Some Slightly Better News on Google TV

Last week, there was much discussion on the Web of one specific tidbit from Logitech’s dismal first-quarter financial results: more of the company’s Revue Google TV boxes were returned to Logitech than got sold.

Logitech has issued a press alert with a few notes:

• The Revue price reduction to $99–it was originally $249–goes into effect today.
• “Google TV 2″ is “expected” to come out this Summer. (Google hasn’t said much at all about it so far–the platform was barely mentioned in the keynotes at May’s Google IO conference.)
• Logitech wants to be sure that people understand that the Revue’s “negative sales” didn’t mean that more consumers were returning the boxes that buying them. Consumer returns, the company says, were comparable to those of other products. “Negative sales” means that more distributors and retailers were returning unsold units than buying additional ones. (In other words, it wasn’t that people have been trying and disliking Google TV–they haven’t been interested enough in the idea to buy it, period.)

I still think that the concept of Google TV has promise. But at this point, its future is entirely dependent on version 2 being more usable and less buggy than the original, with more big-name content that doesn’t get blocked by the big media companies that own it.  And if version 2 turns out to be a disappointment, I suspect that Google TV will end up not being one of the arrows that Google chooses to put wood behind.

Fugitive’s Foolish Facebook Statuses Gets Him Caught

Mark Victor Burgos up as one of the world’s most stupid fugitives. The 29-year-old apparently found it amusing to taunt law enforcement over his Facebook page, even going as far as to say in a post “Catch me if you can, I’m in Brooklyn.” Well, guess where cops found him.

Burgos, a Brooklyn resident, was wanted by the Utica, N.Y. Police for questioning surrounding charges of domestic violence and harassment against an ex-girlfriend. Seemingly thinking he could play games with the police over Facebook, he posted a series of taunts, even going as far as posting a video of him walking into what is believed to be an NYPD police station.

Police say that Burgos’ Facebook page was open when they finally tracked him down to an apartment in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. U.S. Marshals and representatives of the NYPD made the arrest, and was transferred back upstate to face a judge on the charges Tuesday.

No word on what Burgos has plead or if Facebook assisted in tracking him down, but he did delete his taunts before police busted through his door — probably realizing they could be used as evidence against him. Probably the smartest thing he did in this whole mess, don’t you think?

YouSendIt Adds (Unlimited!) Cloud Storage and Syncing

Another your-files-in-the-cloud service? With Box.net, Dropbox, iDrive, SugarSync, and others in the game, and Apple’s iCloud in the way, my instinct would usually be to say we don’t need another one. But YouSendIt’s new offering is different. For one thing, it’s not a new service but a revamping and expansion of the big-file-sharing service that YouSendIt has been running for years–which is available in both a free edition and a paid one with hundreds of thousands of customers.

YouSendIt retains its signature feature: letting you avoid e-mail attachments and FTP servers by uploading big files to YouSendIt for downloading by other folks. But now it also has the standard suite of cloud storage/syncing tools: online space you can use like a hard disk, a syncing app, and apps for the iPhone and iPad. (There’s no Mac app yet–YouSendIt is working on one–or an app for Android.)

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How Google TV Can Be Saved

Logitech is taking a beating for throwing early support behind Google TV. The company announced that it will cut the price of its Logitech Revue Google TV box to $99, which means each unit will be sold at a loss. And just in case there was any question of whether Google TV was a flop, Logitech offered an embarrassing statistic: The Revue saw more returns than sales last quarter.

This isn’t the end of Google TV. Google plans to revamp the software this summer with an interface based on Android Honeycomb, with access to the Android Market. But to make Google TV a living room powerhouse, Google and its hardware partners need to learn a few lessons from the first generation’s flop.

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Techheads.tv is Live. Go Watch!

I’ve been a fan of Bob Wright’s Bloggingheads.tv since it launched more than five years ago. I’ve appeared on it from time to time. And now I’m tickled to report that it has a new sister site devoted entirely to video “diavlogs” about tech: Techheads.tv.

