Your DVR can help your love life!

Yes, that's right. According to the Hollywood Reporter, taking control over your TV can soothe a troubled relationship. Apparently, NDS, a company that makes DVR technology, conducted a poll of 1,000 DVR owners and found 79 percent said their TiVos and TiVo clones had improved their personal relationships . I'm guessing the benefits are twofold: Fewer fights over control of the remote, plus the chance to delay your viewing in order to...take out the garbage? Have that "big talk"? Fill in the blanks yourself. People also said the DVR ranked second to the mobile phone as the household technology they couldn't live without.

So the transition is nearly complete. DVRs aren't nearly as hard a sell as they were when I first wrote about them back in 2001, as early-adopters tried desperately to explain the machines to their non-techie friends. At the time, saturation hovered at a piddling 2 percent. Now, DVRs are available through cable and satellite packages, and by last spring, they were in 26 percent of American households. And now that Nielsen has started to measure "live plus same-day" ratings, the networks aren't doing nearly as much to sabotage the technology by starting and ending shows at, say, 10:02 p.m.

I remember my early-adopter brother telling me, many years ago, that his TiVo changed the way he thought about time. I think I'm still settled on the Einstein issues, but I will say my DVR has changed my TV habits considerably. I seldom watch anything 100 percent live. And as a parent, I have a powerful tool. No need to flip channels when you've stored sixteen episodes of "Peep and the Big Wide World." Plus I can watch "American Idol" on time-delay and avoid the violent ads. And if I didn't catch what Baltar said on "Battlestar Galactica," I can go back and hear it again and again and again. So, it's time for some testimonials...has your DVR helped you find more stable love? A happier life? Do tell.