When TiVo KidZone was first released I thought it was a great feature however, at the time of its release I really didn’t have a use for it. A year and a couple months later I now find TiVo KidZone extremely helpful. My 2 1/2 year old son now knows how to turn on the TV and I’m pretty sure he even knows how to use the remote. We don’t allow him to watch TV whenever he wants to but, being a 2 1/2 year old he sometimes turns on the TV without our permission. That being said, I decided to enable TiVo KidZone on both my Series 2 and Series 3. As I’m sure you’re aware, there’s a lot of junk on TV that isn’t appropriate for a 2 1/2 year old. If possible, I’d like to prevent my son from seeing something that he shouldn’t. Thanks to TiVo, I no longer have a TV in my house that isn’t “protected”.
I especially like how KidZone groups all of my son’s shows together and how he only has access to the programs that are appropriate for his age group. I also like how it blocks “Live TV” that isn’t appropriate for him to see. Another nice thing about KidZone is that it is easy to deactivate whenever I want to watch TV.
If you have small children, I highly recommend that you give TiVo KidZone a try. TiVo has done a nice job developing this feature. Check it out if you have a child in your house. I’m sure you’ll be pleased….
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As a side note, I would like to thank Brian for putting me down as his TiVo rewards referrer. If you’d like to put me down as your referrer, all you need to do is enter my email address (raianoat AT gmail DOT com) when you activate your TiVo. Thanks Brian!
TiVo KidZone seems to be getting a lot of support from a number of organizations which are geared towards families. This time YWCA has teamed up with TiVo to support KidZone and the features it provides.
YWCA USA and TiVo Inc. announced a new relationship to help parents and caregivers easily access quality children’s television. TiVo Inc., the creator of and a leader in digital video recorders (DVRs), is donating TiVo(r) boxes and discounting its service fee with a one year commitment to support the work of the YWCA USA, one of the nation’s leading providers of childcare and domestic violence shelters.
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To salute the work of the YWCA USA over the past nearly 150 years, TiVo is offering free 80-hour TiVo Series2(tm) DVR fortified with TiVo KidZone for a discounted $12.95 per month service subscription fee with a one year commitment, and donating $25 to the YWCA USA, for each new subscriber through the YWCA Web site. Terms and conditions apply. Web: http://www.tivo.com/0.11.LP_affiliate.asp?a=ywca
A business writer from the AP has put together an unfavorable review of some of TiVo’s newest features. I don’t normally cover unfavorable reviews but, I felt like I should cover this one since it brings up a couple of good points. Are some of the new features that TiVo has introduced better suited for the computer? For example, is it necessary to be able to order movie tickets from the comfort of your couch?
I’m not sure where I stand on this issue. Being the geek that I am, I like having all of these new features. However, when it comes down to it, does the average user (i.e.: my Mom) really need this functionality?
During the commercial, TiVo Shanan does a great job describing the features and benefits of TiVo KidZone. It’s an especially interesting commercial if you aren’t already familiar with how KidZone works.
Does anybody know where this commercial came from? I’ve never seen it before….
TiVo’s most recent press release provides more detail on the up coming KidZone feature as well as some research that TiVo performed on the average child’s TV viewing habits. The research came up with some interesting facts that I wouldn’t have expected. This information underscores the importance of TiVo KidZone.
Analysis of ratings data from Nielsen shows that actual daytime television viewership of children, ages 6 – 11, increases over 150 percent during the summer. In addition, adult and adult female viewing patterns during that time remain unchanged, implying that much of that increase in children’s viewership is even more unsupervised than usual.
64 percent of parents of children under 18 say they are concerned (either very or somewhat concerned) that their children will see TV that does not reflect their family’s values or isn’t safe to watch.
55 percent of parents of children under 18 say they don’t receive any guidance in this regard, whereas just 19 percent turn to newspapers, television or magazines to help inform those choices.
81 percent of all Americans do not utilze any blocking technology that prevents programming with a certain rating from coming into their homes.
62 percent of all Americans were concerned about what children are watching on television, which compares with 64 percent of parents of children under 18 who said they were concerned. This is a remarkable state of consensus that reflects a consistency of viewpoints among all Americans on this issue.
I’m the proud parent of a 16 month old boy so I don’t plan on using the KidZone feature just yet. With that being said, I look forward to being able to use KidZone when my son is old enough to watch TV. We all know that there is a lot of junk out there that a child shouldn’t watch. TiVo’s new KidZone feature attempts to protect children from all this junk. Thanks to TiVo, you now have an easy way to control what your child watches. If you haven’t read up on the new KidZone feature, I recommend you do. You can also put your TiVo on the priority list so that you get it as soon as possible.
Thanks TiVo for continuing to innovate and in this case protect our children!
Dave Zatz was first to report that TiVo has started to release version 7.3 of their software. The biggest enhancement in this release appears to be the KidZone feature which I’ve mentioned before. If you’re a parent with children who watch TV, you might want to upgrade to this latest version so that your kids don’t watch all that junk on TV. According to Dave, it’s only taking TiVo ~3 days to get you 7.3!
In order to take advantage of this latest upgrade, you must have a Series 2 TiVo. Sorry DirecTV and Series1 users, I think it is time for you to get a Series2 TiVo :).
Dave Zatz was lucky enough to take part in a recent road show in the DC area. The purpose of the show was to talk about TiVo’s new KidZone feature and make some announcements. Dave has done a wonderful job covering the show. His coverage is broken down into three posts which talk about the people involved, the product and his opinion on KidZone.
When TiVo KidZone was first released I thought it was a great feature however, at the time of its release I really didn’t have a use for it. A year and a couple months later I now find TiVo KidZone extremely helpful. My 2 1/2 year old son now knows how to turn on the TV and I’m pretty sure he even knows how to use the remote. We don’t allow him to watch TV whenever he wants to but, being a 2 1/2 year old he sometimes turns on the TV without our permission. That being said, I decided to enable TiVo KidZone on both my Series 2 and Series 3. As I’m sure you’re aware, there’s a lot of junk on TV that isn’t appropriate for a 2 1/2 year old. If possible, I’d like to prevent my son from seeing something that he shouldn’t. Thanks to TiVo, I no longer have a TV in my house that isn’t “protected”.
I especially like how KidZone groups all of my son’s shows together and how he only has access to the programs that are appropriate for his age group. I also like how it blocks “Live TV” that isn’t appropriate for him to see. Another nice thing about KidZone is that it is easy to deactivate whenever I want to watch TV.
TiVo 
A business writer from the AP has put together an 
