According to this article, TiVo’s CEO Mike Ramsay is going to resign.

Ramsay, who has served as TiVo’s CEO since its founding in 1997, has successfully led the company as it introduced the industry’s first digital video recorder to the marketplace, revolutionizing the way people watch TV today. Under his leadership, TiVo has become a household brand, while also offering the media industry a platform for advertising, content delivery and audience research. As of October 31, 2004, there were over 2.3 million subscriptions to the TiVo service.

Who will become the new CEO?

Leon and his crew have released version 2.2 of JavaHMO. Head on over to their website and get yourself a copy. One of the major fixes for this version is that it now allows you to run JavaHMO with TiVoDesktop 2.0. TiVoDesktop 2.0 is needed for TiVoToGo.

Version 2.2:
1. Fixed reload bug for web content
2. Added new audio prompt for streaming errors
3. Ignore hidden files
4. Fixed email plugin missing data bug
5. Fixed bug in Windows installation wizard to support TiVo Desktop 2.0

Instead of trying to post 1000 articles today about TiVo related CES news, I thought I would just provide this link. The link will bring you directly to all TiVo CES announcements. Happy browsing :).

Wow! The CES news just keeps on coming ;). Humax has announced that they will offer a 26 inch LCD TV with TiVo builtin. This device is expected to ship next quarter for ~$2499. While the price is a little high for my cheapness, it still is an interesting product. I cannot believe somebody else has not thought of this before. More and more people seem to be going to the “all in one” type of devices where a DVD is already built into the TV.

Microsoft has announced that they will offer a new stand-alone DVR. A stand-alone DVR is a different type of device for Microsoft. Microsoft’s current approach attempts to combine TV viewing/recording with other PC capabilities. This device will obviously present some competition for TiVo however; the company’s CEO (Mike Ramsay) has said that he isn’t worried.

Gates’ unveiling of the LG Electronics device wasn’t a surprise to Ramsay or others at TiVo. Microsoft briefed its new partner about plans for the competing device in advance of this week’s announcements, said Dave Fester, general manager of the Windows Consumer group.

When I first heard about the partnership, I thought it was more or less a verbal agreement between the two companies. I wasn’t sure how solid the partnership would actually be. Now I am beginning to think that both companies are going to work a little closer then I had originally thought.

If you see this post it means that TiVoBlog.com is running on its’ new host (bluehost.com). So far the support over at bluehost has been great. I hope it stays that way ;).

Updated: 4/19/05: Bluehost has been great! I have nothing but good things to say about the company. I now host 4 domains with them. If you are looking for a reliable hosting company then bluehost should be the one you select.

Updated: 6/10/05: Once again, Bluehost is great! I had a small problem with this blog and a couple other blogs that I run. Bluehost was able to fix the problem in less then 24hrs!

Updated: 09/06/06:  I’m still very happy with bluehost.  As a matter of fact, they recently offered me more bandwidth and hosting space for free!  Go bluehost!

Sonic has announced that they will launch their much anticipated TiVo enabled DVD creation software late in Q1 2005. The software will allow TiVoToGo users to burn their TiVo programs to a DVD. Several people expected this software to be available around the same time that TiVoToGo was however; like most things, it appears to have slipped. TiVo users will be able to purchase the software for $49.99 ($20 off MSRP). This will definitely be a nice feature for anybody who wants to archive some of their shows. I already know what I’ll be archiving…Smurfs!

TiVo announced yesterday that they are going to collaborate with Microsoft in order to take full advantage of TiVoToGo. Apparently, the plan is for Microsoft to provide several mobile devices that will allow you to view your TiVo programs.

Microsoft Chairman and Founder Bill Gates announced during his keynote address tonight at the Consumer Electronics Show that the two companies have embarked on a collaborative effort designed to allow consumers to take digital entertainment with them on portable devices.

While this is a great idea, I’m a little bit surprised by it. As we all know, Microsoft’s Media Center PC has become a major competitor to TiVo. Along with the MC PC, Microsoft recently decided to rollout DVRs to Comcast customers. I think this a great partnership for TiVo. Whether you like Microsoft or not, nobody can disagree with the fact that they are a major force in the market. TiVo is smart to leverage Microsoft’s brand name and capabilities. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what comes out of this partnership.

If you’re a regular visitor to TiVoBlog you may have noticed that the site has been up and down for the past couple of days. I’ve been having major problems with my hosting company so needless to say, I’ve gone out and found another one. I am in the process of switching the site over however; anybody who has done this before knows how much of a pain in the a$$ this can be. I hope to have the site completely up and running with the new host by the end of the week. I’ll let everybody know when the transfer has been completed. I hope that the new hosting company is much more stable then this one.

I’ve definitely learned one lesson from all of this…you get what you pay for. Being that this is a site about TiVo, I am going to try and connect this back to TiVo.

I’ve written several articles about how cable company DVRs may be cheaper however; like my hosting with the current provider, you get what you pay for… Cable company DVRs have less features and a much more complicated user interface. See, I knew I would be able to connect it back to TiVo. Now I just need to explain the theory of relativity and how it relates to TiVo :).

Go here for a useful comparison…

According to this article, AMD plans to partner with TiVo on a new chip.

The ability to connect directly to digital video recorders and transfer video content without having to transcode the file through a PC is significant, AMD said, as it reduces the time spent downloading and playing back fresh video content on a portable media player.

AMD is partnering with DVR manufacturer TiVo to support the TiVo-To-Go initiative, which enables direct transfer of programs from a Series2 TiVo DVR directly to portable media players, laptops and other portable devices.

I’m sure there will be more news on this in the near future. Maybe even at CES?