Cox declaring war on HD Tivo?

Recently I received this letter from my local Cox Cable operator. Somehow...deep down...I knew this was coming. Cox will not offer new HD channels to subscribers using a CableCard device - which is used by the HD Tivo unit. Instead, to receive new HD channels you are required to use a Cox set-top DVR or receiver.

The funny this is that they try to pass this off as a technology issue - as if they need a 2-way device to add channels to the lineup. In reality, they want you on systems where they can sell you programs on demand, and they are willing to force you to obsolete your (very) expensive equipment to make that happen.

Clearly I will be willing to live without it - yet another reason to use NetFlix, Amazon Unbox, or just dive into Blue-Ray or HD DVD. But it's a darn shame that Cox has taken this attitude and is so willing to screw their customers.

I wrote Cox customer service about this issue - and received a response that is essentially identical to the paper letter. Once again they are quick to advertise how I can throw away my Tivo and use their devices.

Dear Valued Cox Customer:

Thank you for contacting our Cox Northern Virginia Online Customer CareTeam. We understand your concern and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please be assured that we are not phasing our CableCARDs or forcing our customers to subscribe to our DVR service.

We will be implementing future products and services which will require two-communication and unfortunately, at this time, currently deployed CableCARDs are one-way.

We hope to offer standalone two-way CableCARDs in the future for devices that are two-way compatible.

For customers that would like to take full advantage of their Cox experience, we are offering the option to obtain a Cox Digital set-top receiver at no additional cost for 12 months. We have an offer for those who would like a Cox DVR free for three months.

Again, we are not phasing out CableCARD technology.

If you need additional information on other Cox products or services, please visit our web site at http://www.cox.com/fairfax We hope that we have been able to provide you with the information you requested. If we have not, or if we can be of any additional service to you, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

My name is Clifton. Thank you for choosing Cox Communications, Your Friend in the DigitalAge!

My friend indeed.

Snowhenge

Snowhenge 4
Originally uploaded by lore.
When the snow and ice are just right, you can build a interesting structures besides just snowmen! In fact, a snowman would be very hard to make with the kind of freeze we had yesterday. So instead we made Snowhenge. Hopefully it will raise some eyebrows as people pass by!

Free and Cool

There are lots of free and cool software products out there. Here are my favorites.

General
These tools are useful for just about anyone.

• FileZilla is a great free FTP and Secure FTP transfer tool.
  
• Cropper is a screenshot tool that is readily accessed from your icon tray.
• Google Pack has a bunch of great free tools like Picasa for photo management, Google Talk, Ad-Aware SE Personal, and a nice photo-show screen saver.
• Firefox is a clean-cut and secure web browser.
• Password Safe is a must-have utility to keep those zillions of passwords you have safe and secure.
• SequoiaView is a really nifty tool for viewing your disk usage. It shows the files and directories as appropriately sized blocks.
• Trillian is a great multi-protocol instant messenger client.
• WASTE is a nice and secure ad-hock IM and file transfer client. It doesn't rely on any central server.
  

Programming
If you're a coder these are great to have and free.

• PSPad is the best free programmer's editor I've found.
• Subversion is an excellent version control system.
• TortoiseSVN is a very good front-end user interface for Subversion.
• WinMerge is a first-class file difference and merge tool.
• NSIS is an easy to use tool to build software installers.
• Ruby is an excellent scripting language with lots of available extensions.
• Ruby on Rails is a popular and well-designed web application framework.
• Visual Studio Express editions of Microsoft's development tools are free and a great way to get started with Windows and Web programming.

Not So Free
Okay, not everything is free but honestly I wouldn't buy it if the price were unreasonable.

• Memeo AutoBackup is an automatic backup program that backs up your files as you save them. It works great with network storage like a Buffalo Linkstation.
• openCanvas is a great graphics editor made in Japan. It supports layers and many tools and is popular with manga artists.
• SftpDrive is a wonderful way to access your remote systems over Secure FTP. Your remote system is mapped as a drive on your local system
• PerfectDisk is the perfect way to defragment your disk. No fluff, just an excellent tool.

My Own Software
Of course I have to plug the stuff I wrote, and it's free! HERMIT is a nice tool for automating tasks you need to perform in a Windows command shell (i.e., a DOS box). The tool is fully 32-bit, shows the "real" view of your file system, and has command mapping so you can automate commonly used tasks. Wing is a pretty tool to monitor ping times to your favorite sites. Check them both out at my software site.
Sites
There are some web sites worth mentioning too, because they are just so useful.

• Flickr the original photo sharing site is where I have over 2,000 photos. It has great community tools and has always been a leader in cool web integration.
• GMail is just the best webmail provider, period.
• Google Calendar is a nice web 2.0 calendar.
• Backpack is a great way to organize your life with todo-lists and notes.
• StrongSpace is a great remote disk - works perfect with SftpDrive.
• TextDrive is a great place to host your Ruby on Rails applications (or anything else).
  

Enjoy - there are obviously many more great sites and software programs that could be added to this list. These are the ones I use a lot.