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The Programmer Who Could Save Tivo

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the didn't-know-it-needed-saving dept.

Damon Darlin from Business 2.0 writes "We just posted a story on Arthur Van Hoff, the programming legend who now works at TiVo. He was one of the Java geniuses at Sun (has almost as many patents as Bill Joy) and started Strangeberry, which Tivo bought in January. the story tells how his Strangeberry software will be given away to developers of web content. The next generation Tivos will then be able to recognize web content and direct it to the appropriate home device. This could be the stuff that saves tivo because none of the set top boxes will have this ability.

7 of 371 comments (clear)

  1. Nice Feature, but.. by Klar · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The next generation Tivos will then be able to recognize web content and direct it to the appropriate home device. This could be the stuff that saves tivo because none of the set top boxes will have this ability.
    While this is a cool feature, I'm not sure if it alone will be able to save Tivo. There are so many cheaper alternatives, and I'm sure they will be able to add a similar feature in too. Personally when I'm watching TV(which I almost never have time for as of late), I don't wanna be reading stuff online, I just want to relax and watch a movie or show.
    --
    Boxing Equipment Reviews
    1. Re:Nice Feature, but.. by MarsDefenseMinister · · Score: 5, Insightful

      TiVo is $99 now. There's no reason for a geek not to have one. I paid $400 for mine, and it is worth every penny.

      --
      No weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men.-Ronald Reagan
  2. patents != genius by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    come on now, don't we know better than to gauge the intellectual capacity of someone by how many patents they hold?

    1. Re:patents != genius by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      And how many patents do you possess?

      The defense rests, your honor.

  3. To *really* fix tivo... by raygundan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    He needs to get into the DirecTV DVR code and figure out why it takes 30 seconds to display the guide, a minute to open your "Now Playing" list of shows, and 5+ minutes to sort a 30-entry list of season passes.

    A huge fraction of Tivo's subscriber base is through the DirecTV tivos-- and despite my great experience with the standalone unit I had, the DirecTV box is so much slower despite 4x the processor speed that I can't even imagine what sort of horrible code is in there. Optimize the UI, *then* add features. DirecTV may singlehandedly turn millions of people away from tivo after they sign up and have a truly subpar experience with it.

  4. Re:Tivo and patents by jargoone · · Score: 5, Informative

    maybe even a less invasive phone-home spying scheme

    Seriously, take off your tinfoil hat and shut the fuck up. If you can't see that TiVo aggregates data for your benefit, then you just tell them not to do it.

    The privacy policy is exceedingly clear about this. Please come back with you have read it.

    http://www.tivo.com/5.11.3.asp

  5. Re:Why not publish a SDK by werfele · · Score: 5, Informative

    TiVo has a published API for the existing Home Media Option, which JavaHMO takes advantage of. It wouldn't be surpising if they do the same for their next generation Home Media offering.