There was a good piece on Marketplace last evening about the challenges facing the sport of cycling. Following several years of struggling over drug usage a number of key sponsors are now on hard times financially and are pulling sponsorships. Later this year the U.S. Postal Service, who sponsors the team Lance Armstrong rides for, will end their sponsorship. The news follows on Saturn's decision to leave the sport as well. Meanwhile Armstrong will attempt a record-setting sixth win in the Tour De France next month.

Wired has an article about TiVo offering network services to all TiVo Series II owners. They can now do many things that previously required the home media option. At the end of the article is a note that DirectTV sold its stock in TiVo this week and may be switching DVR providers. This makes the need for a TiVo unit that can [Killer App|do RSS feeds] all the more important. Users will soon need the ability to separate their DVR from their Satellite receiver or face being held hostage by feuding companies. Already many of th Read more about The good and bad news

For the new place we looked at several internet options. After several conversations with a sales person at Ground Control we chose them for a satellite internet provider. Ground Control resells Hughes services among others and has an impressive array of options. Always being weary of the "you live too far away" option I carefully explored with them the availability of installers local to the Las Vegas area. I was told it would not be a problem. Now Ground Control is working through Keypoint systems as a sub-contractor. The story from Ground Control is that the truck of the person (evidently the only person) in Las Vegas broke down and they don't know when they will come to do the install. However they will be there tomorrow if I'll just OK the 8-hours of driving time (that I get to pay for) to have somebody come from California. Read more about Get some control

Doc Searls asks of Apple's new announcement of an AirPort Express: "Why go wireless-to-wired?" It strikes me as a question from somebody who has had a very different experience using FM Transmitters than I have. I have an iTrip that allows one to transmit an iPod's output across the FM spectrum. It's not bad. But it is not good either. It's a constant game of cat and mouse to find a station to use. I've had significantly better luck, and quality from the wired solutions I've had. Further, this way it doesn't take a tuner. According to the documentation you can plug it into any powered speakers. So for that second room a set of decent computer speakers just became a nice way to listen to music. Read more about AirPort Express