A Brief History of Apple Not Buying Things

And so it begins again. BGR has an exclusive scoop from an “unproven” (ooh!) source: Apple is in talks to buy Barnes & Noble, the country’s last remaining national bookseller. As BGR points out, the acquisition would get Apple B&N’s digital books and other publications (which it might conceivably want) and Nook hardware (which it surely doesn’t), along with hundreds of retail outlets which it could either shutter or convert into Apple Stores. (Enormous Apple Stores! Usually located conveniently close to existing Apple Stores!)

Here’s a bit of deep insight from another BGR source (the story doesn’t say if it’s a proven or unproven one):

It also almost makes too much sense for Apple to do this, said another source of ours, mentioning that Apple doesn’t make moves that appear logical to most outside observers at the time.

Well said. For years, Apple has confounded the rest of us by not buying things that it should clearly be buying. Not purchasing other well-known companies is so core to Apple’s strategy that it must have a whole department devoted to non-mergers and un-acquisitions.

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Bad Revue: Logitech’s Google TV Box Suffers From “Negative Sales”

How is Logitech’s Revue–the first stand-alone Google TV box–selling? Logitech says sales are “slightly negative.” As in, more Revue boxes are coming back to Logitech than are being bought and used by consumers. I feel the company’s pain, but I’m not surprised by the bad news. I like the idea of Google TV, but when I tried the Revue last October, I found its software horrifically rough around the edges, to the point that it was no fun at all. Logitech has knocked the price down from $249 to $99, but a shaky product is a shaky product no matter what the price is.

As Daring Fireball’s John Gruber points out, the Revue is an example of a trend I cover in my new TIME.com Technologizer column: products which ship even though they’re clearly not ready to ship. I don’t know the Revue’s backstory–and tend to think that Logitech may have been as surprised by anyone at how iffy the Google TV software is. But reviewers like me and early adopters who bought the Revue found it lacking, and told other people. Is there any way that Google TV’s chances at success wouldn’t have been a lot higher if Google had finished it six months or a year later and invested the extra time in creating something that pundits and real people would have loved?

DisplayMate’s Latest Tablet Display Shoot-Out

Some people review phones and tablets. My friend Ray Soneira, the display guru who runs DisplayMate, reviews phone displays and tablet displays–and he just published an update to his ongoing review of tablet screens. Executive summary: He thinks that Apple’s iPad 2 and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 are both really good, and very close–and that, even though the Tab’s colors are oversaturated, it’s slightly better than the iPad overall. None of the other tablets he tried rival the iPad and the Tab.

Ray also points out an important fact that many of us trip up on: Android tablets with 10.1″ screens don’t give you more real estate than the 9.7″ iPad 2.

Nintendo Gets Desperate, Will Drop 3DS Price to $170

Nintendo has already admitted that sales of its 3DS handheld are lower than expected, so the company’s announcement of a Nintendo 3DS price cut isn’t a huge surprise.

But boy, is it ever a price cut. Starting August 12, the cost of a Nintendo 3DS will fall from $250 to $170, making for one of the sharpest price drops in handheld history.  This also makes the 3DS a mere $20 more expensive than a Nintendo DSi, unless Nintendo announces discounts for its 2D handheld in the coming weeks.

Early adopters who paid $250 for the 3DS will get 10 free NES Virtual Console games starting September 1 and 10 free Game Boy Advance games by year-end.

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Google Wants to Speed You Up

Google thinks the Web should be faster. It’s a constant theme at its media events, and is reflected in its decisions about its search engine, Android, and other products.  And it’s announcing Google Page Speed Service, a new service which aims to help other sites pick up the pace. Page Speed Service will wedge itself between an existing site and the Web, and will rewrite the site’s code on the fly to optimize it for speed. It’s not intuitively obvious that this would work–wouldn’t the rewriting process eat up part of any gains realized?–but Google says that it’s seen improvements of 25% to 60% in some cases.

