TV

Have you set your DVR yet? I sure have. On Tuesday night we'll see the ballroom dancing debut of Dallas Mavericks owner and tech entrepreneur extraordinaire Mark Cuban as he leaps onto the stage of the corny ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars, which pairs celebrities of various calibers with professional dance partners and then pits the couples against one another.

Cuban, always the subtle one, is encouraging his blog readers to dial in and vote for him and his curvy blond dance partner, Kym. "I'm up against all the pretty boys, athletes and entertainers tonight,&… Read more

Monday's New York Times highlights one of my growing pet peeves: increasingly invasive on-screen ads and information that are invading all manner of TV programs. The article ("As the Fall Season Arrives, TV Screens Get More Cluttered") explores some of the supposed reasons behind the trend, which runs the gamut from "bugs" (channel logos) and on-screen data dumps (news and financial market tickers, scoreboards), to--in my opinion, the top annoyance--"snipes" (animated ads, for either upcoming programs or sponsored products).

On news, financial, and sports programming, I'm a lot more forgiving of … Read more

With NBC and ABC both making free downloads of their shows available this week, Fox jumped on the trend with free downloads of new shows available on iTunes.

The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that Fox and Apple have reached an agreement to offer free downloads of the shows Fox is trying to promote this sweeps season: that is, the ones people aren't watching as much as they'd like. No Simpsons or Family Guy clips are among the five shows currently available for free on the iTunes Store. But episodes of shows sure to be forgotten in the … Read more

College football is back, and so is fall television. If you're looking to pick up some free TV shows (legally), the Internet is your friend and is a great place to go for digital versions of TV shows, sans a TV or the need for a VCR or DVR to watch shows when you want to. Note that several of these sites are walking a fine line of what's legal and what's not, which was outlined in yesterday's post about legal suicide for start-ups. We don't condone piracy or encourage it; this guide is for entertainment purposes only.

Free (and paid-for) downloads:

iTunes. iTunes is worth mentioning here because you can often get the first and last episode of any show for free. You can then put it on your iPod, iPhone, or watch it full-screen on your computer. While the iTunes Store is now lacking shows like The Office, because of NBC pulling out of its renewal deal, you can still find shows from ABC, CBS, and Fox--which incidentally is offering free pilots of all of their series, which you can find here (link opens up in iTunes).

Editor's Pick: Kitchen Nightmares--it's like Dinner Impossible, but with more volatility and endive.

Amazon Unbox. While we may not have had the best experience using this service in the past, if you're looking for legal digital copies of NBC's newest shows, you're stuck with Unbox until Hulu launches next month. Like the iTunes Store, you'll find all the big players here, although keep in mind that you can't watch these shows on any portable media players, which makes the $1.99 price tag a little harder to swallow.

Editor's Pick: MythBusters

Joost. There is an absolute ton of content on Joost, including entire seasons of the original Transformers from the 80s. The only catch? You've gotta download and install the client, and get a private beta token, which these days is about as easy to get as it was to get a Gmail invite a few years back.

Click the "read more" link below to continue reading, and find out about free, streaming options.… Read more

Another designer has lived up to the fine sense of Italian aesthetics, which we've seen applied increasingly to home media furnishings. The latest example comes from Bonaldo in the form of a new twist--quite literally--on displaying a plasma or LCD TV with its "Swivel TV Stand."

But it's the striking circular design that will get your attention as much as its practical mobility. The stand's black lacquered frame is supported by a chrome base, according to Trendir, providing a "fantastic way to soften the harsh, square corners" of the television set and accompany … Read more

TVs and PCs may be taking their own sweet time to morph into one appliance, but some designs are starting to betray the romance. Case in point: ViewSonic's new "Diamani DUO" series (dynamic duo?) are meant to be used both as a desktop monitor and an LCD TV, in 19- and 22-inch models with 1,440x900 and 1,680x1050 respective resolutions.

Unlike other PC-TV screens, which are often indistinguishable from desktop monitors, this one actually takes on some of the design characteristics of a plasma or LCD set, such as today's popular piano-black gloss finish, contoured … Read more

As if incessant infomercials and volume-blasting deodorant ads aren't enough, now there's a handheld TV from Japan that will talk to us all on its own. An unholy alliance of toy giant Takara Tomy and a company called E-Revolutiona has produced a pocket TV dubbed "Segnity" that has some mysterious "talking abilities" along with its 2.7-inch QVGA screen and 1Seg TV tuner.

Akihabara News speculates that it will say something like "Are you leaving already?" when it's being turned off, but that could be only the beginning. If U.S. … Read more

Here in the U.K. we've long been the poor cousin to the U.S. and its dozens of high-definition TV channels, which are available over terrestrial airwaves in the case of the main networks. The highi-def party's swinging this way though, with the BBC's HD offering getting Ofcom approval and Channel 4 announcing an HD service too.

Until now, the only way to see high-def channels in the U.K. was either to subscribe to Sky HD, which is pretty expensive, or to watch BBC HD, a channel which up until now has been hanging from … Read more

The digital age is about to invade your elderly parents' or grandparents' living room. But do they know it?

The pending changes to free over-the-air TV for analog TV owners has gotten the attention on the Hill. The Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing Wednesday morning to discuss the topic.

Come February 2009, seniors who have analog TV sets and rely on rabbit ears to capture free TV programming off the airwaves face a huge problem--no picture.

That's when TV broadcasters will be required to halt analog broadcasting and, instead, transmit their content in digital form. For … Read more