DirecTV's great HD deal is for existing customers. I'm not sure what they're doing for new customers, but I think it's $400 to get an HD recevier and a dish that can see all 3 satellites.
I called DirecTV's customer retention department. Since I've been with DirecTV for more than 2 years, I got the dish, a Samsung TS-160 receiver ($600 at Best Buy right now) and a professional install for $99. Actually, they charged my credit card $400 but I got a $300 credit on my DirecTV account. I had to agree to 1 year of their HD package but I was fine with that (that's the whole point, ESPNHD).
I have 2 DirecTiVo boxes (same model). The remote for one of them is fine, but the other has the "loose" directional pad that you referred to. I've gotten used to it, but it is very annoying.
Since you've only had it for a couple of weeks, try to return the remote for another one.
I've had a Motion M1200 for a little over a year now. I love it and use it every day at the office and at home.
Yes, you can buy a notepad and a pen for a couple of bucks. I went through a lot of those. I started to realize that there was no point in taking notes in meetings. I'd write it down and flip the page for the next meeting. Eventually, the notepad would be full and I'd put it on my desk or file the notes away somewhere. Then when I actually *needed* that info, it was either impossible to find or just not worth the effort. Maybe my organizational skills are just lacking.
With the tablet, I take notes using OneNote (yikes! a Microsoft product!). It has room for improvement, but since I've gotten used to it, I've switched to it as my exclusive note taking app. Many people also like the Franklin-Covey TabletPC vesion of their organizer app. I previously used Journal, which is a simple but very effective note taking program that comes with the TabletPC OS (a superset of XP). OneNote has a tabbed interface and makes it easy to create tabs for projects, with pages within that tab ('pages' can be of any length, it's just a term for the notes within tabs). I can also create sub-tabs, allowing me to create a tab called 'reference' which in turn contains tabs for specific topics, which in turn, contain pages). I can search my entire notebook from one location. It's great to be in a meeting when a topic comes up from a couple of months ago. Within seconds, I have the info at my fingertips.
The handwriting recognition is surprisingly good. A free 'Dictionary Tool' PowerToy from Microsoft allows me to easily add words and acronyms to the recognition dictionary. For the most part, I rarely 'see' the handwriting recognition in action though. Everyone asks if it can convert handwriting to text. It can, but for my notes, why bother? I leave my notes in my handwriting. The search engine still uses the handwriting recognition to enable me to search *my handwriting* for any word in my notes. It's not perfect, but it's better than digging through piles of paper and regular notepads.
As for the hardware, I would suggest deciding on a slate vs. a convertible. I went with a slate. Part of the appeal for me is that I can quietly sit in a meeting and take notes without pecking away on a keyboard. Maybe it's different at other companies, but whipping out a regular laptop and typing while someone is speaking seems a bit rude. Since I knew that the majority of the tablet's use would be in meetings, I decided to not tote around an attached keyboard. It's just a personal preference. Some people prefer the flexibility that a convertible tablet offers. They've really gotten thin and light so my next tablet will probably be a convertible. At my desk, I put the Motion in it's 'FlexDock' docking station and use it much like a regular computer with a mouse and keyboard.
My Motion has an 866mhz Mobile Pentium CPU with 512 megs of RAM. Newer models have a 1ghz Centrino CPU. I guess I won't be able to run Doom 3 on my tablet, but for everyday use it is plenty fast enough. Office runs fine, with no performance issues (and it's ink enabled, allowing me to mark up word docs and excel spreadsheets). Mozilla runs fine, with no performance issues. OneNote runs fine, with no performance issues. Same for solitaire, the Zinio reader and Alias SketchBook (which is where the pen's pressure sensitivity really shines). Maybe I'm not using my tablet for the same things that a lot people want/need, but for everyday use, it performs just fine.
The Motion also has built in 802.11b, which is great for sitting on the couch and surfing the web with the TV on in the background.
