Month: April 2003

TiVo 4.0 Released

Ashley Bischoff6 Comments

TiVo software v4.0 has been released (since April 6th). New features include:

  • USB Network Adapter support (wired and wireless) [list of supported USB wireless adapters]
  • Sorting and Grouping in Now Playing
  • In the Program Details screen (use DISPLAY, INFO, or ENTER key to get to it from a program listing) you can now see “Similar Programs” (the name is sometimes deceptive, it actually seems to be “People who like this program also like these other programs”)
  • New Part Index added to details screen [“Part 1 of 2”, and so on]
  • Channel Up/Down and Skip To End keys work when reordering things in Season Pass Manager
  • Skip to End key works to jump to beginning/end of Season Pass Manager and Now Playing (but not in To Do List, Recording History, or Wishlists)
  • Skip to End key jumps back to the beginning in the live buffer the same as it does in recorded programs
  • Performance improvements in Now Playing scrolling
  • Now Playing list remembers where in the list you were when you return to it, even after Standby
  • Keep At Most now goes up to 10 episodes
  • Auto-scan of channel lineup during Guided Setup (to find channels that actually have signals)
  • […]

Though the roll-out has started, I’ve read that it may take “up to 8 weeks” (from April 6th) for it to propagate to all TiVo owners. However, if you’re really jonesing for it, you can jump to the head of the queue through TiVo’s 4.0 Priority Request page. There, you just need to enter your TiVo’s 15-digit service number and your TiVo will be pushed further ahead in the queue (presumably right behind anyone else that’s already signed up).

Mr Bean on DVD

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

Mr Bean: The Whole Bean is now available on DVD, as a 3-disc set (woo!). If your’re not familiar with the character, this DVD review describes Mr Bean like this:

In every episode, Mr. Bean (played by the accomplished Rowan Atkinson) would be confronted with an unusual situation (usually his fault), and somehow get around it to accomplish his goal. For instance, Mr. Bean decides he wants to go to the beach, but doesn�t want to go back to his car to change into his bathing suit. So, he puts his bathing suit over his trademark brown trousers, and then tries to take the pants off, leaving only the bathing suit.

The beauty about Rowan Atkinson’s performance as Mr. Bean is that an entire episode can go by without him even muttering a word. His use of physical comedy, including body language and facial expressions, is amongst the best I’ve ever seen in my life. He can be the most obnoxious person in the world one second, and an empathetic person in the next.

I’m not usually one to by tv episodes on DVD, but I might make an exception this time. My father enjoys the British sense of humor and he and I might enjoy watching some of the episodes sometime. Then again, he doesn’t have a DVD player, so I’d have to figure out that one :-/.

(Due creidt: DVD Talk)

RealPlayer Alternative

Ashley Bischoff16 Comments

It seems like the streaming-media market is made up of evils and lesser-evils (Ogg and MP3 excepted, for the most part). And, when presented with a choice, I’ve never been sure whether it'd be more ethical to choose Windows Media or RealPlayer (since public support tends to legitimize a format).

Recently, I’ve been going with RealPlayer over Windows Media since at least it’s available as a cross-platform application. All the same, RealVirus (as some like to call it) is still one of the most user-hostile applications I’ve ever seen.

JetAudio may be the answer, or at least a small help. As described in the LangaList newsletter (subscribe), their JetAudio player can handle most of RealPlayer’s core codecs:

It plays .RA, .RAM, and .RMI files (which isn’t all RealAudio content, but it meets my simple needs.) It appears to be free of spy-, ad- or nag-ware, and (outside of some initial twiddling with the file associations) it appears to work perfectly. I tested the software on Real’s test site.

[…]

For a bit more info, see the discussion in “alt.comp.freeware” with the subject line “Real Audio Codecs”. It began on 4/15/2003. This link might get you there.

If it works as described, I’ll be able to listen to Marketplace and Fresh Air without guilt (woo!).

Update: Real also provides archived versions of its software — RealPlayer 8, anyone?

Trip to Target

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

I stopped by Target to replace some of Jason’s items that he took along with his move:

  • Mixing bowls
  • Whisk
  • Spatula

Pancakes, here I come!

For what it’s worth, a whisk is one of the secrets to good pancakes. Just be sure not to overmix — you want the batter mixed just enough so that there’s no liquid pooling beside the dry ingredients. It’s ok to have some lumps, as they’ll generally cook away.

The Nature of Unemloyment

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Via Zeldman, Dan Benjamin talks about what it’s like to be unemployed and he describes it so aptly:

When you consume food, you do so not to enjoy it, but rather because your physical body requires it to create the energy you need to talk to recruiters, potential employers, go on interviews, read and post to the job-boards, or perform the work which generates the money you need to pay bills.

There is no rest, no breaks, no cigars, no enjoyment, no hanging-out, no weekend, there is only this: find a good job or project as soon as possible. […]

If this piece were made into one of those spoken-word songs, I wonder what music might be chosen to accompany it. Classical guitar, perhaps?