Troy on TiVo

I received this email promo about the "Blue Moon Birthday" special. They are simply rehashing the same offer that's been available already this year. Here's what's included: TiVo® HD DVR, Product Lifetime Service , TiVo® Wireless Adapter, and free shipping. All this for $698.99.

Learn more at: www.tivo.com/promo/bluemoon.html

I thought I was in time to get one of the $5 gift card promos from Toyota, but apparently not. I just got this email in my inbox, saying they ran out of the gift cards. I'll try again tomorrow on 3/27 when they are saying that 5000 more cards will be given away. Here is the email:

Thank You for Watching the 2009 Toyota Corolla TiVo® Showcase! Unfortunately supplies for the $5 Amazon.com® gift card* have run out for this week. But don't give up yet! Check back with the 2009 Toyota Corolla TiVo® Showcase on March 27 when additional Amazon.com® gift cards will be emailed to the first 5,000 viewers who respond to the offer. Don't forget, Broadband users can use the gift card to rent or purchase an Amazon Unbox movie download.

For details about Amazon.com digital downloads, please visit:
www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=3757
This message was sent to you because you or someone in your household requested to receive this special offer from Toyota Corolla through the TiVo® Showcase Menu authorizing TiVo® to send you an email.

Check out your TiVo Central home screen at the bottom for the new 2009 Toyota Corolla special. There is an offer for a free $5 gift card to Amazon.com, no strings attached. The offer is good while supplies last and will be emailed within 2 weeks. Mine is on the way, thanks Toyota!

We dyed some eggs for Easter, and tried our hand at making a few with the TiVo character. You use the clear crayon provided, and like magic the dye doesn't stick to where you draw. Happy Easter TiVo!

Yesterday, TiVo announced the ability to watch YouTube videos. The service will be available later this year to broadband-connected subscribers with TiVo Series3™ DVRs, including the new TiVo HD. This is great news for owners of the supported platforms, but not so if you are still a Series 2 owner. This could be a huge factor to make Series 2 owners upgrade to a new model.

A recent MSNBC article describes one woman's failed attempt to setup her new TiVo. She struggled for 5 hours with the instructions and online video setup guides before throwing in the towel and giving up. The next day she had the cable company out to complete the setup, and still ran into problems with the final service activation step using the phone line. So she went out and bought the TiVo Wireless G USB Network Adapter for $65 at BestBuy and that worked. She admits that she's not very comfortable with TV electronics setup, so maybe she should have hired the Geek Squad from square one and avoided this bad experience altogether. What other local services besides the Geek Squad and cable company will make house calls for a TiVo setup at a reasonable cost?

This guy cashed in some rewards points for this cool "flame" remote. Too bad that TiVo announced the discontinuation of such a great referral program at the end of February. Hopfully they will start a new program so customers can continue to get cool stuff like this!

I'm not sure the story behind this cake, apparently for a groom's dinner. But nonetheless, looks tasty! This isn't the first time I've spotted a TiVo cake for a wedding, here was another I found last year.