Tivo Feature Request
I think Tivo has pretty much figured out how to distinguish television advertising from the shows themselves. If they have the guts to take this to the next logical step, they will sell millions of units.
I had the distinct displeasure of 1) being sick and 2) watching live television. With three Tivos in the house, I normally refuse to watch anything live. The ability to fast-forward over advertising (and Ryan Seacrest yakking with contestants) has spoiled me completely in this regard.
So normally I would not have seen what went on yesterday. Tivo popped up a link to a video for Shell Oil -- during a Shell Oil commercial. Those Tivo evil geniuses knew it was the Shell ad, and the right ad, to boot. I saw the same thing for another advertisement.
Now, if they would only put this information in the hands of their customers we would have the one feature longed-for since the first VCR: smart ad skipping. Like jumping chapters on a DVD. A click of a button and the ads go *poof* and then its back to the show.
Of course they will not provide this feature because they are selling pop-up ads to companies like Shell, who would be loathe to buy them if Tivo made is even easier to jump past the ads. It is interesting to realize, however, that the technology exists and that Tivo is selling consumers out to generate more ad revenue for themselves.