My Zaurus PDA is collecting dust. I haven't turned it on in about a year. My tablet wakes up from hibernate mode in a matter of seconds, so I don't really need a PDA anymore. Obviously this wouldn't be the case if I needed phone numbers or appointment info in my pocket, but that doesn't really apply to me. The TabletPC has worked out great for me.
Same here. I've had a Motion M1200 for a year now and I absolutely love it. What is the original poster basing this on??
I'm not sure how long my battery lasts. I've never had to find out. I've had some long stretches of meeting where the battery gets down to an hour or so left, but I'm never that far from my docking station and I don't attend 6 hour meetings.
I guess they could correlate collected data to an individual account, but why would they?
Why do you think that viewing information about you specifically is valuable to anyone at all? Why would TiVo bother? Sifting out the specific data for individuals is just an added cost with no benefit for TiVo. Do you think they can sell viewing data down to the individual level to networks and advertisers? The companies that TiVo is selling this info to don't *care* that Joe Smith of 634 Main Street watches Victoria Secret commercials over and over and over. They care that 38% of TiVo viewers in the 84922 zip code went back and watched the VS commercial while fast forwarding through the other commercials.
Just how important do you think you are to justify the fear that TiVo is watching *you*?
That sounds exactly like the DirecTiVo (technically: DirectTV DVR I think). 2 tuners so you can record 2 shows at once, even while watching something previously recorded.
Not that overheating doesn't happen, but it's hardly a "dirty little secret about all TiVos". I've had 4 Tivos (2 currently) and have upgraded around 10. None of them have encountered any overheating problems.
Again, it's certainly possible and it does happen sometimes, but it's not like every TiVo is a ticking timebomb waiting to overheat and fail.
IIRC, the exact same thing happened to 'News Radio' on NBC. One exec "didn't get it" and the show got canned. Of course, it wasn't the same without Phil Hartman anyway.
Neither. It was simply a reaction to PeopleSoft's acquisition of JD Edwards. PeopleSoft + JD Edwards = Oracle no longer the king of ERP software. That's king in terms of market share. Other than market share, Oracle's ERP apps don't come close to PeopleSoft.
I have a 210. It sits in a corner of the living room. We never turn it on. But visit the Aibo forums and you'll find people who absolutely *love* their Aibos. Some people really get attached to them.
I just find the technology limited. I get tired of hearing it whine and cry, so I turn it off. That was a few months ago.
My 210 developed DHS (droopy head syndrome, affects most 210s but Sony won't admit to it). A guy in the UK fixed it for me. We turned it on for a couple of weeks after that, but got bored again.
I have tried using Journal for taking notes. It makes for a slick demo, but ultimately, I find a keyboard (even a one-handed keyboard) more efficient. Note that few of the features in Journal are novel--similar software has been around for decades.
I just can't see using a keyboard at meetings. Maybe it's just a business culture thing, but it seems much more intrusive than scibbling notes on a tablet.
When I'm at my desk though, I usually hook the keyboard up to my tablet and type notes, so I agree that the keyboard can be more efficient in some situations, but at a meeting I prefer handwriting notes.
You should tell that to Microsoft: most of the software running on Tablet PC has been very poorly adapted to a pen interface and feels like it's been written for a mouse.
I gotta disagree. Sure, we need more pen-enabled apps, but there are quite a few out there that are definately written for the pen.
Franklin Covey's TabletPlanner, Alias SketchBook, Microsoft Journal, Microsoft One Note, Various Microsoft Tablet Toys, Colligo, Corel Grafigo, MS Office 2003, etc are all very pen-centric. In fact, most of those would be awkward with a mouse.
I have a Motion Computing tablet and I don't consider the handwriting recognition to be a huge factor. The only thing it offers me is the ability to search my handwritten notes. I never actually see my handwritten ink converted to text. It does it in the background and allows me to search.
I could live without the handwriting recognition feature. It would mean having to search through my notes files, but I would still have the biggest benefit (IMO) of the tablet: all of my notes in one location.
