TiVo has a preview release of Tivo Desktop 2.4 for Windows available for download. New features include:

• Auto-transcoding of WMV, MOV, MPEG4, H.264, and MPEG-2 videos for playing on a TiVo, allowing you to watch web video on your TiVo
• HD photo viewer for Series3 TiVo boxes, which automatically scales your JPEG images to 1280 x 720 pixel resolution.

The release is for Windows computers only, and requires Windows XP SP2. There's no Vista support yet.

[via TiVo Lovers]

I've never used Pipeline, the news video service that CNN has incorporate into its web site. I think I went to the site one time to check it out, but you had to register or had to pay for it or something so I didn't do it. But it has received great reviews, and tomorrow we'll be able to see what the fuss is about.

Pipeline will be free to everyone tomorrow (though I'm not sure if you'll have to register first). And they'll have some big stories covered: the Academy Award nominations at 8:30 in the morning, coverage of the Sundance Film Festival, and President Bush's State of the Union Address at 9pm. Plus, I'm sure they'll be live coverage of breaking news and press conferences all day long, not to mention whatever Paris Hilton is up to.

[via TV Newser]

Interesting announcement from CBS News today: Starting on Katie Couric's first day, September 5, the CBS Evening News will be simulcast on the web at the same time it is shown live on the east coast, 6:30 PM. This is the first time an entire network newscast will be available live online. In addition, online users will have the option of watching that night's newscast on demand after its initial airing, or put together a "custom" newscast from available stories.

There will also be a few online-only features available, all hosted or authored by Couric: a pre-newscast blog similar to NBC's "The Daily Nightly", an extended interview segment with that day's newsmaker, a early-afternoon "first look" videocast, and "Katie Couric's Notebook," a one-minute podcast focusing on a specific story. The audio and video versions of this will also be available on iTunes.

Wow. CBS is really working Ms. Couric, aren't they? I guess she's used to it, considering she used to be on-air for two hours every morning. As long as none of those stories involve any highly-personal medical procedures, we should be OK.

[via TVNewser]