TVSquad

SanDisk has quietly killed off its TakeTV video device and the accompanying Fanfare video download service. The company, best known for making flash memory sticks and portable media players, announced the TakeTV last fall as an off-beat answer to the Apple TV and other media extender devices.

The idea went something like this: Instead of sticking another box next to your TV, why not just copy your movies to a portable USB stick which you can then plug into any TV? Apparently the idea never caught on, because NewTeeVee reports that SanDisk shut down the Fanfare video portal on May 15th. And as far as I can tell, it took a few weeks before anyone really noticed.

If you're one of the two or three people who shelled out a few bucks for a TakeTV, the device will still work just fine. But you'll have to load it up with videos downloaded or recorded from other sources.