We hadn't heard from struggling content-delivery service Akimbo in over a year, so it's not really surprising that the latest news isn't exactly cheerful: the company is shutting down, leaving only a "skeleton crew" behind to find a buyer for its remaining assets. Akimbo seemed like it was searching for a viable business model from the start (eventually leading the company to drop its hardware offerings entirely), and like other would-be set-top box vendors, it looks like the economics of content delivery were simply too skewed to wrestle into profitability. Any bets on who's next?

[Via GigaOM]

No real shocker here: set-top box-maker and service provider Akimbo is apparently shutting down its hardware line as of tomorrow. In a way it's almost uneventful that yet another set-top box is going teats up; which is, of course, why we were a little skeptical about the announcement of VuDu last week. Still, even if Akimbo's MovieLink deal didn't work out, they're not vanishing completely -- you've still got the software service end of their business, able to deliver programming to your PC through their Media Center interface, for example. Those who plunked down for a box, though, can apparently expect discounts and even in some cases refunds for their investment. But for now it looks like Akimbo's biggest guns have been silenced.

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:

Capped by Google's $1.65 billion purchase of YouTube, 2006 was certainly the year that broadband video captured the Internet's imagination. Yet Internet-delivered video faces several challenges, among them how to route that pipe to the television where video has traditionally been consumed. One early marketplace answer came from Akimbo. The company's service and set-top box drew mixed reviews at its debut, with many finding value in he diversity of its content but disappointment in the uneven quality of the video and the set-top's performance.

Akimbo came back for a second stab late last year with a new set-top, an RCA-branded IPTV receiver developed by Thomson's professional telecommunications division (which also brands the MSN TV set-top box. The good news is that the new set-top overcomes the glitches of the first-generation box and supports component video. However, Akimbo remains a standard-definition (at best) TV service. Setup is simple and straightforward; Akimbo offers an 802.11g adapter that plugs into one of the box's USB ports. And since everything on the service is downloaded, real-time throughput isn't much of an issue.

It's been a long time coming, but the major Hollywood studios have finally agreed to amend the CSS (content scrambling system, found on store-bought DVDs) licensing restrictions to include support for both commercial and private download-to-burn options. First mentioned last summer, this new agreement uses technology from Sonic Solutions called Qflix (initially adopted by Movielink) to slap that good ol' digital lock on discs that consumers burn either on their PCs or at in-store kiosks like the ones Wal-Mart and other big box retailers have been planning for some time now. Of course you can already burn downloaded flicks to DVD through CinemaNow's aptly-titled "Burn to DVD" service, but compatibility issues have relegated this option to merely a stopgap solution. While Qflix burns should be readable by any old player that supports CSS, the downside is that new media and -- in some cases -- new drives will be required to perform this neat little trick (some current burners can apparently be made Qflix-compatible through firmware upgrades). Besides the studios, other companies that are down with Qflix include disc manufacturer Verbatim, video-on-demand provider Akimbo, your friendly neighborhood Walgreens, and of course, Movielink. It's not clear when consumers will start seeing this these new devices and kiosks in the wild, but rest assured that you'll soon have a way to spend those 10 to 15 minutes waiting for your prescription that doesn't involve sitting next to a bunch of sick people in a germ-ridden pleather chair.

If you're a die-hard Akimbo subscriber then check it son, that new RCA box has arrived right on schedule and it's yours, not for $200 to $300, but as a free-ish upgrade to the current Akimbo Player. It'll cost ya $30 for shipping and handling with an expected delivery sometime in "early November." But hey, that's a pittance for new MovieLink integration and the the addition of Component video out, coax and optical digital audio outputs, 3x USB 2.0 ports, and slew of performance improvements affecting video quality, on-screen menus, and controls wouldn't you say? Hello, subscribers... is anyone still there?

[Thanks, Aaron]

Akimbo, as we all know, made their debut as a set-top box maker, entering the market with lukewarm reviews (at best), and a slew derisive criticism about set-top box saturation, and the need for Akimbo pushing their IPTV content platform onto HTPCs (much of which probably came from this here camp). Which, of course, they did -- unlike TiVo, which should have ported their platform to PCs long, long ago -- as Akimbo says this was always a part of their master plan. Apparently their early STB was just a way to get their platform in the market, but besides their integration with AT&T's forthcoming HomeZone service they've also got a new RCA box on the way, slated to feature an 80GB drive, Ethernet, S-Video, composite, component, digital audio out, and USB for a WiFi adapter. No, it won't have high definition support (yet), but it will indeed be able to suck down MovieLink content if you don't feel like waiting around for the mysterious Netflix box and/or download service to appear one of these years (or just snagging Vongo for your Windows PC today). When the RCA box drops this fall you'll apparently be able to get your Akimbo on, yet again, for between $200 and $300.

[Via Zatz Not Funny]

Just because AT&T's Lightspeed and the late SBC and BellSouth's nascent FTTH rollout (which they now own, in a manner of speaking) aren't yet ready to provide prime time IPTV to the masses doesn't mean they will be stopped from taking on cable companies every which way they can; enter their new Homezone service. Since the DSL they currently serve up wouldn't be quite broad enough to give AT&T what they need for a true live-IPTV experience, they're bundling it with live TV from DISH, movie downloads from MovieLink, older programming from Akimbo, and DVR functionality in a single 2Wire-built box. It may seem a little piecemeal, but we're a little surprised this kind of  home entertainment hodgepodge angle hasn't already been explored -- our only real fear here is whether AT&T and 2Wire will nail it when bringing so many kinds of user experiences into a single livingroom box.