary. Sometimes it's the unique form. And, as is the case with TiVo's latest advert, sometimes it's all three. Even disregarding the delicious irony of TiVo -- a company that made its mark by skipping commercials -- reaching out with advertisements of its own, its newest ad is a doozy.

In a recent Television Week, TiVo placed an ad for its latest creation, a CableCARD compliant TiVo. The ad is brilliant on so many levels. First and foremost -- it's completely unclear to whom it's actually targeted. While the ad (taking the form of an open letter) is addressed to "Cable Friends," one must seriously question both its true audience and how friendly they really are. After all, no one really expects the boys in cable to read this letter and suddenly say, "Wait a minute; that battle we've been fighting to keep those TiVo guys out -- forget it!" It's just not going to happen.

Its target aside, the ad's true genius reveals itself in the dizzying levels of disingenuousness it is able to achieve. There is nary a thought or concept that reads true and sincere. Let's take a look at some of the points, shall we?

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The Clicker: Blu-ray and HD DVD -- let's get a combo player already

by Stephen Speicher posted Aug 20th 2006 at 4:15PM

Stephen Speicher contributes The Clicker, an opinion column on entertainment and technology:

There is nothing quite like a format war to get keyboards a'clacking... and why not? We, the media, love a format war. Oh sure -- it screws the consumer: two perfectly good technologies rot away on shelves or, even worse, in R&D labs; countless advertising dollars are wasted; years of use are lost forever. Yes, that's all bad, but look on the bright side: format wars give us a chance to get in touch with that little Dvorak inside us all. They allow pundits and fanboys alike to boldly and without reservation declare winners months, years, or even decades ahead of their impeding victory.

Just this week my colleague and an editor at HDbeat, Ben Drawbaugh, did just that. Ben, armed with the questionable logic of "higher prices attract the customer," pronounced Blu-ray to be the winner. The siren-like call to pick a winner is irresistible, I know. I too have been bitten by the declaration bug in the past.

With that said, today we step back and do something different. Today we offer the unrealistic fanciful suggestion that the two forces join together and end this "war."

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The Clicker: ESPN360

by Stephen Speicher posted Aug 5th 2006 at 1:44AM

Stephen Speicher contributes The Clicker, an opinion column on entertainment and technology:

Ah the internet... bastion of all things democratic, egalitarian at its core, defender of equality, freeing businesses from the bureaucracy and shackles of the middleman, etc. etc.

Well, not if ESPN has its way. You see, while the rest of the world has been caught-up in the epic battle to maintain net neutrality, ESPN has been quietly doing things the old-fashioned way: they've been forcing ISPs to buy programming from them.

An expert in the "How to Price Television" game, ESPN long ago recognized that success comes not from advertising alone but instead from a mixture of advertising and subscription fees and -- while it might be theoretically possible to charge the customer for their services -- it's just so much darn easier to bill the cable companies and let them deal with customers. And boy has it worked; ESPN often demands and receives upwards of three dollars per subscriber for its services while other non-premium stations collect between 25 and 50 cents. After all, who would want to try and run a cable company that wasn't offering ESPN?

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The Clicker: Zune, it's all about the ecosystem

by Stephen Speicher posted Jul 20th 2006 at 11:35PM

Stephen Speicher contributes The Clicker, an opinion column on entertainment and technology:

Upon learning of Microsoft's rumored iPod competitor, the Zune, iPod fanatics could be heard around the globe: "It's just an iPod rip-off." "Can't the boys in Redmond do anything without copying the mighty Jobs?", loyal Appleists screamed at the top of their lungs. "It's got a scroll-wheel. It's got a screen. It will probably play music too! Will the copying ever stop?"

While all of the above may be true, repeat after me: It's not about the player. Don't get me wrong -- the iPod is a nifty little machine. In classic Apple style, the iPod is sleek and stylish; its clean lines and rolled edges ooze class and quality. Heck, the iPod is nearly lickable. However, while going to market with such a device certainly doesn't hurt your chances, it's not the root of the iPod's success. The secret to Apple's success in the online music market has always been the ease of a) buying music and b) getting music onto the device. It's really that simple. In short, it's all about the ecosystem.

