Divine DVRs: TiVo subscriptions hit the 3M mark
TiVo's still far from mainstream but it is growing. TiVo announced late last week that hit has reached 3 million subscribers. The company also boasted that it doubled its subscriber total over the year. TiVo obviously is becoming more common, but will there be life for it after DirecTV? Many of TiVo’s new subscribers also get DirecTV. The satellite cable company and TiVo once had a close partnership, but DirecTV sold its stake in TiVo last year and has announced it will offer a non-TiVo recorder this year. Competitors Microsoft and Comcast are also offering users products similar to the TiVo recorder.

Speedier spam sent out via IM rather than inbox 
Spammers are no longer satisfied bogging users down with junk email; now they are in a hurry to do so. Anthony Greco, 18, was arrested in Los Angeles last week for allegedly sending 1.5 million ads for pornography and cheap mortgages via instant messaging. This new form of spam is called spim because it targets IM services. Prosecutors led Greco to think he would be a meeting with the president of MySpace.com. Last fall Greco had threatened to tell other spammers how to send spim to MySpace users if he wasn't given an exclusive marketing contract with the company. This is the first criminal case involving spim. Greco could serve up 18 years in prison if convicted.

Army says video game simulation isn't realistic
Art can imitate life, but, come on, there are limitations. After spending more than $5 million for a video game that simulates combat, the U.S. Army says the game isn’t realistic enough. Pandemic Studios designed Full Spectrum Warrior, a video game designed to help teach young squad leaders how to make smart decisions in the midst of urban combat. Some Army trainers are not using the tool because they believe the combat scenarios are not accurate. The St. Petersburg Times reports that Andrew Paquette, a former Sony art director, says Pandemic and its partners were more interested in creating a best-selling game than giving the Army the high-quality product it paid for. The company sells a commercial version of the game for $50 and has sold nearly 1 million copies for PCs and Xbox. A version for PlayStation 2 will be released next month.

For those with a Jaws jones, it's the Shark Shield
Now divers and surfers don’t have to fear shark bites when they hit the waves. Australian company SeaChange has invented a battery-operated device called Shark Shield that can repel a shark from 16 to 26 feet away. The device emits a strong electric current that causes intense discomfort to the snout of a shark causing it to leave an area. There are three types of Shark Shield units available: one for the surfer and swimmer; one for the scuba diver; and one for the professional diver. The version for surfers and divers costs $668. A professional diving unit costs around $1,282. The inventors say the device causes no damage to the wearer, sharks or other marine life. Shark Shield is an advancement of a device first developed more than a decade ago in South Africa, but the first device had a 60 percent failure rate.