RIP TiVo UK Series 1

After almost 9 years of excellent service, we are retiring our TiVo UK Series 1 DVRs from active recording (there's still a backlog of unwatched TV so it will be a while before they are removed from the AV stacks).

TiVo service ceases in the UK on 1 June, so a couple of the latest Sky+HD (DRX-890C) DVRs have been installed in preparation for "the end of TiVo in the UK" and they take over active recording duty from today.

The Sky+HD EPG provides "Series Link" (but it's not an exact equivalent of TiVo's Season Pass) and there's no equivalent of TiVo's WishList facility. There is a facility to search the 7 day TV Guide in the Sky+HD EPG but Locate TV and myDigiguide will be providing some additional support to make sure that we get our own version of "Smart DVR, Brilliant TV".

What the Sky+HD lacks in sophistication when compared to the TiVo user interface is somewhat compensated by other useful features such as viewing and recording of HD channels (which have even better picture quality than that provided by the "Mode 0" hack), Remote Recording via an iPhone app and access to Sky Anytime+ downloads.

Gadget Show Live 2011

Another great "live" show today! And lots of interesting stuff to look at and play with, including NVIDIA demo of 3D gaming and a massive Sony 3D TV.

RIP iRobot Roomba 530

Sadly the iRobot Roomba 530 is now deceased. A victim of too much carpet dust and dog hairs. Despite "open Roomba surgery" to correct the problem (i.e.major dis-assembly and interior cleaning), the alleged problem persisted and could not be resolved. Mrs. S., therefore, has given it a final dis-assembly...

Free Sat Nav app for iPhone

I'm trying out "Navfree GPS UK & ROI" - it's a free Sat Nav app for iPhone. No charges, maps are stored on the iPhone and no data connection is required for map browsing/routing & address lookup. It uses map data from OpenStreetMap (OSM). Versions are available for many European countries, Canada and some US states.

World IPv6 Day

There's an event called World IPv6 Day on the 8th of June 2011 where there will be a number of tests across the Internet. It shouldn't affect the average web user. If you want to find out more, go to isoc.org/wp/worldipv6day/

Are you ready for IPv6? Test out your browser, router and Internet provider here: http://test-ipv6.com