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Thursday, February 03, 2005 |
Kevin Werbach on Tivo.
Kevin Werbach, assistant professor of legal studies at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and organizer of the popular Supernova conference, writes Tivo's obit.
OK, I have to admit it. Tivo's goose is cooked. I've been a Tivo user for years, and like most Tivo owners, I absolutely love the product. I've been convinced since I first plugged it in that some day, all TV would work like this. And I'm still convinced of that. Television as a fixed schedule grid determined by networks and cable operators is doomed. User control is the future of TV.
...
Tivo, though, still has two big assets. I'm reasonably confident those assets will be valuable enough for one of the major industry players to purchase, or perhaps a consortium. The assets are Tivo's brand, and its patents.
What do you think will happen to Tivo? Who might benefit most from Tivo's patents or brand? Or is there another important asset of Tivo that Werbach missed?
Werblog: Who will buy Tivo for scrap?
Via PVRblog [unmediated]
10:08:12 PM 
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Googling the Bottom Line. Ranking high on a Google search is advantageous for businesses, but how much is it really worth? Depends on who's tailoring the results. Commentary by Adam L. Penenberg. [Wired News]
8:34:33 PM
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Technology Review: Cybercash on Vacation. But while the mathematics is still fascinating, the emergence of any system based on it is receding into the nebulous future. Today, credit card companies dominate the Web with a system that, at its heart, is little different from the one that employed carbon-paper chits. [Tomalak's Realm]
8:34:14 PM
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Reflections on 2005 State of the Union.
Very harsh words, but nothing new said Bush about Iran in his fifth State of the Union address. What are his specific plans to stand with the Iranian people who are already standing for their liberty? It's not his first time to send the same direct message to Iranians. So what he is going to do?
The other thing, which really bugs me is that how can you say Iranians are the primary state sponsor of terrorism while not even a single Iranian has been involved in any act of terrorism after 9/11? And how dare he talks about the reform in Saudi Arabia while almost all Islamic terrorist groups around the world are funded by rich saudies, many of them with storng ties to the Royal family?
. . .
Bush had the chance to stand up with the Iranian reformists while they had still a mass popualar support, the same way he did with Ukranians. But instead his neocon friends chose to support a group of expatriates, mostly monarchist Iranians, who, unlike their exaggerated claims, had no influence among the Iranian public and effectively watched the hardline conservatives shut down the entire reformist movement. Now it's dead and Bush was partly responsible for that. He could've done a lot more than sending messages and giving money to the corrupt monarch.
[Editor: Myself (English)]
6:08:40 AM
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Buh-bye, WMD. Hello ...?. The demise of one column, the birth of another. Plus, an exclusive free download of a strange and beautiful song by a soon-to-be star. [Salon.com]
5:51:16 AM
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Automobile Virus.
SC Magazine is reporting on a virus that infects Lexus cars:
Lexus cars may be vulnerable to viruses that infect them via mobile phones. Landcruiser 100 models LX470 and LS430 have been discovered with infected operating systems that transfer within a range of 15 feet.
It seems that no one has done this yet, and the story is based on speculation that a cell phone can transfer a virus to the Lexus using Bluetooth. But it's only a matter of time before something like this actually works. [Schneier on Security]
5:50:19 AM
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