You know those student surveys they do from time to time in which it's shown just how much the world has changed (and how little students know history)? Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings? East Berlin was a city? TV comes through the air? As if.

The machines get too smart - pushing their inventors, the humans, into lives of subservience and lots of gray clothing. It's a common plotline in science fiction movies, whether starring Arnold or Keanu.

A common complaint these days is that as the technology gets smarter and more pervasive, its hold on our lives increases as well. Fortunately we are still a long way from needing rebel armies to thwart the Blackberry enslavement.

Bob, I believe the symptoms you describe below come from a situation dubbed by my friend Ty as "Tivopression." It's that nagging feeling that you've got a lot of interesting programming you'd like to watch on your DVR that you know you may never get to. Jeez, the season finale of The Shield is on this week and I'm still on episode 2. Nobody tell me what happened!

Working for an Internet TV start-up, I find it ironic that I typically can't find time to watch television. By the weekend, when I finally carve some hours to recharge, I attempt to catch up on some TiVo'd programs. Being a geek at heart I enjoy a program on Science Discovery called "Discoveries this Week" - a nice recap of interesting science and technology stories. The latest episode had a short segment on the Gigapxl Project. I am completely enthralled with their work!

by Russell Beattie
1 March 2005

"TiVo plus NetFlix might be nice if it ever comes about. But honestly, I don't need another hard drive and low-powered computer sitting on my TV, I just need it to play the video that my computer is serving up. Is there a device out there which does this already?"