ti

TiVo users who want to install the company's PC software have until June 5 to grab it for free.

The TiVo Desktop for PC program lets you listen to your music and view your photos on your TV. You can also transfer shows recorded on your TiVo box to your PC. But in less than a month, that version will be no more.

Starting June 6, TiVo users will have to pony up $15.99 (down from $24.95) to buy the TiVo Desktop Plus software. The Plus edition offers all of the features of the free version. But … Read more

Vertu, the phone-maker that until recently was the property of Nokia, is best known for making ludicrously expensive mobile handsets that are slathered with gems and precious metals. The Vertu Ti is the firm's latest effort, an Android-powered smartphone that features a titanium chassis and a sapphire-crystal screen.

Starting at $9,600 (with design variants that hike the price up to nearly $20,000), this ridiculous mobile phone will do little to tempt discerning shoppers. If you're curious as to what nearly $10,000 worth of smartphone gets you however, then read on.

With the flick of a switch and a flash of green light, a network of veins springs to the fore, mapped out just below the surface of the skin. This is no medical lab -- it's a darkened suite inside San Francisco's designer Clift Hotel -- but I already see how the recent sting of a donation nurse thumping the inside of both elbows in search of a vein could, and should, be a nervy, time-consuming thing of the past.

The VeinViewer Flex isn't new. In fact, the first generation of VeinViewer debuted in 2006. But its use of infrared light to illuminate a hidden network within the body is seldom appreciated outside of medical circles.

Light, it turns out, and the projectors that channel it, can do quite a bit.… Read more

The morning after the Super Bowl, there is a constant discussion about the dropped passes, the unnecessary roughness and the terrible calls.

Yes, of course I'm talking about the commercials.

Many media companies weigh in and declare that they know which of them moved the populace to wild emotions and untold paroxysms of brand loyalty.

TiVo, meanwhile, constantly checked the pulses and sweat glands of its subscribers and came out with a simple declaration: the most engaging ad of the Super Bowl was the one for Taco Bell.

Yes, the one where the older people behaved like younger people … Read more

Google apparently sweetened the sale of its Motorola set-top box business to Arris in an unusual way -- by largely indemnifying Arris against potential losses in a Motorola-TiVo patent tussle.

According to TechCrunch, which listened to a conference call Arris CEO Bob Stanzione held with analysts yesterday, Google has offered to cap any liability Arris might face in the event Motorola's set-top box business Home is found to have violated patents owned by DVR maker TiVo.

The trouble started in October when TiVo filed a patent-infringement claim against Motorola, saying that the Google-owned company's set-top boxes were infringing … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Watch Jeff go nuts on the Wii U.

- German police stop man with mobile office in car.… Read more

The official length of last week's thrilling Giants-Cowboys game was 3 hours and 25 minutes, although by my calculations there was only an hour of football worth watching.

That's not commentary on the quality of the game, but rather the endless stream of commercials, "analysis," and challenges that end up taking twice as long the actual football action. For DVR users accustomed to zipping past every commercial, watching a live NFL game can be an unbearable slog, even if the game itself is great. That's why I gave up watching NFL in real time years … Read more

Verizon has agreed to pay DVR specialist TiVo at least $250.4 million to settle all litigation between the companies.

Separately, Verizon also reached an agreement with privately held ActiveVideo for at least $260 million, resolving its suit related to on-demand video

"We are pleased to have reached settlements with both TiVo and ActiveVideo in these two matters," a Verizon spokesman said today. He declined to comment further.

According to a regulatory filing, Verizon will give TiVo an upfront cash payment of $100 million by September 28, followed by 25 recurring quarterly payments totaling $150.4 million. The … Read more