TiVo has unveiled its latest home DVR devices, and they’re going to do a lot more than just record your shows for you now.

Known as HD Series 4 and as TiVo Premiere, the new set top DVRs are adding Internet connections to deliver even more content to your TV than the shows you choose to record. Both the TiVo Premiere (320 GB hard drive) and the TiVo Premiere XL (1 TB hard drive) will be able to deliver content from Netflix Watch Instantly, Amazon Video on Demand, Blockbuster on Demand, YouTube, Pandora and more.

Both units will have 1080P outputs and feature expansion slots for additional storage.  The Premiere will for $299 and can record up to 45 hours of content in HD recording, while the Premiere XL will sell for $499, record up to 150 hours of HD content and adds THX certification.

Both devices will include Ethernet ports, but if you want to go for a Wi-Fi connection, you will have to purchase a $90 dongle.  Also, there will be a Bluetooth enabled QWERTY keyboard released later in the year you will need to buy separably.

One of the biggest additions, and one I have wanted for ages, a meter will show you how much hard drive space you have left at any time.  Thank goodness!

Full press release after the break

INTRODUCING TIVO® PREMIERE, THE ONE BOX TO RULE THEM ALL
New Box Offers a Stunning New HD Experience That Blows Away Any Other Cable Set-Top Box

TiVo Opens Up the Box to Pandora Internet Radio, Maximizing the TiVo Music Experience

Alviso, Calif. March 3 -TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), a leader in advanced television services, including digital video recorders (DVRs), announced today the launch of TiVo® Premiere and TiVo® Premiere XL boxes. TiVo Premiere elegantly combines access to cable programming, movies, web videos, and music all in one box at a truly affordable price. TiVo Premiere is now the only way to unlock the real value of the HD television set, a box that is more powerful, compact, and energy efficient than previous generations. If the DVR changed your life, TiVo Premiere will change it again.

“It has never been this easy to get all your entertainment in one place, on the big screen, in HD, right at your fingertips. And the beauty of TiVo Premiere is that finding what to watch is just as fun as the watching the TV shows themselves. We accomplished it by using pictures and graphics to make the whole television guide experience come alive in a way that it never has before,” said TiVo’s President and CEO Tom Rogers. “TiVo Premiere is your new cable box, it’s your movie box, it’s your web box, and music box; it’s the one box that can give you access to almost anything you want, whenever you want it. We’ve taken millions of pieces of content and organized it for you in a way that makes so much sense you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.”

Why Premiere Is Revolutionary:

It’s the One Box: TiVo Premiere is your new cable box, movie box, web box, and music box; it’s the one box that gives you access to everything you want to get on your television and all with one remote. It’s a true one stop shop for entertainment.*

Broadband and Broadcast Integration: Premiere’s search functionality offers users the ability to find programs from many sources – whether it’s a digital premium channel from cable, a funny outtake from YouTube or a movie from broadband sources such as Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, or Blockbuster On Demand, plus options from the Web all brought together into one unified and simple experience.*

Browse Baby Browse: Premiere is at its best when you want to browse, discover and explore the almost infinite array of TV options. Every show, from every source, is organized by category or topic. With a full-screen menu that includes a rich display of movie posters & TV show logos for exploring, it’s simple to stumble upon interesting things to watch or record. Plus, consumers have never before had the option to browse by specific movie collections on their TV. For example, browse thru Oscar® Award winning movies or Emmy® Award winning television shows with one simple click of the remote.

Six-Degrees of Separation: Premiere will settle debates over “where have I seen that actor before?” far faster than a trip to the laptop ever could. Just click on a show or an actor and consumers will be able to view entire entertainment resumes and cast lists, quickly and easily. Before you know it you’ll find associations from one favorite actor to another that you never dreamed existed, fueling the discovery process even more and likely getting you hooked in the process.

Easy to Use HD Layout: We’ve kept the easy navigation, but significantly cut the number of screens you have to visit by utilizing the extra room high-definition affords. The experience was built for HD television sets and by creating a two-column and three-column layouts we reduce the number of screens, helping you to get to what you want more quickly.