For years the debate has raged on. Microsoft has stood firm; they have boldly and publicly declared, "We give the user choices. We're not about an end-to-end solution. Our PlaysForSure program allows a user to pick the device that best suits his or her needs. Blah Blah Blah." Apple, on the other hand, has chosen a different route. Much like Henry Ford's oft-quoted response to choice in the Model-T, Apple has said, "You can use any device you want as long as it's the iPod." There is no doubt who the winner was in round one. The overwhelming success of the iPod speaks volumes.

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The Clicker: Boom goes the Rocket

by Stephen Speicher posted Jul 6th 2006 at 9:18PM

Stephen Speicher contributes The Clicker, an opinion column on entertainment and technology:

It's official; the video blogging world is coming into its own. The harbinger to this digital coming of age? Well it might just be the explosion of everybody's favorite rocket, Rocketboom. After all -- a medium can't be truly successful if there aren't the predictable pulls over money and the ever-present "creative control."

Arguably the most successful video blog ever, Rocketboom and its host Amanda Congdon have heretofore been the poster children for video blog victory. Fueled by its seductively simple recipe of one part clever writing, one part quirky-but-likeable-host, and about ten parts really tight sweaters, Rocketboom has from its October 2004 inception grown to a massive daily audience of 250,000.

In December of 2005 Rocketboom took yet another step towards legitimization when it became featured content on TiVo's video download offering.

Rocketboom followed up on this TiVo victory in February by selling its first advertisement block (via eBay) for $40,000 dollars. Over the course of the following months Rocketboom sold other chunks of advertising, and while it hadn't sold enough advertising to firmly label it a long-term success, the future for Rocketboom was definitely looking bright.

Yet, despite the introduction of money (or perhaps because of it) all was not well in Rocketboom land. And while Rocketboom is a product of the Internet, the story is as old as television itself. It's the age old battle between the "talent" and the "management."

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The Clicker: People are watching "Nobody's Watching"

by Stephen Speicher posted Jun 23rd 2006 at 1:12AM

Stephen Speicher contributes The Clicker, an opinion column on entertainment and technology:

When, in 2004, NBC Universal Television greenlit the dangerously named "Nobody's Watching" script for further development, it's safe to say they probably lacked the vision to fully grasp the big ball of irony to follow. Up until a month or so ago, the show's only, er, accomplishment was to poke a little fun at NBC Universal's current CEO, Jeff Zucker with the show's sleazy WB character, Jeff Tucker. Now, however, after 2 years and 2 potential networks "Nobody's Watching" is, well, being watched.

On which network will you find this somewhat clever and certainly up-to-today's-sitcom-standard television show? Is it on NBC? That would be a good guess as it did rise out of NBC's TV farm system, but no; it's not on NBC. Is it on WB? Again no, despite WB efforts to put the show into motion after NBC passed on it, it's not on the WB either. The "Nobody's Watching" wide-scale launch happened on what I like to call The YouTube Network (or 'The YT' for short).

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The Clicker: Five of the top "IT" TVs (and who they'd be in real life)

by Stephen Speicher posted Jun 8th 2006 at 11:21PM

Stephen Speicher contributes The Clicker, an opinion column on entertainment and technology:

Congratulations! You've taken the first step; you've decided to buy a new television.

The problem, as you quickly discovered, is that the world of televisions is a crowded place. Determining which set is worthy of your hard-earned cash can be a daunting experience. Oh sure, you've done a little research. "Research," of course means that you cornered the first "TV geek" friend you could find and asked him (uh, or her) the ridiculously open-ended question "Which TV should I buy?"

Your friend, having been suckered by this question before, looked at you with an expression that clearly said, "Would you walk into a random doctor's office and nonchalantly ask 'What surgery should I have?'" and went on to do some skillful hand-waving that ultimately deflected your question. Your friend (no idiot) knows that if he actually answered the question, he'd forever be held responsible for the "quirks" any TV is bound to have.

We here at Engadget feel your pain. We don't feel your pain enough to tell you what to get, but we do feel your pain. So, to help you out a little, we've compiled a list of "IT" TV's. Below are five of the top "mob-selected" televisions. In some cases they are the best of the best. In other cases they provide good value. However, in each case, you won't be alone if you're looking at these sets. In short, these are five of the top buzz-worthy TVs, and just for fun we've included each set's "IT" girl equivalent.

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