The little vibrator that could. At least the alleged device wasn't found in some unforunate traveler's suitcase...

Web Design Tips. Have you ever wondered how effective your content is when you publish it to the web? Would you be interested in finding out how the average web peruser sees the data and processes it? Well, Eyetrack III has some information on just that. The data isn't at all surprising because they've been gathering this type of data in the print advertising field for a while but the data is relevant. With a few helpful pointers you can make sure you make your audience see what you'd like them to see. Now, if you could only figure out how to make them buy what you'd like them to buy - that would be the ticket...

Tivo'd. So I broke down and bought a Tivo. I've been running the purchase through my mind for a while now and once Tivo announced its $100 rebate I was on the hunt. I remembered having seen the 80hr models at Costco and thought I'd get one there but as it turns out my friend Dino got the last one and they're no longer going to carry it in the warehouses. To add insult to injury most vendors increased the price once Tivo announced the rebate - so it was netting you out about the same amount of money as it would have before the rebate. I figured I'd lost out - again.

Luckily enough I got a e-mail alert from TechBargains indicating that Best Buy had the Toshiba SD-H400 in stock for $199. After the rebate I'd be netting $99 for TIvo and the best part is that the Toshiba comes with Tivo Basic - I'd never have to pay for Tivo service - ever.

So the unit is now at home and another good thing is that I didn't add another component I replaced my previous DVD player. Less clutter is always a good thing, and the wife agrees.

Now, there are some things that bother me about the whole thing and mostly its in the hook-up and the way it works. I didn't realize that the unit constantly records the channel that its connected to. I guess this makes sense in retrospect, I mean, how else is it going to give you the ability to move backward and pause live television. My unit isn't as loud as other people on the net have complained about but it does make some noise and of course it means that I always have to have my cable box on. On the upside, since it is a DVD player my Tivo has component out for video and optical/composite digital audio out for audio. I saved myself from having to revisit my connections to the plasma screen and invariably the picture quality is pretty good since I'm using my s-video connection from my cable box to my Tivo.

First impressions are that its a cool gadget and it is nice to finally be able to tape digital cable programming. The only outstanding issue and its a big one when compared to my lowly VCR is that we can't watch something and tape something else at the same time. With the Tivo box feeding itself post the cable box, if we change the channel there we're changing the channel for Tivo. The only other way to do it would be to split your cable via a splitter and connect it directly to the Tivo but then you lose the live tv features and we lose the ability to tape digital cable again, not to mention that digital audio goes out the window.

Oh well, its not a perfect solution but considering the amount of taping that we do and the convenience of settings things up for vacations and such is pretty cool. So now we wait until someone figures out how to hack the thing right so I can drop a 300GB drive in it... now that would be sweet.

Conspiracy Theory. People that know me, know that I love the X-Files and I'm a sucker for conspiracy theories. Yes, I wouldn't be shocked if we all found out that the moon landing was a hoax... In any case - here's a theory for you...

Expose Bush. There are just more and more creative ways of voicing your displeasure over our current presidential team...

Olympic Moments. Canon presents the "Best of the Olympics: Athens 2004", a photojournalistic view of some of the great highlights from the past games. Enjoy.

Farm Sluts. Not as bad as you think and definitely worth watching. This movie should bring back memories for one of my friends...