Dave Zatz, Author at Zatz Not Funny!

James Kim Memorial Fund Charity Raffle Results

The results of the raffle are in — You guys are awesome! Together we raised $1125 for the James Kim Memorial Fund, plus I’ll be sweetening the pot with my December Google Adsense income. It feels good to witness such generosity and I’m flattered so many entrusted me with their money.

Stephen randomly picked the winner of the TiVo Toaster (bread not included) which will be shipped from TiVo shortly. Bob Kemp, retired from IBM for 7 years, is the lucky recipient and hopes the Kim family is doing well.

Thank you for the contributions! Also, a big thanks to Stephen for his participation in this fundraiser.

Apple Just Says No To Vista

Apparently iTunes, iPods, and Vista don’t play nice just yet. A variety of issues have been reported, including: purchased tracks not playing, synchronization glitches, and computer gremlins “may corrupt your iPod.” Apple warns: iTunes 7.0.2 may work with Windows Vista on many typical PCs. Apple recommends, however, that customers wait to upgrade Windows until after … Read more

Win A TiVo With Lifetime Service

TiVo’s giving away a Series2 dual-tuning TiVo with Lifetime Service each month through July. All that’s required for entry is an email address. Interesting factoid #1: The package is valued at $549.98. Interesting factoid #2: Contradicting speculation on the TCF, “Each DVR requires its own TiVo service subscription and activation, and it cannot generally be … Read more

Kevin Smith’s Top Movies Of 2006

Better late than never! Kevin has posted his top films of 2006. 2006 was an off year for me: I didn’t catch too many new flicks (I hate the movie theater and I’m between projectors) and I didn’t read any fiction. Kevin’s top film was The Departed, which I haven’t seen yet… Though, we did … Read more

Dave Wants His Vista

The question is: How come I’m not running Vista? As an early adopter, I’m a little embarrassed and a lot frustrated in not having a shipping copy of Vista. I did get on board early with beta testing — I distinctly recall loading up a laptop with a TechNet-issued copy of Vista for the August, 2005 Engadget meetup in DC.

I thought I had a good plan in place for acquiring Vista, but I’m somewhat impatient. When we decided to visit a great uncle in upstate NY for Thanksgiving, it seemed like a good time to replace his aging PC with my aging PC. Of course that decision was made the same week it was announced that all XP machine purchases would be eligible for a copy of Vista. Imagine the coincidence! ;) So I bought myself a powerful, though inexpensive, HP running XP MCE in October with expectations of receiving Vista in February.

Confirmed: Half Price Xbox 360

After spending time with all three next-gen gaming systems, I finally decided on picking up a Xbox 360 last November. At the time, Micro Center’s deal seemed too good to be true ($200 for a $400 system) and involved playing Rebate Roulette. Fortunately for me, I won — in about 10 weeks I received two … Read more

Windows Vista: Edit DVR-MS With Movie Maker

With all the bitching and moaning going on about Vista and DRM, it’s nice to see that Lifehacker has some good news for us. The updated version of Windows Movie Maker has the ability to edit video files that Vista’s Media Center components record… you know, without DRM. True, you’re probably not going to get at CableCARD content — But this new functionality actually makes at least a portion of Vista less restrictive than XP. So strip out your commercials, put some pretty menus and transitions in, then burn DVDs ’til the cows (or Leopards) come home.

I ordered the Logitech Harmony 550 while Amazon was running a recent rebate, so I’ve only had it on hand for a day… However I already feel like it’s $75 (after rebate) well spent.

Compared to the 520, the 550 seems to have a better build quality. It’s more solid, the buttons respond better, and the back has a nice rubberized coating. I thought the 520 looked pretty sharp, and the 550 looks even better. The 550 adds a few more buttons than the 520. As with the 520, Logitech kindly packaged 8 Duracell batteries — four for now, four for later.