The only other time the HWR comes in handy is when using the pen to input data to a non-pen-enabled app. Click on a form field in your browser, click on the input panel button, write your text. When it's converted to text, click the 'send' button to paste the converted text into the form field. As an alternative, you can use a virtual keyboard.
I really don't understand the knocks against the TabletPC's handwriting recognition. I'm VERY impressed with it.
I've had the Motion Computing M1200 for almost 6 months. I love it. I hate going to meetings and taking notes on a regular notepad. What do I do with those notes? Nothing. The notepads sit around my desk until I get sick of them and throw them away. I suppose if I had the time or desire to type them into another app they might be useful.
I take the tablet to all meetings. If someone sends me a meeting agenda in Word, I print it from Word to the Journal application. Now I have an electronic version that I can take notes on during the meeting. I can later do a search on both my handwriting *and* the text of the original document.
The handwriting recognition is very impressive. I only use it to search my notes though. There's really no reason to convert your notes to text. But if you do a search the word will be found if it can convert (in the background) what you wrote to text. In other words, it uses the handwriting recognition engine to search your ink.
Meeting notes go into a folder called 'meetings'. Projects have their own folders. One search will find key words across multiple documents, within multiple folders. I'm now more organized and can easily find documents and notes with a quick search.
Microsoft's new One Note is currently in beta testing and while it's a little rough around the edges, it has a lot of potential. With One Note I can click on the record icon at the beginning of a meeting. I take notes as the meeting progresses. Later you can play back the audio of the meeting and the notes you took at that particular time will be highlighted.
Pecking on a keyboard in a meeting is a bit rude (here at least). This gives me a great way to take better notes that I'll actually use.
I bought the Harmony SST-768 a few weeks ago. It takes some time to get everything set up, but since I got past that I'm really liking it.
The wizards on their web page can be a bit of a pain. I started making more progress when I entered 'advanced' mode and started editing some of the XML directly.
The cool thing about the remote is that it remembers the state of your components. "Watch TiVo" is my default activity. When I hit the power button on the remote, it turns on my TV and sets everything up to watch TV (DirecTV/TiVo combo box). If I switch to my "Watch DVD" activity it knows that the TV is already on, so it doesn't send the IR code to power off the TV. Video input, receiver input, picture mode, etc are all switch as requierd. Some settings are common for different activities and the remote knows to leave those alone when switching.
Previous universal remotes that I had used required that I return to a default state to run macros. I can switch between any macro (Harmony calls 'em "activities") without worrying if the TV is on the correct video input. The remote keeps track of it and changes things accordingly.
You don't have to use discrete codes to accomplish this either (although you can). I use different picture mode settings for different activities. Video games are better on my "standard" setting while TV and DVDs use the "Pro" setting. I defined a new variable in my TV section (XML) and then added a bit of code to the various activities' sections so the remote will keep track of which picture mode it's in and send the correct IR codes as needed.
I haven't gotten around to it yet, but my next step is to define a state for the volume level on my receiver. As I switch activities, the remote will then add or subtract X volume ticks depending on how I define it. Watching a DVD will equal -12, TV -08, etc.
I'm not sure if other remotes have this abilty, but it really makes it easy to have a remote than anyone can use. Scroll the wheel, select your activity, click the wheel.
You're probably right about people not seeing enough difference between XM and regular AM/FM radio.
Unfortunately, people couldn't be more wrong. I can't STAND to listen to regular AM/FM radio after getting XM. $10 a month is a bargain for the variety, lack of commercials, quality of sound, etc.
We bought a new car for my wife this past weekend. The factory XM setup isn't available yet and it's driving her nuts having to listen to FM and CDs.
ISDN pings are similar to DSL pings. I've been playing both PS2 and Xbox games online with my 128k ISDN connection.
