For those of you with kids, TiVo has a free 'KidZone' software you can apply to your TiVo and presents kids with their own interface with content you specify in the recordings list. When they go to bed a code returns the interface to the regular TiVo one. I haven't used it, but my nieces are going to be able to use it in a year or so and I think it'll be really helpful.

ME TOO!

I tried the hacks and even paid for the ATV Flash software (which was great considering how infuriating the thing was without it) after losing so many hours of my life trying to get the thing to work and play videos I had on a harddrive. There was no way I was going to convert 300gig of files to a specific Quicktime format the AppleTV wanted to use.

A month ago I bought a used Intel Core Duo Mac Mini (1.83GHz, Superdrive, 2gig RAM) and love it. Wish I had bought the Mini earlier, but since I'm not rich and the AppleTV was half the price of my used Mini, I went with that. I sometimes miss the AppleTV version of Front Row, 'cause the Mac Mini/ Leopard version is very simple, but at least it works! And it can play MKV files, which had irritated me before because I couldn't watch them on my TV. And using Plex or Boxee on the Mac Mini is a whole different experience compared to Boxee on the AppleTV. On the Mini they're reliable and nice to use. Got the Apple Bluetooth Keyboard and Mighty Mouse and love how they're easy to tuck into the coffee table when I don't need them. My Logitech Harmony remote works great with the Mini as well.

You mean Rogers doesn't own TSN? Give 'em time.

But the network is already there. Rogers raised prices on their cable and internet services in the past month, but I don't remember them re-wiring my building, or downtown Toronto for that matter. The infrastructure is already in place, so none of their terrible analogies can justify that cost for a tiny packet of data. When you're using your phone for a call, it's a steady stream of data, yet they're not applying the same rate because the price would be absurd and no one could afford it. They're charging ridiculous rates for texting 'cause 'they can'. They know people will pay for it and also that people will use it and not have to see the reality of their choice, until weeks later, when their bill arrives.

I've been using Dropbox, even though I have a mobileme account 'cause it's so much easier to use. I had a couple of files lost from my iDisk when I had local syncing on and that made me skittish.

They only give you 2gigs free, but it's cross platform, so I can use it to keep files handy on that awful PC that I'm forced to use at work. http://www.getdropbox.com/

I don't work for them or have shares or anything -- just like to spread the word when I find a good product.

I love the Multiplayer and the design/music/game play of Gears2. The Campaign story was really disappointing and I am someone who LOVED the first Gears and it's thin story 'cause it didn't get in the way of the fun and the premise was different than what I'd seen in a game before.

What I didn't like about Gears2 was how the story line borrowed from everything. The worm from Dune or driving up a mountain in a vehicle, in search of the entrance to the bad guys lair, like Halo. The outpost laboratory with mutated people was such a sci-fi cliché that it's hard to just pick one movie or game that it ripped off, besides the obvious Halo characters 'The Flood'.

I did love any of the parts of the game that took place in the city, while it was under attack and the scenes about Dom and Maria were unexpectedly heavy and really disturbing, in a really effective way.

I think that the multiplayer has enough in it for the game to have long legs and be played for a long time. Last night I was even playing the training grounds 'Build your own' when my friends were offline, just to get some practice and see the maps. I'm counting the minutes until I get to play Horde again and hoping that I forget that absurd ending. Not since the ending of Alien Resurrection have I been so annoyed at the ridiculous use of monster that didn't fit the design or feeling of the rest of the piece.

Not like it's going on my bookshelf, but I would have liked if the hardcover one was in English. I don't understand why they would print it in french at all if they were including the other language in softcover. Wouldn't it make more sense to have all the hardcover ones printed in English 'cause they can sell all over North America? Then only add the French version to the package in Quebec? You don't need to have a MBA to understand that bit of business.

Love that two seconds when you've hit someone with the torque-bow and they're thinking 'oh crap' and trying to run before BOOM.

I don't care when, I just hope I can turn those stupid avatars off.

Germany, birthplace of the Nazi regime, finds a video-game too violent?

This is sounds like the work of a publicist who flunked history.