The following is a guest blog by Bob Elek, a Tampa-based member of Verizon’s PR team.

Post-up, box-out, lay-up, drive the lane, dunk, hoist up a trey – we’re about to see the many basketball moves that together help bring the madness to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.  And thanks to Turner Sports and CBS Sports, you’ll have a different screen for every possible play available to you throughout the tournament.

Is there an all-time greatest Christmas movie? With a long list of worthy contenders, it’s a challenge to pick just one. I’ll lay out my top choices and you can decide for yourself.

Christmas movies are special because they have that unfailing ability to transport us to a place where we can momentarily forget about our own holiday anxieties and get lost in the lives of others. In the case of “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” we leave our turmoil to laugh at that of the Griswold family. I’ve met enough people in my lifetime who have never seen this film that I feel compelled to not only ask them if they’ve been living under a rock their whole life, but to tell them – and you now, if you’re one of them – three things about the movie that make it the funniest, most chaotic not-so-family-friendly Christmas classic out there.

Tonight at 10 p.m.ET, a new series premieres on HISTORY. I't's called "Picked Off" and it's like a scavenger hunt for amateur antiquers. If you are a FiOS TV and Internet customer, you can use a very cool feature that enables you to buy replicas of some of the items on the show just by using your FiOS TV remote.

Verizon will host a Twitter chat with Boxing great Roy Jones Jr. TOMORROW (Friday, June 8) from 3-3:30 p.m. ET @VZSports. Don't miss it!

Do you love our products and services? Well, if you let other people know about them you could win a dream vacation to Hawaii. Our sales referral program, called Shared The Network, offers participants a chance to win a fabulous trip to Hawaii and some other terrific prizes. 

What are you doing this weekend?

I know, with spring finally arriving our "to do" list is full.

But if you have two minutes to spare, you may want to check out "The Fastest Two Minutes in Sports." Post time for the Kentucky Derby is Saturday at 6:24 p.m. and we have a whole host of Derby and horse racing content on FiOS TV this weekend.

Not to mention Friday Movie Night is tonight. And the family Weekend Movie sales is here.

Sunday is Earth Day.

We occasionally talk green on this blog, but we try to make every day Earth Day at Verizon. That may sound corny and marketing-ish, but hear me out.

And as we’ve introduced FiOS TVin various markets over the last six (yes, it’s been that long), it’s been interesting to see the evolution of our service, the competition we’ve introduced, and how our services is becoming greener--for lack of a better term.

This is just one example of how we’re delivering not just better TV, but it’s also how we’re delivering it smarter and more energy efficiently.

And if you’re interested in convenient green apps, check out these five apps: http://fios1news.com/longisland/node/12290

Happy Earth Day!

NOTE: TO view a full size version of this infographic, visit our page on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34800970@N05/7097000995/in/photostream  

There's a lot going on at Verizon. In this short video, we share examples of just a handful of cool projects we've been working on and demonstrating around the country and the world. 

It always begins with one simple question: "What if?"

Let’s take it a step further. You’ll be able to use a media server in one room to watch live, recorded or on-demand content in other rooms as long as you have an IP connected device like a game console or a blu ray player.

In our labs in Waltham, Mass., we’re busy working with partners to develop the future of TV.

In tech terms, five years is arguably a lifetime.

Consider this: In October 2006, Verizon had 147,000 FiOS Internet customers and 118,000 FiOS TV customers and FiOS TV was only one year removed from being introduced.

Fast forward to today. Our subscriber counts for FiOS Internet and FiOS TV have swelled to 4.6 million and 4 million, respectively. As impressive as that growth represents, it is the “things” that Verizon and FiOS enables that makes us even more excited.

This week, my colleague Stefanie Scott continues her Verizon Think Forward series

on the future of work by asking people to consider how much their work style has changed in the past five years.

American families are using more and more broadband-enabled devices, including game consoles, IP-based TVs, smartphones, PCs, notebooks and tablets to make life’s daily juggle easier.