PS2: Madden and SOCOM work great. Xbox: Mech Assault, MotoGP, Whacked and ReVol work as well. I haven't tried Ghost Recon online yet and Unreal Championship is on the way.
Hosting peer-to-peer games would probably be a problem though.
Good points. I think Sony's plan is to continue to improve the hardware and software while slowly lowering the price over time. Eventually the Aibo will be much more advanced as well as more reasonably priced.
The Aibo certainly isn't marketed for kids, based on the price and the fact that it's not something that little Timmy can flail about the room.
There are alternatives to Sony's software. Check out aibopet's site for a lot of Aibo info as well as free software.
The AI is actually pretty impressive. I guess it's not technically true AI, but at the very least, it's clever enough to create the illusion of being a thinking animal. The Aibo Life software evolves through different stages, beginning as a newborn puppy. Based on how you interact with it, it's personality changes. There are enough factors involved in this growth process to make an Aibo seem different from other Aibos. Ours seems to like dark spaces, which is strange because because they typically migrate towards well lit areas. Our 210 tends to wander under the coffee table for a nap or into a dark bathroom.
The Aibo Life 2 software is more impressive than the original Life 1 stick (another $100, ugh). Each release of the software adds to the feature list and makes the illusion more believable. The recently announced Recognition software adds face recognition, voice recognition (it 'knows' it's owners voice vs generic voice recognition) and the ability to find it's charger and refresh it's batteries. Of course, that's another $100.
Yeah, I have one. It's neat, but I won't try to argue that it's worth the money. My wife fell in love with it at the Metreon during a SF trip. Being obsessed with gadgets, she didn't really have to twist my arm.
There are Aibo owners who will tell you that they're worth every penny. Hell, there are Aibo owners that have 10+ of the things.
I'm still not sure about the speedboard. Too expensive. After paying as much as we did for the Aibo itself, I'm reluctant to put more money into it. I kind of doubt it would work too well on anything more than very low pile carpet anyway.
We put an Alpine FM modulated XM system in my wife's car a couple of months ago to help relieve boredom during her 45 minute drive to and from work. She absolutely loves it, going as far as saying that between XM and the TiVo, TiVo would barely win in the "can only keep one convenience" debate.
It soon got to the point that I couldn't stand being in my car. I ended up getting the same system.
My initial thoughts were that it was ridiculous to pay $10 per month for radio, I can just listen to CDs, etc. Those are valid points and the cost of the hardware can certainly make it hard to justify, but I think it's worth it.
Listening to your own recorded music comes the closest to being a valid argument against satellite radio IMO. FM/AM doesn't even come close. The variety and lack of commercials make XM easily worth $10 per month. My favorites: Fred ("an audio history of alternative music"), Ethel (alternative hits), XMU (new music), Mix (70s, 80s, 90s, 00s) and the comedy channels.
We drove 6 hours to a recent vacation destination and I decided then that I never wanted to be without satellite radio. XM made it the quickest 6 hour drive I've ever had to endure.
I recently bought a Gainward 'Golden Sample' 4200 ti (128 mb version). It was a bit more than most 4200 boards (~$230), but Gainward's Golden Sample cards include a utility for overclocking beyond normal ranges, while still remaining under warranty. My PIII 1 ghz machine is a bit underpowered for it, but the water in Morrowind sure is pretty.
AiboPet has Bender and Cartman, so Triumph is possible. Cartman is currently only available for the 310 series, but it's just a preview.
Re:Why does Slashdot support Tivo?
on
TiVo Series 2 Review
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Because it's a great product. Also, I'm just not that paranoid. TiVo collects data at the zip code level. TiVo knows that at least one person in my zip code likes 'Greg the Bunny'? Works for me. Keep the shows I like coming.
Slashdot Mirror
DirecTV's great HD deal is for existing customers. I'm not sure what they're doing for new customers, but I think it's $400 to get an HD recevier and a dish that can see all 3 satellites.
