Do you consider yourself a TiVo enthusiast? Would you like to blog about TiVo news, information & commentary? If yes, you might be able to help TiVoBlog.com. Now that I have a newborn in the house, I not able to blog about TiVo as much as I’d like to. I’m looking for somebody who would like to contribute to TiVoBlog.com. If you are interested in helping out, drop me an email.

Updated 4/2: I’ve received emails from several people who are interested in helping out. I am in the process of going through each email in order to determine who could best help. I’m looking for a couple of people who would be willing to contribute to TiVoBlog.com whenever they have time. I’m not looking for a major commitment just a couple of posts every once and a while. It would also be nice to have somebody who is willing to edit current posts. I know that I am not the best writer so I wouldn’t mind it if I had a second set of eyes look over what I’ve already written. Please let me know if you are interested so that I can add your name to the list of candidates.

You may be surprised to know that up until today I hadn’t owned any TiVo stock. Just today, I added a small amount of TiVo stock to my portfolio. I know what you’re thinking, it probably wasn’t a great purchase because TiVo stock recently went up quite a bit. Here’s why I did it:

1. Although the stock has gone up recently, I still think it has a long ways to go. Call me a dreamer if you want to but, I really think the Comcast deal is a wonderful thing for TiVo. I wouldn’t be surprised if more cable companies realize that TiVo is a great product.
2. One of the first things people tell me is that I should purchase some TiVo stock because I am such a big enthusiast. Now I can tell them I already own it ;).
3. I’m always up on TiVo news therefore, I should be able to react quickly.
4. It feels like a good idea. Let’s face it, I haven’t put the farm on the line. If I loose a couple bucks so be it.

TiVo.com, if you are reading this post please pay attention. A good friend of mine recently had a problem with his TiVo. After getting his most recent service update, his 802.11b network adapter stopped working. He tried the usual debugging steps (unplugged card, plugged back in, reset box etc..) however; nothing seemed to work. He sacrificed his pride and called TiVo tech support. To my surprise, the tech was of no help to him. Essentially the tech told him that the adapter must have “gone bad” over night. At one point the tech even tried to suggest that the network adapter was no longer supported however; it is still on the list of supported adapters. IMO, I highly doubt that the adapter just “went bad” overnight. More then likely the service update screwed things up.

Since he knows how big of a TiVo geek I am, he immediately told me about the problem he was having. Right now, he is left with a TiVo box that is no longer getting updates. I told him to call tech support again and see if he can get somebody else on the line who is a little bit more helpful. He is a little reluctant to do call back because of the bad experience he already had.

I know that a rotten apple doesn’t make a bad batch however; my buddies experience has truly altered his opinion of TiVo. If anybody has a suggestion please let me know.

Although TiVoToGo is a great feature of the TiVo service, up until now I haven’t had a real use for it. I don’t travel much and I am not that addicted to TV where I have to be able to put my shows on a portable device so I don’t miss episode 457 of Seinfeld (believe it or not). Until recently, TiVoToGo has pretty much been a cool feature that I like to showoff to my family and friends. Being the big geek that I am, I tend to enjoy technology to the extreme. That is probably part of the reason why I am addicted to TiVo!

That has all changed with the birth of my son. If my son is at all like most 1-2 year old boys then he will probably love the show “Thomas The Tank”. That being said, I’ve decided to use TiVoToGo to create a library of Thomas the Tank shows for my son. I’ve setup a season pass so that I get all of the episodes. What I plan on doing is using Galleon to automatically transfer each show once it has been recorded and them record them to DVD using Sonic’s MyDVD. I’ll let you know how it goes. I hope that my son ends up liking Thomas The Tank. If he doesn’t then I guess I’ll have a stack of useless DVDs ;).

Leon sent me an email last night letting me know that he has released beta 4 of Galleon. I haven’t had a chance to play around with this version however; I plan on trying it out later tonight. Check back later for my thoughts on this release. According to Leon, here are all the fixes/new features:

I have just released Galleon beta 4. It includes:
1. Support multiple instances of the same app.
2. Fixed bug that incorrectly uniquely identified ToGo recordings.
3. Right button to exit apps.
4. Made album art configurable.
5. Music ratings.
6. Scrolling text widget for weather alerts.
7. Photos app (only JPEGs currently supported)
8. Configurable photo slideshow effects.
9. Music while viewing slideshow.

Here are some screenshots of the latest version:
http://galleon.sourceforge.net/phpwiki/index.php/screenshots

Are you as addicted to Bloglines as I am? Bloglines is one of my most favorite sites because it allows me to catch up with all the news that I am interested. Prior to Bloglines and RSS, I had to go to several different sites just to keep up with the news that I like to read. Now with Bloglines I am able to go to one place and get everything that I need. For those of you who don’t know what Bloglines is here is a definition directly from Bloglines.com:

Bloglines is a FREE online service for searching, subscribing, creating and sharing news feeds, blogs and rich web content. With Bloglines, there is no software to download or install…

Thanks to Scott over at the-mitchells.org I am now able to read my Bloglines subscriptions on my TiVo! I’ve been using this app for about a week now. It’s really convenient to be able to view my subscriptions without having to sit down at the computer. In my opinion, this app is a must for anybody who has a Bloglines account.

BTW: If you haven’t already subscribed to TiVoBlog.com on Bloglines click on this image:

Can you believe it, two pieces of positive TiVo news in less then a week! In case you haven’t heard yet, TiVo is planning on entering into the Japanese market as soon as 2006!

TiVo will offer its digital video recording service in Japan as early as next year, possibly by partnering with local companies, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on Monday, quoting TiVo CEO Michael Ramsay. (ZDNet)

This looks like another opportunity for TiVo to make some revenue. I wonder if this will open up any other markets.

Hot off the heals of beta 2 comes beta 3 of Galleon. For those of you who don’t know, Galleon is a next-generation version of JavaHMO. Unlike JavaHMO, Galleon uses the new HME API that TiVo has released. Head on over to Galleon’s website and get yourself a copy. This version fixes a number of bugs and includes several new features. Here’s the email that Leon sent me:

I’ve just released Galleon beta 3 which includes the following:

1. ToGo bug fixes.
2. ToGo statistics.
3. Music app.
4. Fixed class loading bug for paths with spaces.
5. Added ToGo rules configuration to main configuration file.
6. Changed weather app to use arrow keys instead of menu.
7. Album art.
8. Music player screensaver (kicks in after 5 mins).

Here are some screenshots of the current version:
http://galleon.sourceforge.net/phpwiki/index.php/screenshots

This version does not have an installation wizard and only Windows scripts are currently included. Read the release notes for instructions on how to run Galleon:
http://sourceforge.net/project/shownotes.php?group_id=126291&release_id=313910

I’m somewhat surprised that more people aren’t talking about TiVoing march madness. During last year’s summer Olympics, there was a lot of talk about setting up TiVo to record your favorite events. Most people work during the day so I’m sure that setting up the TiVo to capture all of the March Madness would be a great idea. The only thing you need to be careful of is that you do not hit any sports or news websites during the day. If you do, you are likely to see a final score of a game that you have TiVoed. In fact, it might be a good idea for you not to talk with any of your co-workers or friends. Essentially, you need to set yourself up in a padded room until you are ready to watch your TiVo. Maybe that is why people aren’t TiVoing the NCAA tournament ;)?