Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
"I finally got a new laptop with a lone USB 3.0 port. I'm now looking at getting a USB 3.0 hub with a power adapter so I can use both of my USB 3.0 hard drives at faster speeds. I've read lots of horror stories where some hubs either don't come with power adapters -- and as a consequence the portable drives don't work with them properly -- or they are designed poorly which results in USB 2.0 speeds. Or, the hard drives keep getting disconnected. Do your readers have any suggestions or experience using USB 3.0 hubs? Thanks!"
It doesn't convert to .tivo, it converts to plain MPEG-2. And you can do it today without waiting for 2.4 Desktop Plus. TiVo is just making it easier for non-savvy users to use their tools. If you're comfortable converting video today, you can do it now - and have been able to do it for a long time. Here's a decent resource: http://www.zatznotfunny.com/gtt.htm
To answer other questions:
- Yes, you can transfer ripped DVDs to a TiVo. Many people do this.
- Converting video to MPEG2 to transfer to the TiVo, then transferring them back to the PC and converting them for an iPod might be possible - but dumb. It would be harder and slower than just using any number of free tools out there and converting right from whatever format the video is in to MPEG4/H.264 for the iPod.
- IIRC, the press release said 2.4 would be out later this year.