Time-Shifting Is So 2000

Enter "place-shifting," the new holy grail in personal video technology. As in, "I was watching the end of last night's Alias on my cell phone on Metro this morning." No, that can't be right -- the new Alias kinda sucks -- but you get the idea: Watching what you want, not just when you want, but where. There are a bunch of companies out there trying to do for television what the iPod did for your music collection. I'm happy to say TiVo is right at the front of the pack.

Among the descriptions of TiVo's new file sharing service, reviewed in Thursday's NYTimes, I have seen hints of some interesting capabilities. For example, you may soon be able to watch stuff saved on your home TiVo from any Internet-connected computer -- at work, say. Or friends could watch stuff off your TiVo, if they had the password. Another thing that hasn't been much talked about is TiVo To Go's ability to play back of computer video on the television through TiVo. That should come in handy for a certain friend of mine who is a fan of BitTorrent and who watches as much of his favorite TV from Internet downloads as traditional networks and cable.

And then there was Wednesday night's surprise -- Bill Gates at CES announcing a pact with TiVo to let content be shared onto Microsoft Portable Media Devices. (The Apple Color iPod can eat its heart out.) It's all part of TiVo's master strategy to distinguish itself from those plain vanilla set-top boxes the cable companies are shoving down our throats, hoping to choke off the DVR-innovator from its customer base. It's called "Project Tahiti."

That's just the start of tomorrow's place-shifting concepts. Perhaps one of the most "out-there" was profiled in today's Wall Street Journal. The Slingbox Personal Broadcaster is "a rectangular device ... that will let you literally 'sling' whatever live or recorded media is on your television to any other device connected to the Internet." And coming soon, the subscription-less Slingbox will "allow consumers to tap into their home-television fare with a wider range of devices like cellphones and personal digital assistants." Cool.

Finally, in a week with lots of exciting news about our favorite digital entertainment device, the best was saved for last: by this time next year, TiVo announced, the company will be selling the ultimate set-top box killer: a high-definition DVR that uses "CableCard" technology to make the cable company's generic offerings as unnecessary as they are worthless.