March 17, 2004

Infinitely cooler devices await us. It's been a day of petty nuisances, but I think I've gotten through them okay now. I even managed to order a cable modem for home use and got a really nice deal that included "SVOD," something I'd never heard of before. For some reason, it cost $10 a month less than just getting the cable modem. Apparently, it's some desperate attempt to hook people on something really cool before something infinitely cooler arrives, which is what TiVo is also doing. I remember seeing a Sony Betamax in the 1970s, one of the original type, which was huge and incredibly expensive. It seemed mindbogglingly amazing. So for now, I guess, TiVo is normal and SVOD is amazing. But frankly, there's a limit to how much stuff you actually want to watch. Having more control can make you realize you don't really want to watch much of anything. In the old days, if something was on, you had to decide if you ever wanted to watch it, and watch it now or never. Today, you can leave some recorded show festering on the TiVo, never waste any time watching it, and then just delete it. Being empowered to do more helps you do less. What a timesaver!

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