ti

Inside, the Droid 2 has some striking similarities to the Droid X--which isn't a bad thing.

Motorola's Droid 2 will be in stores Thursday for $199.99 with a two-year contract, after a $100 mail-in rebate (like the Droid X). The phone packs the Android 2.2 operating system, which has support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1. (The Droid X shipped with Android 2.1.)

Though the two phones differ physically--the Droid 2 is a slider smartphone, the Droid X eschews the physical keyboard--there's a lot inside that's the same, if not identical. (And note … Read more

The Motorola Droid X, which debuted this week to mostly a chorus of accolades, gets its zip from silicon provided by Texas Instruments.

Inside the rival to the Apple iPhone 4 is a new TI OMAP 3630 chip, a big upgrade from the 3430 silicon used in the current Motorola Droid. TI got almost a two-fold speed spike from the new OMAP 3630 chip via design modifications and by moving to an advanced 45-nanometer manufacturing process, according to Brian Carlson, OMAP product line manager at Texas Instruments.

"We increased both the graphics and processor performance by over 80 percent," Carlson said in a phone interview, adding that the new process along with chip design tweaks allowed TI to also lower power consumption between 30 percent and 50 percent, depending on what the user is doing.

"The first thing you'll notice is that the Droid X is much snappier, much faster. Web browsing is one of the key areas. Running a (graphics intensive) Web page, comparing the Droid to the Droid X, it goes from about eight seconds down to below five seconds," he said.

Carlson also explained that other factors come into play beyond reaching the 1GHz milestone. "It's not just about the gigahertz. It's about your memory subsystem. Our memory bandwidth and how we feed these (processing) engines make an incredible… Read more

Consumers who need to add more space to their digital video recorders now have another choice.

Western Digital announced Tuesday a new My Book AV DVR Expander that works with a large selection of DVRs. This is the upgrade to a device released by the company a year ago.

According to Western Digital, the new My Book AV DVR Expander is TiVo-verified and compatible with TiVo Series3, TiVo Premier, TiVo HD, and many other DVRs, including DirectTV R15, HR20, HR2, HR23, Dish Network VIP722K, and Time Warner Cable Scientific Atlanta 8300HD.

Essentially, the My Book DVR Expander is a 1TB … Read more

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday rejected a claim by TiVo that it owns the patent on time-warp DVR technology.

TiVo released this statement Tuesday: "While TiVo is disappointed with this recent PTO office action, this is just one of several steps in the review process. We will continue to work with the PTO to explain the validity of the claims under review. It is important to note that TiVo received a 'final action' holding several claims invalid during EchoStar's first re-examination request at this juncture only to have the PTO ultimately uphold the validity … Read more

I'm a DVR fan from way back. I started by using ReplayTV (of blessed memory), then made the move to Windows Media Center, which has served me well for many years.

However, I'm at a crossroads. For reasons I won't get into here, Windows Media Center is no longer getting the job done. Thus, I have to live with Comcast's ubercrappy DVR or make the move to TiVo.

I've long resisted using TiVo for one simple reason: the monthly service fee. After you buy the box, you're on the hook for $12.95 per … Read more

In yet another twist on the years-long patent dispute between TiVo and EchoStar, an appeals court has agreed to a fresh hearing of the case.

The U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit on Friday granted EchoStar's petition for a rehearing en banc, which means all the judges on a court will be present for a rehearing of the patent dispute between the two TV service providers. This is typically used when hearing an appeal on a decision made by a panel, or just a few of the judges on the court.

That means the March 4 victory for TiVo, … Read more

I sat down with TiVo CEO Tom Rogers this week, and don't worry: I asked him about the DirecTV TiVo right off the bat. Of all the things you wanted to hear from him, whether it be whole-home streaming, built-in Wi-Fi, Comcast deals, or the origin of the "ba-doop-a-doop" sound, the single most oft-asked question was about DirecTV. You'll be happy to know he did promise a box by the second half of the year, but less happy to know that he wouldn't really get into many specifics about what it will look like. My … Read more

I'm excited to announce our next CNET Conversations guest, TiVo CEO Tom Rogers.

It's been 11 years since TiVo arrived on the scene and, arguably (and alongside ReplayTV, changed the way we watch television. But, as you know, TiVo has struggled to find a broad foothold and cable and satellite companies have chosen to provide customers with their own house-brand DVRs, and have, shall we say, made it difficult for cable customers to venture out into the wilds of TiVo + CableCARD.

Plus, set-top boxes are the new black in the consumer electronics industry, and would-be TiVo competitors like … Read more

The TiVo Premiere is finally here, and I've gotten a chance to live with it for the past week. Thanks to a late CableCard installation, I'm not quite ready to wrap up the review on the product, but I've seen enough to share some detailed impressions. And it is, in many ways, a tale of two TiVos. Or, more specifically, two sets of prospective TiVo customers. TiVo newbies--those who have suffered with "generic" DVRs from their cable providers and are coming to a real TiVo for the first time--will find themselves getting an all-in-one digital box that's an easy-to-use and elegant gateway to a wide range of TV and online video and audio entertainment. Meanwhile, TiVo die-hards are likely to be disappointed: the TiVo Premiere is merely an evolutionary step-up from previous Series3 and TiVo HD models, not the sort of game-changing product that the original TiVo was. It adds an updated, high-def user interface, universal search option, and faster operation--and not too much else. … Read more