Gris, does she have a cordless phone? Or does someone nearby have one? That was the biggest problem my son was having, that his cordless runs on 2.4 Ghz and so did the router, and the phone constantly disconnected him or screwed with the router performance.

I have not had my caffeine yet, so I can't decide if this is a bad thing, and if so, how bad...

Cory Doctorow: Vista, the new version of Windows, has tightened the Trusted Computing screws, putting hardware companies on notice that they will have to get their drivers approved by Microsoft before shipping them. Microsoft had previously designed Vista to simply warn users if their drivers were "unsigned" -- that is, not approved by Microsoft -- but in a new announcement, the company pledged to make it impossible to load any unapproved drivers under Vista.

This has been positioned as an anti-spyware measure, but it will also have the effect of making copy- and use-restriction systems more restrictive. You won't, for example, be able to install alternative drivers for a video-capture card that lets you ignore anti-copying watermarks in your videos, effectively taking control away from you, the owner of the computer, and indiscriminately giving it over to anyone who can insert a watermark (no-copying watermarks have already been illegally inserted into many Fox programs, resulting in their not being stored by TiVo video recorders).

Another effect of this will be to raise the cost of developing drivers, since developers will be required by Microsoft to buy a VeriSign Class 3 Commercial Software Publisher Certificate, at an unknown cost.

[link]

It just bugs me, as it furthers the trend of the personal computer moving from a general-purpose computing device to a home-entertainment device that's controlled by large media companies.

USB turntable: [link]

I actually need a new turntable. And none of my Macs have an audio input.

The iTTUSB also offers a few hardware extras, such as an adjustable anti-skating control for increased stereo balancing, an adjustable pitch control (+/- 8 percent), and support for high-speed vinyl recording. And thanks to the line-level outputs, you can connect to any home stereo with CD or auxiliary (AUX) inputs--no phono inputs required. The turntable comes with a cartridge and stylus, 45 adapter, and USB cable and is compatible with PCs running Windows 98, 2000, or XP and Macs running OS 9 or greater. All computers must also have at least one available USB 1.1 port.

$139.95, which might be a really good deal, depending on the quality of the turntable (which I can't really judge myself...).

As long as you are using the Tivo branded adapter or one of the very specific models they list on their support site it's quite easy. The trick is that almost all of the ones that they list are versions or firmware revisions that aren't easily obtainable.

Wireless support on Linux is a mess. Another way to get around it is to use a wireless adapter that plugs into the Ethernet port. Works with anything that supports Ethernet. You might need a bit of TCP/IP knowhow to get one of those configured though.

I got my Tivo wireless adapter (on a recommendation from ita), plugged it in, and it worked great. I'd recommend it if the phone line is an issue. Plus, I can schedule stuff to record online (and I seem to remember you can't do that through the phone line). I did make sure that my apadter was a supported one.

I don't have the Tivo-brand adapter, but I do have one of the supported ones (a Linksys, I forget the model #), and it works great.

It does occasionally get confused by all the other wireless networks in the neighborhood (mine's the only open one, but there are at least 6 others that are detectable), throw up its little Tivo hands in confusion, and refuse to connect again until I tell it which network it belongs to, but it's a once-every-two-weeks issue at most.

One of my TiVos is hooked up wirelessly with a Linksys adapter and I haven't had any problems with it at all.

Plus, I can schedule stuff to record online (and I seem to remember you can't do that through the phone line).

I think you can schedule stuff with the phone line TiVo, but with a phone line the TiVo will only phone in to the mothership once a day, so if you want to schedule something for the current day and its after the TiVo phone call, you're SOL. (I think with the wireless setup TiVo checks up on things every hour.)

Another way to get around it is to use a wireless adapter that plugs into the Ethernet port.

Tivo doesn't have an ethernet port. Only USB. If you want to use ethernet you have to use a USB to Ethernet adapter.

I too am using a Linksys on my Tivo, and it's great. The only issue is that it's a model that hasn't been current in well over a year and the two latest versions of the Linksys don't work with Tivo.

tommyrot "Buffistechnology 2: You Made Her So She Growls?" Jan 27, 2006 6:46:40 am PST

Support for high-speed vinyl recording; works with both 33-1/3 and 45 rpm speeds

Dangit. If only it had variable speed so that you could do 16 and 78 rpm as well.