Slacy’s Blog

Okay, huge disclaimers here.  I used to work at TiVo, and specifically worked on several parts of the user interface framework, and I now work at Google, and have worked on the YouTube backend infrastructure.

One big struggle at TiVo was always what the “next generation” UI framework should be.  Straight C++? Java?  Networked remote display protocol (HME)?  JavaScript + HTML? XML-driven layout with C++ logic? Java + Comcast (take2)?  Flash?

So, now we know what actually shipped!   The new TiVo Premiere has been announced, and the most interesting point is that the UI claims to be implemented in Flash.  Yes, Adobe Flash.  I can sort of see the appeal, since that means your designers can do mocks using their favorite Adobe tools on a Macintosh and get pixel-accurate representation on the set-top.  That’s pretty cool, and hopefully will make TiVo a lot more agile when it comes to UI innovation. The delay cycle between UI design and implementation was usually 12+ months.  Maybe now it’ll be a little faster.

But, the use of Flash has some other possible ramifications that no one seems to be picking up on:

Can I connect my PC’s browser to my TiVo Premiere box and see the full Flash user interface on my desktop?

That’s a huge question!  Flash has the potential to deliver a remote-display experience that’s pixel-accurate from the set-top experience, and do it in a cross-platform way!   If desktop flash itself were upgraded to support ATSC-spec video formats (or if TiVo started transcoding their video), then I can foresee being able to browse to my TiVo and actually be able to play back the content, right in my browser.  Although transcoding might sound far fetched, there are hardware solutions provided by Broadcomm that could do exactly this:  Transcode HD broadcast format from disk to Flash-capable MP4, in real time.  I haven’t checked the specs of the Premiere’s internals to know if their hardware is capable of this or not.

Can I view flash-enabled websites on TiVo Premiere?

If this is a full, Adobe-certified flash implementation, then if TiVo integrates with WebKit or any other browser platform, then we can get full Web+Flash on our TVs.  The interesting thing here?  That brings access to thedailyshow.com, hulu.com, tv.com, vimeo.com, collegehumor.com, and all the other niche websites that are producing and/or delivering high quality content.  They’re currently only delivering that content to the desktop, because that’s the only place where “full Flash” has a foothold.  Existing TVs with (for example) YouTube support use a Google-provided API to access the metadata and content.  By putting Flash in the livingroom, we have the possibility for accessing all that content with our friendly peanut remotes.

What about HTML5?

Yeah, you wouldn’t think that TiVo would be getting itself twisted up in the HTML5 vs. Flash debates, but here we are.  For example, if YouTube were to move to HTML5 for their playback UI, then TiVo would need to make sure that their browser experience works with HTML5 as well, and the Flash would “fall by the wayside” for the external video sources mentioned above.  So, that would leave TiVo as an island of Flash support floating in an HTML5 sea.  Certainly it’ll take a long time for all the above mentioned sites to switch over, so I suspect that TiVo has a long time to react to this ongoing situation.  (But, they’re notoriously slow at reacting.  One could argue that this switch two flash should have happened 4+ years ago for them to “stay with the times”)

I bet the TiVo Premiere hardware is capable of nearly everything mentioned above.  The question is:  Can TiVo get their act together and ship more new innovative features for this platform? I don’t have a lot of faith, since they’ve had a really hard time innovating in feature-space in the past, but I’d love to see it happen!

Are you sure you really want to abandon your existing userbase, again?

First there was the Series1 to Series2 transition.  Not a huge deal, since there really weren’t that many Series1 boxes out there, but from an innovation standpoint, those users got orphaned.

Then, there was the Series2 to Series3 transition.  I’m not sure what the numbers were, but there were millions of Series2 customers that got left behind on this one.  This matters to TiVo if they’re trying to build a revenue stream with innovative software features.  If you’re dead-ending your existing customer base, then you can’t ship them new features that generate revenue.

Now, we have the Series3 to Series4 transition.  Is TiVo going to “bet the bank” on this new platform, or are we going to see the “Premiere” software stack ported back to S3 units?  Are they fast enough?  Do they have enough RAM?  Are there other fundamental changes to the Premiere software stack, like on-disk database formats, that make the upgrade impossible?

I’m nervous that TiVo is again”betting the bank” on a new platform with a zero-user install base.  Good luck to making that one work.

Paying royalties to Adobe cuts into TiVo’s bottom line.

I presume that TiVo is using an Adobe-provided Flash implementation, and that means they need to pay a licensing fee to Adobe for every unit shipped.  This means it cuts into TiVo’s bottom line revenue for every unit sold.  Is this really what they want to be doing?   They must expect that new revenue opportunities make the Premiere software platform more profitable than the existing software base.  Time will tell.

What about DirecTV?

If I remember right, a new TiVo + DirecTV box is due later this year.  Is this going to be based on the Series4 platform?  What other changes are we likely to see?  Was the move to Flash backed by DirecTV?

P.S.: Did you know that everySeries2 and beyond TiVo box is capable of Picture-In-Graphics, and that it’s just a “small matter of software” to make it work in the TiVo UI?

