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We got a Tivo HD about a year ago. We never watched much TV before that. Now we get to watch what we want when we want. But the Tivo can only store so much on its internal hard disk. So, I decided to upgrade the 160GB drive to 750gb. I ordered the special hard drive and found a good guide on the process here. I used WinMFS to transfer all the data around. Once I got everything hooked up, the data transfer took about 45 minutes. Now our TiVO is very happy and we don’t have to delete shows to make room for new stuff.

And it seems you can be too if you’re willing to spend a few days with your favorite video game console. We got Guitar Hero 3 on the Wii for Christmas. It’s the first guitar game in our house, but we’ve played Dance Dance Revolution (controller pad as a mat on the floor that you “dance” on) and Singstar (sing along with a microphone).

The basic idea of Guitar Hero is that you have a controller shaped like a guitar. You press buttons located on the neck of the “controller” and strike a “strum bar” in time with the “notes” on the screen.

I’m not rhythmically inclined. As a child, my piano teacher suggested I find another calling. For me, and the many people in the word like me, the game enables some type of participation in the music world that has never been available before. Even Linda and Katie (who are both miraculous on the piano) enjoy the game (and are far better than I).

The game quickly became very popular in our house. So much so that we went and got Rock Band for our PS/2. Same idea, but now you have 2 guitars, a drum kit and a microphone. A whole rock band. Personally, I like the Fender Stratocaster controller from Rock Band more than the Les Paul controller from Guitar Hero.

So, here’s the score: Connor is a beast, Katie is very good, Linda is great, I’m okay and CD’s getting better.

I got an iPhone last weekend. Yes, I waited in line, and it was kind of fun. I want to say a few things about it.

First, this is the single most elegant computing device I’ve ever seen. This thing is not just a new cell phone, it’s a completely different tiny handheld computer that happens to have an awesome cell phone (and a gorgeous display). My RAZR had some kind of web access support, but I never used it because it was painful. This thing has a real browser like a PC does. Do you know which number you press while listening to your voice mail to rewind just a little bit? Neither do I, and now I’ll never need to know because the iphone gives me a slider bar that I can move around to hear any part of the message I want. That’s how radically different this is.

A lot has been said about the iPhone in reviews and in online forums. To its detractors, I ask: show me a better device. Silence will follow. You may find a few specific things that can be done better by other devices, but nothing even comes close to the iPhone’s combination of functionality and user experience.

If you want to know more about it, there are plenty of reviews all over the internet; I think the one at engadget is probably the most complete.