TiVo’s New Remote: The iPad

Okay, time for some good news about TiVo: The company is launching a free iPad app “in the coming weeks.” It’s a remote control for TiVo Premiere boxes (early ones, sadly, won’t work) that essentially puts a slick, touch-friendly version of the TiVo interface onto the tablet, so you can find stuff to watch and otherwise wrangle your TiVo without using its remote or interrupting whatever’s on the screen at the time.

And judging from TiVo’s demo video, it looks really neat.

Obvious question: Might TiVo tweak this app so it not only let you find shows but also permitted you to watch them on the iPad? It wouldn’t be an insurmountable technical challenge to do so, presumably. So why not make it happen–especially since TiVo to Go already permits TiVo owners to route video from the box to other devices?

Cutting the Cable-TV Cord? Maybe Some Day

Cord cutting–getting rid of cable or satellite TV–is the buzzword du jour in the TV and electronics industries. Pundits have proclaimed TV dead, or at least dying00going the way of the recording industry, which went from pricey CDs to cheaper downloads and now to mostly-free streaming.

That was the juiciest topic last Friday at New York University during the Future of Television Conference, a gathering of TV brass such as the CEO’s of Showtime and Univision, senior executives from MTV Networks, Discovery, and Yahoo, and founders of Internet video startups. The subject also permeated Pepcom’s Wine, Dine & Demo  tech show the night before, where about a half-dozen Internet-to-TV products were being shown.

The conclusion, at least to this reporter, is that cord cutting is about as real now as growing new organs in vats. Consumers will do it–but they won’t do it in droves just yet.

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The Problems With Point-and-Shoot Cameras

Odd coincidence: TechCrunch’s MG Siegler and I both bought Canon’s PowerShot S95 digital camera last week. He makes a good point about the S95: For all the quality of its results, it feels fundamentally crippled by the fact it doesn’t run apps and isn’t directly connected to the Internet, as smartphone cameras are. All other traditional cameras have the same problem.

So what’s to be done? I’m not sure, especially since I don’t want to buy a point-and-shoot camera that comes with its own pricey 3G data plan. Maybe the best solution would be if it were easy to transfer photos off of an SD card directly onto a smartphone. Anyone know of any way to do that?

Netflix Makes Streaming Cheaper–and DVDs More Expensive

At last week’s Web 2.0 Summit, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that the company would soon let subscribers opt for a plan that included only Watch Instantly video streaming, without the ability to get DVDs by mail. He spoke the truth: Netflix is introducing a $7.99 plan that provides exactly that. (It’s been testing it for a while–I saw it as an option weeks ago.)

Any current Netflix subscriber can switch to the new plan right now, saving at least a dollar over the former pricing plans. Isn’t that going to hurt the company’s bottom line? Well, it has a strategy for making up the difference: Starting today, it’s also raising the price of all the plans that do include DVDs by at least $1. The new prices range from $9.99 for a one-DVD plan (formerly $8.99) to $55.99 for an eight-DVD one (formerly $47.99).

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The Ones That Didn’t Make It: Windows’ Failed Rivals

Microsoft shipped Windows 1.0 on November 20th, 1985. Twenty-five years and two days later, it’s not just hard to remember an era in which Windows wasn’t everywhere–it’s also easy to forget that it wasn’t a given that it would catch on, period.

The company had announced the software in November of 1983, before most PC users had ever seen a graphical user interface or touched the input device known as a mouse. But by the time Windows finally shipped two years later, after a series of embarrassing delays, it had seemingly blown whatever first-mover advantage it might have had. At least four other major DOS add-ons that let users run multiple programs in “windows” had already arrived.

In a pattern that Microsoft would repeat with later products, though, it managed to make being late to the party work in its advantage. For one thing, Windows’ super-premature announcement left those four earlier packages competing with it even though it didn’t actually exist yet; many people sensibly postponed buying any “windowing” environment until it was clear how things would pan out.

