Besides linking up with Google, TiVo has some other big news coming out of its third quarter results, first that it lost less money than expected, a mere $6.7 million instead of the $8-10 predicted. Bigger than that for UK denizens, TiVo has cut a long-term deal with Virgin Media to put its software and UI on the cable company's next gen set-top boxes, including access to online features, due in 2010. On this side of the Atlantic, besides resuming marketing in New England, the company's work with Comcast will continue, including a tru2way mention, while Cox and RCN also deploy boxes throughout next year. The future for TiVo? Expect Best Buy's digital video delivery store to find its way on the box soon, while the company also expands beyond just DVRs expecting to create "some very interesting product opportunities for our next generation TiVo products and services." All that online content means the old peanut isn't long for this world, with development of a new "keyboard remote control" under way, we just can't wait to see if it's beaming commands to any new DVRs at CES.

If you're not down with snapping up an HTPC-centric keyboard with an integrated trackpad or trackball, controlling the likes of Hulu, Boxee and ZeeVee's Zinc TV viewer can be a real chore. Dave Zatz was able to wrap his paws around the problem-solving GlideTV Navigator, and while he deemed the actual remote trackpad "the best he'd ever used," he couldn't unequivocally say that this beauty was worth a buck-fifty. He also found that the remote could be used one-handed with a bit of practice, and he expressed understandable concern about this thing's ability to stay functional as the software around it evolves. If you've been waffling on pulling the trigger here, you owe it to yourself to give the read link a look.

A brand spanking new filing with the FCC shows a Flip Video-branded RF remote control, produced by Foxconn, which frankly raises more questions than it answers. Looking at its robust size, which is comparable to that of the Flip Ultra Video HD, we can be pretty sure this isn't meant to remotely control anything that's out at the moment. Head honcho Jonathan Kaplan has already expressed a definite interest in expanding the brand, and Cisco's acquisition of Pure Digital was said to be "key" to its strategy of expanding its presence in the "media-enabled home." So, given the parent company's somewhat unsuccessful history of building media hubs, and the simplified control scheme that just screams for an on-screen menu, this may well be the prelude to a new Flip-branded whole-home DVR setup, an idea that Cisco discussed over the summer. Or it could be something entirely different -- we just know it's something. See more pictures after the break.

It is only a matter of time before every single company in the world makes some kind of iPhone/iPod Touch app and if you make home theater gear that mean it is a remote. Remotescape for the Kaleidescape is the latest addition and from the looks of the Youtube video embedded after the break, it is a pretty slick mix of gestures and cover art goodness. The bad news of course is that the graphics in the interface are on par with the rest of Kaleidescape's products and the price tag is $69 -- but if you dropped the $50k on the Kaleidescape media server, then you probably think that is cheap for a iPhone app.

Without much fanfare, Samsung has released a TV / tablet combo in Korea that seems to deliver on all the untapped promise in Toshiba's JournE touch tablet. Dubbed the LED TV Couple, Samsung has paired a 55-inch LED baclkit LCD TV with a brand new 7-inch touchscreen tablet, which communicates with and controls a full home theater over 802.11n WiFi. The tablet offers a visual program guide, including video previews of TV shows, along with access to media stored on a PC -- which can in turn be "tossed" up to the full TV -- and even a few widgets. But the real money is in the pair's ability to stream live TV and Blu-ray content from the home theater to the tablet, making that next trip to the kitchen for munchies so much less painful. No word on a US or Europe release, but we hope to see a lot more of this pair in the near future. Peep them in action after the break.

What better to complement your new trippy, edge-glowing Philips 3rd gen Aurea HDTV than an egg-shaped remote? Our friends at Engaget Spanish hunted down the controller and walked away impressed at its build construction and design -- but not before capturing numerous pictures and footage, of course. There was some concern with the rigidity of the buttons, but nothing worth squabbling over on this bundled device. Hit up the read link for the full, machine-translated impressions, or affix your gaze on the pics and video below.

