Apple

I am using an 2008 vintage Apple Airport Extreme 802.11n as part of my home network. This device is running Apple's 7.4.2 firmware, is providing draft 802.11n WiFi access, and is acting as a file server for a HFS+ formatted disk. There are up to three computers that will, as needed, auto-mount this disk via AFP (AppleTalk) to save or use files.

I previously wrote about my adventures in setting up a Mac Mini to be a Home Theater PC (HTPC). Part of the Mini's duties, as a HTPC, are to periodically wake up and check various RSS feeds for updates. Unfortunately some of the feeds have a large number of updates daily and checking them once per day means missing updates that have scrolled out of their RSS feed. To insure I did not miss an update I began thinking about how to check each RSS feed multiple times a day while still allowing the Mini to sleep (for the most part) while not actively in use.

A few months ago I was looking at my DirecTV bill. I have it set to auto-pay and, I have to admit, this makes me really lazy about checking it. This is why I was surprised to note that the bill was for $65. A quick look through prior bills showed that they too were all in the $65 neighborhood (sometimes as high as $75 if we'd ordered a pay-per-view movie or two).

"$800 dollars a year?! Holy crap! That's as much as I pay for auto insurance! And that doesn't even count the electricity to keep the TiVo running 24/7*! For what?!"