Rocky Mountain News: Personal video recorder looms. The nCube server receives instruction signals from the home viewer via the cable company’s fiber-optic line. Essentially, nCube transfers the computer from the home to a central location….”We think giving the customers more control over what they view will enhance our service,” DePrez said.
Giving customers more control? This does precisely the opposite. It takes control from the viewer and puts it back in the hands of the content owner or delivery system.
If you read this story you’ll see that the entire premise has little to do with giving customers what they want — not if they want the ability to fast-forward through commercials store movies on a local hard drive. This is about maintaining the entertainment and telecommunications industry grip on you and me.
You aren’t really surprised, are you?