Om Malik: TiVo, the digital hub, powered by Strangeberry?
Om Malik comments on the TiVo Strangeberry acquisition:
So what are they really building? My best guess is that Strangeberry crew, all former Sun folks, developed a piece of software that actually makes finding devices on the home networks as easy as turning on the power switch. And it is using some variant of Apple’s Rendezvous technology. I remember these guys had released some variation of Rendezvous for Java in the early days of their operation. Rendezvous is a technology which can and does work with all sort of networks - Wi-Fi, Ethernet or powerline networks.
Update: Om follows up on last week's post. In this corner, TiVo -- in the other corner, Microsoft.
Well, I've talked about the Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGi) stuff before, and if you have a look at their download page, it does use Java. This is all, of course, in opposition to the Microsoft-backed Universal Plug and Play Forum…
After the tech implosion, all this consumer-facing home gateway stuff just went away. Now that VoIP is heading strong into the residential space, and stuff like Bluetooth is finally gaining ground, and WiFi is everywhere, and online music sales are growing....well, it might just be time to look at residential home gateways again. Did I mention that Cisco bought LinkSys?
I still see these platforms eventually moving towards the same space as commodity broadband home routers. They started out in the $200 - $300 range, and now are almost free. Of course, services and software bundled on top is where the money is going to come from. Open-source mesh networking folks that are experimenting with Linux-based wireless APs might be on to something: lots of boxes with a common platform means great potential for building services.
All in all, TiVo seems to continue making good decisions.
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as a consumer
i find the subscription service models such as T1vo's abhorent. They are just taxes to justify half-baked business models. I'd pay for entertainment content, but not for the electronic program guide.
I see TiVo's subscription mod
I see TiVo's subscription model funding their further development. If it's (currently) a successful business model, can it be called half-baked?
They've already gone ahead and licensed their technology out to others, which is a good step.
Everyone that has one seems to rave about it. Not having cable kind of makes it useless to me at this point, but if/as TiVo adds more features, then more revenue/value will come from non-PVR functions.
I saw the Prismiq box at Future Shop again yesterday -- down to $269CDN. Kate was talking about having a second computer (me being busy and her wanting to look for work is cramping her style), but I don't know if that would cut it (you need to get a wireless keyboard to go with it). Cheaper and easier than setting up a PC...
general purpose PC never as robust
as a dedicated embedded device. SoC technology is now cost-efficient way to embed most functionalities needed in a wired home.
Just because T1v0 hasn't expired yet doesn't mean it's successful, at this point it wouldn't take much to sink them. Public domain RSS feeds of viewing schedules for example, wud gag them good.