I called DirecTV's customer retention department. Since I've been with DirecTV for more than 2 years, I got the dish, a Samsung TS-160 receiver ($600 at Best Buy right now) and a professional install for $99. Actually, they charged my credit card $400 but I got a $300 credit on my DirecTV account. I had to agree to 1 year of their HD package but I was fine with that (that's the whole point, ESPNHD).
It would be $30 plus shipping, but you could order a new remote from TiVo: https://store.tivo.com/main.aspx?cid=102
I'm not sure about international orders. You could email them at store@tivo.com and ask though.
I have 2 DirecTiVo boxes (same model). The remote for one of them is fine, but the other has the "loose" directional pad that you referred to. I've gotten used to it, but it is very annoying.
Since you've only had it for a couple of weeks, try to return the remote for another one.
Wow. I guess I'm in the minority.
I've had a Motion M1200 for a little over a year now. I love it and use it every day at the office and at home.
Yes, you can buy a notepad and a pen for a couple of bucks. I went through a lot of those. I started to realize that there was no point in taking notes in meetings. I'd write it down and flip the page for the next meeting. Eventually, the notepad would be full and I'd put it on my desk or file the notes away somewhere. Then when I actually *needed* that info, it was either impossible to find or just not worth the effort. Maybe my organizational skills are just lacking.
With the tablet, I take notes using OneNote (yikes! a Microsoft product!). It has room for improvement, but since I've gotten used to it, I've switched to it as my exclusive note taking app. Many people also like the Franklin-Covey TabletPC vesion of their organizer app. I previously used Journal, which is a simple but very effective note taking program that comes with the TabletPC OS (a superset of XP). OneNote has a tabbed interface and makes it easy to create tabs for projects, with pages within that tab ('pages' can be of any length, it's just a term for the notes within tabs). I can also create sub-tabs, allowing me to create a tab called 'reference' which in turn contains tabs for specific topics, which in turn, contain pages). I can search my entire notebook from one location. It's great to be in a meeting when a topic comes up from a couple of months ago. Within seconds, I have the info at my fingertips.
The handwriting recognition is surprisingly good. A free 'Dictionary Tool' PowerToy from Microsoft allows me to easily add words and acronyms to the recognition dictionary. For the most part, I rarely 'see' the handwriting recognition in action though. Everyone asks if it can convert handwriting to text. It can, but for my notes, why bother? I leave my notes in my handwriting. The search engine still uses the handwriting recognition to enable me to search *my handwriting* for any word in my notes. It's not perfect, but it's better than digging through piles of paper and regular notepads.
As for the hardware, I would suggest deciding on a slate vs. a convertible. I went with a slate. Part of the appeal for me is that I can quietly sit in a meeting and take notes without pecking away on a keyboard. Maybe it's different at other companies, but whipping out a regular laptop and typing while someone is speaking seems a bit rude. Since I knew that the majority of the tablet's use would be in meetings, I decided to not tote around an attached keyboard. It's just a personal preference. Some people prefer the flexibility that a convertible tablet offers. They've really gotten thin and light so my next tablet will probably be a convertible. At my desk, I put the Motion in it's 'FlexDock' docking station and use it much like a regular computer with a mouse and keyboard.
My Motion has an 866mhz Mobile Pentium CPU with 512 megs of RAM. Newer models have a 1ghz Centrino CPU. I guess I won't be able to run Doom 3 on my tablet, but for everyday use it is plenty fast enough. Office runs fine, with no performance issues (and it's ink enabled, allowing me to mark up word docs and excel spreadsheets). Mozilla runs fine, with no performance issues. OneNote runs fine, with no performance issues. Same for solitaire, the Zinio reader and Alias SketchBook (which is where the pen's pressure sensitivity really shines). Maybe I'm not using my tablet for the same things that a lot people want/need, but for everyday use, it performs just fine.
The Motion also has built in 802.11b, which is great for sitting on the couch and surfing the web with the TV on in the background.
