Sarcastic Bastard

yesterday, i wrote about the inability of a single person to make a change in the world. today, i had a sudden realization that this is true in so many other ways that i never considered before. just imagine all the people out there...there are probably many people out there with brilliant, revolutionary ideas, but no means to bring them to life. i can't count the number of ideas i've had for products that would be really cool and useful. meanwhile, companies release all sorts of stupid products. LG actually has an internet refridgerator. WHY???

one of the ideas that i've been thinking a lot about for a while has been the digital video recorder. i myself own a tivo, but i don't (can't) use the features that make it so popular in the states. but the thing is, i don't WANT those features. all i want is a video recorder that replaces a VCR, and some of the features that come with a hard disk based medium. (for example, the "instant replay" and pausing live tv). i DO NOT want to pay a fee to a company so that i can do the same thing i could with a vcr for free! (namely, program shows to record). sure, my tivo works without paying, but i get bombarded by messages from my box telling me that my service has been suspended, i don't have the local channel lineup in it (so it thinks that channel 15 is HBO, for example), and i can't change certain settings (the internal clock is 3 minutes off, so it screws up recordings...but i can't change the clock manually, unless i find a hack or something).

but no, companies have to make things more complicated, and intrude on our lives even more, because apparently they don't control us enough yet. i wish i had the money to develop a DVR of my own and market it as a competitor to tivo and replay tv. surely there must be other people like me out there! i mean, i could use my computer with a tv tuner card and get the same results, but i want a dedicated set-top box to do it, in place of the vcr (i truly want to believe that it's better that way, though part of me might just be trying to fight the nerdiness of using the computer for tv)

so...who has an idea for an environmentally safe fuel? :)

posted by leor @ 11:46