It can’t tell if earlier programmes overrun though the nightly phone call does mean it knows about late programme changes

It can’t tell if earlier programmes overrun, though the nightly phone call does mean it knows about late programme changes. Nor can you record a programme on one channel and use the TiVo to freeze-frame another.There is another big plus for anyone with a young family The TiVo box is a monolithic silver thing. Unlike a VCR, there’s no place to insert, say, a Marmite sandwich, to see what that looks like on TV. Anyone who’s tried to extract crumbs from their own machine will tell you that this makes a big difference.In the end, the measure of the success of any product is how well it insinuates itself into your life The TiVo managed it perfectly.

The only problem now will be explaining to everyone that it has to go back.¿ TiVo recorders cost £399 direct from Sky (08702 41 84 86) but are also available at other electrical retailers. The TiVo service costs £199 for a one-off ‘lifetime’ subscription or £10 a month. Samir Satchu claims he’s a naturally shy person. But after one fateful Tube journey, the 28-year-old Cambridge graduate with a law degree from Harvard University had had enough

Samir Satchu claims he’s a naturally shy person.

But after one fateful Tube journey, the 28-year-old Cambridge graduate with a law degree from Harvard University had had enough.
Satchu’s story is one that any Londoner who uses the Underground can relate to. On a hot summer’s day in 1999, Satchu was on his way to work. When he arrived at East Putney station, the platform was so crowded that a queue of disgruntled commuters had formed at the station’s entrance. Satchu finally made his way down to the platform and wedged himself into a carriage, only to find himself trapped in a sweltering train that remained stalled at the station.

At Holborn, where Satchu got off, it took another 20 minutes to reach the exit, as only one escalator was working.”I considered writing an angry letter,” he says, “but thought it would say more about me as a person who wrote angry letters than doing any actual good. I kept thinking that surely other people felt as I did.” That’s when Satchu set up Tubehell , a website that would be part Tube watchdog, part London community site and part commercial venture.So far, Satchu hasn’t exactly endeared himself to London Underground (LUL). Though Tubehell, whose logo is a bright red Tube train wearing a pair of devil horns, reminds people “not to leave their sense of humour unattended” as they enter the site, Tube bosses have proved a sour lot. In the early days, LUL refused to let the site advertise in trains or stations, alleging Tubehell had a political bias. It called “hellers”, the 10,000 strong community that regularly uses the site, “a sad bunch of people”, and wouldn’t allow the BBC to film Satchu riding the Tube.But as annoying as Tube bosses may find Tubehell , it’s the one place that keeps Londoners abreast of the Tube crisis and its daily delays and problems. Last Wednesday, a day before the Tube strike, Satchu was doing what he usually does these days: beavering away in his tiny East Putney basement flat, updating the site with news of Tube delays and breakdowns, and of the ongoing Tube crisis.