Back online
Sorry for the service interruption — we’re back online, after rebooting the router. Not sure what the problem was.
TiVoWebPlus
Well, I’ve upgraded from plain-old TiVo Web to the improved TiVoWebPlus. This module has dual-tuner support and lets me re-prioritize my season passes. (Once I archive the Pats 2nd half, I’ll start recording a lot more things, I promise!) In addition, it now features links to TV Tome or IMDb, as appropriate. Not only that, I installed the channel grid module, which lets me view a whole week’s worth of programming on one channel at a time. A good way to see what’s coming up on HBO. Finally, I enabled password protection, to add another layer of security. I’ll probably change it, but for the next week or so the username is our investment group, with the standard password.
I’m trying to figure out if there’s a DynDNS.org client for the TiVo, so that I stay up to date. Barring that, I may have to replace my router with one that has built-in support. In general, you can find my device at tivo.pyslent.com, port 8000. Enjoy!
The Great SPAM Experiment
OK, I’m sure all the readers here are at least vaguely familiar with the CAN SPAM act of 2003. Essentially, this law saw it’s OK to spam people, but you must stop spamming when requested. My UCSD email was being unmercifully assaulted by a deluge of SPAM, on the order of 25 SPAM email messages a day. Anyways, at this point I decided to run an experiment. I would assume that if requested removal from the email lists, my SPAM deluge would slow to a trickle. Here are the results:
Free Music Download!
So I was at Safeway for my morning coffee and I noticed that the Diet Pepsi’s (and only diet pepsi’s) in the refrigerated case were involved in the iTunes giveaway. There were only 3 bottles left in the case, and it turned out (via the iTunes hack) that the odds of winning do seem to be 1 in 3. Anyway, I elected NOT to buy a $1.19 bottle of Diet Pepsi that I wouldn’t drink in order to get a free $0.99 song. As lcuk wouold have it, on my way back to work, I noticed an empty bottle of Pepsi on the ground, and it turned out to be a free song winner! So here it is, up for grabs to the first Pyslent reader to cash in. Let’s see who has the fastest refresh rate on their RSS aggregator!
TiVo video extraction
Well, I decided to give TiVo video extraction another start. I decided to use PC tools this time, since I have a friend’s PC right now. Turns out, that caused a headache as the network wouldn’t respond, and the 1/2 the time there was no video signal. Really frustrating. Anyways, I decided to use mfs_ftp, with simple-to-follow instructions.
I had some problems when I didn’t realize that mfs_ftp operates over a non-standard port. In the course of troubleshooting that, I managed to disable telnet on the TiVo. So using ftp, I made an attemt to fix, and presto… dead TiVo! Anyways, I had to stick the drive into the PC to rename one file & it was fine. Good thing I had that around!
Now mfs_ftp is working properly, and I’ve pulled some video off of it. But using suggestions found here, I had no success being able to view the video. Drat. At least I can get the video to my Mac. So, nothing is busted and I’m closer to the goal line– kinda like I got a holding penalty on 1st down, sacked on 1st down, a long completion on 2nd and now it’s 3rd & 5. Hopefully this is the solution.
iPod mini
If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.
EARTHQUAKE!
Sorry to push Mike off the top of Pyslent again, but this is huge news…
Tonight, an earthquake registering 2.8 on the Richter rocked the community of Manhattan Beach. Somehow overlooked by the mainstream media, this tremor had a dramatic effect on the residents. For example, I was watching TV when this temblor started rocking my house. It was actually quite startling, and after 2-3 seconds I realized it was an earthquake. I ran to my door, and by the time I got there, it was over. Afterwards, I was guessing it was a 4.0 or something in LA. Little did I realize that I practically at the epicenter of a mild quake, probably less than a mile away.
Ad nauseum
I’m sure you’ve all gotten sick of me talking about RSS aggregators (do a search if you want to see previous posts about it), but there’s another cool thing out there if you use them — Apple has set up customizable feeds from the iTunes Music Store! You can get notified of new additions to the iTMS by genre, and lots more!
To get it going, just choose what you want, and then click “generate.” Take the URL it generates and paste into your aggregator. I created a couple of separate feeds.
Check it out if you’re into that sort of thing.
Searching the Board
So I tried to do a search on The Board today (I was looking for other “scam” entries), and I couldn’t quite get it to work the way I wanted. I noticed two problems:
1) There’s no obvious way to search by category.
2) Comments are not searched.
Is there anyway to enable comments searching, and is there a way to view all posts by category?
On another note, I was wondering if we had a back-up of The Board. My recently hard drive failure has made me acutely aware of this, and I’d be really bummed if we lost all the posts from the last year plus. This sounds like it’s mostly work for Mike, but if he lets us know where The Board stuff is located, I’m sure the rest of us can back it up remotely.
Fair and balanced
I read this article, and I was amused. Not so much by the content of the article, but by the ads on that page. One of them for an anti-Kerry voodoo doll, and the other one for pro-Kerry buttons.
