Chicago Tribune

T-Mobile G1

$400; www.t-mobile.com

This phone's debut last week is significant because Google, like Apple, has the muscle to change an industry. The G1 is the first of what is expected to be many phones using Google's Android open-source platform.

GOOD Touch screen: very responsive and the best I've used outside of Apple's multi-touch screen.

Multimedia: easy to add music, pictures and videos.

On the heels of The Netflix Player by Roku announcement and in the face of rumors about Blockbuster preparing to announce its own set-top box for streaming videos, TiVo is inking some deals of its own.

TiVo subscribers will soon be able to download movies from the Walt Disney Studios to broadband-connected TiVo DVRs directly from the TV. Subscribers will also be able to receive recommendations for TV shows from the Chicago Tribune and have them automatically recorded.

Downloading Disney

Verizon Wireless' decision to join Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile as members of a Linux-based mobile initiative appears to have dealt a setback to Google's ambitions for its Android mobile platform. A Verizon spokesperson told the Chicago Tribune that the company joined the rival LiMo Foundation because "of LiMo's approach to providing a truly open OS that isn't simply an extension of a for-profit company's business model."