Tech Tidbits: SitBy.US @ SXSW, HBO Go, Facebook Zero, Free Mobile TV

Tech stories of the week that are worth a look from the digital content world.

Ready, Set, HBO Go! Time Warner’s HBO network is one of the first pay subscription channels out of the gate to make (some) of their content available to HBO subscribers online. Time Warner, along with Comcast, are proponents of TV Everywhere, which aims to offer cable subscribers access to their shows online as well as via their TVs. [Mashable]

Google Buzz Update: Privacy Concerns, New Fixes and a Few Law Suits Too. Since Google’s new social network, Google Buzz launched last week, its engineers and PR team have been busy addressing privacy issues. These concerns stem from Google’s naïve assumptions that high-frequency contact between Gmail users means that users want these folks in their personal social network and also want them publicly acknowledged as a connection. This is an unusual example of Google being out of touch with consumers. [SFGate, Silicon Alley Insider, Google blog]

Free mobile digital TV is on the way. So far, 30 local TV stations have invested in new technology that lets them tap into the digital broadcast spectrum to push their local news, weather and sports to viewers who have new TV-DVD mobile devices, which will be available starting in April. [New York Times

Heard of Coke Zero? Here comes Facebook Zero. This week at the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, industry executives met to discuss all things mobile and announce new products. It was here that Facebook announced a new text-only Facebook mobile site that will be formally introduced over the next few weeks. [Inside Facebook]

Amazon and Apple are gearing up to battle for e-reader market share. Don’t want to splurge for an Apple iPad or Amazon Kindle to read electronic versions of your favorite books? Then check out Amazon’s free new Kindle app for BlackBerry users. [Associated Press]

Attending SXSW Interactive next month? You can keep track of your friends onsite by using mobile apps such as Foursquare and GoWalla. But if you want to know precisely where they are sitting in a conference session, check out SitBy.US. [ReadWriteWeb]

Gaming consoles begin original programming. Sony announced their first interactive episodic Web show, First Play, for gamers using PlayStation 3 consoles connected to the PlayStation Network. First Play episodes will be available to UK gamers every week from March onwards, followed by a roll-out across Europe. The show will contain previews of the latest games and access to exclusive downloadable content. No word on whether or not a US roll-out is planned. [MediaWeek]

Industry Conferences: The TV of Tomorrow Show, taking place March 3-4 in San Francisco, brings together leading entertainment technology executives to discuss and debate the latest developments in interactive TV. Tubefilter is pleased to be a media sponsor. [TV of Tomorrow Show]