Time Warner Cable of Raleigh, North Carolina will not supply CableCARDs for the forthcoming TiVo Series 3 HD DVR, according to ConsumerFury.com. A consumer emailed the company asking about the card and received this response: "Time Warner Cable of Raleigh does not provide support for or allow TIVO devices on our cable network. Time Warner Cable provides DVR service and equipment for customers that would like to record programs and watch them later. Cable Cards will only be installed on Cable ready, Cable Card slot available television sets. This policy is subject to change at the discretion of Time Warner Cable of Raleigh." Of course, as the response points out, TWC would rather have you rent TWC's DVR, no matter how bad it is. Presumably that's why the 1394 output of my own TWC-NYC cable box is disabled, preventing me from hooking up any form of HD-capable recorder. Nice logo.
For every job, there is the "right" tool. Just as you wouldn't grab a hammer to open a bottle of champagne, you wouldn't install a front projection system in a sunny room. DirecTV subscribers, unfortunately, have always needed an extra, often unwanted, "tool" in the form of a standalone satellite receiver.
If forced to list common traits of the many new flat TV-friendly speaker systems that have crossed my path of late, I'd document them as follows: slim form factor, two-grand price point (approximately), generous application of shiny metallic and gloss-black surfaces in the cabinet design. The components of the new JBL Cinema Sound speaker system fit into that mold perfectly.
Will France beat America in the download race? A France Télécom project wiring 100 Parisian homes with fiber optics will reach blazing-fast speeds of 2.5 gigabits per second downstream and 1.2gbps upstream. That beats our best contender, Verizon FiOS, which is being marketed at a maximum of 50 megabits per second. However, there's a catch. Verizon FiOS is a real-world product rolling out in the field, whereas the France Télécom project is merely experimental. Also, France is using GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) technology. Verizon will eventually add GPON to its own system, raising download (and upload) speeds into the same range as the French. But there remains one area where the French may remain way out front: price. The experimental service costs €70, or about $88, per month for combined TV, phone, and net access—less than American cable and telcos are charging for their triple-play packages.
Variety is the spice of life - clichéd but oh so true, especially when it comes to TV. No one wants to watch reruns of 24 on the tube 24/7. That's just boring, even if the show does kick butt and Jack Bauer is one tough hombre.
Just how slim can speakers get? It's a question I find myself pondering these days as wave after wave of skinny speakers arrives on my doorstep for testing. Looking over the elegant, metal-clad CS-System 3 speakers from British newcomer Audica - a company of audio veterans who previously did time at established UK speaker outfits like Mission - the answer is: remarkably slim.
In response to anecdotal evidence of iPod longevity problems, an Apple spokesperson recently insisted the popular music player is designed to last "four years." No...wait...stop the presses! She actually meant to say "for years"! Well, that's much clearer, isn't it? In other iPod-related news, the French Constitutional Council has struck down parts of an already loophole-ridden law that would have kinda sorta required all music downloads to operate on all devices. The council's job is to examine laws passed by both houses of the French paraliament and assess their constitutionality, like a preemptive Supreme Court. According to the council, parts of the law interfere with property protections under France's 1789 Declaration of Human Rights. Stop the presses again: DRM is a human right. Interesting. However, the law was already so toothless as to be useless, so I consider this a non-story.
There's an interesting story behind the photo of the Samsung rear projection set that appears on the home page and in the product review. As most of you know, such photos are almost never taken directly from a television showing an actual image. Instead, the image is inserted later into a blank screen photo of the set using a computer program, most often Photoshop. This program allows nearly any photo to be resized and reconfigured to fit a television screen originally shot at any angle.
