On the Tivo HD in our bedroom the tech went through 7 Cablecards before he landed on one that actually worked.

Apple has announced the official release date for the iPad. My birthday.

The only thing that makes me hesitate to get a TiVo is that I have Comcast, and I fear the difficulties that could ensue in trying to get a cablecard. I can just imagine buying the TiVo, and then having no one at Comcast know what a "cablecard" is.

I didn't have any trouble with it. Talk to to Tivo first, before you call the cable company because one kind of card is better than the other, as I recall. I seem to remember that you do a two card system or one card (even though you have two slots). You want the one card because it's better. Also, if they are charging you for the card, it's cheaper to pay for one.

I've seen "mouse" orbital sanders fairly cheap and are good for flat surfaces with extra details.

I have a Black & Decker mouse and am pretty happy with it; it's easy to control with my small hands, for one. A big job will wear through the sandpaper attachments (precut to the shape of the mouse) pretty quickly, but it does the job.

My previous experience in sanding is all manual - sandpaper on a grip, basically - and the Mouse is easier on the hands than that, definitely. If you are used to fancier sanding equipment, I don't know how it would compare,

Would anyone be able to recommend a power sander for refinishing furniture?

I use a palm sander a lot for furniture. With fine sandpaper, you can just take down the grain between coats of finish. The advantage of a palm sander is that it's very gradual and doesn't go round and round, so the potential for damage is much less. I've had ones from Sears and Black & Decker and haven't seen much difference, except that they use different tricky ways to hold on the sandpaper. Getting one with a dust bag is totally worth it.

I have a Black & Decker mouse too, and it's a good tool, but I mainly use it to get into small spaces.

You want the one card because it's better

How?

I don't know, that's what the tivo people told me.

I haven't seen a downside to having two, so I wondered.

In my never-ending quest to no-really-seriously get a new cell phone, I may have narrowed it down to two choices.

One involves buying an LG Rumor 2. The other involves buying a Sidekick. The Sidekick is significantly more expensive. Is there anything that really makes it worth it?

Ooh! Palm-sized keyboard works like a laptop in your hand

Home theater keyboards continue to evolve, and each iteration seems to get more practical. This 6-inch-wide Rii Mini Wireless Keyboard fits in the palm of your hand, and features handy LED backlit keys for use in darkened environments, rechargeable batteries, and a just-big-enough touchpad. You don't need to point it directly at your computer, because it wirelessly communicates with a USB receiver you plug into the PC. And what's that? A laser pointer? Perhaps that's getting overly helpful, Brando.

Nevertheless, now we're getting somewhere. Keyboards are a must when using a computer in the home theater, and this could be the next incremental improvement. TiVo had the right idea, this week rolling out its new remote with that slide-out keyboard for its Series 4 models. If we could combine that TiVo remote technology with this Rii device, we might be getting close to the perfect PC controller for home theater.