Saeco Vienna Superautomatica Water Leak
I recently noticed that after brewing some coffee with my SuperAutomatica that a small pool of water would form underneath the machine. Initially I was quite concerned that the holy grail that produced my required coffee elixir in the wee hours of morning was kicking the bucket. I've read plenty of posts online about this machine leaking, broken heating element, etc. so naturally I expected the worst.

So, I did what any handy-person does when their gadgets break - I took it apart! Mind you I didn't go crazy and remove screws, bolts, panels, etc. I simply read the owners manual, and it turns out this machine is designed to come apart quite easily. After some investigation, and cleaning up lots of spent coffee grinds that aparently did not make it into the grind bucket, I figured out how the water that spills off from inside the machine makes its way into the drip tray + grill...and viola! It turns out this is where my machine was leaking due to a clogged path to the drip tray - maybe yours is leaking there too?

If your machine is leaking, it's worth a look before you chuck it to the curbside. Simply follow the instructions for removing the brew group. It goes something like:

1) Remove drip tray + grill.
2) Open front door
3) Remove dump box
4) Remove brew group - that's the big complicated thing with the lever that says "press", or something like that.

Now, to clean the part of the machine that was clogged with grinds and causing mine to leak:

1) Replace the drip tray + grill because you'll need this to catch some water while cleaning.
2) Get a paper clip and a sports bottle with warm/hot water in it.
3) Now use a combination of squirting warm water and prodding with the paper clip to remove the clogged grinds from the hole in the photos below. You may have a lot of grinds packed into the pocket clogging up the hole, so you may need to remove those first.

Insert the paper clip into the whole to losen up the grinds.

Also come in from the top to loosen up the grinds.

After squirting some water in there and prodding around with the paper clip for a few minutes the clog let loose and water flowed into the drip tray...and, my leak was gone!

Tivo Series3 DVR

Too much too late?

The long awaited Series3 is finally here and I thought I'd post a few thoughts on the unit. I owned a Series2 for quite while and really loved the unit. I even got all geeky and upgraded the capacity to 2 120GB hard drives (that was big back then). In my opinion the Tivo software and user interface blows away any other on the market, especially some of the cable company provided boxes such as the Comcast Motorola box. It seems like Tivo actually has software developers implementing their interface, where as others seem to be done by hardware guys, or more likely outsourced to India to save a buck.

Unfortunately the day came when I had to give up my Series2 because my cable company started offering a twin tuner (record two shows at once) box that was able to record HD shows, and the monthly cost was actually cheaper than my Tivo subscription. I simply couldn't pass it up, even if the Motorolla box had a sub-par user interface and usability.
I knew the day would come when Tivo released a box that would rival the technical features of my Motorolla box, but would also give me the awesome Tivo software. And that day is here!

However, I do have some gripes...

What took so long? I've had my twin tuner Motorolla box for nearly 2 years...

$800 plus the monthly subscription fee, plus your cable bill (I suppose you have to pay that either way)?

I think the unit is way too expensive accept for the serious AV folks who just have to have it. The cable companies tend to give you the box for "free," in reality the cost of the box is worked into their subscription model, so you're really actually leasing it. Some cable companies (like mine) also charge an HD and DVR fee, a total of $10 per month. With the Tivo box you'll have to at least pay for the HD fee as well, to get the HD channels.

Obviously the cable company has the advantage since they have a monopoly on cable service in your area, unless of course you opt for a satellite system. They can build the cost to lease the box into your monthly service cost (and they do) which obviously discourages you from paying for a box from Tivo (or anywhere else). It was a little easier to stomach when the Series2 was around $150, but seriously, $800??