10 posts tagged “tivo”

A precursor to the Harmony Remote (Episode 82), the Evolve Guide Universal Remote Control was a universal remote, which you could connect to the computer to download the programme guide.  It had an LCD dot matrix screen, and a huge number of buttons for controlling the TV, cable-box, VCR etc.  The price was pretty steep, about $200, and with the emergence of Tivo, the Evolve Guide didn't take off.

That Little Old Winemaker - Me
From time to time, Leo would call Dick "the little old gadget maker", "the little old gadget meister" or the like.  This harks back to the mascot in the ads and commercials for wines from the Italian Swiss Colony, who was called That Little Old Winemaker.  It so happens that Leo knows the people at Italian Swiss Colony.  In the TV commercials, the mascot was played by Austrian-born actor Ludwig Stössel.  For a picture of a postcard featuring the actor, click here.


Label Intensive
Dick has a box of label-makers, and has coined the phrase "label intensive".  Dick and Leo repeat their complaint about the anonymous power adapters for their gadgets.  Dick now uses a silver marker to label the power adapters.

Whatever happened to the Jingle Singers?
Top Jamaican fan Marlon Stewart had to take himself off the Daily Giz Wiz as it became too addictive.  He's now back, but is surprised to find that the Jingle Singers are missing.  He loves the Festive Letters Jingle, and it so happens that Leo decided to play it, in May.

Blame it on HQ
Leo has decided that he needs to have a headquarters for somebody to blame if anything goes wrong.  It needs to be located at a place with a funny name, like Sioux City in Iowa, Lake Rogerene in New Jersey, or Susquehanna in Pennsylvania.  But during the break, Leo decided on Pickles Gap, Arkansas.


Listen to Episode 830
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The Canon EF 2x II Extender is a lens converter for compatible Canon lenses by a factor of 2, doubling the focal length of the lens.  It does reduce the effective aperture by 2 stops.  Any Canon IS lens will retain the image stabilisation capability, but Autofocus will only work on lenses with apertures of f/2.8 or faster.   This is what Leo gets Jennifer to zoom in on Henry when he is on the lacrosse field.

Mac Mini Home Theatre
Leo has a number of gadgets planned for future TTTTs.  He's going to use a Mac Mini to build a home theatre, and will need a lot of accessories, such as a Zephyr cable channel changer and an HDMI over Ethernet video balun or a Belkin Flywire.  And then there's always the Wild Divine Biofeedback system which is still eluding Leo.

Festive Letters Jingle
It's only April, but never too early for the Festive Letters Jingle.

Butter and Eggs Racket
Michael Hopkins from Hermitage, Tennessee, who in Episode 292 thought the Toothpick Bird smelled like a one month old salami, now has a podcast called "Take On The Titans".  Dick and Leo have been talking about Petaluma's Butter and Eggs Day, but "butter and eggs" used to have other meanings, according to the Chicago Tribune, a numbers racket in the 30's and 40's, and before that a yokel ready to be separated from his money.

For more on eggs, read the Chicago Tribune's article "10 Things You Might Not Know About Eggs".


Listen to Episode 807
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The CastGrabber is an ethernet-enabled dock which downloads your favourite podcasts straight on to your USB MP3 Player, without connecting the player directly to a PC, after some initial configuration - although the CastGrabber itself still needs to be connected to your PC.

Connect the CastGrabber to AC power and to a router (using the AC adapter and ethernet cable provided).   The CastGrabber will check for its latest updated software after which it will display a solid green LED light.  Connect your MP3 Player to the back of the dock using the USB cable that comes with your music player.  An introductory CastGrabber Podcast is downloaded to the player, whose "song title" is your registration key.  On your computer, go to the CastGrabber website to register your player using the registration key and to open your own account/profile.

To download podcast for iPods, just subscribe to podcasts on iTunes, and sync your iPod with iTunes.  In future, as soon as you connect the iPod to the CastGrabber, your podcasts will be downloaded directly to the iPod.

For other MP3 Players, you can subscribe to podcasts on the CastGrabber website.

If you want the CastGrabber to sync your MP3 Player (including iPods) with your music library on the PC,  you need to download extra software (PC only) from their website.  Automatic synchronisation will take place once the music player is connected to the CastGrabber.

