TiVo loses its MoJo | The Register

TiVo loses its MoJo | The Register: "Time shifting DVR pioneer TiVo will soon display pop-up ads when users attempt to skip commercials, the LA Times reports today. TiVo owners will still be able to fast forward, but will be forced to watch a billboard style ad on screen.
It's the latest in a series of compromises that threaten to leave the highly-regarded company offering little more than a generic set-top box UI.
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Did TiVo ever stand a chance? Time shifting functionality, like many conventional computer innovations, turns out to be a feature of an existing product rather than a horizontal industry in itself (PodCasters, please note), and time shifting is now being built into newer TV sets. Nor were cable providers ever really likely to give control of something as strategic as the UI - and TiVo's is warmly regarded as the best - to a third party."

And then there's the PC/TV convergence theme -- e.g., from this week's US News & World Report:
"One of the main attractions was the system's ability to record television programs Tivo-style to a hard drive using a guide downloaded from the Internet. This service is free--unlike that from Tivo and cable operators, who charge a monthly fee. And unlike those other systems, the entertainment PC can burn your favorite shows to a DVD."