Other Tech

Besides Superman, director Richard Donner's films include the Lethal Weapon series, Scrooged, and The Omen.

Really, there should be a law. Oh, sure, the F.C.C. has a regulation that TV commercials can't be louder than the programming surrounding them, but the advertisers skirt around that with some kind of compression trick. So ultimately, the commercials still sound . . . loud. And as for why so many TV stations come in at different sound levels . . . anyone?

A lot of people equate downloading with transferring songs from Apple's iTunes site to an iPod, thinking that's the end of the story. But online music files can have about as many uses around the house as your favorite three-in-one tool.

I admit it: I'm a recording junkie. For years, I recorded my favorite TV shows on VHS videotape, only to watch them gather dust in the garage. Now that I have a DVR and a DVD recorder, what use have I for those clanky, cranky cassettes? Actually, more than you might think; some of those cassettes have irreplaceable moments from my TV-watching past, moments I'd rather not lose as the tape disintegrates with age.