After synchronisation, you can disconnect the MP3 Player by pressing the "Eject" button on the CastGrabber.  When connected, the MP3 Player will also be charged through the CastGrabber.

The CastGrabber does not work with Macs, the iPod Touch, the iPhone, Mac-formatted iPods, or the Sony PSP.

Podcast Statistics
According to Dick, 17,000 podcasts come out each week, but if you don't want one done by Leo, there is a choice of about 3.  Leo's mum doesn't listen to any of Leo's netcasts, although Mrs Laporte Senior has watched one of his todcasts.

Leo's Brain Tonic
Leo has been drinking his brain tonic, which may account for lack of clarity in recent episodes.  Dick has a slogan for the stuff, "The dumber you are, the better we taste."

Another Thursday Theme
Dick thinks that Dan Lueders has done a Thursday theme for DGW, although it's been misplaced at the moment (which seems to happen more often than not with Dan's emails).  On the other hand, it may be the "Disclaimer" theme which Dan talked about during GizWizLive.

PalmPilot Professional
At Dick's invitation in Episode 590, Steve Miller, a gadget hound himself and regular correspondent (Episodes 279, 376, 459, 499), writes in to tell Dick that he still has his PalmPilot Professional, and when he got it out of his own Gadget Warehouse, put in new batteries, it still worked.

GizWizLive
Dick says, "I'll be there," for GizWizLive, and Episode 600, filmed during GizWizLive, should be available as a video download, if Leo keeps his word.


Listen to Episode 599
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Probably the reason the Apple TV could not be called the iTV, the EyeTV series of TV tuners have been around for a while.  The North American version of the EyeTV 250 Plus receives free-to-air digital TV (ATSC), conventional analogue TV (via cable or antenna), and Clear QAM (unencrypted digital cable).  You can connect it to your Mac via USB, scan for TV channels and watch TV on your monitor, in a window or full screen.  It comes with  a remote control, and like a TiVo, you can rewind, fast forward and pause live TV.  You can also record TV using the EyeTV software.  In the US, you can use the TitanTV Guide.  ATSC digital signals are recorded unaltered at broadcast quality (at the original compression level).  Analogue signals are compressed within the EyeTV 250 Plus itself.

It also acts as a digitisation device for your VHS tapes and sends the MPEG-2 converted recordings to iTunes or burns them to DVDs (using Roxio's Toast 8 Basic).  The iPod Assistant will also help you convert to the recommended format for the AppleTV, iPhone or iPod.  The break-out cable includes S-Video, composite and stereo inputs.

The EyeTV supports video resolution up to 1080i (for digital) and 720 x 480 (for analogue).

The product also comes in an international version supporting DTT or Freeview in countries which use DVB-T system of digital television.

For once, it's for Mac only.  Windows users can check out Pinnacle's PCTV HD Ultimate Stick in Episode 419.

Mad Tour
While Dick was on the Queen Mary 2, Alessandro Abate visited New York.  Although he missed Dick, he was thrilled to be able to do a tour of the Mad Office which Dick had arranged for him.  Sandrinoo also defended Leo for the Spork, but not the Toothpick Bird.  He had bought his own set of Match Game Cards from Dick.  The Match Game was his favourite game show, never knowing that Dick was the writer of the questions.

And for those who want a laser, Sandrino recommends Wicked Lasers.

Bill Gaines Anniversary
Today is the 16th anniversary of the death of Bill Gaines who died on 3 June 1992.  Dick has found a transcript of Bill Gaines's memorial service, at Instant Classics, where you can read the eulogies delivered at the service, including those by Dick and Bill Sarnoff (who was then the head of the Time Warner division that included Mad).  Dick has kept up a website in memory of Bill Gaines, at williammgaines.com.

Here are a couple of pictures taken from Dick's website.  Please go to his homepage to read what Dick has to say about Bill Gaines.



For more stories on Bill Gaines, listen to DGW generally and in particular Episode 76: A Tribute to William M. Gaines.  Better yet, buy Dick's autobiography "Good Days And Mad".  Make a donation of $20 or more to Animal Haven online, send the electronic receipt to Dick by email, and he will send you an autographed copy of the book.

