Audio Video News

As if we all needed another reason to like TiVo's Series2 DVRs with Home Media features (and all the other stuff), now Google (yes, that Google) gives us one more. It all started back in mid-July of this year when Google acquired Picasa, Inc., a Pasadena, California-based digital photo management company. (Well, actually, it all started back some million or so years ago when the last of the Neanderthals got run out of town by some pretty darn mean homo whateverus ancestors we all have in common. Think of it as kind of like a prehistoric Apple vs. Microsoft kind of thing - only, in this ancient case, Apple won.)

Now, wait a minute. What does all this digital history have to do with TiVo?

The new Google-owned Picasa is a mighty fine Windows-only digital photo organizing and sharing software program that was upgraded earlier this year to include one-click capability of exporting digital pictures to TiVo Series2 DVRs connected on your home network. I paid $29.95 for Picasa many moons ago, and I'm convinced that the program's ease-of-use and organizational capabilities are worth twice the price. I'll even go so far as to say I like it better than Apple's iPhoto, my previous favorite.

But here's where Google, TiVo's Series2 Home Media features, Picasa, and the magic word "FREE" come together. After acquiring Picasa, Google (with eyes set on IPO-dom, snubbing Yahoo, and who knows what else) decided to unleash Picasa on the free world by removing the $29.95 sticker price and replacing it with $0.00. Nope, it's not a trial download. It's not shareware with incessant reminders for deadbeats. Nor do you have to give your credit card number and passwords to all your on-line accounts. It's a truly fine piece of personal photo asset management software that, for whatever the I'm-sure-they're-not-completely-altruistic reasons, is free for the asking.

TiVo Series2 owners will find it a convenient program to, after automatically organizing and cataloging their digital photos on a PC, view those pictures on their TV through their networked TiVo. Non-TiVo owners will find Picasa to be a wonderfully straightforward solution to the nightmare of managing digital photos on your computer - and the grayed-out "Export to TiVo Series2 DVR" option will be a constant reminder of one more reason to get a new TiVo.