Hasta La Gadget!

Remember the DTV transition? About a month-and-a-half after all TV broadcast stations switched from analog to digital signals, the majority of Americans have now gotten their acts together, according to Nielsen.

About 98.9 percent of U.S. households have now taken action to receive digital signals, putting the number of unprepapred households at 1.1 percent. That is down from 2.5 percent just days before the June 12 transition.

About 229,000 homes in the last two weeks and 1.3 million homes since the week of the June 12 DTV transition have made the effort to get a digital TV, a converter box, or subscribe to cable or satellite TV.

Broken down by race, African-Americans remain the least prepared, with about 2.2 percent of households without service. They are followed by Hispanics at 1.6 percent, Asians at 1.3 percent, and whites at 0.8 percent.

About 2.7 percent of people under 35 have not made the switch, but only 0.4 percent of those over 55 are unprepared.

I interviewed famous comedians, chatted up comic legends, got yelled at by a Vulcan, and ate my weight in Southern Californian burritos… But after all is said and done, I can’t really think of a better or more appropriate way to have spent the final day of Comic-Con than having a quick chat with Adam West. The former Gotham City billionaire is hilarious–insanely hilarious, with an emphasis on insane. In fact, a quick conversation with West led me to suspect that his mayor role on Family Guy isn’t entirely fiction. Holy typecasting, Batman?

Unlike a certain Mr. Nimoy, when I told West where I worked, he didn’t call the cops. Instead he asked if I was sure that I wasn’t from The Onion, and whether or not I would feature transsexuals in the video. When I assured him I wouldn’t, he happily took a couple of minutes to chat–and to plug “Adam West Naked,” a DVD that promised to shed some light on the actor’s days as a caped crusader.

For the record, I didn’t pick up one of his $40 signed photos, but I did promise to plug his Web site. You made my day, Mr. West, it’s the least I could do.

After more than half a century in the comics industry, Stan Lee has yet to slow down. The 86-year-old Spider-man creator speaks with the speed and enthusiasm of a man a fraction of his age, especially when discussing his latest project, “Time Jumper.” He’s also not content to let the latest technology pass him by.

“I have so little time that every day what I do is just Google the name ‘Stan Lee,’ and I Google the name ‘Pow Entertainment,’ to see what people are writing about me and the company,” explains Lee. “So I get a lot of things that way, but I don’t have time to do any more. I’d be sitting in front of the computer all day–which I’d love to do–but I haven’t got the time.”

Lee’s also the proud if somewhat baffled owner of the industry’s hottest handset. “I bought an iPhone, but it’s a total mystery to me,” he told Gearlog. “I like to scan the Internet and I like to play with my telephone. I’m the only guy who has this old-fashioned type of phone. This is still one of the first models ever made. I’m still trying to learn how to get my messages on it, but it’ll come to me, eventually.”

And while the intricacies of mobile technology may baffle him, Lee has the whole home theater thing down pat. “I don’t know if you have DirectTV, but starting with number 501, you get HBO and a million old movies. I just thumb through until I find something that catches my eye. I also belong to Netflix. I go through the list of old movies and catch the ones I’ve missed. So I’m really up to date, as long as we go back about a year ago.”

Blockbuster and Samsung are teaming up to allow access to Blockbuster content via select Samsung HDTVs, home theater systems and Blu-ray players.

Blockbuster subscribers will be able to manage their queues and get ratings, trailers, and other information about each movie directly on the TV, Samsung said. Users can also rent or buy movies using the feature. Samsung will also sell Blu-ray players with the integrated Blockbuster OnDemand service at retails outlets and via blockbuster.com.

Both offerings will be available in the fall of 2009.

Customers with select 2009 Samsung Blu-ray players and home theater systems, Samsung LCD and Plasma HDTVs Series 650 and above, and Samsung LED HDTVs Series 7000 and above, will be able to access the Blockbuster OnDemand offering for free by conducting a firmware upgrade.

In March, Blockbuster partnered with TiVO to offer Blockbuster on-demand content via TiVo DVR boxes.

TiVo is teaming up with Best Buy to offer TiVo-brand digital video recorders that integrate Best Buy content.

The two companies will develop a TiVo interface for DVRs sold at Best Buy that will integrate the retailer’s digital content services.

“Best Buy and TiVo will investigate development of a series of consumer tips and insights that can be easily accessed for all kinds of digital home experiences, and Best Buy expects to explore opportunities with TiVo to provide unique Best Buy solutions that enable viewers to take greater advantage of transactional opportunities through the television set,” they said.

What that actually entails has yet to be established, but in July 2008, TiVo teamed up with Amazon to let its customers purchase Amazon.com content from their TVs using the remote, so is a Best Buy purchase widget in the works?

Best Buy also sells MP3 downloads via its Rhapsody-powered digital music store, and offers video game downloads, so those offerings could be purchased through TiVos.

The companies also promised “on-demand access to Best Buy’s trusted perspective in consumer electronics” but whether that means TiVo access to Best Buy’s Geek Squad or just ads touting Best Buy products remains to be seen.