Daily Marauder

TECHNOLOGY

An Apple TV patent filing lays out how widgets could play a role in the way we watch TV. The filing is an update to an older one from 2006. In it, Apple describes how widgets could appear on-screen while people are watching an Apple TV. the widgets could provide live sport scores, news feeds, or chat functionality to talk to other viewers or friends elsewhere. Really, any widget you have on your desktop could just as easily be on your TV screen. The patent describes these widgets being triggered either by a new remote control that looks a lot like an iPod Nano, or by information in the broadcast signal itself. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/07/apple-patent-suggests-a-way-to-bring-widgets-and-chat-to-tv  2/7)

CableLabs will begin testing Solekai Systems’ Tuning Resolver Interface Simulator, or TRIS, which will enable one-way cable-ready devices, such as TiVo DVRs, to access switched digital video channels. Cable companies are looking to offer the resolvers commercially in the second quarter of this year. (Multichannel News 2/7)