Are there any plans in the works to add the function of a full blown web browser to TiVo. It seems to me the gaming industry as been trying to make their boxes the appliance that marries your TV set and computer. TiVo is in the best position to be the appliance that blurs the line between the web and television.

Subscribers could then download all types of content directly to their TV. I realize that there is already some limited ability to do that. But it would be valuable to subscribers to use their TV to do it all.
All you would need is a wireless keyboard.

TiVo could then set up credit card accounts allowing subscribers to make purchases and pay bills while watching TV. Additionally with bluetooth technology TiVo could eventually operate smart appliances all over the home and therefor function as the brain for the smart house. The simple friendly interface that subscribers are familiar with would make the transition extremely easy.

As an armchair TiVo executive my perspective is that the more things TiVo can do to enhance the subscribers quality of life, the more reasons people will have to subscribe and retain their subscription.

I am interested in hearing your thoughts,

Louie Manno

I am a happy subscriber who went out of his way to supply you with an excellent suggestion about a year ago. I have not received a response or any acknowledgement at all. Your corporate culture projects an image of friendliness and accessibility.. It would behoove you to promulgate that image with this blog.

Disappointed but still happy

Louie
http://www.zeigen.com/blog/?p=44#comment-4118

I can’t talk about personnel matters, but I would point to this piece of detective work by MegaZone.

If I were in charge, the blog would either have a new blogger writing frequent content, or it would be removed. It’s not my call, however, and I’ve given my feedback to the powers that be.

So, your comments are right on the money.

I have high hopes. I think a TiVo corporate blog is a valuable thing to have, and we could get there some day. We sure are very far from there today.

In the meantime, I’ll do what I can here, although I have a full-time job already at TiVo, and so most of what I write here is about what I work on, which is TiVoCast.

Stephen–proud of it?

Has anyone ever linked to it?

Does it have more then a few dozen subscribers?

Has anyone ever approached you outside TiVo and said “Hey, I was reading the TiVo blog and …”?

I’m guessing not.

(Indeed from “TrackBack: 0” below every entry I know nobody cares enough to link back to it. Pretty telling, huh?)

It’s still not a “conversation”, it’s still just regurgitated PR puffery.

Everyone who happens upon it doubtless reads the first few lines, thinks “Gack!–who gives a warm soft one?” and moves on, disappointed to find drivel more appropriate to a MySpace page.

Wow–a company that helped pioneer an entirely new consumer product, whose brand defines it’s category, trying to get it’s message out, and this is the best you folks can do? Your opportunity to engage with customers, to “tell your story”, and it is so wasted?!

Was this your vision? Is this in any way Google-blog-like (your model)?

Own up that the TiVo blog has been a thorough failure, a missed opportunity, a waste of whatever minimal effort has been put into it. Mercifully shut down the embarrassment or actually commit to it in a real way, but don’t leave that horrid wan imitation of a blog putrefying on TiVo.com, it’s just too sad & ugly.

I have an idea for you guys and I think it’s a dandy… More importantly I think it is good for America. I emailed it to your PR Department. Hey look, I know what you guys are doing… I know how you are changing television as we know it. I am a big fan of TiVo and I think my idea has enough merit for consideration. I know you get ideas from subscribers all of the time, and I know you must be very busy… all I am asking is for you to check this one out. I want nothing out of it- Sure I have applied for a few jobs at your company – me and a hundred thousand other people. But if you will take a look at my original email to your PR department I think that you will find an easy to execute slam-dunk feature that your subscribers will love and you guys can make money off of.

Thanks for your time.

Louie Manno
______________________________________________________________

Dear TiVo PR Team:

I have a suggestion. This idea came to me recently while I was watching CNN as they were doing a story about emergency preparedness. I thought, “I am watching TiVo recorded shows about 75% of the time and if there were an emergency or important news bulletin I would miss it”. Perhaps TiVo could partner with one of the networks and offer “TiVo News Alert”. This could be a user-selected option that would display a popup alerting the viewer in the event of a “Special Report”. The popup might give a network-generated headline and offer viewers a chance to be directed to the news network for additional details. Furthermore TiVo could seek the endorsement of the Department of Homeland Security. From a PR standpoint a press release announcing this new service would surely get the attention of the media. It would send the message that TiVo is in such wide use that this feature has become necessary. When a News Director or Editor makes the call to break into regular programming with a “Special Report” the same criteria could be used to trigger the TiVo News Alert. I am sure that your code writers and system architects could find a way to pull this off. As a TiVo subscriber I would love to have this feature which would make me feel even better about my TiVo. I understand that any and all correspondence that you receive is the property of TiVo and I wave any rights to this suggestion. In other words I expect no compensation… but a thank you note would be nice.

