The River

The personal professional blog of Pamela Parker -- musings on marketing, advertising, media and technology.

Pamela Parker

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Spotted near a Berkeley soccer field/skatepark — a silver Lexus SUV with California license plate “RSS”. Anyone we know? I know Dave Winer‘s recently moved to Berkeley, but does he drive a Lexus? (Sorry no photo. Cameraphone’s batteries were dead.)

UPDATE: Only on today’s Internet would I be able to actually determine that it’s definitely not Dave Winer’s car. How? Because he posted on Amyloo’s community car roll. (He used to drive a Lexus, but no more…)

Typepad’s Consumer Respect

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Pete Blackhaw beat me to blogging about the really interesting e-mail I — and tons of others — received from TypePad recently. His thoughts (which he actually managed to write down besides his having 1 more newborn than I) pretty much echo mine.

UPDATE: Fixed the link, which wasn’t working due to a missing “a” in the code.

Is TiVo that great?

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A personal request to TiVo owners out there. Our Replay TV unit is on the blink. We will probably have to send it in to be serviced, to the tune of $120 plus shipping. Alternatively, we could buy a TiVo box, for around $50, and pay for lifetime service for $299. Any helpful hints on making a decision?

Some factors: We have one of the old-timey ReplayTV units that automatically fast-forwards over commercials, which is fantastic. But it’s also been around for a few years so we don’t know what part is going to go out next. I keep hearing people rave about TiVos. Are they that great? Has anyone really had the chance to compare between the various DVR options? Please advise in the comments.

UPDATE: Thanks, MegaZone, for the great comments. We’ve taken the plunge and ordered a TiVo on Amazon. What put us over the edge? Comments like MegaZone’s, laziness about packing something up and sending it back, plus the desire to experience some of the innovation TiVo seems to be pioneering. (Media playing features, TiVo to Go, etc.) Also look forward to checking out some of the ad-related experiments on the new device. They say it’ll be here Monday but I’m rooting for an early UPS delivery (too optimistic?) so we can play with it over the weekend.

UPDATE2: May I just say how thrilled I am with UPS and Amazon Prime? Ordered the TiVo yesterday — with the regular, free shipping option. UPS tracking says it’s now “out for delivery.” It’s pathetic how excited I am.