Category: New Media (Page 14 of 14)

My TiVo is a pimp

April 17, 2006 / Jason Zingale

I’m sure it will come as no surprise that even the fine people at TiVo can’t claim 100% satisfaction from their product, and while we’ve all had our share of problems with the little love box, the following story certainly takes the cake:

A San Franciso man reportedly recieved over $2000 in phone bills for a line at his vacation home in Michigan. Having been previously connected to TiVo before the subscription was cancelled, the man was shocked to hear from his phone company that it was his disconnected TiVo service dialing the long distance numbers. Oh, and they weren’t just normal long distance calls, either, but 1-900 sex lines to Singapore.

I find this difficult to believe, since all it takes is a quick yank of the phone cord out of the wall to disconnect your subscription, but TiVo has still agreed to pay the man’s insanely expensive phone bills in full. Now that’s customer service!

Humor, New Media

I’ll take a Doubleshot and…The Gumball Rally

February 5, 2006 / Jason Thompson

Hey? Where’s the best place to buy DVDs? Well, for those of you who like your coffee made to order, Starbucks wills soon be a DVD retailer. Yes, after offering exclusive music CDs and starting up their own label, the coffee chain is going to start cranking out the video as well. Can you dig it? Can we all assume that the DVDs will be as expensive as their coffee? Oh, who am I kidding? Gimme a Doubleshot and a frozen vanilla creme beverage now!

New Media, News

Howard Stern debut

January 9, 2006 / Gerardo Orlando

I caught 20 minutes of Howard’s first broadcast on Sirius and it was friggin’ hilarious (click here for a complete overview of the first show). George Takei (of Star Trek fame) was on board as the show’s new announcer, so Howard and the gang had lots of fun with the whole gay theme.

I almost drove my car off the road when they started playing the Pat O’Brien tape. Of course it was uncensored, which took the bit to a whole new level. Then they started playing song parodies (like Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy”) with O’Brien’s ridiculous statements in the background. Priceless.

One blog counted 77 f-bombs from Howard. Howard claims he doesn’t want to rely too heavily on profanity, pointing out that it gets boring if used too often. My first impression is that he’s striking a good balance, and the O’Brien tape is a great example of content that works much better in an uncensored setting.

I’m glad he’s back.

Humor, New Media, News

Google goes video

December 5, 2005 / Jason Thompson

I didn’t know it till just over this past weekend, so I’m thinking you might not know it as well, but Google now has a beta version of Google Video now online. Scour the internet to watch all sorts of clips ranging from homemade music videos, TV clips, full-length features, and so much more. You could literally spend hours getting sucked into all the content. And of course, you can search for what you like (hint: a search for “ipecac” will take you to a particularly funny one for those into the more juvenile types of entertainment). The twisted beauty of the Internet is revealed once again by those mad geniuses over at Google. Man, I’m glad I work from home.

New Media, News

AOL will add TV reruns on demand

November 14, 2005 / Gerardo Orlando

The Washington Post is reporting that AOL is planning to offer of episodes of once-popular television shows like “Welcome Back Kotter” and “Chico and the Man” for free on its web site. The new In2TV service is set to launch in January and will include episodes of more than 100 shows. AOL plans to make money by selling ads so broadband users can access the shows for free.

This is a pretty cool idea and it will add another revenue stream for content companies. I like the approach of selling ads instead of using a pay-per-view model. The convergence of TV and the Internet continues!

New Media, News, TV