For another, most of the developers of the earliest Windows rivals shot themselves in the foot, usually more than once: They released products that required cutting-edge machines which few people owned, or got ensnared in lawsuits, or failed to get third-party developers on board. Just as several of them were running out of steam, Windows arrived on the scene. And even though it didn’t gain traction for nearly another half a decade, that was okay; nothing else became a hit in the interim.

“Our approach is that there is only going to be one winner,” InfoWorld quoted Microsoft marketing honcho Steve “Bulmer” as saying in November of 1983, shortly after Windows was announced. The publication got his name wrong, but he couldn’t have been more right about the market.

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The Secret Origin of Windows

[A NOTE FROM HARRY: Windows 1.0 shipped on November 20th, 1985, which means that Microsoft's operating system turns 25 today. Let's celebrate by revisiting this fascinating look at Windows' beginnings by Microsoft veteran Tandy Trower, which we originally published earlier this year.]

Few people understand Microsoft better than Tandy Trower, who worked at the company from 1981-2009. Trower was the product manager who ultimately shipped Windows 1.0, an endeavor that some advised him was a path toward a ruined career. Four product managers had already tried and failed to ship Windows before him, and he initially thought that he was being assigned an impossible task. In this follow-up to yesterday’s story on the future of Windows, Trower recounts the inside story of his experience in transforming Windows from vaporware into a product that has left an unmistakable imprint on the world, 25 years after it was first released.

Thanks to GUIdebook for letting us borrow many of the Windows images in this story.

–David Worthington

Microsoft staffers talk MS-DOS 2.0 with the editors of PC World in late 1982 or early 1983. Windows 1.0 wouldn’t ship for almost another two years. From left: Microsoft’s Chris Larson, PC World’s Steve Cook, Bill Gates, Tandy Trower, and founding PC World editor Andrew Fluegelman.
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Google Releases an E-Book About the Internet (But Still No Book Store)

The nature of the Internet doesn’t exactly make for an exciting bedtime story, but that’s how Google is presenting “20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web.”

Google’s Chrome team wrote the e-book in HTML5, presented as interactive pages that you can fold and flip by clicking and dragging the mouse. The book is fun to read, at least for a little while, and educational if you’re not a know-it-all. It advocates for updating to a modern Web browser (i.e., not IE6) and argues that plug-ins are relics (unless they’re integrated into the browser itself, as Chrome does with Adobe Flash).

But above all, it got me wondering, what’s up with Google Editions, the cloud e-book service that was supposed to launch over the summer?

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Time Warner Tests Not-Quite-Basic Cable

Whether you blame cord-cutting or the economy, we can all agree that cable’s having a rough year. Now, Time Warner’s considering a smaller, cheaper bundle of cable channels.

The so-called “Time Warner Essentials” package will be tested in New York City and parts of Ohio, the Los Angeles Times reports. Priced at $50 per month, it’ll include roughly 50 channels, including all the broadcast networks and 12 of the top 20 Nielsen-rated cable networks. Subscribers will also be able to tack on premium channels like HBO and Showtime, and they can get but cannot get DVR service for an extra charge.

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ViewSonic Brings 3D to Photo Frames, No Glasses Required

Last Gadget Standing Nominee: ViewSonic 3D Multimedia Digital Photo Frame

List price: $179.99

Taking photo frames to the next level, ViewSonic’s 8” 3DPF8 3D Multimedia Digital Photo Frame makes it easy to share life’s memories in full 3D.  Viewsonic, says it flawlessly displays 3D photos and videos WITH NO GLASSES NEEDED, it also automatically converts standard 2D photos and videos to 3D. ( Those of us who’ve seen some of these 2D to 3D conversions tend to be a skeptical about the 3D experience but at least ViewSonic is trying something new.)  In addition to customized slideshows with music, this multifaceted 800-by-600 resolution device offers all the functionality of a compact digital display, including 128MB of internal memory, SD/SDHC/MMC and USB support, and calendar, clock and alarm features. Additionally, a rechargeable built-in battery and hidden touch panel controls ensure this device is as intuitive as it is interactive.  Sounds great… let’s see how it looks.

