I called to cancel and they said they would give me free voicemail transcription (usually cost me about $5 per month) and lower my monthly fee by $10 per month. When I told them I still wanted to switch, they offered me three months at no charge. Obviously this may not work out the same way for everyone, but it sounds like they have been instructed to basically give away their service to keep people from leaving.

Even if you don’t want to switch, it is worth calling in, talking to the person in charge of canceling your service and asking if they have any pricing that is more competitive.

So far it appears that the Telo is currently being sold only as a base station. The handsets that are supposed to offer access to the Ooma premier features like multiple lines aren’t yet available. There are supposed to be some additional features like Bluetooth support that probably won’t be rolled out until later this year. It is possible that bluetooth will be an upgradable feature and not require additional hardware.

Ooma recently received $18 million in funding which should help lessen the biggest fear of using their service–that they will go out of business.

As for the usability of the station itself, the interface is very easy to use and does not require much getting used to. This is really nice in that it does not waste any of your time. The only thing that the user must do is type in a search for a certain song and verify that the search result was what they wanted. Pandora then creates a playlist with songs of the same characteristics.

Another neat feature is that Pandora allows for user feedback on the same interface in which the songs are being played. The “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” buttons beside each song are the means by which the feedback is accomplished. If the user does press the “thumbs down” button on a certain song, the station immediately deletes the song from playing on that particular station. That way, the user never has to listen to the offending song again while on the station that he or she created.

 Oh, and the other great thing about Pandora is that it is free!

One additional aspect of this project that many users will find handy is Pandora’s mobile capabilities. Pandora Radio can be played from a mobile phone if the user so chooses, and the company offers this use for free! This differs greatly from the pricey alternatives to mobile music capabilities offered by other companies.

The only aspects of the usability of the station that a person might find unattractive are that the music played on the station cannot be “rewound” and replayed upon demand and that there is a limit on the number of songs that a user can “skip” per hour. These drawbacks are minor, and the station only implements them to comply with regulations.

Overall, Pandora Radio is a fun, easy and hassle-free way to find a continuous playlist of songs tailored to an individual’s taste.The unique way in which the Music Genome Project analyzes songs allows for a wonderful user experience while keeping use of the product free of cost.

To read more about Pandora Radio and the Music Genome Project, visit their blog.

My situation was a bit unique in that I needed a signal that didn’t make any noise.  The reason for this is that I work with music, and may be recording at a time when my wife needs to contact me.  Or I may have headphones on and not be able to hear an audible signal.  So I decided to create a signal based on light.  The only problem with that is I sometimes close my eyes when I am listening to music.  So to make it more exaggerated, I decided to use the main overhead light in my office, which would be enough to notice even with my eyes closed.  However, I will explain how to do it with a lamp or other light if you only need a more moderate signal.

X10 is a communications protocol between devices in your house that are connected by the power lines (through the outlets, or light switches/sockets).  It doesn’t interfere with the normal power that is delivered through the outlets; it is a signal that goes “on top” of the power, for devices to communicate with.  My solution is one of the simplest implementations of X10.  It involves 2 components: a light switch (or a plug-in module or a receptacle), and an X10 console (and an optional remote).  Once you hook everything up, you press a button on the console which is plugged into an outlet in one room, and a light or other device in another room is turned on or off. 

If you want to use a light that is controlled by a wall switch, you need to replace the wall switch with an X10 light switch.  Actually it’s not a switch, it’s a button.  This is so that when you turn the light off remotely, the switch isn’t still in the on position, and vice versa.  The switch itself will contain installation instructions, but basically it will involve removing the switch plate, via the 2 or 4 screws holding it down, then removing the switch itself via another 2 screws, then unhooking the wires from that switch and hooking them to the new X10 switch. 