My Zaurus PDA is collecting dust. I haven't turned it on in about a year. My tablet wakes up from hibernate mode in a matter of seconds, so I don't really need a PDA anymore. Obviously this wouldn't be the case if I needed phone numbers or appointment info in my pocket, but that doesn't really apply to me. The TabletPC has worked out great for me.
Same here. I've had a Motion M1200 for a year now and I absolutely love it. What is the original poster basing this on??
I'm not sure how long my battery lasts. I've never had to find out. I've had some long stretches of meeting where the battery gets down to an hour or so left, but I'm never that far from my docking station and I don't attend 6 hour meetings.
I guess they could correlate collected data to an individual account, but why would they?
Why do you think that viewing information about you specifically is valuable to anyone at all? Why would TiVo bother? Sifting out the specific data for individuals is just an added cost with no benefit for TiVo. Do you think they can sell viewing data down to the individual level to networks and advertisers? The companies that TiVo is selling this info to don't *care* that Joe Smith of 634 Main Street watches Victoria Secret commercials over and over and over. They care that 38% of TiVo viewers in the 84922 zip code went back and watched the VS commercial while fast forwarding through the other commercials.
Just how important do you think you are to justify the fear that TiVo is watching *you*?
That sounds exactly like the DirecTiVo (technically: DirectTV DVR I think). 2 tuners so you can record 2 shows at once, even while watching something previously recorded.
Not that overheating doesn't happen, but it's hardly a "dirty little secret about all TiVos". I've had 4 Tivos (2 currently) and have upgraded around 10. None of them have encountered any overheating problems.
Again, it's certainly possible and it does happen sometimes, but it's not like every TiVo is a ticking timebomb waiting to overheat and fail.
I see your point. I took the chance in 1999. After 4 years, I've gotten my money's worth out of the lifetime subscription.
IIRC, the exact same thing happened to 'News Radio' on NBC. One exec "didn't get it" and the show got canned. Of course, it wasn't the same without Phil Hartman anyway.
Neither. It was simply a reaction to PeopleSoft's acquisition of JD Edwards. PeopleSoft + JD Edwards = Oracle no longer the king of ERP software. That's king in terms of market share. Other than market share, Oracle's ERP apps don't come close to PeopleSoft.
I have a 210. It sits in a corner of the living room. We never turn it on. But visit the Aibo forums and you'll find people who absolutely *love* their Aibos. Some people really get attached to them.
I just find the technology limited. I get tired of hearing it whine and cry, so I turn it off. That was a few months ago.
My 210 developed DHS (droopy head syndrome, affects most 210s but Sony won't admit to it). A guy in the UK fixed it for me. We turned it on for a couple of weeks after that, but got bored again.
I have tried using Journal for taking notes. It makes for a slick demo, but ultimately, I find a keyboard (even a one-handed keyboard) more efficient. Note that few of the features in Journal are novel--similar software has been around for decades.
I just can't see using a keyboard at meetings. Maybe it's just a business culture thing, but it seems much more intrusive than scibbling notes on a tablet.
When I'm at my desk though, I usually hook the keyboard up to my tablet and type notes, so I agree that the keyboard can be more efficient in some situations, but at a meeting I prefer handwriting notes.
You should tell that to Microsoft: most of the software running on Tablet PC has been very poorly adapted to a pen interface and feels like it's been written for a mouse.
I gotta disagree. Sure, we need more pen-enabled apps, but there are quite a few out there that are definately written for the pen.
Franklin Covey's TabletPlanner, Alias SketchBook, Microsoft Journal, Microsoft One Note, Various Microsoft Tablet Toys, Colligo, Corel Grafigo, MS Office 2003, etc are all very pen-centric. In fact, most of those would be awkward with a mouse.
I have a Motion Computing tablet and I don't consider the handwriting recognition to be a huge factor. The only thing it offers me is the ability to search my handwritten notes. I never actually see my handwritten ink converted to text. It does it in the background and allows me to search.