Set-top box built on Adobe® Flash® Platform for the Digital Home: Premiere is built on Adobe Flash software, a pathway to future user-generated experiences and development opportunities, which have not been available before on a set-top box. Premiere is built on multi-core architecture that greatly facilitates future development of third party provided applications.

We Listened: By popular demand Premiere includes an on-screen disk space meter that shows how much room is left to record, a built in 30 second scan, and a new video window that lets you watch your favorite show while navigating the TiVo menus.

Room to Record: The TiVo Premiere box has up to 45 hours of HD storage space or up to 400 hours of standard definition programming capacity. And for those who want even more options the TiVo Premiere XL box holds up to 150 hours of high-definition or up to 1350 hours of standard definition programming.

Even More Content: A brand new relationship with Pandora means in the coming months, Premiere as well as TiVo Series3™ and HD DVR customers will be able to listen to their personalized Pandora radio stations on the best speakers in the house. A new relationship with FrameChannel brings the best of the web directly to the TV offering users access to nearly 1,000 content widgets of personal and commercial content, ranging from Tweets, photos and status updates to news, weather, sports scores and stock quotes. FrameChannel acts as a personalized channel on your television, transforming your TV into a constant stream of real-time news and information with the content that matters to you most.

Speaking about its strategic marketing alliance with TiVo that was announced last year, Mike Vitelli, President of the Americas for Best Buy, said, “This is an important step toward achieving our shared vision to transform the digital home entertainment experience and redefine customer service. Through TiVo we can continue to strengthen relationships and interact with our valued customers even after they leave our stores, which is invaluable in a rapidly evolving digital media environment. Cable companies do a great job of connecting customers to content, but TiVo takes the complete digital experience to the next level.”

“We are proud to be leading the cable industry in the adoption of this groundbreaking approach to advanced television. TiVo will bring a whole new way for our subscribers to experience television with TiVo’s DVR and broadband television offerings,” said RCN President & CEO Peter Aquino. “I’m very pleased to report that based on our field test results, we will begin to roll out TiVo as our primary advanced box in all of our markets, one by one, in the second quarter of this year.”

Coming in May, a new TiVo Wireless N adapter, that allows for faster downloads and faster streaming of content, at speeds that are especially helpful for multi-room viewing (MRV) transfers. Coming later this year, consumers will also have access to a groundbreaking, slide-out QWERTY TiVo remote. The compact peanut shaped remote gives a faster experience, especially when utilizing text entry. With Easy plug n’ play installation, extended range utilizing Bluetooth and backlit programmable buttons the remote will quickly become a must have accessory.

TiVo Premiere Box Specifications:
TiVo Series4™ architecture
Supports digital cable, high-definition digital cable, antenna (ATSC) and Verizon FiOS
Outputs: HDMI, Component video, Composite video, Optical audio, Analog audio
Video output modes include: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
Inputs: CableCARD™ support, Cable coax, Antenna coax, Ethernet
Ethernet connection, USB 2.0 ports (2), E-SATA support for external storage
TiVo Wireless N and G Network Adapter support
ENERGY STAR® certified
320 Gigabytes
Records up to 45 hours of HD programming or up to 400 hours of standard-definition

TiVo Premiere XL Box Specifications (all specs not listed are the same as above unless noted)
One Terabyte storage
Records up to 150 hours of HD programming or up to 1350 hours of standard-definition
Backlit, programmable, and learning remote
THX®certified, ensuring optimal audio and video reproduction and enables seamless integration with other THX components
TiVo Premiere XL box is the first HD product to feature THX® Optimizer™, a video calibration tool that lets users fine tune color, black levels and other settings to improve picture quality. Hailed by critics for its ease-of-use, the exclusive THX Optimizer for TiVo Premiere XL box is found in the My Shows menu of the TiVo service. A pair of THX Optimizer Blue Glasses, designed for adjusting Color and Tint settings, is included with the owner’s manual.
TiVo Premiere and TiVo Premiere XL boxes will be available in retail nationwide in early April. They are also available for pre-order today at tivo.com for $299.99 and $499.99 respectively.
*TiVo service is required and sold separately. Cable and Netflix subscriptions required for cable and Netflix programming, respectively and are not included in TiVo service subscription. Additional fees may apply for other broadband content. Broadband programming sources subject to availability and may change without notice.