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT BEFORE YOU DO ANY OF THIS THAT YOU TURN OFF THE CIRCUIT BREAKER THAT RUNS THAT LIGHT.  Test the light after you have turned it off to make sure it doesn’t work.  This will protect you from electrocution.   Before you put the switch plate back on, note the where the X10 channel dials are set, and change them if you wish.  If you want 2 devices to operate independently, you need to assign them to different channels.  They will still respond together to the “All lights on” and “All lights off” commands.  When you are done with the installation, you can turn the breaker back on.
This is a little bit more complicated if you have a light that is controlled by more than one switch (for example, on opposite sides of the room).  In this case you need to get a 3-way X10 switch, that comes with one main switch and one companion switch.  There is an extra wire to hook up on a 3-way switch, but the instructions outline how to do this.  For a light controlled by 3 wall switches, you need a 3-way switch plus an extra companion switch. 

On a side note, we have also found this system is very useful for turning off the lights in our basement (where my office is) when our children leave them on.  It saves us a trip down the stairs at the end of the day (since we often don’t notice until the upstairs lights are turned off).  We have since replaced all of our basement switches with X10 switches.  Another added benefit of this is that I can now control the lights with my universal remote and dim or brighten them from the couch in front of our entertainment center.  More on this later (in this article).

If you are using a light that is plugged into an outlet instead of a wall-switch-operated light, you have a couple options.  First, you can replace the receptacle with an X10 receptacle, similar to how you would replace the wall switch (AGAIN TURN OFF THE BREAKER FIRST).  Or if you want more flexibility in which outlet you choose, or don’t want the re-wiring hassle, you can buy an X10 lamp module, which plugs into a normal outlet, and has an outlet on the bottom which responds to the X10 commands.  Then you simply plug your light or other signal device into this outlet, and you are ready to go.

Once your light is in place and X10-ready, all you have to do is plug in the X10 console wherever you are going to be, and press the “all lights off” button.  Please keep in mind that it is important to turn the lights back on for whoever you are signaling.  Otherwise you may be responsible for some unfortunate accidents that may occur in the darkness.  A simple flash or two should suffice. 

There you have it – at least the simple version, for around $50.  I mentioned an optional remote control.  That is actually the main way we control our lights at my house.  I put the console by our entertainment center.  It has a built in infrared receiver, though it doesn’t come with a remote.  However, the universal remote control that we purchased (Home Theater Master MX-500) has the codes for that console pre-programmed into it.  When we are upstairs, we use infrared extenders to transmit the signal to the console.  I also programmed a macro button on the remote to automatically flash the lights off and on 3 times.

So all my wife has to do to signal me is point the remote at one of 4 the IR extenders we have in the upper level of our house and press the macro button.  I typically pop up about 30 seconds later and ask her what she needs.  And life goes on happily for us, as I can respond to situations before they escalate into disasters.

This transition to the home theater was first recognized and promoted through DVDs, which quickly became collectors items, and which seem to grow in special features (often warranting additional discs) with each passing year.  But the media industries are now taking this to the next step:  ordinary television shows, which in the past were vastly episode driven (each show complete in itself, e.g. the multitude of crime related shows currently being broadcast) – are slowing being joined with more and more shows which follow a long, complex storyline, not unlike that of a multi-hour (multi-season) movie.  These shows exist with the intent to take a regular audience on a journey which continues from show to show, from season to season, from pilot to series finale. 

The first notable shows to attempt this and succeed in recent years were Alias and 24.  On the success of Alias, its producer launched an even more bold and more successful show: Lost.  More recently, others like Surface, Invasion, and Threshold (unfortunately discontinued) joined the ranks, these all with a sci-fi slant. 

In order to gain a following for these shows, their producers are counting on people’s ability to watch every (or nearly every) episode, to ensure that they won’t get lost in the history of details that grows with every showing.  They try to fill in new viewers with the short recaps at the beginning of each show, but realistically, they act more to remind those who have already seen the show about recent events.  Since most people can’t be home for every episode, they are record them to ensure that they stay up to date on the latest plot twists.  VCRs (or more specifically, those who program and load them) have proven unreliable as a recording medium.  But with TiVo, and Personal Video Recorders like it, people can ensure that every episode is recorded and available for them to watch whenever it is convenient for them, and the media industry is counting on it.

