Earlier today, TiVo announced that they’ve partnered up with both photobucket and Google’s Picasa Web Albums (screenshots after the press release).
ALVISO, Calif., Dec 03, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced that all broadband-connected TiVo DVRs can take advantage of viewing and sharing their digital photos directly on the television set. By working with two of the most popular online photo services, Photobucket and Picasa Web Albums(TM) from Google, TiVo subscribers can easily access their own digital photos as well as those shared by friends and family using the Emmy award-winning TiVo user interface. Photos will be displayed at the highest possible resolution on each TiVo box, meaning TiVo Series3(TM) and TiVo HD subscribers can see their memories in full high definition.
“At TiVo we’re focused on the entire entertainment experience, from movies to music, and in this case — memories,” said Jim Denney, Vice President of Product Marketing at TiVo. “By working with these well-respected and popular photo-sharing partners TiVo enables families to share their pictures in new, fun ways. TiVo continues to show our commitment to differentiated product offerings by allowing subscribers to share their memories on the best picture frame in the house — their television.”
“Personal media sharing is clearly moving beyond the desktop,” said Alex Welch, President of Photobucket. “Photobucket helps its users creatively express themselves and share their lives with friends and family. Be it through cell phones, computers or TVs, we aim to offer our users the best service for searching, uploading and sharing this content. TiVo gives our audience an excellent way to bring Photobucket into their living rooms.”
Among other features, TiVo subscribers will be able to customize their photo viewing capabilities by searching community photos of interest by keyword, all using the intuitive TiVo search interface. For example, sports fanatics can create a custom slide show of their favorite team or player and dog lovers can sit back and enjoy a slide show composed of literally hundreds of puppy photos from around the world, all with the power of the peanut-shaped remote.
“Families and friends who use Picasa Web Albums to stay connected with each other’s lives are often looking for more ways to share those important photos,” said Mike Horowitz, product manager for Picasa Web Albums at Google. “Broadband-connected TiVo DVRs provide a fun way for people to view their own favorites or bring their photos out for everyone in the living room to see.”
TiVo subscribers can access the photo sharing application through the Music, Photos, Products & More screen on their TiVo DVR, and is offered at no additional charge as part of the existing TiVo service subscription fee. TiVo boxes are available at leading consumer electronic retailers including Best Buy and Circuit City. See http://www.TiVo.com for details.
Maybe I’m just being selfish but, I really would have loved to have seen TiVo partner with flickr instead of photobucket or Picasa Web. In any case, it’s great to see that TiVo continues to develop and release new TiVo HME applications. I’m really anxious to see how the HD photos will look on my Panasonic HDTV!
I’m right there with you regarding Flickr. What’s really surprising is that Yahoo and TiVo didn’t transition from Yahoo Photos to Flickr when Yahoo announced that they were closing down Yahoo Photos.
My family has had TiVo now for a year, and I’m not sure what we would do without it. Sure, we had DVRs from our cable companies, but they didn’t come close to TiVo’s features. As a tech guy, I’m not sure what I like more; being able to watch the shows I like when I want or all of the Internet content that TiVo has made available.
By adding new features like this and other Internet related content, TiVo really seems to have found a great way to differentiate itself from the cable and satellite companies.
[...] with several third party content provides including Amazon Unbox, Rhapsody, One True Media, Photobucket/Picasa Web Albums and multiple TiVoCast channels. Each of these partnerships has helped to differentiate TiVo from a [...]
Flickr refused to sign a partnership with Tivo.
It sucks.
@harry
how do you know this?
[...] device which provides the same functionality (ie: Roku Netflix box). I could go on and on with all the features that TiVo has to offer however, I think you get the point. $199 really [...]