Article originally published by StarterTech.com

TiVo Adds Internet Content In The TiVo Premiere

There is no doubt that Apple’s iPad is going to be in high demand when it launches later this month, but Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek is saying there may be some supply chain problems that will keep the inventory low, and possibly delay the device all together.

According to All Things D, Mr. Misek said, “We have…heard that the upcoming iPad launch may be somewhat limited as a manufacturing bottleneck has impacted production of Apple’s newest device.”    The only problem with this information is that it seems Mr. Misek is the only one to have heard this rumor thus far.

The other unfortunate piece of the puzzle is that Mr. Misek is the same analyst who incorrectly predicted that Apple would announce iPhone OS 4.0 and the iPhone being available on Verizon at its January press event.  Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view and desire to get an iPad this month, this makes us take his latest tidbit of information with a generous helping of salt.

Whatever the case may be, our advice still holds to skipping this first release of the iPad, and waiting for the inevitable second generation.

Article originally published by StarterTech.com

Analyst Predicts iPad Shortages At Launch

Steve Jobs took to the stage today at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco to announce Apple’s long-rumored tablet, the iPad.  Measuring 9.7-inches, the device first strikes you as just a giant iPod Touch, but it appears to be a whole lot more than that.

With the benefit of a much larger screen, the iPad will be able to run nearly all of the current 140,000 iPhone/iPod Touch applications, but development is already underway for iPad specific apps that will take full advantage of its 1GHz Apple A4 chip and 1024 x 768 screen.  Gaming seems to be the major focus from the comments made today at the event, and considering the success that category has already seen on the smaller devices, isn’t terribly surprising.

While the iPod Touch has been all about entertainment, the iPad will be able to run a specialized version of iWork. (presumably sold separately, but not stated at the event)  This will allow you to work on spreadsheets, word processing and presentations from the device, with syncing presumably happening via the iTunes connection.

If you’re going to be working on documents, do you really want to do all of this on a virtual keyboard?  Probably not, so luckily Apple will be releasing a physical keyboard dock that will place the iPad in a vertical orientation and essentially turn it into a laptop.  Sure it isn’t going to have all the programs of a laptop, but with the number of apps available, it will be darn close.  No price for this peripheral has been announced as of yet.

None of this is to say that the iPad is going to be all about work, it is going to play videos, music, movies and will also introduce the new iBook application.  What iTunes has done for music, the iBook store could do for books as Apple has made deals with Penguin, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Hachette Book Group.

The actual specs of the device are fairly nice, and show it to be much more than just an over-sized iPod Touch.

• Memory capacities of 16GB, 32GB or 64GB
• 802.11n Wi-Fi
• 1GHz Apple A4 chip
• .5-inches thick
• 1.5 lbs
• 9.7-inch screen
• Bluetooth 2.1
• Speaker & microphone
• Accelerometer & compass
• 10 hour battery life, one month standby
• 3G connectivity for $30 a month via AT&T without contract.

The price was the factor holding people back, and while rumors had pegged this at around $1000, Mr. Jobs used that as a point to announce the pricing we would see in 60 days when this launches, and 90 days for the 3G versions.

Article originally published by StarterTech.com

The iPad Marks A Whole New Product Category For Apple

Ion, a company best known for its USB devices, has announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that it is releasing a physical keyboard for the iPhone and iPod Touch, something users have been longing for since both devices first came to market.  Called the iType, the device will allow you to snap your Apple product into the top of the device and type on a nearly full-size physical keyboard while your device is in landscape mode.

While this sounds exciting at first, and you may have images of catching up on your emails dancing in your head, the keyboard will only work while you’re in the iType application.  You will then have to copy anything you write there and then paste it into the application you want to use it in.  A definite nuisance, and one that makes you wonder if the product will be worth it once it’s released.  No price has yet been announced which makes us even more suspicious that it is just not going to be worth the investment for being so limited in scope.

