Mal-Tard Word of the Day

DIFF-urnt: not the same (example: "I like to find a diffurnt word to mangle every day.")

Job Change! Job Change! Job Change!

Radio personality and sometime TV pitchman Kent Pavelka completed his final day at radio station KKAR Friday. Come Monday, it'll be the first time in 32 years that the former Husker football and basketball play-by-play man won't be doing a morning radio program.Our alert tipster reports that "his departure clears the way, contractually, for him to pursue other broadcasting opportunities --

Filling Gaps

Before we take a vacation, here are a couple of hirings to note:KMTV has hired Dave Roberts as a reporter. Roberts is a native of New Jersey, attended Coe College in Iowa, and has worked at stations in Waterloo, Iowa, and Austin, Minnesota.And WOWT has already found someone to fill Courtny Gerrish's weekend anchor seat. Jaime McCutcheon will join Paul Baltes at the station's outdated anchor desk

Sufferin' Succotash

• A producer at Channel 6 must have a sense of humor. What else could explain having lisping anchor Jim Siedlecki announce another inane "Top 6 List" that forced him to say "Top Six Cities for Shortest Commutes"? Even if there was no ulterior motive behind it, hearing Jimmy spray his way through the title provided a brief bit of entertainment in what has again become a monotonous broadcast.•

Jim Flowers Drinking Game

Make up your own, using any or all of these phrases:• for the balance of (honest to god, he actually referred to the "balance of the state" recently)• let's go topside• top out at• head into (or heading into)• band (or banding)• nuisance snow• plowable snow• polar plunge• precisionP.S. Early last week, in a pathetic attempt to win back the Edward R. Murrow Award for Hysterical Weather-Guessing

Google TV: A new partner for the new year

We’re back from the holidays and ready to get crackin’ on 2011. Last year, we launched the first version of Google TV with our partners Sony and Logitech, and this year, we'll continue to make the product even better for you. As we shared last month, we’re constantly iterating on Google TV, adding new features and content, improving the user experience, and fixing bugs. We are in the early stages, and the future is bright.

Today I'm excited to share that we're kicking off the year with a new partner, Vizio, a leading TV maker in the U.S. Vizio is making a new line of TVs and a Blu-ray player incorporating Google TV that will hit shelves later this year.

Also in 2011, we plan to bring developers tools for building applications specifically for the TV and living room, and we plan to bring Android Market to Google TV, so consumers can download thousands of applications to their TVs. Check back in with us periodically to see the latest from our team and partners.

Posted by Rishi Chandra, Google TV Product Manager

They've Got Tickets to Ride

WOWT will offer viewers of its 10 p.m. newscast six chances to win tickets to Paul McCartney's Qwest Center Omaha Concerts in October. Not coincidentally, the giveaway will take place during the first week of the May sweeps period. Channel 6's ratings have slipped over the past several books, and the hope appears to be that spreading out a McCartney ticket giveaway over seven days between May 1st

Get the Logitech Revue for only $179

DISH Network has announced that they are offering the Logitech Revue with Google TV to new and existing DISH Network subscribers for only $179. That’s $120 off the retail price!

Once you are a DISH subscriber, you’ll have access to an enhanced Google TV experience. What is “an enhanced Google TV experience”? Glad you asked. There’s an explanatory video below, but to put it simply, this means that DISH has enabled Google TV to better integrate with your DVR content. For instance, you can search for a TV show, and in addition to searching web content and live TV, Google TV will also search your DVR recordings for that show. If it’s not on for a few days, it’ll automatically find the show and allow you to record it with the click of a button.



We are extremely excited about the possibilities of a more integrated TV + DVR + Web experience and we hope you are too. Head over to the DISH website to learn more about how to get started with the enhanced Google TV experience.

Posted by Michelle Olson, Technical Account Manager, Google TV

Is Hammond On Vacation or Just Giving Viewers One?

Early risers who tune in to Channel 7 are getting a well-deserved respite from the terrors of Elictia "Omarosa" Hammond, at least temporarily. Wednesday marked the beginning of what one KETV insider calls a brief "John and Brandi Era," with Brandi Petersen filling while Hammond is off (shudder) getting married.For all we care, Hammond can stay off camera forever. As we've noted before, Petersen

Counterprogramming Against Pat's Retirement, Step 3: Ditch the Commercials

While "retiring" anchor Pat Persaud wallows in self-congratulatory monkeyshit and (probably) sobs off into the sunset, Channel 7 is airing its 10 p.m. Wednesday newscast commercial-free. This is supposedly "Plan B" for Wednesday. There was talk of having anchor Julie Cornell and her husband, Chief Meteorologist Bill Randby, spend the whole 35 minutes doing the horizontal mambo on the anchor desk,

Caught

A couple of years ago, we experienced a rare moment of joy while watching Channel Sux's "Live at Daybreak" program when whoever was directing cut too quickly from a b-roll back to a yammering Jimmy "Jethro" Siedlecki, who, it turned out, was picking his nose.

To our disappointment, no alert readers recorded that insightful moment and sent it to us to post.

Luckily for us, Jethro's apparently a

Nose

Can someone please explain the surreal five-second promo on Channel 3rd that shows weatherguesser Ryan McPike standing out in a field squinting at the sky and looking as if he's trying to smell a storm?Really? Is this the way he puts together his forecasts? Does someone think this makes him seem more credible? What the hell?

