GLAT, TiVo and the wily apostrophe

PJ suggested I take the Google Labs Aptitude Test, after hearing about it on [60 Minutes] last night. I was amused to find it posted as 4 GIFs (versus a single PDF); perhaps printing those 4 files is part of the test?

Behavioral change complete in 72 hours

I've had TiVo for 4 days now, and have done enough programming (sans hacks - yet) of the device that I'll agree that it changes the way people watch TV.

The TiVo FAQ asks "Are there any new models coming out?" to which I would've replied: "We have designed the ultimate appliance; there can be no improvement! And you vill like it!" ... then watch the user's head explode. Why is it that some people have to have the latest version of a gadget? Doesn't Everybody Know they should avoid the first release (version 1.0)?

Perhaps that is detailed on the TiVo Community Forum?

William-Bob asked if TiVo makes me watch less or more television. I answered: "more, I suspect, but what I watch is now more useful to me. There's enough stuff on DirecTV's 225 channels that interests me, but I didn't bother before because of schedules. Now, when I watch, it's always of high interest. Before, I'd sometimes plant in front of the tube and channel surf for what was on at the moment. Now, there's little of that."

Albertsons .. not Albertson's

A few days ago, I dropped an email to someone at Albertsons, asking why their website said "Albertson's, Inc." at the bottom of the page, when their name elsewhere was spelled "Albertsons" (without the apostrophe). I got a boilerplate response:

All Albertsons stores and Albertsons logos are spelled as "Albertsons" without an apostrophe. This is the 'common name' used by the company, and it is a well known name and image around the country. Generally, this is the name used whenever unofficially referring to Albertsons. The decision was made back in the 1970's, when our logo changed to what we currently use today, to not use the apostrophe in the logo itself. This was very simply a design decision, not a grammatical decision. Company correspondence continued to use the apostrophe, but as time went on and the questions continued to come up more and more, the decision was recently made (within the last couple of years) to discontinue the use of the apostrophe to establish consistency within the company and with our logo.

The full legal name of the company, however, is "Albertson's Inc." The difference here is that the legal name contains an apostrophe, as well as the additional "Inc." portion. This is the name used on all official legal documents, but it is much less known, and therefore not the general name used on a day-to-day basis.