Roused by the clock radio switching on NPR this morning I mentally clawed my way into consciousness to hear a news item on TiVo and Verizon offering a new service that allows you to program your TiVo through your Verizon cell phone. Being groggy and half asleep at first I thought that I had dreamed this but, nope, that’s exactly what is being offered. Now I’m awake I am staggered at how much positive press this stupid idea has received …
The issue is that the service is simply silly and pointless. I don’t know about you but I rarely need to program my DVR while I’m out and about. Even if I did need such a service would I want to spend an extra $5 per month on it? Moreover, only Verizon subscribers can use the service. Why would TiVo put so much effort into such a small market? This is simply a pointless piece of PR fluff that has somehow been swallowed by the technically incompetent mainstream journalists and elevated into significance it doesn’t deserve.