Or, you can buy the book at The Mad Store.



Mad Minute
Specialised phone numbers, such as BROKE, RAINY, and SCAM.


Listen to Episode 582
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VCR Plus, started by Henry Yuen of Gemstar, was a system of codes for recording individual TV programmes on your VCR.  Each programme had its own code, so that you could just enter the code into the VCRPlus-supported VCR machine or remote control, and your VCR would start recording the appropriate channel at the right time.  Watch this TV commercial from 1987.

Audible Jingle
Geoff Smith has made an "Audible Pick of the Week" jingle for TWiT.  Check out his ringtones on thegeoffsmith.com/.

Keyboard Cleaning
Mike of Eagle River, Alaska took Leo's advice to heart and put his keyboard into the dishwasher, let it dry for a few days, and even put it in the oven.  The result upon reconnection?  Sparks flew.

Listen to Episode 560
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Featured at CES 2000, the Panasonic Showstoppers were made for the ReplayTV service, as PVRs (or DVRs).  The original PV-HS1000, 2000 and 3000 models did not require a subscription fee for downloading the programme guides nightly.  Older models used a dial-up connection, while later models had ethernet connections as well for broadband connections.  One of the best features of ReplayTV was it allowed you to skip the commercials, which ultimately attracted copyright infringement suits.

TV programmes were recorded into MPEG-2.  The model 2000's hard drive offered 30 hours of video recording (at the lowest quality setting).  It also allowed you to pause a live broadcast and resume watching after the interruption.  Other features included Instant Replay and QuickSkip.

Snoopy in Petaluma
Wayne Thume was reminded by the talk of different levels of Mad jokes (Episode 424) of a Peanuts strip which featured Sam Snead.  At the time he just thought the name was funny, and it was only years later that he realised that Sam Snead was a great golfer.  There was another series of Peanuts strips in which Snoopy went to Petaluma to compete in the World Wrist Wrestling Championship.  He thought Petaluma was another made-up name, until he learned that's where Leo lived.

Leo adds that Charles Schultz used to live in Santa Rosa whose nearest city is indeed Petaluma which also used to host the World Wrist Wrestling Championship.

Henry in Mad
Henry Laporte has followed Leo's footsteps (see Episode 61) by appearing in the latest issue of Mad as a contestant on the game show 1 vs 100.

Listen to Episode 435
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Did you know?
Dick's father made architectural bronze grilles for riverbanks.  The railings outside the Oyster Bar near Grand Central Station in New York were all designed by him.

&^%&$#
Learn the art of swearing in print from Dick, which Dick puts to good use in writing for Mad about Chef Ramrod in Yell's Kitchen.

The Big Finish
The current letters jingle is from Finland, and according to Dick, the one with the big finish

DGW Commercials
A listener has written in to support the ads.  Dick has to spend $12,000 to $15,000 a year going to all the fairs and trade shows.

Cool Cooler
A listener went to the LA County Fair recently and saw the cool Cruzin' Cooler (Episode 101) in action, plus the Scrolling LED Name Tag (Episode 109).

Match Game Special
The special programme on Match Game will air in October 2006 on the Game Show Network.

Mad Minute
Another repeat of sex therapist Dr Rude.

Listen to Episode 156
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Orginal Lyrics
I have an ear for music,
And I have an eye for a maid.
I like a pretty girlie,
With each pretty tune that's played.
They go together,
Like sunny weather goes with the month of may.
I've studied girls and music,
So I'm qualified to say

A pretty girl is like a melody
That haunts you night and day,
Just like the strain of a haunting refrain,
She'll start up-on a marathon
And run around your brain.
You can't escape she's in your memory.
By morning night and noon.
She will leave you and then come back again,
A pretty girl is just like a pretty tune.

Mad Lyrics

Louella Schwartz
Describes her malady
To anyone in sight.
She will complain!
Dramatize every pain!
And then she'll wail
How doctors fail
To help her sleep at night!

Regis
Listen to stories about Regis from Dick and Leo.

Podcast Alley
Dick and Leo haven't got to No.1, and they're still not begging ...

Listen to Episode 71
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