Peeking Behind the Curtain

Translating selected portions of News Director John Clark's Monday email to WOWT Staffers...What he wrote: It is with mixed emotions that I share this news with you today. What he meant: I keep swinging between relief and euphoria; let me tell you why.What he wrote: Pat isn't retiring just yet. She will stay with us through May 25th. What he meant: It's not all good news. We've got to limp

Weekend Droppings

• At last! WOWT Ejacuweather meteorologist spoke the truth on Sunday evening. "You never know what the weather's going to do," he told co-anchors Paul "Invisible Man" Baltes and Jaime McCutcheon. Really, Jeff? Then why the hell do they give you and your fellow dweebs five minutes of every newscast to prattle on as if you do?• Why does Channel 6's lithshping weekend morning co-anchor, Rachel

That Is So Crutch

We probably owe Michael Born at least a partial apology. As reader, frequent commenter, and bastion of level-headed thinking "janetdoe" reminds us,Don't fault Michael Borne [sic] becuase [sic] WOWT made the choice to hire him for a job in a market that is way over his skill-level. . . . . The thing you point out about the hydration obsession is just an example of a concept that should never be

Former KETV Anchor Joins Scott in KC

Former KETV anchor/reporter Brad Stephens joined KCTV5 in Kansas City on Monday as the station's 4 p.m. anchor. Stephens was lead anchor at WOFL in Orlando until August. He joins another KETV alum, Michael Scott, who is the lead anchor at KCTV. Stephens was at Channel 7 from 1995 to 1999, ending up as 5 p.m. anchor and "Nightside" reporter. He spent the five years before that at KMTV, another of

What's new with Google TV?

It’s been two months since the first Google TV device went on sale. Since then, we have been hard at work thinking about how we can make the platform even better for our users. In fact, one of the greatest things about Google TV is that it comes with free, automatic “over-the-air” software updates that give you the newest features and content as we release them. It’s as if Google TV goes up in value over time.

Today we’re excited to start pushing out our first Google TV software update. In addition to fixing some bugs, there are four significant improvements to the platform:

Netflix

We’ve partnered up with our friends at Netflix to upgrade the app so that you can search, browse and watch any movie or show that is in the Netflix streaming catalog. You can even add these titles to your DVD queue if you want them mailed to you. Not sure what to watch? The new Netflix app will also give you personalized recommendations based on what you’ve watched before. Your TV is now an unlimited source of entertainment.

Dual View

Google TV brings the TV and web together in one seamless experience so you can easily watch your favorite TV show and browse your favorite website together at once. With the feature, you can do things like watch Conan while tweeting about him on Twitter at the same time. Since launch, we’ve had users give us feedback that they want even more customization options for this feature, and so today we have enhanced it to allow you to re-size and move the window however you’d like. 

Standard capability

New capability to move and re-size

Remote Control App for Android Phones

What if you could control your TV with the power of your voice? Starting today you can download the Google TV Remote app in Android Market. Apart from the standard TV remote options like changing channels or accessing your DVR, you can now interact with your TV in ways you never have before. For instance, try using the integrated voice search which allows you to find your favorite shows and movies just by speaking into your phone. Or, go from small screen to big screen by sharing videos and websites directly from your phone to your TV. We’ve included a short preview of these features below. Stay tuned for more information about the Google TV Remote for other platforms in the near future.

Movies

Say you’re searching for a movie like ‘Harry Potter’. Google TV now has a movie results page that shows you all films associated with the title so you can quickly watch what you want, wherever it’s available -- ranging from sources like live TV, Netflix, and Amazon Video on Demand. You can also read a quick summary, see photos, and find the cast list. Click on the name of a cast member and we’ll take you to a new search landing page where you can find other movies featuring that actor. Trust us, you’ll never leave the couch again.

Google TV users will start to see these updates roll out to their devices throughout the week. The Google TV Remote app is available today (click here from your Android device or scan the barcode below) but all features may not work until your device has received the update.

Scan from your Android phone

We are continuously listening to feedback and are excited to bring you more Google TV updates in the future. Please leave your feedback in the comments, on Twitter, or on our Facebook page. Don’t have a Google TV device yet? Submit a video telling us why you should receive one and you might just end up with a 46” HDTV to kick off the new year right.

Happy Holidays from Google TV!

- Posted by Larry Yang, Google TV Product Manager

Dare to Dream

This ad, we think, explains a lot about the current state of the talent at KMTV, in particular, and the market, in general. We're not sure it provides much insight into Travis Justice's presence there. Maybe they made an exception for Trav.[BTW, are we the only ones who are irritated by the way he pronounces the word college (CAL-idge)?]

Rebecca Kleeman Endorses iPod Shuffle (In a related note, shameless corporate shilling is just one of the many services we offer.)

On Monday's 5 o'clock news, WOWT's Rebecca Kleeman's voice-over of a Consumer Reports evaluation of Apple's iPod Shuffle concluded that the $99 gadget, which holds 120 songs, is a good buy. We couldn't agree more, and we encourage you to buy one now, by clicking on one of the Apple Store ads on this page.