Yesterday, after over six months of development, TiVo finally announced their new program “TiVo Mobile,” which allows recording shows directly from their mobile phones. Verizon Wireless customers can download a “Get It Now” application, which they can use to search for shows and eventually schedule them for recording. TiVo Mobile currently only supports use along with Series 2/3 models and will only be available through Verizon Wireless.

“TiVo Mobile scheduling gives Verizon Wireless customers unprecedented control of their television experience and provides that control wherever they are.” Jim Denney, VP TiVo Marketing

The service does have a few downsides. First off, the Get It Now application will cost customers $1.99/month, which is in addition to their TiVo service cost. Second, it is only available on three phones at the time, one of them being the LG Chocolate. This will probably never catch on unless TiVo figures out a way to offer this for free. I would rather prefer access to a “TiVo Mobile” webpage, which works on mobile browsers.

Demo: TiVo Mobile “Walk Though”
Links: TiVo Mobile Info | TiVo Press

On Wednesday (06/21/06), TiVo released TiVo Desktop v2.3 for Windows. TiVo Desktop now offers TiVo users the ability to convert and transfer shows from their machine to their Apple iPod (video) or Sony Playstation Portable (PSP). TiVo had originally announced their plans to offer this feature back in November 2005 and as expected, the “premium” edition, TiVo Desktop Plus, will not be free. TiVo Desktop Plus will run consumers $24.99, however a basic edition which supports all the standard features of music/photo sharing and show transfers will remain completely free.

The reason for the $24.99 “Plus” edition is because TiVo has to pay both Apple and Sony royalty feeds for the use of the Mp4 format. Luckily users who plan to use only the basic edition will only lack once premium feature, the ability to convert and transfer shows for portable devices. If you wish to utilize TiVo Desktop v2.3 (basic or premium) you will need to be running a TiVo Series 2 which is networked, has the latest software update, and has TiVo To Go enabled. The software unfortunately currently only works on Windows 2000/XP, however there is no word on a new version for Mac OS X users. (TiVo Desktop Plus can be purchased at TiVo.com)

Links: TiVo Desktop | TiVo Home
Related: TiVo To Go 4 iPod Video and PSP