If Logitech's multifaceted Harmony 900 seemed a bit too rich for your blood, why not give the whole universal remote thing another chance with the Harmony 700? Priced at $149.99, this entry-level clicker packs an awful lot of promise into a package that practically any serious home theater junkie will be able to finance. Designed to replace a half-dozen remotes in your current setup, the 700 features a color display, rechargeable AA batteries and one-click control of your favorite activities. As with every other new Harmony, this one too can be connected to your Mac or PC and programmed via the internet to control whatever components you rely on -- "from Betamax to Blu-ray" as Logitech so eloquently puts it. Details beyond that are few and far between, but we're guessing the outfit's keeping things as simple as possible here as to not befuddle the target market.

Remember Logitech's Harmony Adapter for PS3? How could you forget, right? Turns out a similar device is shipping alongside the company's fresh Harmony 900 remote, as it seeks to turn RF signals into IR commands that components in your AV rack can understand. The device ships with an IR blaster and two "mini blasters," all of which work together in order to get crucial instructions from your remote to devices neatly hidden behind closed doors. The remote itself packs a full color touchscreen and can pull down codes for over 225,000 devices, and there's also a rechargeable battery and a base station to keep things juiced up when not in use. As with most Harmony remotes, this setup definitely won't run you cheap, with the entire kit getting priced at $399.99 when it ships later this month.

Update: Looks like CNET has a review up, and we'd say the bottom line pretty much sums it up: "The Logitech Harmony 900 is, hands down, the best universal remote control we've ever tested."

For those who have far too often felt confined by having to point remotes at the devices being controlled, news of AT&T's new Point Anywhere RF remote for its U-Verse customers should be a sweet siren song. The relatively simple remote is backlit for your convenience, letting home theater owners hide their set-tops away in a closet without having to go all aftermarket for a control solution. Changing channels from previously impossible areas like the bathroom, kitchen or outside comes at a cost of $49 for the remote and USB dongle, available from AT&T's online store beyond the read link.

[Thanks, Anthony]

Bang & Olufsen -- the Danish boutique retailer famous for engineering gorgeous AV products that only a sliver of humanity can afford -- has just introduced its newest product, and it's a far cry from the gargantuan HDTVs and superfluous sound systems that it's used to shipping. Designed by Steffen Schmelling and inspired by Mozart's The Magic Flute, this elongated wireless alarm clock actually serves another purpose. Once it has awoken you from your slumber just in time to catch The Price Is Right in high-def, you can take it with you in order to control some of your other B&O components. The cubes you see are actually displays, and the built-in motion sensor enables display backlights to activate with a simple touch. We're told that the device should hit showrooms this August for $375, though you should probably budget for an anger management course to keep from smashing this thing to bits the first time it buzzes at 5:30AM.

[Via PRNewswire]

ZeeVee has announced a Mac version of its Zinc video browser. Aimed ata TV-compatible interface to any streaming website Zinc should run on any Intel Mac running OS X 10.5. Specifically pointing out boxee, Zinc says users can create access to new sites just by adding an rss feed to their favorites tab. Give it a shot and let us know if its as easy as they make it sound, Mac owners.Speaking of remote-focused interfaces for streaming sites, ZeeVee has announced a Mac version of its Zinc video browser. Aimed at the suddenly crowded field of giving a TV-compatible interface to any streaming website Zinc should run on any Intel Mac running OS X 10.5. Specifically pointing out boxee, Zinc says users can create access to new sites just by adding an rss feed to their favorites tab. Give it a shot and let us know if its as easy as they make it sound, Mac owners.

Apparently devoting developers to something other than the great boxee arms race of 2009, Hulu today took the wraps off of its Hulu Labs project, with several "experimental projects" giving a different spin to the TV show & movie-streaming site. None of them are bigger than the Hulu Desktop app, a "lean back" interface (what, they heard ten-foot was already taken?) that unleashes Hulu's Flash video from the browser and also supports Mac & Microsoft compatible six button remotes -- which makes their unwillingness/inability to continue boxee access or offer an official Media Center plugin even more confusing. Even those without HTPC's to try that out on, there is a Video Panel Designer offering customized embeddable widgets for website owners, a Recommendations section based on what you've already watched and a new Time-Based Browsing option to order programs by when they originally aired. Give them a try and let us know if this makes you forget about all the other ways that were already available (boxee, PlayOn, Secondrun.tv, Understudy, ReQuest, XBMC & others) to get Hulu on your HDTV.