Matthew Botos

Walt Mossberg reviews HD DVRs (with video), pitting the Tivo Series 3 against Comcast’s DVR. The Tivo wins in functionality by the land slide, though the price still gives him pause:

So, why not just stick with the high-definition DVR supplied by the cable company? After all, while it isn’t free, it’s cheaper than the TiVo.

The answer is that, at least in my recent experience with the nation’s biggest cable company, Comcast, the high-definition DVR it supplies is just awful. If cable boxes were sold at retail like consumer-electronics devices, the Comcast DVR I tested, built by Motorola, would get creamed by better competitors.

His last point underlines the problem of an uneven playing field. With dominant cable monopolies skewing prices in much of the country, there’s almost no competitive market for independent DVRs.

Though I only started this blog in April of this year, it’s already accumulated 153 entries. Here are some of the best from this year:

• 28
• Staying Home
• High School Reunion
• MacBook Unboxing was by far the most popular
• A Long, Short Local Trip
• Bilingual Plugin Hacking
• Travel entries were the most fun to write and better than postcards for friends and family
• Web 2.0, Executive Blogging, and the Google Appliance
• The MBA and the Mexican Fisherman

After talking with Brian and Merle last weekend about the mismatch between the short trips and giant cars people drive, I did a little bit of research on current state of electric cars.

The big auto companies have had some small pure electric projects over the years, but lately have focused more on hybrids. This is certainly the most palatable to the consumer, since there’s no change in behavior to get the benefit of greater fuel mileage. Still, the result is disappointing as most hybrids merely use the technology to slightly improve the mileage of big, overpowered vehicles.

A few smaller companies offer more impressive vehicles: Tesla Motors roadster for $90,000 and Phoenix Motorcars pickup for $45,000. Both use lithium ion batteries like those in laptops, which offer a greater range (over 200 miles) and performance for a higher price than standard, heavy lead-acid car batteries. Expensive batteries limit the target markets to rich enthusiasts for Tesla and company fleets for Phoenix, though. Availability is also a year or two away, with a $50,000 Tesla sedan further out according to CNET.

The green crowd has taken matters into its own hands in the meantime; there are many resources for building your own electric car. As an engineer in constant need of projects, it’s certainly tempting. Individual parts or kits can be purchased to convert a gas vehicle at a cost of around $10,000 if you do your own labor. The lead acid batteries will last about 5 years before needing a $2,000 replacement. Older small cars and pickup trucks are favorites, though some sports car conversions have beaten Vipers and other high performance gas racers. Since electric motors have full torque from 0 RPM, they can really launch - another aspect I find personally appealing.

In summary, getting an electric car for today’s common short trips isn’t easy or cheap. The big companies will sell you a hybrid for a premium. A much larger premium gets you a niche vehicle that can be driven off the lot. But to get something more affordable and practical, you have to roll up your sleeves and roll your own.

My first regular cell phone bill gave me a chance to compare their surcharges and taxes to those on a VOIP phone line. Verizon passes on an extra 18% of the price of the plan as a cumulative cell phone tax. That actually makes it a bit better than VOIP, which weighed in at 30%, though many of the charges are fixed dollar amounts that only seem like less against a larger base bill. Still, at what point does 18-30% in extra fees merit mentioning in truthful advertising?

Though my Tivo sold nicely on eBay, I didn’t have any luck with my old cell phone. It’s not a hot model, so I started the bidding a little below what I wanted for it, expecting just a few bids. An additional bit of research revealed that others had sold at that price, often with the Buy It Now option. I added that, lowered the opening bid, and also refined my auction title with some more general keywords. Within a day it was sold at the Buy It Now price, to someone doing her Christmas shopping and no time to watch and wait for an auction to end.

After my previous post on Water Heater Hijinx, my friend Jerry told me his neighbor is a plumber. Running my situation by him, I found out the water company has been increasing the street pressure and a reducer might solve the problem. First, though, he suggested the more common culprit of the pressure relief valve. Though I replaced it a few years ago, a $6 part and a bit of effort was still a great alternative to $600 for a new water heater.