Kindle Finally Gets the Gift of Giving

When Amazon shipped its first Kindle three years ago, among the most common gripes from reviewers (including me) was that there was no way to give a Kindle e-book to a Kindle e-reader as a gift. Now there is, just in time for the holidays. You don’t need to own a Kindle to give Kindle books, and they can be read on Amazon’s hardware or any of its apps. And if your recipient is an unappreciative jerk (or already owns the book in question) he or she can “return” your thoughtful present to Amazon in exchange for a gift card.

Kinect Shadow Puppets

The coolest use of Kinect that I’ve seen so far, even if Microsoft doesn’t approve.

Waitaminnit, Maybe HP’s Windows Slate is Interesting After All

At first, HP’s Windows 7 slate was going to be a big deal. Then HP stopped talking about it and I declared it dead. Then it came back, but in a form that left me wondering if it was cursed. What a saga!

On Thursday afternoon, I saw the gadget–now known as the HP Slate 500, and aimed at business types rather than consumers–up close and in person. I tried it a bit. And while it may still turn out to be a train wreck, I’m now thinking it might at least be an interesting train wreck. Or even–just maybe–an interesting machine, period. (The 500 went on sale a few weeks ago, but is apparently a rare, back-ordered commodity.)

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They’re Baaaaaaaaaack!

Who says there are no second acts in American life? Four and a half months after Microsoft’s mercy killing of its dismal Kin One and Kin Two phones, they’re back on sale at Verizon, with slightly tweaked names (Kin ONEm and Kin TWOm), lower prices, and cheaper service plans with more restrictions. In other words, they’ve been downgraded from smartphones to feature phones, which probably makes sense. (Verizon and Microsoft seemed to have trouble figuring out how much these phones should cost: When I was briefed on them, shortly before they were released, the initial planned price dropped during my meeting.)

I’m sort of rooting for the Kins to find a happy customer base, and their new positioning may help. Ultimately, though, I think that they have a major problem that price cuts can’t help: They’re unappealing, poorly-designed products…

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Windows 8: Risky Business? I Hope So!

[NOTE: Here's the lead story from last week's Technologizer's T-Week newsletter--go here to sign up to receive it each Friday. You'll get original stuff that won't show up on the site until later, if at all.]

Last week, I wrote about a Steve Ballmer quote–one about Windows Phone 7. I swear that I don’t intend to devote Technologizer’s newsletter to full-time analysis of Ballmer sound bites. But this week I’m intrigued by another one.

At a recent event hosted by research firm Gartner, Ballmer was asked what Microsoft’s riskiest product bet was. He answered “the next version of Windows,” and then moved on. It’s not surprising that he didn’t elaborate: Microsoft has said pretty much nothing at all about the next Windows so far, and probably won’t disclose any facts until it’s ready to say quite a bit. (It didn’t start disclosing information about Windows 7 until a year before it was released.) If you take Ballmer literally, though, even that quick answer is significant.

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Facebook Tries “Pay Later” for Virtual Goods

Here’s a wild semi-rumor from Inside Facebook’s Josh Constine: Facebook is quietly testing a “Pay Later” feature for virtual goods in games like Farmville.

In other words, when you want to buy a bunch of Farm Coins, but don’t feel like fishing out your credit card, Facebook will let you build up real-life debt and then send you a bill.  I say “semi-rumor” because Constine cites unnamed sources, but has plenty of screenshots and details to back up the story.

A pay later system would help Facebook get around the mental barrier of buying virtual goods. Giving away the product and sending a bill might ease more people into microtransactions, and once they’ve settled the debt, their credit card or Paypal information is on file to allow for easier payments in the future. Make paying for stuff really easy, the logic goes, and more people will be willing to buy.

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