I could live without the handwriting recognition feature. It would mean having to search through my notes files, but I would still have the biggest benefit (IMO) of the tablet: all of my notes in one location.
The only other time the HWR comes in handy is when using the pen to input data to a non-pen-enabled app. Click on a form field in your browser, click on the input panel button, write your text. When it's converted to text, click the 'send' button to paste the converted text into the form field. As an alternative, you can use a virtual keyboard.
I really don't understand the knocks against the TabletPC's handwriting recognition. I'm VERY impressed with it.
I've had the Motion Computing M1200 for almost 6 months. I love it. I hate going to meetings and taking notes on a regular notepad. What do I do with those notes? Nothing. The notepads sit around my desk until I get sick of them and throw them away. I suppose if I had the time or desire to type them into another app they might be useful.
I take the tablet to all meetings. If someone sends me a meeting agenda in Word, I print it from Word to the Journal application. Now I have an electronic version that I can take notes on during the meeting. I can later do a search on both my handwriting *and* the text of the original document.
The handwriting recognition is very impressive. I only use it to search my notes though. There's really no reason to convert your notes to text. But if you do a search the word will be found if it can convert (in the background) what you wrote to text. In other words, it uses the handwriting recognition engine to search your ink.
Meeting notes go into a folder called 'meetings'. Projects have their own folders. One search will find key words across multiple documents, within multiple folders. I'm now more organized and can easily find documents and notes with a quick search.
Microsoft's new One Note is currently in beta testing and while it's a little rough around the edges, it has a lot of potential. With One Note I can click on the record icon at the beginning of a meeting. I take notes as the meeting progresses. Later you can play back the audio of the meeting and the notes you took at that particular time will be highlighted.
Pecking on a keyboard in a meeting is a bit rude (here at least). This gives me a great way to take better notes that I'll actually use.
I bought the Harmony SST-768 a few weeks ago. It takes some time to get everything set up, but since I got past that I'm really liking it.
The wizards on their web page can be a bit of a pain. I started making more progress when I entered 'advanced' mode and started editing some of the XML directly.
The cool thing about the remote is that it remembers the state of your components. "Watch TiVo" is my default activity. When I hit the power button on the remote, it turns on my TV and sets everything up to watch TV (DirecTV/TiVo combo box). If I switch to my "Watch DVD" activity it knows that the TV is already on, so it doesn't send the IR code to power off the TV. Video input, receiver input, picture mode, etc are all switch as requierd. Some settings are common for different activities and the remote knows to leave those alone when switching.
Previous universal remotes that I had used required that I return to a default state to run macros. I can switch between any macro (Harmony calls 'em "activities") without worrying if the TV is on the correct video input. The remote keeps track of it and changes things accordingly.
You don't have to use discrete codes to accomplish this either (although you can). I use different picture mode settings for different activities. Video games are better on my "standard" setting while TV and DVDs use the "Pro" setting. I defined a new variable in my TV section (XML) and then added a bit of code to the various activities' sections so the remote will keep track of which picture mode it's in and send the correct IR codes as needed.
I haven't gotten around to it yet, but my next step is to define a state for the volume level on my receiver. As I switch activities, the remote will then add or subtract X volume ticks depending on how I define it. Watching a DVD will equal -12, TV -08, etc.
I'm not sure if other remotes have this abilty, but it really makes it easy to have a remote than anyone can use. Scroll the wheel, select your activity, click the wheel.
You're probably right about people not seeing enough difference between XM and regular AM/FM radio.
Unfortunately, people couldn't be more wrong. I can't STAND to listen to regular AM/FM radio after getting XM. $10 a month is a bargain for the variety, lack of commercials, quality of sound, etc.
We bought a new car for my wife this past weekend. The factory XM setup isn't available yet and it's driving her nuts having to listen to FM and CDs.