In fact, families not only have more devices in their homes, they’re also using them simultaneously, creating greater demands on the home’s broadband network.  Broadband, and specifically Fiber to the Home broadband like that of Verizon’s FiOS, is shifting how families connect and consume entertainment and information.

On Wednesday, Sept. 28, you’re invited to join our next ‘Meet the Expert’ real-time chat with Ann Shaub, one of our passionate directors of product management.

Since the dawn of televised games and instant replay, technology has added a new dimension to sports of all kinds.  As high school, college and professional football teams kick off their 2011-2012 seasons, technology is in the sports entertainment mix more than ever before.

In the past week alone, I’ve seen announcements about high-tech high-school football helmets, iPads replacing pro football players’ traditional playbooks, sophisticated camera technology in the new Madden NFL 12 video game that brings realism down to a single blade of grass, leagues trying to keep players’ Tweeting and Facebooking under control, and millions of Americans gaining weight due to constant noshing as DVRs extend game time to any time.

If you’re a baseball fan, there’s nothing like the Little League World Series.  It’s fun to watch skilled 11- and 12-year-olds play ball for the honor of their town, region or country.

Now, there’s another dimension to the Little League experience – a third dimension, to be exact. ESPN 3D is telecasting several Little League World Series games in 3D this week, and FiOS TV 3D customers have a front-row seat.

ESPN 3D is included in the FiOS TV Ultimate HD package.  If you have a 3DTV, the cool compatible glasses and HD-capable set to box with an HDMI connection, you’re in business.  Just check out the broadcast schedule and tune to channel 1002 to watch the first pitch.

From the debt ceiling to the drought, this summer is buzzing with an inordinate amount of “must see” news.  FiOS TV subscribers who turn to CNN to stay informed 24/7 can now be in-the-know while on-the-go with the new CNN app for FiOS TV.

The free app is a smart, fun way to bring live, streaming CNN or HLN channels to your iPhone or iPad when you’re away from your home TV.  Stare at Anderson Cooper’s blue eyes while you’re riding in a plane, train or automobile. 

SpongeBob SquarePants, the beloved character who lives in Bikini Bottom, now also stars in his own games on FiOS TV.

The first branded kids app is available exclusively for customers who subscribe to both FiOS TV and FiOS Internet and allows you and your family to play SpongeBob-themed games on the TV while watching your favorite Nickelodeon shows. 

The app contains four interactive games including “SpongeBob ShufflePants,” an image-shuffle puzzle; “Under My Rock,” a memory game; “Build-a-Bob,” a mix-and-match game; and “X Marks the Spot,” a Tic-Tac-Toe game, which can be played with one or two players.

Today’s guest blogger, Rachelle Zoffer, is director of content strategy & acquisition for Verizon FiOS TV.  She negotiates interactive TV deals with traditional content partners as well as with top Internet brands that enhance the programming and personalize the FiOS TV experience. 

By Rachelle Zoffer

What music do you enjoy listening to?  These days, it’s all about Indie (Independent Music) for me.  Many of the artists are not well known, but they all have a great, fresh sound. Indie is pure innovation and that’s what I love. 

I discover a lot of new music through PANDORA® Internet radio.  The free service lets you build your own personalized radio stations with the artists and songs and music you love, and then discover other, similar music.

Verizon has delivered its most advanced FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide operating system to customers in thePittsburgh and TampaBay areas.  The updated guide brings a host of new features, including DVR chaptering, which gives viewers DVD-like capabilities to jump ahead or resume viewing at a particular moment of recorded programming by using on-screen thumbnails in 10-minute increments.

In the past few months we’ve written a lot here about “product co-creation” – how Verizon directly engages with customers in several different ways as we envision, develop and roll out new products and services.

A great example is the continuous evolution of FiOS TV’s advanced operating system – known to many of you as the Interactive Media Guide (IMG).  Launched in 2007, the IMG continues to evolve, and we recently began delivering the ninth significant upgrade to the service.  Many of the new features of the latest version were the direct result of customer ideas, testing, and feedback.

I was intrigued when I recently read that about 8%, or 9 million, of 114 million households across the country use over-the-air antennas as their exclusive TV viewing source, according to recent Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) research.

