I just finished installing TiVo Desktop version 2.6. I’ll try and put together a review sometime in the near future. Until then, here’s some screenshots for you to checkout.

As expected, TiVo announced the immediate release of TiVo Desktop 2.6. For a small fee ($24.95), TiVo Desktop 2.6 allows you to watch high quality web videos (a.k.a. video podcasts) directly on your TiVo. I’m in the process of downloading 2.6 right now. I’ll let you know what I think as soon as I get a chance to play with it (probably in the next day or two).

Continue on to read the official press release….

Read more…

If you’re a geek like me, you might want to check out Download: The True Story of the Internet (website). I watched an episode last night and I thought it was pretty good…

For a limited time, TiVo.com is offering a factory renewed Series 2 dual tuner TiVo for just $49.99 when you sign up for a 1 year service plan. If you’re in the market for a S2DT TiVo, this is definitely a good deal. Amazon.comcurrently has the same DVR listed for $65.99 after a $150 rebate. All factory renewed TiVos come with a regular product warranty and a 30 day money back guarantee.

If you’re like me and you’re all about HD, you might want to check out the $200 TiVo HD deal which I blogged about a couple of days ago.

Yesterday, TiVo announced that later this year you will be able to access YouTube directly from your Series 3 or TiVo HD DVR (sorry, no Series 2 access). Other then that information, the official press release really doesn’t contain a lot more. Hopefully, “later this year” means some time in the summer as opposed to the winter time frame.

On a number of occasions, I’ve gone on the recorded as saying that TiVo should provide access to YouTube. That being said, I am extremely excited about this news. Anything that brings more content to my TV is a good thing, especially when there’s nothing on TV…

ALVISO, Calif., March 12, 2008 /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 an agreement with YouTube(TM) that will offer access to YouTube videos directly from the TV via a TiVo DVR. The service will be available later this year to broadband-connected subscribers with TiVo Series3(TM) DVRs, including the new TiVo HD.

Every day hundreds of millions of videos are viewed on YouTube and hundreds of thousands of videos are uploaded. Upon launch of the TiVo-YouTube service, TiVo users will be able to search, browse and watch these videos directly on their television sets through their broadband connected TiVo DVRs. The combination of having the YouTube experience with the convenience and familiarity of TiVo’s intuitive user interface will provide TiVo subscribers with the ability to discover and enjoy the most shared and most discussed web videos in the world on their televisions. Importantly, users will be able to log into their YouTube accounts directly from their TiVo boxes and access their favorite YouTube channels and playlists.

“We’re delighted to be working with the world’s leading online video community so that TiVo subscribers can access YouTube’s popular content on the TV via the TiVo DVR,” said Tara Maitra, Vice President and GM of Content Services at TiVo Inc. “Being able to make available YouTube videos to the TiVo subscriber base using one device, one remote and one user interface is another major step in our commitment to combine all of your television and web video viewing options in one easy to use service.”

Earlier today, Stephen Mack (director of TiVoCast operations) announced that TiVo has added five new channels of content to their TiVoCast service. Each of the newly added channels come from TrueFire.com. For those of you who don’t know, TrueFire is a well known maker of guitar lessons and tutorials.

Since 1991, TrueFire and its collective of 450+ artists and educators, has produced thousands of guitar lessons and interactive video courses, which are available as downloads, streaming video and CD-ROM. We also offer top DVD and Book titles from other publishers.

If you’re interested in playing guitar you might want to check out these channels. I especially like how TiVo organized the channels based on your level of experience with playing a guitar.

As usual, you can subscribe to these channels via TiVo Central Online or by accessing the following menu item on your TiVo: TiVo Central –> Find Program —> Download TV & Movies.

Stephen Mack just announced that TiVo has added GameTapTV as a TiVoCast channel.

GameTap TV joins the TiVoCast lineup today, featuring shows about video games and video game culture. A new GameTap TV episode will appear every weekday.

GameTap looks like a great show especially if you are interested in gaming (which I don’t have time for).

As always, you can subscribe to GameTap via TiVo’s website or by accessing the following menu item on your TiVo: TiVo Central —> Find Programs —> Download TV & Movies —> GameTap TV.

Lipstick Jungle is moving up the rankings rather quickly.  Last week it was up 6 to number 17 and this week it is up 4 to number 13.  I’m not a fan of the show but my wife likes it.

Did you know that if your TiVo is on your network, you can access it with your web browser and ultimately transfer shows off of it? Here’s how to do it. Enter your TiVo’s IP address into your favorite web browser. When you enter the address, make sure that you use https. In the case of my Series 3 TiVo, I can access it with the following URL: https://192.168.1.108/.

If you’re not sure what your TiVo’s IP address is, you can always find out by navigating to the following menu item on your TiVo: Messages & Settings –> Settings –> Phone & Network. At the top right hand corner of this screen you can see your TiVo’s IP address.

As soon as you enter the correct URL in your browser you will be presented with a confirmation window which ask you whether or not you want to accept your TiVo’s certificate. Simply click accept the certificate and continue.

Once you accept the certificate you will be presented with a login window. In order to access your TiVo you need to know your media access key which you can find here. To login, all you have to do is enter the username “tivo” (without the quotes of course) along with your media access key as the password.

Assuming you enter the correct media access key, you should now be logged into your TiVo! From this page you can view the shows that have been recorded on your TiVo. Also, at the bottom of this page you can set whether or not you want your shows to be grouped into folders of if you want them to appear in one alphabetized list.

If you find a show that you want to transfer, all you have to do is click on the “download link” and your web browser should initiate the download (assuming the show isn’t “Protected“).

Here’s some of the top movies that are available via the Amazon Unbox On TiVo service. I recently rented Eastern Promises although I still haven’t found time to watch it…