Even movie actors and actresses have recognized the shift to TV.  Along with providing a more stable career (not that they need it), it provides an opportunity for them to make their mark on America’s new favorite media.  Among them are Charlie Sheen of Two and a Half Men, his father Martin Sheen of West Wing, Jason Lee of My Name is Earl, and Kiefer Sutherland of 24, to name a few.  Many others join their ranks each seasons, some less well known, but the occasional superstar as well.  TV production’s off season still allows them to make movies if they so desire.

Not only are the broadcast giants promoting movie-like stories, with movie-stars as actors, in their programming, they are also using new technologies to enhance the viewers’ experience.  The majority of today’s best shows, as well sports events, are broadcast in high definition and surround sound.  High Definition Television (HDTV) is formatted to a wider aspect ratio, similar to that of a movie screen, because it better fills a person’s bifocal field of view.  It’s not hard for someone watching programming of this quality to forget that they are not, in fact, in a theater.

All in all, the trend in entertainment as well as many other areas of life (shopping, for example), is moving away from the city and into our homes, and today’s digital technology is making this all possible.

My solution employs all free software components.  The first is called ISO Recorder.  Depending on which version of Windows XP you have, you have to download either version 1 or 2 of this program.  When installed, ISO Recorder adds a context menu to your real CD drives, so that when you right-click the CD under My Computer, it gives you the option of “Create image from CD” and “Copy CD-to-CD”. 

Place the CD you want to “clone” in your drive, open up “My Computer”, and right-click on the CD.  Choose “Create image from CD” and specify a location for the file.  If you have installed the program already, it may make sense to put the image file in the program directory (generally under “C:\Program Files\software company\software title”).  That way if you un-install the program, when it deletes the program directory, the image file will be deleted with it.  If, however, you want to re-install the program later, you can place it elsewhere, and use the ISO image to re-install the program instead of the product CD. 

To put your ISO image to use, you need a program called Virtual CloneDrive.  In the installation options, make sure “.iso” is checked under file associations.  After installation, if you navigate to the folder your CD image is located in, you will notice that its icon has been replaced by a sheep (a.k.a. Dolly, the famous cloned sheep).  When you click on this icon, Virtual CloneDrive will “mount” this image to the first available drive letter.  For all intents and purposes, it will appear as if you have placed the actual CD into a new CD drive on your computer.  If you have autoplay enabled on your computer, it will autoplay the virtual CD, in most cases starting the program contained on it.  You can also browse the files on the CD.

Virtual CloneDrive defaults to mounting just one drive concurrently although it can support up to eight.  In most cases, one drive is the best configuration, since the type of programs that require the product CD typically would only be used one-at-a-time.  Each time you select a new ISO file, the drive letter being used by Virtual CloneDrive is replaced with the virtual CD for the new file, as if you took the last CD out and put a new one in.  However, if you do need to run more than one of these programs at a time, you can change this option by running CloneDrive from Start->Programs and selecting the settings tab.

The last step to automating the process of mounting the images to the virtual CD drive is to change your normal program shortcuts to point to the ISO images instead of the normal applications.  Then, when you click to start the programs, instead of saying “please insert CD” it will start, just as it should!  In order to do this, find the shortcut, either on your desktop or under Start->Programs (or both) and right-click it.  Change the filename under the “Target” field to the name of your image file, with the “ISO” extension. 

 
Once you have done this with all the games or other programs on your computer that require CDs, file the original CDs away somewhere, and know that your all your programs are now only one click away, no CDs necessary.

Both TiVo and WMCE have the same basic functionality: after you tell them which programs to record, they find them, and automatically record them from your television source (antenna, analog or digital cable, or satellite feed).  They both have the ability to create a “Season Pass” (TiVo’s terminology) for a show, which will record all episodes of a show, or just new ones if you prefer.  These “Season Passes” are in kept in a prioritized list, which determines which program will record if more than one are on at the same time.