Of course, the vast majority of homes have a pay TV option – cable, satellite or telco TV services like Verizon FiOS. But others are opting for a third alternative, using a broadband connection for Internet-based video viewing.  A recent Cisco study says that video will account for half of all consumer Internet traffic by 2012.

The proliferation of viewing sites and devices for viewing has only begun to drive exponential growth in broadband demand. Netflix streaming video typifies this trend, and the recent announcement of Nintendo’s Wii U  further demonstrates that consumers expect to use more intuitive, bandwidth-hungry devices in tandem with their TVs.

There has been a lot of talk at the Cable Show this week about long-range plans to develop better programming guides with advanced interactive apps for TV customers.

As the cable companies talk about new features coming sometime next year, Verizon is continuing the rollout of the ninth major upgrade of our Interactive Media Guide. In fact, you should think of the guide as an advanced operating system for FiOS TV, much like your computer’s OS.

Editor’s note: Today’s guest blogger is Damon Williams, VP Programming for Music Choice.

By Damon Williams

Couldn’t get tickets to see Lady Gaga or Lil Wayne? Not sure what summer concerts you want to attend? Well, now you can access a collection of the hottest videos instantaneously as a result of the music app we launched today for FiOS TV customers. Check out the latest and greatest videos of these two artists and many others all the time with Music Choice.

Imagine being at a restaurant and asking  your waiter for a medium rare filet with a baked potato and  house salad, shocked to learn that the only way you can get what you want is if you also order broccoli and a Jell-O mold.  Otherwise, you have to order a New York strip to get those particular side orders…and it only comes medium well!

Over the years, some customers have said that ordering a bundle of FiOS services has been too limiting.  If you wanted, say, faster Internet speed or more TV channels, you still needed to move up to the next bundle tier – and up again to get even more broadband speed.

At a financial analyst conference in New York this week, Time Warner Cable’s CEO said that broadband is replacing TV as his company’s anchor product. 

Dow Jones reported that Time Warner’s new focus on broadband reflects its continued loss of TV customers to Verizon FiOS, at&t Uverse and satellite offerings, and that “the rise of web video has also led to concerns that consumers will drop traditional pay-TV subscriptions in favor of online alternatives.”   

This got me to thinking about how U.S.cable and telecom companies have changed, and continue to change.

Editor’s Note: Guest blogger Kris Frazier has led partnership initiatives on FiOS TV, including establishing the User Experience framework for FiOS TV Widgets (NFL RedZone, Facebook, Twitter, HSN and others), channel portals for HBO, Starz, Showtime and launched the 2010 FiOS Football app for iPad as a companion experience to the NFL RedZone Channel.

By Kris Frazier

There are times I wonder, how connected is "too" connected?  While I'm sure the answer could point to a set of statistics, it may prove more worthy to identify "why" this is important.

Editor’s Note: Today’s guest blogger, Alison Allen, has been the User Messaging Lead for many of Verizon’s interactive services including FiOS TV, Media Manager, FiOS TV Online and Flex View. She is the strategist behind the descriptions, labels and instructions that help customers use the services more easily. Alison has also helped develop mobile apps for FiOS customers such as DVR Manager, FiOS Mobile and FiOS Football. Her Twitter profile @alikay7 pretty much says it all: Wordsmith, wife, yogi, dog mom.

By Alison Allen

When you think of watching TV and movies on devices other than a TV, there are certain scenarios that come to mind: commuting home on public transportation, entertaining the kids in the car, at the airport waiting for a flight, or combinations of these three. You’re mobile and you want to tune in.

We’ve added five new channels to our Spanish-language and LaConexion packages, bringing the total of Spanish-language channels on FiOS TV to 39.  The five new channels – CentroAmerica TV, Latele Novela Network, Pasiones, Teleamazones Internacional, and Vme Kids – are intended for a cross-section of Latin households, where news from a specific region, daytime dramas and children’s programming have wide appeal.

The channels are available today (May 23) to FiOS TV subscribers in Florida,California and Texas, and will be in all FiOS TV markets by the middle of June.

Here's a quick look at the new programming: