TiVo

DirecTV and TiVo are together again, with a new unit coming soon. It was a sad day when DirecTV and TiVo broke up a few years ago. They were the first receivers with a built-in DVR, and worked together seamlessly. But, when DirecTV started using MPEG-4 broadcasts with their HD channels, TiVo was shown the door.

Who doesn't love their TiVo? Who would love to take their TiVo to work with them every day? If you're on the staff at The Daily Show, you don't have to.

The TiVo webstore has a glaring omission. The popular Series3 unit is AWOL. The Series2 is chugging along, and the TiVo HD is prominent, but the Series3 is gone and labeled "Out of Stock." Retailers still have inventory ($593 at Amazon) but it looks like the S3 is history.

Although we announced back in March that this was coming, it's finally official. Just announced — YouTube videos will be available on your TV through your TiVo. Broadband-connected TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD DVRs can access millions of videos hosted on YouTube.

Lots of little boxes, all lined up on your television set. All the little boxes you need to download movies from the Internet, satellites and cable systems, and none of them talk to each other. What is it going to take to get one source and one format for all the movies you want to watch?