Article originally published by StarterTech.com

Physical Keyboard Released For The iPhone That Is A Total Waste

It seems “slate” is the word du Jour amongst the tech set to describe their pending tablet devices.

At the Microsoft keynote address to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on Wednesday night in Las Vegas, Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, unveiled the HP Slate which runs on Windows 7.  While a vague release date was given that implied it would be out for the holiday season, and an even vaguer suggestion of a price between $500 and $700, it was obvious this was announced just to cut off the pending iSlate announcement from Apple.

While the rumors of the Apple tablet, tentatively named the iSlate, are still just rumors, it is looking pretty definite that it will be announced in the last week of this month for delivery in March.  While the HP Slate may have gotten the first announcement out, considering the biggest things they demoed was the ability to play the 1980’s game Frogger and using the Amazon Kindle PC reader, we can’t say we’re exactly awe struck by the device.  Of course, we’re still trying to figure out the whole point of these tablets, but that’s a thought for another day.

Check out this very brief introduction video of the product.

Article originally published by StarterTech.com

Microsoft And HP Announce The HP Slate

While there is no doubt we love gadgets around here, with the increase in travel regulations due to the failed terrorist attack on Christmas Day by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab are making us all rethink what we take on a flight with us.

While the rules for travel inside the United States seem unchanged at this time, the amount of security checking at the security checkpoints is definitely up.  The amount of electronics you have with you is going to definitely increase that time even more, and putting gadgets in your checked luggage is never desirable.

Those of you going on international trips will be fine leaving the United States, but your return trip will be a different matter all together.  While the Transportation Security Authority (TSA) has yet to make a formal announcement, some international airlines have posted comments on their sites.  This one come from Air Canada:

New rules imposed by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration also limit on-board activities by customers and crew in U.S. airspace that may adversely impact on-board service. Among other things, during the final hour of flight customers must remain seated, will not be allowed to access carry-on baggage, or have personal belongings or other items on their laps.

There is also a statement from British Airways you can read, but it says essentially the same thing.

If you are traveling outside of the U.S. any time in the near future, you need plan ahead for your return trip, or if you are a resident of another country coming to the United States, plan for your arrival.

Hopefully these rules will get more formalized soon, and perhaps they won’t sound quite so scary, but for now you need to reduce how much you are carrying with you period.

Article originally published by StarterTech.com

New Flight Regulations May Encourage You To Leave Electronics At Home

Yesterday we reminded you to be careful about throwing out your packaging after unwrapping gifts.  Part of the reason for this is you don’t want to throw out vital information you need for filling out your warranty cards.

A lot of companies now let you do the warranty information online, but you still need information that sometimes appears only on the box.  Model numbers, serial numbers, part numbers, etc are quite often printed on a label that is only found on the outside of the box.  Did you remember to keep it all?

Companies are actually hoping you will forget to fill this stuff out so that when you need service you won’t be able to claim it.  Also, if sending in by postcard, they can conveniently say they never got it, as happened to me once.  Always make sure the warranty information gets registered before you need it unless you want to go through a ton of hassles.

While warranties can be a pain, they are well worth registering, and we highly recommend it.  Just make sure you do it as soon as possible and don’t hold off as some companies have a time limit on how long after you receive the item for registering.  Get on it tonight if at all possible … you know, while not enjoying your new gadgets.

Article originally published by StarterTech.com

Don’t Forget To Fill Out Your Warranty Card

I remember when I was younger my family always wanted the living room cleaned out of the wrapping paper, boxes and so on as soon as were done opening gifts.  Inevitably there was always a toy piece  or some little part of an item tossed out that we would then have to go dig through the trash for.  Good times …

So as you are opening up all your iPods, smart phones, video game systems and so on, just make sure you keep all the packaging for at least a few days.  Sure you can throw out the wrapping paper, just make sure to shake it out before you put it int he trash bag so you can be certain no little pieces got caught up in it.

