all--

For those of you interested in TiVo and its homebrew alternatives,
there's a rather lively discussion going on at Slashdot
<http://ask.slashdot.org/askslashdot/03/12/10/1953220.shtml?
tid=129&tid=137&tid=188>. Mentioned are a couple of open-source PVR
software ventures worth a gander: Freevo
<http://freevo.sourceforge.net> and mythTV <http://www.mythtv.org/>.

I should add that a viable PVR setup would require a machine of
rather recent vintage--running it off a Centrino-equipped desktop,
for example, would prove extremely taxing on the computer.
Nonetheless, finding alternative solutions to combat the growing
threat of IAC ("information appliance creep")is another strategy in
the planned obsolescence battle...call it thinking *inside* the box.

Happy December,
iLLiaC