A new television startup just got going recently.  They have schedules, use AJAX techniques, and have some Web 2.0 capabilities.

What that basically means is that the website is easy/fun to use, lets you interact with other people, and works very smoothly.  At least in programmers' minds, that is.

The company, or The Guy, is asking people to try their (or his?) web site out.  I don't know much about it.  It sounds interesting, though.

I gather it will be nothing like this site. Sounds like the goals are initially technically-driven, and he is looking for feedback from the beta test users to decide what directions to go in with it.

I just found their weblog and their website tonight.  The company is apparently called EvokeTV.

I am now at 0% and have no Level at all. A couple of my badges appear to be appearing and disappearing too.

Poltergeists escaped from their web page lair in the Legacy?

That's right - you can search for many BBC television or radio shows on the  BBC Catalog search website.

The web pages, unlike most other web pages on the Internet, are actual valid XHTML.  They do not have syntax errors on them.

The site also uses other modern technologies: CSS, RDF with Dublin Core standard metadata, and RSS.


Naturally, this is just information about the shows.  The recordings of the shows are not on the website. At least not on this one.


The site is a very good showcase of what broadcast networks and studios can do to connect with their audiences, entice fans to visit their websites, and build support for their television and radio programming.


It also offers some insight as to how networks can rekindle interest in long-ago aired shows.  After all, once people find out about series and episodes that catch their interest - the next step would be to monotize that by allowing them to buy!

That might not be the direction BBC goes with this.  For now, it looks like they are just putting out out there and waiting to see how people react.


Check it out if you are curious about the Doctor Who series or anything else from BBC that has caught your fancy over the years.

TiVo has announced a new model of their current Series 2 TiVo that offers dual tuners.

So finally, people will be able to record two shows at once.  For those who use cable or satellite TV, this is probably a major boon.  They can be recording a movie off a movie channel, while enjoying their favorite TV show on another channel.

Actually, most TVs allow switching back and forth between antenna and auxillary A/V device such as TiVo at the press of a button on their remote.  A/B switches are a mechnical way of accomplishing the same thing.  So, in theory - you could be recording two shows at once via the TiVo's two tuners - while enjoying a 3rd that you are watching using your TV's tuner.

This model is not the long-awaited TiVo Series 3 model, which will allow viewing/recording HDTV, digital television reception, external storage, and a host of other features.

For that, looks like TV-philes will have to wait a few more months.

Yahoo announced a couple of months ago they had plans to offer a newservice for TV and other entertainment activities.

Well, today they launched it! It is called Yahoo Go and you can read more about Yahoo Go from my other blog.

I rarely cross reference one blog from another but this time I just do not feel like writing the same thing twice. There are a lot of good links to information in that other posint, and I do not want to retype them all over again.

I promise I will not make a habit of this. If you are interested in learning more about the Yahoo Go offering, click the link above and investigate.

Yahoo is doing some pretty rad stuff these days!!

Hey, if you have Thunderbird 1.5 or later, you can just go to its Help menu and choose the Check for Updates command.  This is a great convenience and is the way you do it from now on, once you get up to this new version.  Takes less than a minute with a good connection.

If you have an older version that 1.5, get your butt to http://www.mozilla.com/ and download the new version fast.  Make sure you write down on all your email server settings, username, password, etc. before you install - just in case.


If you have not bothered to update to Firefox 1.5.0.2 yet (shame on you, it came out a week ago) then basically the same instructions apply to updating it as Thunderbird.  And, you can get your Firefox download at the same site if you don't have it yet or have the pre-1.5 version of Firefox.


Very important to get up to the 1.5.0.2 versions of these programs and keep them up-to-date !


By the way, Firefox 1.5.0.2 seems to work REALLY GREAT with this web site.  Even the WYSIWYG editor is working fine for me with 1.5.0.2.

And....  it's fast!!

Hey, good news if you like Star Trek and either Alias or Lost. J.J. Abrams, the producer of the 2 hit series Alias and Lost, will be directing a Star Trek movie due to compe out in 2006. Star Trek revival in 2008 This will be the 11th Star Trek movie. It will focus on the first meeting of James T. Kirk and Spock at Starfleet academy, and then follow them on their first mission into outer space.

You can buy episodes of the current season of Alias right now in iTunes for $1.99. Looks like they also have the previous season - season 4 - too. It is nice ABC and Apple have taken this step together. Kind of a shame they did not have videos for sale in iTMS I could have really used this during the first couple of seasons when was not always able to watch or TiVo each episode. I probably missed a couple episodes somewhere along the line. These days I make sure I TiVo them so I am pretty confident I am not missing them now.

I just made Level 7 this morning! I have been reviewing more shows and episodes lately. The TiVo is a big help. It makes it easy to keep track of what I have watched lately. It also is handy for refreshing my memory of shows I watched recently but forgotten some parts of the episode. I am so inured to using TV to watch TV that when I listen to radio in the car, I feel the urge sometime so hit the "skip back 3 seconds button". You know, like when I am listening to the news and I find myself going "what did he just say"? Does anyone know if they have that capability in the digital satellite radio receivers for cars?

Hey, from time to time a question on the new standards for modern television comes up. You probably have lots of questions about HDTV. The more you find out about it, the more questions you have. Reading this TitanTV HDTV FAQ should help.