Word: vcr
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...that Sony was working on software to bring AIBO into this visionary future sooner rather than later. All he'd say was: "this is just the beginning of robots in the home." He's right. This is sure to be a hit with the still-can't-program-my-VCR set. That means a bigger market, a lower price, and in the long run a lot more of these Chihuahua-sized critters running around the place, accompanying us to the grocery store and on family visits. Not that I'm complaining. More AIBOs mean more AIBO enthusiasts...
...airboard in my Tokyo apartment, and I have to admit: it's way cool. First of all, airboarding is easy. I didn't crack the instruction manual once to get the thing set up - and this is from someone who has trouble finding the "record" button on the vcr. Relaxing on my balcony, I could call up the airboard's on-screen remote control and start playing a video. By pressing another button, I could Net surf or check my e-mail account, while a split screen let me simultaneously watch my movie. The airboard's base station - the size...
...responsible journalist, I have the news on in my office, but my TiVo - the digital TV recorder that is a trusted sidekick for my job as a television critic - figures I'd rather watch So Weird, a goopy family show on the Disney Channel. And unlike my VCR, TiVo can do something about it. A couple of clicks from its infrared channel changer and instead of the conflict in the Middle East, there's One Day at a Time's Mackenzie Phillips - yes, she's still working! - strumming a guitar and singing: "We're two, two, two in a billion...
...biggest problem is marketing - or as the TiVo folks put it, "education." It seems those of us who have spent the last 20 years figuring out how to program the VCR clock are terrified by the idea of switching to a PVR and all the extra technological challenges that sounds like it might entail. In truth, nothing could be easier than navigating TiVo's menus. All you really need to know how to use are the buttons market up, down, left, right and select. But computers have gotten such a bad rap with the technophobic, as slowing PC sales suggest...
...handle a dozen. The Remote Commander is a serious remote--tweakable, customizable, programmable--bursting with preferences and macros and timers. Instead of plain old buttons, it has a glowing blue LCD touch screen. ("Hey, is that the remote or the TV?" quipped my wife. She's still jealous about VCR Girl...