The biggest hassle was shutting down and partially draining it, but I did get an excuse to buy a new pipe wrench. (They make them with lighter aluminum handles now, too.) Examining the old one, I could see the potential problem- lots of mineral deposits lining the sides, perhaps enough to interfere with the mechanism. According to another plumber, the water hardness here is about 10 out of 20, which shows itself every time water evaporates to leave a trail of dissolved solids.

It’s been almost a week since the fix, and the floor is still dry! So it looks like I found my answer, and another regular maintenance task to add to the list.

Someone reposted this on Fark today and it’s one of the more insightful comments I’ve seen there:

An American businessman was at a pier in a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow-fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied only a little while.

The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked the Mexican how he spent the rest of his time.

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor.”

The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and, with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution.

“You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But senor, how long will this all take?”

The American replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then, senor?” asked the Mexican.

The American laughed, and said, “That’s the best part! When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public. You’ll become very rich, you would make millions!”

“Millions, senor?” replied the Mexican. “Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

What’s funny is that I’ve read several pieces about CEOs who spend their time off working on ranches or manually tending their land. One of the VPs at my own company mixes blog entries about reorganizing strategy with comments about how she’s still trying to corral all the leaves in her yard.

Kudos to Nip/Tuck for doing something a bit different with their season finale. After 4 seasons, most shows fall into a formulaic pattern. Nip/Tuck has been on a voyage through the realm of the bizarre in search of plot lines, but managed to come back to a new twist on their core story.

It’s a chance that 24 missed at the end of its fourth season. Instead of taking the opportunity to put Jack Bauer in an a new situation, they quickly brought him back to similar surroundings. Here’s to hoping Nip/Tuck does more with their 5th season.

I just sold my “old” Tivo Series 2 on eBay and got a chance to observe how the site and bidders are working these days. I’ve been a member since 1999, and both the site and the bidders have become much more sophisticated. I went the traditional and most popular 7-day format and here’s how the timeline played out:

• First few days: no bids, a few people added it as a “watched item” for later bidding
• Middle days: a few low bids, more watchers
• Final days: bids really began to climb as the number of watchers grows to over 20

It ultimately went to a 400-level eBayer who bid in the last few hours after 30 other bids. As late stage “sniping” has become an established technique for successful bidding, this came as no surprise. More surprising was how much of the activity and interest was concentrated in the last few days.

In addition to increased bidder sophistication, eBay is now so populated with items that your auction won’t hit the first few pages of search results until close to the end. (I recently read that eBay has a 2 petabyte database with 2x the information of the Library of Congress.) Since the early days of the auction mostly serve to attract interest, I think a shorter 3-5 day auction wouldn’t reduce the selling price.

Another interesting comparison was a parallel auction for the same Tivo with a reserve price. As a buyer, a reserve has always been a deterrent since you don’t know if your bid will actually break that invisible threshold set by the seller. This seller did mention the reserve was $150, a reasonable amount given that the same new box and service package was $200. In fact, it was what I was hoping to get for mine. In the end, however, his only reached $51 with 12 bids, versus $157 with 31 bids in my auction, confirming my hunch.

After a bit of trouble finishing my single speed bike, I got to take it out for a ride today at Valley Forge. The trails there are a bit more mellow and without much climbing, making for a good testing ground. The bike rode great; it seems I got out all the kinks in the build process!

Single speed riding is a different feel, and the simplicity actually helped my riding skill a bit. Without any gears to mess with, I was free to focus on just pedaling hard to get up climbs and over obstacles. The hardtail was also more precise than my full-suspension bike, and perhaps a hair faster overall on this smoother terrain. It also brought back the forgotten sense of power that comes with pedaling out of the saddle and not losing any of it into the suspension.

I walked a few bits, but my only other complaint was feeling the bumps in my back a bit more. Mike’s recommendation of 32/18 gearing was a good call; it woke up my legs without killing them. Overall, it was a fun experience, and I’ll definitely be trying out some more trails on it.