We have (I mean had) one real TiVo in our house. Even though we call all of our DVRs TiVo. We love the DVR and have had the TiVo for over 5 years. The kids started complaining about the box freezing a couple weeks ago (this is not the same box referenced in this post from Diana). Over the weekend the kids said they could not get the TV to work downstairs. I thought that maybe they had filled the TiVo with junk. I went downstairs to look at it and there was a lot of junk. I cleaned everything off and it still did not work. I now had to call DirecTV. I went through almost an hour of troubleshooting and the person did not know what the problem was. I had three options (I will list them the way I was told them):
Pay $80 to have someone come out. I might get charged a lot more, but the guy would get it working before he left. (Cost: At least $80)
Sign up for the $6 a month collection plan and then the service person at my house would be free, I would just have to pay any "extra" costs. (Cost: At least $72)
Get a new TiVo (actually a Dish DVR) to replace the old TiVo. (Cost: Free, just pay shipping and handling).
Because I am out of contract DirecTV used this opportunity to sign me up for a one year contract to get a free DVR from them. I plan on staying with DirecTV for a while so this is not a problem.
I got the new DVR today, but I was putting together furniture tonight (and Chloe's soccer practice) so I did not get it hooked up. Prepare for me to write some witty story about my DVR setup experience. Also, I have pictures from Chloe's soccer practice to post and pictures of the furniture as I get it built (posts will go up Wednesday afternoon/late evening).
I posted about the new blackberry bold - but what about the thunder? This phone looks good - but will it have what it needs to take out the iPhone?
I am not doing as much design as I once did, but the new Quark looks pretty good. I am still using version 6.
New Get a Mac ad and Diana loves it.
If you have any of these passwords you should get them changed as soon as possible. Some of these are pretty funny. Who chooses "monkey" as a password?
I have had a TiVO for years and I think everyone should have one. I tell everyone that getting a TiVO will change your life and the reality of just that is finally hitting the TV executives. A lot less people are watching TV when the network wants you to - they are watching it when and where they want. It is time for a new kind of TV and I can feel it coming. Hopefully soon.
Microsoft was laying down this same stuff when they started to develop Vista. Smaller? Less system resources? More promises that Microsoft cannot deliver on.
There are a lot of fun social sites on the web. But how do they make money? That is the question I have always had. Once you give someone something for free, they do not want to have to pay for it. Not ever. If you change to pay - people will leave and find another service that stays free.
This is intersting and I think...why aren't we already doing this? Wind is free and does not burn up the Earth. I know that at my house it is windy every day.
Diana won't be happy that I posted this...but I think that the writer hit most of Oprah's buddies dead on.
Watched American Idol while I was writing this and none of the people were that impressive tonight. Pretty poor I say. The song choices were weird and no one really looked that comfortable.