My post titled “Things I’m surprised we don’t have yet” was posted to hackernews yesterday, got a little voted up, (I saw it around position #30 on the homepage), and of course, I got some traffic.  Thankfully, I’m hosted offsite, although I think my DSL line could have likely absorbed this as well.  Here are the traffic and bandwidth graphs.  First, here’s Google Analytics:

And second, here’s the bandwidth graph from my hosting company.  (Time goes to the left in this graph, which is oddly reversed from most graphs)

That graph is sort of a lie, because there are several other domains hosted on this machine, but you can clearly see the hump created by something, so let’s just assume it’s being posted on hackernews.

Hopefully, you guys will stick around and I’ll have some more subscribers.    And even more hopefully, some of you guys (and girls) are parents, and will sign up on Parents Guild!

One of the things that impressed me most about the Palm Pre (and WebOS) are the built in sound effects and system sounds.  The “I’ve just been plugged in” sound (alert.mp3, below) is especially great.

So, when I saw that a WebOS root image had been leaked, I thought it would be great to download it and extract all the sound files so I could use them on my Android Nexus One as ringtones or notification sounds.   It was a pretty straightforward process, although the files were nested in several containers (a jar containing a tar containing a tar).  Many of the files were in PCM or WAV format, and for your convenience, I’ve converted them all to high-bitrate mp3 files.  This includes the default ringtone, which has gotten a bunch of press recently, that’s available as Pre.mp3, below, as well as all the system “alert” sounds like the ones I mentioned above.  They’re great.

Here’s the complete list of files:

Anticipation.mp3
Discreet.mp3
Dulcimer.mp3
Flurry.mp3
Guitar.mp3
Older Phone.mp3
Pre.mp3
Rain Dance.mp3
Scamper.mp3
Triangle.mp3
alert.mp3
alert_buzz.mp3
appclose.mp3
back_01.mp3
browser_01.mp3
card_01.mp3
card_02.mp3
card_03.mp3
card_04.mp3
card_05.mp3
default_425hz.mp3
delete_01.mp3
discardingapp_01.mp3
down2.mp3
dtmf_0.mp3
dtmf_1.mp3
dtmf_2.mp3
dtmf_3.mp3
dtmf_4.mp3
dtmf_5.mp3
dtmf_6.mp3
dtmf_7.mp3
dtmf_8.mp3
dtmf_9.mp3
dtmf_asterisk.mp3
dtmf_pound.mp3
error_01.mp3
error_02.mp3
error_03.mp3
focusing.mp3
launch_01.mp3
launch_02.mp3
launch_03.mp3
notification.mp3
notification_buzz.mp3
pagebacwards.mp3
pageforward_01.mp3
phone.mp3
ringtone.mp3
ringtone_buzz.mp3
shuffle_02.mp3
shuffle_03.mp3
shuffle_04.mp3
shuffle_05.mp3
shuffle_06.mp3
shuffle_07.mp3
shuffle_08.mp3
shuffling_01.mp3
shutter.mp3
switchingapps_01.mp3
switchingapps_02.mp3
switchingapps_03.mp3
tones_3beeps_otasp_done.mp3
unassigned.mp3
up2.mp3

• Wireless everything.  Why is my A/V receiver such a mess?  Why isn’t this stuff all wireless yet?   If not wireless, then why not some “universal” audio+video cable, similar to HDMI, but with a lighter form factor.  Why not USB, ethernet, or optical?  Why do I still have to plug in my phone to charge it?
• Batteries that last for months or years for portable electronics. This would be more about power consumption than storage, but still feels like batteries have stagnated.  Remember when Alkaline batteries first came out?  It was *huge*.   Lithium is a little better, (and rechargeable) but in general the number of watt-hours per battery is fairly constant.
• Fast internet connections.  It seems like the United States has been stuck at ~1Mbps down ~512kbps up for easily 5+ years now.   Why isn’t this 100Mbps symmetric?
• Super high resolution displays.  In 1990, my main computer was an IBM PS/2 with a 16Mhz i386 processor, 4MB RAM, and a 15″ CRT screen that was 1024×768.  In 2009, I bought a new computer (netbook) that runs at 1.6GHz (100 times faster) 2GB RAM (500 times more) with a screen that was 1024×768 (the same size!).   Why doesn’t my screen have at least 10x the pixels that it did in 1990?
• Video on demand for everything.   Going to digital broadcast sure freed up a lot of valuable airwaves.  But wait, why are we broadcasting video over the air at all?  The DVR has existed for 10 years now.  Isn’t about time we just time shift everything?  Live events (sports, etc.) could be live-streamed. I should be able to watch any episode of anything that’s ever aired on TV or any movie ever produced, at a moments notice.  Why isn’t this true yet?
• Cars that don’t suck.  Why do car’s suck so much?  Even the most modern car out there (arguably, the latest generation Toyota Prius) is still a mess of gears, oil, wires, and fairly crappy and old UI conventions on the inside.   Where’s my hyper-modern fuel-efficient transport vehicle?  Why do I still have to carry around a spare tire and jack, jumper cables, tire chains, etc.
• Better locks for my home.  My car will unlock itself when I touch it, and will start without me putting the key in the ignition.  But, I have to carry around a small lump of metal to stick in a tiny hole to enter my home.  Why isn’t this better?