RSS and TiVo: How Similar

By leelefever on June 15, 2005 - 12:09pm.

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• Technology in Plain English
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Last night we had dinner with an interesting guy named John Rodsett who is a movie producer and a former professor of Sachi’s. Among other things, we talked about our mutual love of TiVo and I spent a little time talking about RSS. During the conversation it occurred to me how much TiVo and RSS (including RSS aggregators) are similar. Some notes:

• TiVo makes TV watching easier and more manageable

• RSS makes web reading easier and more manageable

• TiVo helps you focus on shows that interest you most

• RSS helps you focus on web sites that interest you most

• TiVo is focused on what's going to appear in the future

• RSS is focused in what's going to appear in the future

• TiVo helps you skip commercials

• RSS helps you skip commercials

• TiVo works on a subscription model

• RSS works on a subscription model

• TiVo is on-demand

• RSS is on-demand

• TiVo enables you to save a personal list shows you can’t watch for a while

• RSS enables you to save a personal list of web articles you can’t read for a while

• TiVo has throngs of enthusiastic customers

• RSS has throngs of enthusiastic users

• TiVo is disrupting the TV advertising industry

• RSS is disrupting the web advertising industry

• TiVo turns TV from a flow to a stock

• RSS turns the web from a stock to a flow

• TiVo acts as a personal filter for content

• RSS acts as a personal filter for content

There are also a couple of things that TiVo does that RSS aggregators don't, but I wish they did.

• TiVo knows what I like and suggests/records new things automatically

• TiVo gets rid of the old stuff I didn’t watch, but warns me first