This is also a good plan as you never know when a gadget may fail and you want to return it.  I always keep all of the packaging for my gadgets for at least a few months with all of the corresponding backup discs, cables I don’t necessarily need to use and so on.  I store them all in the garage and after about six months or so I toss them out.  I then take all of the extra items stored in them, put it in a zip lock baggie, label the bag as to which item it came from and keep them in a filing drawer.  Overly anal retentive?  Probably, but having lost cables before that I thought, “Oh, I’ll never need this one …”, you know exactly what I ended up needing down the road.

Most of all have fun with your gifts, but try to control your excitement long enough that you don’t end up losing that all important sync cable!

Article originally published by StarterTech.com

Don’t Be So Quick To Throw Out Your Packaging

Before any cell phone is released in the United States it must go through approval of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).  As the FCC is an open body, all approvals are posted to its Web site, and thanks to this little trick, the FCC approval for the NexusOne, the official name of the Google Phone, was revealed this morning.

The reason this is even remotely interesting is that all of the technical aspects of the phone must be revealed to get the needed approval.  So, what did we learn?  Well thanks to the information about its wireless bands, it looks like it will work on T-Mobile’s 3G network, but not on AT&T’s.  Thanks to its EDGE band, it should work on all carriers, but if you want true wireless high speed, you may be stuck with only T-Mobile.  That is not what a lot of us were hoping for, and it will severely limit how much of a dent this phone will put in the United States cell phone market.

We also learned it will have 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, which has been tricky for some phones to include because of the possibility of network interference.  It will also be sporting the ubiquitous Bluetooth connectivity and a microSD slot for memory expansion, both are pretty much a requirement in this day and age.

Without support for the AT&T 3G network this won’t be the threat to the iPhone we all thought it might be at first, but that won’t be fully decided until it is actually in the hands of consumers and we can see what this thing can do.

Article originally published by StarterTech.com

FCC Info Shows The NexusOne To Be Real

Evidence has mounted all weekend to the fact the long rumored Google Phone is finally real and will be called the Nexus One.  While it appears from the photos that have leaked to just be the new HTC Passion that is due out on T-Mobile next month, it’s what under the hood that will make this a totally different beast, as well as how it is being sold.

The Nexus One will be running a copy of the Google Android operating system, which is nothing new since many phones now run it, but what will be different is that it won’t be fractured.  As Android has gone out to the various carriers, they’ve all made little tweaks to it that have caused it to act differently on different handsets, and in turn this has made it hard for application developers to make sure their products work across all the different versions.  So the copy that will run the Nexus One will probably be the truest version of the Android OS we’ve seen yet.

As for the way the phone is being sold, that is where things will get a bit odd.  The rumors currently point to Google selling it themselves via the Web as an unlocked phone.  If you are unfamiliar what this means in the term of phones, unlocked phones are not tied to any one carrier and you can walk in, sign up for their service, get a SIM card from them and your phone will work.  Most phones have a carrier logo on them meaning you can’t take a BlackBerry you buy from Sprint and expect it to work on the T-Mobile network and vice versa.

While companies such as Nokia have sold unlocked phones before, none of them have had the name “Google” attached to them which is going to make this a highly desirable device.

The one problem we may encounter is in the price.  If you have ever tried to buy a cell phone that isn’t attached to a contract, or before your upgrade is allowed, you know that smart phones cost more in the range of $500 – $600.  No matter what Google does, unless they find a way to subsidize this phone, people won’t be dropping that much on it.  One suspicion floating around the Web is that Google will sell it as a lower price with the expectation you will be clicking on ads on the phone.  It’s how they bring you services like Gmail for free, so the company is well versed in the business model.  Will it be enough to make the phone affordable?  Only time will tell.

Quite possibly the Nexus One could end up being a game changer for the cell phone industry.  A highly desirable phone not tied to any one carrier will make them compete for your business.  I could easily see the carriers running “Nexus Pricing Specials” where they try to out do each other to woo the most Nexus users to their network.  That is just my theory at this point, but if the phone takes off like I suspect it will, I can really imagine it happening.

My only regret is I got a new BlackBerry Tour in early August, but boy do I want to drool on a Nexus One.

[photo credit Cory O’Brien]

Article originally published by StarterTech.com

Google’s Nexus One Could Change The Way We Buy Cell Phones