Why hasn't Tivo taken off

Mark Canter asks "why hasn't Tivo taken off?"

It hasn't taken off because the acquisition and implementation cost are too high for most people. Look at the rats nest of wires behind most AV systems and you'll see just what I mean.

Also, most people are scared of technology. Seriously …

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You can lead a programmer to .NET, but you can't make them code

Jason Haley asks: What do you do with people who are still putting off learning .NET?

From my standpoint, you keep improving .NET until they start getting the message that .NET is +the+ platform of the future.

via [Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger]

But what constitutes "improvement" in a programming platform …
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CAPTCHAS Defeated By Distributed Yanking

Man's (and woman's) ability to solve problems. via [Marquee de Sells: Chris's insight outlet]

The problem: CAPTCHAs (those visual problems used to defeat registration 'bots). The CACM reports that defeat requires advancing the state-of-the-art of Artificial Intelligence.

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p dir="ltr"> The solution: "Solve this CAPTCHA for us and we'll show …

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Hobbyist programmers matter: A Lot

Rory sez Microsoft shouldn't cater to hobbyist programmers. Scoble disagrees. I'm really ticked off because I just wrote a column on this, so I can't post that for four weeks, but here are some points...

Hobbyist programmers matter a lot. According to Microsoft, there are 7,000,000 hobbyist programmers …

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AT&T 2256 Cordless Phone not recommended

This is a 2.4GHz cordless answering system with 2 handsets, available for about \$100. We tried it out for 2 days and are returning it. It has a terrible hiss. I don't know if it's the spread spectrum technology, interference with my WiFi, or just the phone, but its …

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Tom Plum Just Came Up With A Great Idea In The N

Tom Plum just came up with a great idea: In the next 8 months, swap a political book with a personal acquaintance whose philosophy is opposite yours. Then have a civil discussion.

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And then the Army Corps of Engineers drained it

Mars was once "drenched in water." Cool.

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Choosing C# over C++

In a comment, Josh asks "[Why should] a C++ programmer choose to write industrial programs in C#? Of course you needn't restate the benefits of a 3rd/4th/5th generation language, as much as benefits to someone who is choosing whether or not to port existing C++ code to C …

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