Update 1/4: I know I need to select a winner. Give me a chance…my son is sleeping right now :).

Update: I’m a little surprised that only three people have posted a comment thus far. What’s the matter? Doesn’t everybody like free stuff?

In the spirit of the Holiday Season, I’ve decided to have yet another contest. This time around, the winner of the contest will receive a slightly used TiVo wireless adapter.

Here’s how the contest will work. Between now and December 31st, 2006; attach a comment to this post that includes a link to your favorite article on TiVoBlog.com. In the comment, also indicate why this is your favorite post. The winner of this contest will be selected randomly by my 22 month old son (I will put each comment in a hat and let my son pick one).

Here’s some additional rules:

• Only one submission per user
• Winner must live in the continental USA
• Winner will be selected randomly from the list of comments

site’s archive or search for it via the search box in the upper right hand corner of this page.Good luck and have fun!

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve received several emails and comments letting me know that they enjoy reading this site and that it would be a shame if I decided to stop blogging about TiVo all together. To this end, I’ve decided that I am not going to give up on TiVo and that I plan on blogging about TiVo in the near future. I took a break from TiVo for a number of reasons but mainly it was because I was (am) disappointed with their new pricing structure. As I’ve said on a number of occasions, I don’t like how TiVo’s new pricing structure forces the consumer to subscribe for three years in order to get the best rate. The new pricing structure is what it is and there is nothing I can do about it other then to say that I don’t agree with it. I’ve considered starting up a new site to blog about DVR news in general but because of restrictions on my free time, I don’t think I could currently cover all DVR news adequately. That may change in the future so don’t be surprised if you see a new website launched….

Even though I’m not happy with the new pricing structure, I think it would be a shame for me to stop blogging about TiVo simply because I don’t with their new pricing. I love TiVo the product and because of this I still want to cover TiVo via this blog. In the future I plan on still recommending TiVo to my family and friends however, I will also point out the fact that in order to get the best monthly rate you really need to sign up for a three year commitment. Have I said before that the new pricing plan sucks?

I plan on getting back into this blog after the first of the year. Between now and then I am going to finish up some projects that I have around the house and enjoy spending time with my family during the holiday season. Needless to say, I’d appreciate it if you stay subscribed and continue to send me TiVo news tips or questions. I really do appreciate all the support I’ve received from the faithful readers of this site. Thanks for reading TiVoBlog.com and for understanding why I had to take a break.

I wish everybody a wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy New Year.
- Alex

Yesterday’s news really has me wondering what the future of this site will be. I truly think I am going to find it hard for me to recommend TiVo when the product requires you to sign up to a three year commitment in order to get a decent monthly rate. I know what some people are happy with the new pricing structure but, I’m really don’t like how the new pricing structure is laid out. Because of this, I think I am going to take the next couple days to decide what I want to do with this site.

I really do love TiVo but I feel like the company has made some poor decisions over the past couple of months (ie: the initial price of the Series 3 TiVo). I guess what I am trying to say is that I just need a little time to figure out what I’m going to do. I really have had a lot of fun meeting new people and covering TiVo news and I’d hate to see that come to an end…..

We have a winner!  A special thanks goes out to everybody who participated

Since everybody else seems to be speculating on the price and release date of the Series 3 TiVo. I thought it was a good idea to host the following competition (Digg here).

Here’s how it will work:

• Leave a comment attached to this post with the date that you think the Series 3 TiVo will be released as well as how much you think it will retail for (I will probably use BestBuy or a similiar store for the retail cost).
• Who ever guesses closest to the release date will receive a prize from TiVo’s website (not to exceed $25).
• If there is more then one person who gets the date correct, I will then decide on a winner based on the cost that you list.
• If multiple people win with the same date and retail cost, I will randomly select a winner from a hat.
• Please remember to leave a valid email address when you post your comment so that I can contact you if you win.
• One comment per person!
• The competition will end on Sept 1st @ 12:59PM EST (or sooner if the Series 3 is released before then )

Good luck and may the TiVo guy be with you!  

Several people have emailed me wondering why this site has been inactive as of late.  Well, I have a good excuse….  My family and I recently moved to a new house.  Now that we’re in the house, I’ve been having a lot of problems with my broadband connection.  I hope to have it figured out by the end of this week.  In the meantime, stay subscribed and make sure to check out some of the links found on this page.

Thanks to Dave Zatz, I found out that this site is briefly mentioned in this month’s issue of the New York Magazine! The magazine is running an article titled: The Blog Establishment. TiVoBlog.com is mentioned in a section which talks about blog traffic and how according to the Long Tail Theory, the total sum of traffic for smaller blogs (such as TiVoBlog.com) is much greater then the traffic that the top blogs receive. The entire article is very interesting I definitely recommend that you take some time and read it…

…..This means there are infinite niches for B- and C-size blogs: The TiVo blog! The Minnesota Republicans blog! The Lost blog! Each will have much smaller audiences than the A-list—Gawker, Engadget, Daily Kos—but advertisers will pay to reach such well-focused niches.

I’d appreciate it if everybody would check their feed reader to make sure that they are subscribing to the correct feed url (http://www.tivoblog.com/feed/). I’ve noticed that some people are subscribing to a feed url that may not exisit in the future. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then don’t worry about it…..

Here’s some chicklets for your convenience:

Rmail

After much debate, I finally upgraded this site to WordPress 2.0. Let me know if you find any problems!

It has come to my attention that some people may be having a tough time accessing this site. If you are one of those unlucky individuals, the reason why you were having a problem was because I had installed a wordpress plugin that was suppose to stop Spambots from accessing this site. According to one individual, the error that they received was similar to this one. Prior to running this plugin, I was getting so much spam that I was having a tough time keeping up with it. By using this plugin, it looks as though I may have denied some valid users. If you were one of those individuals who was prevented from access this site, please send me some feedback and let me know what you setup is (browser, os). I apologize to anybody who was wrongfully denied access. As of right now, the plugin has been disabled and you should be able to browse the site just fine :). Damn spambots!

Today is the last day to submit your essays! The individual with the best essay will win a $25 BestBuy giftcard and a free TiVo t-shirt. Good luck!