cable

If you wanted to use Thunderbolt devices with your Mac, previously it was necessary to purchase one of Apple's Thunderbolt cables, which at nearly $50 each may seem outrageously expensive. Until now Apple's cables have been the only option, but accessory company Elgato has recently begun selling a Thunderbolt cable of its own. However, while third-party options often have the advantage of a lower price, Elgato's cable is currently no cheaper than Apple's.

The Thunderbolt technology introduced in Apple's latest Mac models provides exceptionally fast I/O, in its current form allowing up to 10Gbps … Read more

We'll come to the explanation in a minute, but let's bathe in the pathos first.

So there were viewers of CHCH TV in Hamilton, Ontario, munching on their morning croissants and offering one eye to their morning newscast.

Suddenly a collective "eh?" must have been heard all the way in Montreal. For, that morning newscast was interrupted with a show in which naked bodies of the same sex writhed and, well, other things.

This was not a mere glimpse. It was not a blip. The Hollywood Reporter tells me it was three minutes of, well, please … Read more

Verizon Wireless is planning to auction off some of its wireless spectrum in the hopes of winning favor with regulators to buy a chunk of spectrum from cable operators.

Verizon has been facing opposition from several smaller wireless carriers for a deal it proposed last year to buy unused spectrum from a group of cable operators called Spectrum Co. that includes Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

Verizon said in a statement today that if it's given approval to buy the cable operators' spectrum it will sell some of its own spectrum in the A and B block of the … Read more

Cutting the cord in hopes of saving money on television programming is often contemplated. But last year, relatively few cable or satellite subscribers in the U.S. actually did it, a new study shows.

The Convergence Consulting Group yesterday released its research on TV cord cutting to see how many people left their cable or satellite plans behind to access all their content over the Web. The firm found that 1.05 million people in the U.S. cut their TV subscriptions last year. Since 2008, 2.65 million people have decided against cable or satellite and gone to alternative … Read more

Verizon's new argument to regulators on its cable deal: give us the OK and we'll start offering better mobile video.

CEO Lowell McAdam is eager to win regulatory approval for Verizon's cross-selling and spectrum deal with several cable providers. One such benefit would be pay-TV subscribers getting access to more mobile video, the Wall Street Journal reported. Lowell said the integrated service would be available to cable subscribers or customers of its own Fios TV service.

Verizon and the cable companies are in the midst of defending a $3.9 billion deal that would send a valuable … Read more

No hilarious jokes or personal anecdotes today. This is time-sensitive, so I'll cut right to the chase.

Today only, and while supplies last, Amazon has the refurbished Kindle Fire tablet for $139 shipped.

I'm reluctant to even post that deal, because I suspect it'll sell out before the morning is over -- heck, before I finish typing this paragraph. That's an insanely good deal on one of the best 7-inch tablets to date.

Update: Well, kudos to Amazon for having enough inventory to last most of the day...but as I expected, the refurbished Fires are … Read more

Can your game console act as a TV replacement? Very nearly, now that more and more video apps are hitting consoles at a record rate. HBO Go, which has become a symbol of sorts for the potential of app-based on-demand entertainment as a cable accessory, has hit the Xbox, joining Roku, Android phones, the iPhone, and the iPad -- and, of course, smart TVs and laptops, too.

Unlike IP-based cable provider apps like Time Warner and Xfinity, HBO Go works anywhere in the U.S. just like Netflix, provided you have a subscriber log-in that comes from signing in via your cable provider. Oh, there's one more thing: not all cable providers allow HBO Go to work on the Xbox. Depending on who your provider is, you'll either (a) not be able to use HBO Go, or (b) be able to use it on certain devices, but not others.… Read more

My Comcast DVR died last week, so down I went to my local Comcast office to exchange it for a new box. Although I lost weeks' worth of Modern Family (which, inexplicably, isn't offered On Demand), my DVR's death came at a good time because Comcast recently received a new fleet of cable boxes and sent me home with the Motorola RGN200N.

Years ago, I had programmed a 30-second skip button for my old Comcast DVR on my old silver remote. It was a simple process:

1. Press the Cable button at the top of the remote

2. … Read more

The week is just getting started, and we already have a new patent infringement lawsuit on our hands.

The twist this time is that it is a counter suit from TiVo against both Motorola and Time Warner Cable.

A little over a year ago, Motorola filed a lawsuit against TiVo over patent infringement related to digital video recorders -- some of which focused on patents stemming from as far back as the 1990s.

Now, TiVo has filed counterclaims with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that Motorola and Time Warner Cable (one of Motorola's customers) infringed upon the … Read more