They both contain a program guide (similar to the TV Guide channel) which you can use to find and schedule programs, or simply to browse channels.  They also have search capabilities based on categories and keywords.  They both contain parental controls, allowing you to block certain types of content via a password.  They both allow you to view scheduled recordings as well as a history of programs that weren’t recorded or future programs that won’t record.

However, in most areas of operation, WMCE has the advantage by offering some additional features, though with every iteration of TiVo hardware, it becomes more like a Media Center PC (MCPC).  Here are a couple of the more notable feature differences: TiVo can only record a single program at a time (except for DirecTV TiVos’, and the yet-to-be-released Series 3, which can record two).  WMCE can record up to five programs at a time, one for every tuner card you have in your computer.  Also, WMCE responds much quicker than TiVo (at least the one I have does).  If you have a long list of Season Passes, and you reorganize them, TiVo sometimes needs several minutes to “think” before it will let you do anything else.  WMCE responds instantly. 

In addition to all this, WMCE includes the ability to play radio stations through your computer (many TV tuner cards include radio tuners).  With a special HDTV tuner, it can support HDTV recording.  It also contains areas to organize and view your photos and videos (including downloaded TV shows), listen to your digital music, and create CDs or DVDs, all with your remote control.  Plus it is an area for plug-ins (under “Other Programs”) which can contain anything from on-demand movies (via the internet) to MTV video spotlights.  However, newer TiVo models (or OS upgrades) include some or all of these features (except radio, to my knowledge).

If you are comparing TiVo and WMCE on features alone, WMCE comes out ahead, though TiVo is working to level the playing field.  But there are other things you should consider before you decide to get one or the other.  The first is cost.  You can buy a basic TiVo box (no DVD burner or multiple tuners) for a couple hundred dollars, or even free with some deals.  However, there is a $12.95 monthly fee for the TiVo service, which you pay as long as you use the TiVo unless you buy the lifetime subscription, which is $299.  A decent MCPC, on the other hand is going to run around $1000 (see future articles for putting together a great Media Center PC for a great price).  However, once you buy it, there are no monthly fees for using it.  In addition, you can also use it for other home-computer tasks. 

The other main thing to consider is your level of technical ability.  Buying and setting up a TiVo is about as simple as hooking up a DVD player to your entertainment system.  By contrast, there is a lot more than can go wrong with WMCE.  For example, most MCPC packages, for whatever reason, don’t include a video card with a TV output.  This only gives you the option to watch the programs on your computer monitor.  To use your TV, you need to buy and install the hardware and software for the video card, then re-configure WMCE to use your TV instead of your monitor.  This requires some computer expertise, and many things can go wrong (as I have experienced first-hand).  Your best bet is to order a custom machine off the internet from someone like Dell.  They will have tested it and made sure all the components are working together properly. 

To summarize, WMCE currently has more features than TiVo, though TiVo is catching up.  WMCE requires a large cost up front, but no monthly fee, while TiVo is a lower (or no) cost up front (for basic models) but has a monthly service fee.  MCPCs can also be used as home computers.  Finally, TiVo is much easier to install.  So based on this, if you need a home computer anyway, you might as well get an MCPC, that is, if you can put it near your entertainment center (else you need a Media Center Extender, which is about the price of a TiVo).  If you have cash to spend up front, an MCPC is probably a better value.  But if you are looking for something that is initially inexpensive and easy to set up, TiVo would be best for you.

The problem with copying the entire DVD to your drive is the amount of space it consumes. You can easily have a single DVD taking up 7 gigs of space on your hard drive. This works ok for a single movie, but if you are trying to take 5 to 10 movies with you on vacation it can become unmanagable.

By compressing just the movie portion of the DVD into a file format like MPEG-4, you can drastically reduce the amount of space required. There are several different ways to do this, but the simpliest method involves a little piece of software called HandBrake. HandBrake give you a simple GUI tool that hides most of the complexity from the process. You give it a DVD and it will create a .mp4 file of the main movie.

