TiVo launched a trial of a video download service, which will enable movies and other video transmitted over a broadband connection directly onto TiVo owners' hard drives. The company partnered with the Independent Film Channel (IFC) on the project; IFC will offer downloads of episodes of its first scripted TV series -- "Hopeless Pictures," "Greg the Bunny" and "The Festival" -- in advance of their network TV premieres. In addition to the episodes themselves, the TiVo downloads will include outtakes and other unaired footage from the IFC series. "The key element of this trial for us is that it will enable consumers who do not typically have access to IFC to download our three new original series over broadband," said IFC executive vice president Evan Shapiro. TiVo said that Limelight Networks will provide content delivery network services for the trial, which it plans to expand to a series of broadband features beginning in the fall.
The global smartphone market closed 2025 with a story less about recovery and more about transformation. Premium product, ecosystem lock-in, and manufacturing scale are now the forces shaping competition. For business and technology leaders, the latest IDC market study data confirms that smartphones remain a critical indicator of consumer demand, supply chain health, and AI commercialization at the edge. Smartphone Market Development Global smartphone shipments grew 2.3 percent year-over-year in Q4 2025, reaching 336.3 million units and bringing full-year volumes to 1.26 billion units — a modest 1.9 percent annual increase, according to IDC. This smartphone growth emerged despite a memory shortage crisis, tariff volatility, supply chain disruption, and macroeconomic headwinds. What stabilized demand? Two factors: sustained growth in premium devices and strong foldable momentum, combined with accelerated purchases as consumers bought ahead of anticipated price increases. Buyers weren...