Viewers, TiVo try to cope with time-shifting

Television networks are lending new meaning to time-shifting: TV shows don’t necessarily start or end right on the hour or half-hour anymore, screwing up some viewers’ video recordings.

More programs are running an extra minute or two longer to keep viewers from switching channels. Shows recently padded include CBS’s “Without a Trace,” Fox’s “Renovate My Family,” ABC’s “The Bachelor” and NBC’s “ER,” according to Nielsen Media Research.

The tactic has been used on and off for a few years but has grown more popular as competition in network television stiffens.

As a result of the overruns, people who use VCRs and digital video recorders like TiVos end up clipping the beginning or ending of a show. For some, the time conflict could also prevent a later show from being recorded.

Comcast to ad on-demand music videos

Comcast Corp. plans to begin offering music videos on demand to its broadband Internet subscribers early next year, part of a multiyear deal with the television network Music Choice.

Some 6.7 million Comcast broadband customers will have access to the cable company’s new service at launch, Music Choice officials said last week.

In addition to being able to choose from a selection of music videos, computer users will also be able to buy song downloads through a partnership with Napster 2.0 and browse dozens of music video and audio channels.

Users will eventually be able to create a video play list or music channel on their computers and access it through their digital cable boxes, a feature Music Choice says should help dispatch competition from other online music video purveyors such as Yahoo! Launch and America Online.

Device may help blind walkers

Equipped with a tiny camera, a high-tech device that recognizes the white stripes of a pedestrian crosswalk and reads traffic lights might help the blind get around without a walking stick or seeing-eye dog.

Researchers at Kyoto Institute of Technology are developing such a technology, the latest aimed at helping blind and visually impaired people lead more independent lives.

Using a handheld digital video camera, researcher Mohammad Shorif Uddin filmed 196 traffic intersections in Japan. Back in the lab, a computer program examined the footage and correctly detected the crosswalks in all but two instances, when it signaled the presence of intersections that didn’t exist.