Just for yuks, I ran Page Speed Service’s tests on Technologizer. It said that the optimized version of this site was 1.9 percent faster than the current one, but also said that the optimized one was slower in other respects. (The video comparison of existing Technologizer vs. optimized Technologizer–which you can view here–does make the optimized one look snappier.)

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ESPN’s Xbox Overhaul Could Be Cooler Than Cable

ESPN’s app for the Xbox 360 is about to get a lot better, just in time for college football.

The app, which relaunches on August 25 according to Gizmodo, will let users watch two games at once in 720p, with the ability to pause, rewind and replay each game independently. The second viewing window will also be able to show scores from around the league and replays from the game you’re already watching.

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Uber Rides Into Seattle

Back in April I told you about Uber–the luxury transportation service that got its start in San Francisco–appearing in New York City. Well, the company is expanding again, this time into Seattle. As in the Big Apple, test cars are limited, and they’re not ready for prime time just yet. In other words, be a little patient.

Here’s how it works: your reservation for a car is placed through Uber’s iPhone app. You’ll then receive a text message when the Uber is expected to arrive, and when it is about to arrive at your location. No money exchanges hands because the payment (with tip included) is done via credit card stored with Uber. Fast and easy.

I can tell you from personal experience during CE Week back in June that the service is nice. In addition to the text, I received calls from the driver confirming my location on his way there, as well as also letting me know he was there in case I might have missed the text message. Pretty good customer service!

I was happy to share the ride with Mrs. McCracken herself (aka Marie Domingo) and we were both impressed with the ride. Yes, it’s more expensive than a cab. But sometimes you’ve got to step it up, you know?

The company is staying pretty tight lipped about its future expansion plans, but it’s obviously taking its time in expanding. If I could make a suggestion, I’d love to see Ubers in Philadelphia (hint, hint).

MS-DOS is Thirty

IBM’s Selectric isn’t the only Very Important Tech Product marking an anniversary. MS-DOS turns 30 today. (Via Mary Jo Foley.)

Happy Fiftieth Birthday, IBM Selectric

Last month, I had fun paying tribute to Polaroid’s SX-70, an old-technology gadget that’s all the more extraordinary because there was nothing digital about it. The SX-70 came to mind again when I learned that IBM’s Selectric typewriter is marking its fiftieth anniversary. It was a great leap forward beyond every typewriter of the time, both technologically sophisticated and beautifully designed. And it remains pretty darn cool even if most of us will never use one again.

To celebrate the Selectric’s fiftieth, I put together a slideshow of evocative images and interesting factoids, including stuff about later models–such as the $21,000 (!!!) Selectric Magnetic Tape Composer. Here it is.

It’s Selectric! IBM’s Classic Typewriter Turns Fifty

Do you remember typewriters? Of course you do. But do you remember the last time a typewriter was exciting and futuristic? That would be 1961, when IBM released its first Selectric. It went on sale on July 27th, which makes this Sunday its fiftieth anniversary. (IBM is celebrating its own hundredth birthday this year, making the Selectric a nifty half-way point in its long history.)

The result of seven years of research, the Selectric went on to become one of the best-selling office devices ever. It’s been so archaic for so long that it’s tough to remember just how remarkable it was in its day–and there’s no better time than right now to give it its due.

Bastion and the Slow Rise of Downloadable Console Games

Despite a growing stack of unplayed or unfinished video game discs in my living room, I spent a good chunk of last weekend playing Bastion, a downloadable Xbox Live Arcade game.

It’s a beautiful game, with a grizzled narrator who turns your every move into the stuff of campfire legends, an addictive combat system that strings you along with new weapons and powers, and a colorful post-apocalyptic world that literally reassembles itself chunk-by-chunk as your character trudges forward. I easily spent eight hours playing Bastion from start to finish, all for the Microsoft Points equivalent of $15.

I’ve played some excellent Xbox Live Arcade games over the years — Braid, Limbo and Shadow Complex, to name a few — but Bastion feels more like a full retail title than any of them. And it does so for a fraction of the price of a new game on disc.

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