The program lets you specify the target bit rate or the final file size. Generally a target bit rate of 1000kbps will give you files of about 1GB in size. You’re also given the choice of encoding using FFmpeg or DIVX. DIVX will give you smaller file sizes, but it seems to take a lot longer to encode. Most of the settings work just fine left to their default, but you can play around with them to see what works best. Make sure you type a valid filename. HandBrake doesn’t appear to check, so if you try to save the file in a non-existent folder or something like that, it may chuck away for hours, but you won’t be able to find the file once your are done.

Not all DVDs can be encoded with HandBrake, so it is best to check the resulting file for playback before leaving on a trip.

Once you have an encoded mpeg 4 file, you’ll need a player. The standard Quicktime player can handle mpeg 4, but it doesn’t allow you to watch in full screen mode unless you pay the $29 for Quicktime Pro. VideoLan Client can play mpeg 4 (and most other video formats) in full screen mode and it is free software.

Command + F toggles between full screen and window mode. A few other commands that you’ll find useful are Option + Command + arrow to jump forward or backwards a few seconds. Command + arrow to turn the volume up or down.

Just to be clear, I’m not suggesting that people steal copies of DVDs by trying to create a huge library of movies on their computer. I’m suggesting the above methods for situations where you have the legal right to watch a video (purchased, rented, etc.), but it is inconvenient or impractical to play it directly from the DVD.

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I’ve heard it said that TiVo stands for “Television Revolution,” and it really is no overstatement.  TiVo, and other personal video recorders like it (ReplayTV, Windows Media Center, etc.) can totally change the way you watch TV.  In fact they can change the way you view entertainment altogether. 

Before the advent of TiVo, we were at the mercy of the broadcast corporations.  If we wanted to view a particular show, it was up to us to plan our schedule around it.  If we were unable to watch it when it was on, our only recourse was to record it with a VCR.   But who has the energy as well as the discipline to keep up with programming it and constantly changing and rewinding tapes?  This usually resulted in only recording a very few shows per week, if any.  TiVo has changed all that.  We can now watch all the TV shows we want to watch, when we want to watch them.

Then there are those dreaded interruptions – commercials – that can make TV watching so difficult to fully engage in.  For this reason, a large percentage of the world resorts to movies, in theatres and at home via rentals.  (Movies are great, and they have their place, but as I will write in a future article, I believe that TV is slowing overtaking movies as our culture’s highest level of entertainment).  Even if a show is taped in advance with a VCR, the commercials can only be “skipped” by fast-forwarding through then, which can still be time-consuming.  With TiVo, the problems related to commercials all but disappear.  Each commercial can be skipped easily with the press of a button.

Can you imagine sitting down in front of the TV and having all of your favorite shows available for you to watch any time of the day or night?  And all of this is accomplished with almost no effort on your part – just add the shows you like to your “season pass” list, and go on with your life while TiVo finds and records your shows.  It will even learn which kind of shows you like and record similar shows.  How great is that? 

The number one excuse I hear for why people don’t need TiVo is because they say they don’t watch much TV.  But upon digging deeper, I often find that the real reason is they have become frustrated at not being able to find shows which interest them when they sit down to watch TV.  It is also common for these same people to regularly go to the movie theaters or rent movies, proving that it is not a time issue, but a matter of choice.  I believe that if they experienced the advantages of watching TV through the eyes of TiVo, their views would change.

I have even discovered that TiVo saved me money.  After using TiVo for a short time, I realized that I did need the extra channels provided by “extended” cable package, as the primary channels in the basic package (including all the major networks) contained plenty of quality programming to keep me entertained, since TiVo found and captured it all for me.   This reduction in price more than offset the monthly cost of the TiVo service (which I soon ended completely by buying a “lifetime subscription”). 

If you are sick of channel surfing, and want to “focus” your TV watching for maximum entertainment value, I encourage you to try TiVo, or another PVR like it.  In future articles, I will be comparing the different options for PVRs.  Stay Tuned.  ;-)