ISDN pings are similar to DSL pings. I've been playing both PS2 and Xbox games online with my 128k ISDN connection.
PS2: Madden and SOCOM work great.
Xbox: Mech Assault, MotoGP, Whacked and ReVol work as well. I haven't tried Ghost Recon online yet and Unreal Championship is on the way.
Hosting peer-to-peer games would probably be a problem though.
I'm playing Xbox Live games with my 128k ISDN connection.
MS says it won't work, but I'm not having any problems. No lag, voice chat works, etc.
Good points. I think Sony's plan is to continue to improve the hardware and software while slowly lowering the price over time. Eventually the Aibo will be much more advanced as well as more reasonably priced.
.
The Aibo certainly isn't marketed for kids, based on the price and the fact that it's not something that little Timmy can flail about the room.
There are alternatives to Sony's software. Check out aibopet's site for a lot of Aibo info as well as free software.
The AI is actually pretty impressive. I guess it's not technically true AI, but at the very least, it's clever enough to create the illusion of being a thinking animal. The Aibo Life software evolves through different stages, beginning as a newborn puppy. Based on how you interact with it, it's personality changes. There are enough factors involved in this growth process to make an Aibo seem different from other Aibos. Ours seems to like dark spaces, which is strange because because they typically migrate towards well lit areas. Our 210 tends to wander under the coffee table for a nap or into a dark bathroom.
The Aibo Life 2 software is more impressive than the original Life 1 stick (another $100, ugh). Each release of the software adds to the feature list and makes the illusion more believable. The recently announced Recognition software adds face recognition, voice recognition (it 'knows' it's owners voice vs generic voice recognition) and the ability to find it's charger and refresh it's batteries. Of course, that's another $100.
Also, check out Sony's Open-R site
Yeah, I have one. It's neat, but I won't try to argue that it's worth the money. My wife fell in love with it at the Metreon during a SF trip. Being obsessed with gadgets, she didn't really have to twist my arm.
There are Aibo owners who will tell you that they're worth every penny. Hell, there are Aibo owners that have 10+ of the things.
I'm still not sure about the speedboard. Too expensive. After paying as much as we did for the Aibo itself, I'm reluctant to put more money into it. I kind of doubt it would work too well on anything more than very low pile carpet anyway.
We put an Alpine FM modulated XM system in my wife's car a couple of months ago to help relieve boredom during her 45 minute drive to and from work. She absolutely loves it, going as far as saying that between XM and the TiVo, TiVo would barely win in the "can only keep one convenience" debate.
It soon got to the point that I couldn't stand being in my car. I ended up getting the same system.
My initial thoughts were that it was ridiculous to pay $10 per month for radio, I can just listen to CDs, etc. Those are valid points and the cost of the hardware can certainly make it hard to justify, but I think it's worth it.
Listening to your own recorded music comes the closest to being a valid argument against satellite radio IMO. FM/AM doesn't even come close. The variety and lack of commercials make XM easily worth $10 per month. My favorites: Fred ("an audio history of alternative music"), Ethel (alternative hits), XMU (new music), Mix (70s, 80s, 90s, 00s) and the comedy channels.
We drove 6 hours to a recent vacation destination and I decided then that I never wanted to be without satellite radio. XM made it the quickest 6 hour drive I've ever had to endure.
I recently bought a Gainward 'Golden Sample' 4200 ti (128 mb version). It was a bit more than most 4200 boards (~$230), but Gainward's Golden Sample cards include a utility for overclocking beyond normal ranges, while still remaining under warranty. My PIII 1 ghz machine is a bit underpowered for it, but the water in Morrowind sure is pretty.
AiboPet has Bender and Cartman, so Triumph is possible. Cartman is currently only available for the 310 series, but it's just a preview.
Because it's a great product. Also, I'm just not that paranoid. TiVo collects data at the zip code level. TiVo knows that at least one person in my zip code likes 'Greg the Bunny'? Works for me. Keep the shows I like coming.