In general I feel that TiVo is currently under utilized and see a great future for the service. That’s why I applied for a job in your marketing department. But, gig or no gig, I will always be a friend of TiVo and will always spread the good word.

Three thumbs up,

Louie Manno

Written in first person? Not released to the press but to the public? Somehow magically sexier ’cause it’s a “blog”? (ooooh!)

It’s the same pap.

I think you’re entirely missing what has made corporate blogs so successful: They’re a way for a human voice to come out of a corporation, to “talk to the top”, to remove, or at least minimize, the intermediaries between the business speaker and the customer listening, and their responses.

Sorry, but while you may admire the Google blog you’ve in no way emulated it, or even shown tendencies towards that direction.

The Google blog has achieved what success it has for three reasons:

1. Google is the shizizzle these days. They could post their lunch menu and get buzz a marketer soils their shorts to think about.

2. Google posts interesting material. TiVo posts about sponsoring ‘speed dating’. Think about it: Censorship in China, speed dating.

3. Google posts about topics most consider to legitimately be part of their internal, or internal/external, discussions. TiVo has done nothing of the kind.

To sum it up, Google has Larry & Sergey. TiVo has (had) … Shannon? Pony? You?

A reworded press release blog is not “telling the story”, it’s “more of the same”. You say your customers might be confused with reading honesty on your website, I think you do your customers a disservice.

We’ve all grown up with glossy media campaigns, “spin”, all know “Joe Isuzu”; it’s the truth that cuts through the clutter and converts prospects these days.

If TiVo’s blog is going to be a series of sanitized press releases then why have a blog? You’ve already got a perfectly fine press release area on the TiVo website.

If you’re looking to engage folks then post substantive material and respect legitimate responses. Yes, that might mean having things posted that aren’t pure adulation.

Folks are fairly media-savvy and know a conversation when they see it. They also recognize puffery. One inspires trust and respect, the other is the same ole bs.

“Speed dating” is a priority at TiVo? What next – “Orange Soda is Tasty”? How about giving some context to the company, responding to development of the Galleon tool being dropped, the high call load after Christmas, the saddest TiVo that ever came in for refurbishment, what can owners do to protect their own TiVos, etc.

But if your corporate blog goes away and nobody notices or cares, well, join the legions of cat blogs on LiveJournal…

Market research, customer research and listening to our customers (via the forums, via support, via in-person meetings, via numerous other channels) is critical to TiVo, and we’ve been doing that since day one.

Our research shows us that prospects outnumber existing customers when it comes to our web site. Many of these are first-time visitors, and a sizable number don’t even know what a DVR is. I think it would be a distortion and a distraction for the blog to have negative comments when there are so many other venues (such as this one) for unfiltered commentary.

For experienced bloggers like you, I can see why our blog doesn’t meet your ideals. But I think our blog’s target audience is a bit less experienced than you.

The purpose of a corporate blog should NOT be simply to provide news. It
should be to engage customers in a conversation and listen to their ideas
and concerns — positive and negative and everything in between.

True, Marketing 101 used to be about controlling the message. But not any more — not when consumers have the ability to demand and receive better products and services and punish companies that don’t deliver.

Now, as marketing leaders frequently point out, Marketing 101 is all about co-creating the message with your customers, who are the ultimate wellspring of the success of your enterprise (and a damn good, direct source of new ideas for improved products and services).

Good response, but the only thing you don’t really address is the lack of postings on the TIVO blog. Maybe that’s going to change, but I’m a little skeptical. There is so much to post about, about TIVO – everything from the Series 3 announcement to the new features being rolled out all the time. The TIVO fans are chomping at the bit for good info about our TIVOs, and I think that is probably why the blog is so disappointing.

Good to hear the technical issues were addressed, but content is what will keep people coming back.

–*Rob

http://thomashawk.com/2006/02/well-tivo-blog-sucks-lot-less-than-it.html

My apologies for my excessive tone in my original rant.