Or, at least, it thinks I want to watch Oprah Winfrey. Which of course brings back this classic article, "My Tivo thinks I'm gay". I should be so lucky. Apparently, my Tivo thinks I'm the housebound mother of three with a fondness for very special episodes about life-changing second chances.
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My TIvo hates me
30 Nov 2007 04:42 pm
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Comments (22)
It's the cooking shows leading TiVo astray.
Apparently, my Tivo thinks I'm the housebound mother of three
Not that there's anything wrong with that!
Try associating with people instead of electronic devices.
My computer thinks I bought Photoshop.
My TiVO is still sitting on the shelf of a retail store somewhere, with a strict warning that it will be shot on sight if it darkens my front doorstep.
Seriously, I don't know how people find time to watch that much television. Cooking is a great hobby, but if after dinner a person still has time for more of The Tube than one or two evening shows, s/he needs a second hobby that will put the mind to more productive uses.
anony-mouse, tivo is the only way people who have lives can watch television. I haven't watched a commercial or let a networks schedule tall me when to watch anything since 2003
TiVO (or Comcast DVR, in my case) isn't about watching more TV. It's about watching the good stuff on TV when you want to. I, for one, don't want to stay up until 2 a.m. to watch 'Sweet Smell of Success,' or miss a good Japanese gangster movie because my wife is watching something else and thinks there's no such thing as a good Japanese gangster movie.
My TIVO thinks I am an idiot that loves "Leave It To Beaver" Re-runs.
My TIVO thinks I am an idiot that loves "Leave It To Beaver" Re-runs.
Amazon makes recommendations based on books you've actually ordered, not on ones you've merely looked at on the site. I ran a small experiment to make sure of that. I signed onto the site under my user name and did a search for books under "bestiality." Next, I exited the site, then later went back to it. To my slight disappointment the recommendations all were related to my recent orders. No "man's best, er, friend" titles.
Peter,
Your experiment won't be conclusive until you order a book on bestiality and then see what they recommend after that. Let us know what happens!
My TiVo decided that since I watch Jim Rome's show religiously, I might be interested in Outside The Lines. It's not 100% accurate. I find its decisions humorous more often than annoying; what is annoying is when I'm in the middle of watching a football game and it pops up the screen that it wants to change the channel to go off and record some lame talking-head show it thinks I might want to watch since I have a Season Pass to McLaughlin Group. I'd like to be able to turn off recording of recommended programs during such shows without having to go hunt through the TiVo setup screens to do it (and then have to go back and turn it on again after the game is over). That would be a great feature.
Love my Series 1 Philips, though. Some of the best money I've spent.
Does TiVo track user viewing habits and report on you back to TiVo mothership? I think it does.
Say that you're fond of Frontline and watch it every week. Likewise you go to the library and check out books on politics or some such interesting subject.
Now, who would protect my viewing/reading habits from the government if they (the gov) were inclined to check?
I think that little old ladies at the library are more prone to hold back governmental intrusion than the executives and capitalists at TiVo central.
But getting stuff from the library is less convenient than having it shipped to you on your TiVo. The price of convenience.
Every so often TiVo recommends some odd things but a few judicious thumbs down usually fixes that right up.
Now, who would protect my viewing/reading habits from the government if they (the gov) were inclined to check?
Good grief, why would you care? Your bank statements, credit-card records, and phone logs would be much more interesting to the government, and just as easy, legally speaking, to get.
Good grief, why would you care? Your bank statements, credit-card records, and phone logs would be much more interesting to the government, and just as easy, legally speaking, to get
So true. I was just pining for the librarians to control those aspects as well.
Still, I don't see that ideology is as effectively deduced by those types of records as they are through viewing and reading habits.
The government can't maintain a driftnet database on me without a good reason, but it doesn't have to as long as commercial providers stockpile databases that track every aspect of my life. And it makes it simpler for the government to cast a wide net and get a more complete picture, as long as it allows commercial interests (TiVo, Amex, Wal*Mart, Experian and so on) to collect information that it can later collate.
This is why we need to protect consumer privacy and be wary when the government shifts the databases to external entities, and then follows up with a wink-wink to bypass congressional privacy safeguards. These external companies aren't party to FOIA.
Well, we'll see how stiff-necked the library ladies are after a week in the lockup.
On the other hand, I haven't checked out a library book in more than 10 years, and the feds would have a hard time divining much about me from my wife's 24-hour-a-day "Forensics Files" addiction. So I have little to fear on those fronts.
But I do agree about consumer privacy in the broadest sense. It's creepy to be tracked, even if only by somebody trying to see you something.
If it's so worrying that your purchases may be tracked, just pay cash. Not to belittle privacy concerns--I'm personally creeped out by the way my husband's gmail account keys ads to words in his e-mails.
The world of Minority Report (minus the precognitive aspects) draws ever-nearer.
You think you have problems? My washing machine thinks I'm a one-legged gay man. At least I think that's why it takes one sock from each pair and turns whites pink.
Say that you're fond of Frontline and watch it every week. (etc.)
If your ideology appears on television, the government approves of it.
Yours, especially.
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so, your saying that TIVO isn't divining your innermost hopes and dreams? :devil: Or maybe it's just prepping you for the day she does a special on female libertarian bloggers who are curiously tall, and you are on the show. It's always good to do some research on such an appearence beforehand, no?
Posted by D | November 30, 2007 5:04 PM