Yeah, I have a DVD TiVo, and until recently could play DVDs on it even though I no longer had it hooked up for service, but after I had to reboot it at one point, it just gets stuck on the "but I have to call the mothership!" part and won't even let me play DVDs. Boo. (Good thing is, a cheapo DVD player set me back all of $40)

I keep thinking perhaps I'll get both TiVos going, if I buy another TV, but at the moment, no need.

I am enslaved to my TiVo, but i do think it's kind of shitty for them to lock you out of everything if you don't use their service. Conceptually, that's how I still think of it--you've bought the device, so whatever you can make it do without schedule updates should be legit. But no, the model is that you're paying a license to actually shine that beam onto the disc, or record whatever signal's being fed into it anyhow.

Is their profit margin that precarious that they need to do this to shore it up?

From what I hear, yes, they have very narrow profit margins. I would be curious if the packaging says "must have service to use ANYTHING on/in the box"? I wonder if there is a lawsuit waiting to happen?

I don't think it's the packaging--going from the posts here, it seems to be the software.

I think it's a damned shame they're not making money, since they've revolutionised the way I consume TV to such a degree I don't even remember the transition...it's just always been this way, right?

But I also don't like the idea that it's a lump of circuitry without additional expense. But, hey, MythTV, et al.

What's the cheapest tool people use to take Windows screen grabs with menus expanded? My employer now treats SnagIt licenses like mithril, and the Snipping Tool we get for free doesn't do it.

However, as a Business Analyst, you'd think I'd be able to make the case that I need the tool (Case! BA humour...::sigh::), but no dice.

I use PrtScreen and then crop with MS Paint.

But the reason for giving to her, is so she can send/receive emails with family across the land.

With wifi only and her having no internet and then having to deal with learning onscreen typing? I don't think it's the solution.

I use PrtScreen and then crop with MS Paint.

How do you get it to do that with hover menus expanded? When I use the keyboard focus gets switched and the menus disappear. I used to use a version of SnagIt with a timer, but I can't work out the equivalent without it.

I just use my iPad with wifi. I might jailbreak my phone when I go on vacation this summer for tethering purposes, as I'm not dragging my laptop up north with me and I'm not sure about wifi in the cottage. But for what I generally need, hotspots are fine. I'm using it to read books as often as surfing, if not more so.

If you're giving an iPad to someone for email and they're usually not connected to the internet, do you think it will have much of a payoff? I mean, even before you get to adapting to a new tool. If she doesn't send email on her home computer, will she travel to hotspots in order to deliberately send them?

I'm Wi Fi only on my tablet, and I'm rarely in scenarios where I actually use public networks, if you don't count UCLA Medical.

My mother asked me if she should buy a tablet with the remaining money in her grant. I asked her "Why tablet?" and she said "Because you have one."

Needless to say I'm recommending she replace her laptop instead. I'm still trying to drag my sister into the tablet age, and she actually had use cases in mind when she bought hers.