TiVo + YouTube coming soon?

I’ve been hearing some rumors around the Web that we’re soon going to see video sharing site YouTube sharing its content on TiVo. This isn’t a new situation for the Google owned YouTube as content can be watched on devices like the Apple TV.

As a user of TiVo, this is somewhat exciting news. The idea of getting YouTube directly on my TiVo means a lot more content opportunities. I’ve seen the experience on Apple TV and it’s pretty smooth. Having used TiVo’s partnership with Amazon Unbox service, I expect a pretty strong quality to come out of this.

There are more partnerships that have been talked about, but a rumored Netflix partnership has apparently stalled. I would love to see Netflix Watch Now on my TiVo.

TiVo CEO Tom Rogers also talked about a new vision for TiVo, opening the device to a whole house experience. Currently I’m able to share content between my two TiVos (living room and bed room) which is nice, but to do it through one box in a more seamless manor would be exciting.

All this is making me feel good about holding off on upgrading to an HD TiVo had this point. My standard def box is doing me pretty well. I just have to ignore the HD QAM video I can watch. Soon though, hopefully.

First Round 2008

Alex and I went out to the Minneota golf course for nine rounds tonight. It was my first round with the new clubs I got for Christmas. I’d share my score, but it’s best left unsaid. The new clubs worked extremely well and I look forward to many years with them. Hopefully our next round will be more respectable.

Someplace new to rest

A few months ago I lamented about the condition of my primary living room seat. Nearly 20 years old, the couch has outlived its usage, passed down from my parents to me. In one week the couch will officially be retired.

Thanks to Uncle Sam and his stimulus package, I ordered a new couch today. It’s scheduled to arrive next Wednesday and should be in place by that afternoon. I’m looking forward to having a comfortable place to sit down, lay down and enjoy living room. I’ll post pictures of the new couch once it’s in place.

Liberty City, here I come

After work on Friday I rented Grand Theft Auto IV. I’ve played most of the previous titles (going back to GTA II, before the game most people recognize as the start of the franchise GTA III). I’ve always been a passive gamer when it came to the series and the whole humor/over-the-top attitude of the series never struck me as worth spending a lot of time with.

With GTA IV, there is something different going on. The game still suffers from the horrible driving scheme, hand-to-hand combat and shooting are still wrote with problems, but the story — really makes up for things.

You play as a eastern European immigrant who drops into the world of Liberty City over the promise of riches, only to find it’s not the place he thought it would be.

From that point on you meet friends and develop relationships that actually feel like they matter.

I’m only about 5 hours into the game really so I have a long way to go, but I know this is a game I’m going to buy eventually. Sure it’s still violent, the people are crude but the world is beautiful. Like nothing you’ve ever seen in games before.