There’s an amazing box that sits beside my TV. It’s a slim and powerful networked computer capable of glorius things, crippled to do only a few. You’ve probably heard of it, it’s called a Tivo and though it currently has achieved branding nirvana of becoming a verb in common parlance (e.g. “I Tivoed it”) I think it’s future usage may be closer to ‘dieing on the vine’ or ‘blew a big lead.’

Today this box presented with me a thrilling message, congratulating me in fact, because my incredibly powerful severely cripped machine has been granted a new service feature called “Product Watch.” Apparently whenever I’m in the market for something new I can explore all I need on my TV via a system of paid ads. Wow Tivo Thanks! I’m sure must sound ungrateful when I say why don’t you just put a web browser in there and then I could research any product I wanted, not just the 5 you’ve given sweatheart advertising deals so you can try and convince Wall Street you’ve opened up a new flood gate of revenue.

It’s funny because each month I hear about some new content deal and so far I’ve gotten rocketboom, this ads on demand addition and the weather.

Note to Tivo, I don’t want to pay $12 a month to see more ads no matter how you spin them. And note to your marketing-warped copy team - don’t try and pass off advertising as a new feature I should be greatful for. It’s really really insulting.