DVR

Now that you're heading into a new week, it's time to clean out your DVR so you won't accidentally miss a taping of your favorite show. Here are some tips for keeping your taped shows organized:

• Catch up with the shows you haven't watched, then delete them after you've watched them.
• Delete any unnecessary series of recordings.
• For the shows you really want to keep, make sure you set it so that it won't ever be deleted, but be sure to keep these permanently saved shows at a minimum.

Gushing about the latest episode of Mad Men or Game of Thrones can liven up any Sunday phone call with Mom. Should she miss an episode, get ready for the sad tale of how you still haven't shown her how to record her must-watch shows.

This Mother's Day, put the excuses aside and devote the day to helping Mom set up and organize her TiVo or other DVR system. Moms like to stay in-the-know, so throw in a little bonus by including a few buzzworthy shows to her scheduled recordings, like Girls and Smash.

Here are a few DVR tips to cover with Mom:

• Go through the remote functions: Click each remote button and talk through their functions, especially those that control and manage recordings.
• Find and record programs: Using both the main channel guide and the menu search page, show Mom the various ways you can look for and record programs. Watch her create a few recordings, then help her decide on the detailed settings like recording only new episodes and manually deleting shows.
• Manage the recordings: Help Mom find the page that lists her recordings, and explain how to play, pause, and fast-forward the recording.
• Explain On Demand: On Demand now features more and more TV shows, helping free up DVR space. Usually the episodes appear in the On Demand section the night after they air. Show Mom how to scroll through On Demand, and look for TV shows she would typically record and help her decide which ones she would rather watch via On Demand than record.
• Write everything down: Leave behind clear instructions that she can review to minimize frustrating phone calls when she can't get the TV to work.

I wish I could take credit for this awesome tip, but it comes to us courtesy of Facebook's Erin Kanaley, who mentioned it during our interview last week. If you're starved for time but don't want to miss out on your favorite guilty indulgences, try watching them in fast-forward.

Erin admits to doing this for Jersey Shore, which sounds like a fantastic idea. You can watch an entire hour-long show in about 30 seconds. And in the case of Jersey Shore and shows like it, you get all of the context without having to put up with drawn-out plot lines . . . or sound!

Does anyone else do this? I'm absolutely trying it out!

Verizon FiOS just released an update to its FiOs DVR app for iOS. The new version of the app allows users to set multiple DVRs from anywhere — a feature I'd love to have when I get stuck in traffic on my way home!

The app also allows users to browse and search program schedules, view on-demand listings, and see what shows are popular in your area and around the country. While Comcast has had this DVR functionality for a while, this is a first for FiOS customers.

Download the app for free now from the App Store.

Oops. Apparently the title of one of Fall's most anticipated TV shows, $#*! My Dad Says is causing some trouble with DVRs. The show, which premieres tonight on CBS is based on a famous Twitter account created by Justin Halpern and comprised of actual $#*! his dad says. Many DVRs won't recognize the $ symbol during a user search, making the show tricky to find. If you're hoping to set your DVR to catch tonight's premiere, find out how to do it after the break.

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be calling Comcast "Xfinity" yet, but I guess that's not important right now — Comcast (or Xfinity, geez) announced yesterday that its newest update to the Comcast Mobile App (free) for your iPhone will include a remote DVR controller to record, edit, or cancel recordings on the go.

Known as myDVR Manager, the app is available in select markets currently, but will be rolling out to all customers soon. You'll know you have access by the new eye icon on your app toolbar at the bottom. It seems as if Comcast is finally catching up to the other apps that help you stay in control.

There are a few more updates to this version of the app. Find out what they are when you read more

There are times that I'm so engrossed in my technology-filled life that I forget that not everyone has the same geeky habits and quirks that I have. After reading this article about friends watching TV together in different time zones, I had one of those reactions. Call me an early adopter, but I've been doing this since high school, when my then-boyfriend and I used to watch Dawson's Creek together on the phone.

But, like so many other things, technology makes co-watching TV shows even easier, thanks to DVRs and services like Hulu, which allow you easily to watch the same show with a friend from virtually any two locations. Then, add services like Skype, which allow you to talk to friends in real time while you're watching. Not to mention there's no danger of someone else in your house complaining that you're hogging the phone line during your favorite show (or picking it up every five minutes until you promise to hang up).

I love doing this with friends who don't live in my city. Usually, my friends on the East Coast will DVR a show and watch with me when it's live in PST here in California. We'll iChat — sometimes with video, sometimes without — and talk as the show progresses. It's an easy (and fun!) way to feel in touch even when there are thousands of miles between us. Do you ever do this?

Don't you just love TiVo? You can skip over commercials at lightning fast speeds, and pause and rewind live TV. It's a luxury I don't think I can live without. Even those of you with a regular, cable-company assigned DVR can perform all these great tricks, but I found a faster way to get through those annoying commercials — you can skip over commercials in 30 second increments with a simple hack and your standard remote.

Why would this be necessary? Oh, I don't know, because you can't wait a single second more to finish watching the latest episode of Gossip Girl, and the never-ending pain med and TUMS ads are out of control? Cause sometimes it seems that even though you're forwarding at four times the normal speed, it still seems to take forever to scrub through? Cause we're all impatient? You know what I mean. Check out the simple six-step hack I found on Wisebread to make your commercials disappear a little quicker when you read more

When babe's is in arms, a mother can watch what she wants — from Grey's Anatomy to The Real Housewives, she doesn't have to worry about wee eyes seeing racy scenes or hearing inappropriate language. Then, the child enters the toddler phase and it's time to tame what's being shown on the tube. This can get hairy if the home only has a single television set. Hours once reserved for watching a parent's favorite sitcoms are filled with episodes of Thomas the Train and other cartoons. Or prime viewing time becomes bath, story and bedtime. If moms and dads still want to partake in the water cooler conversations at the office centered around the fate of George and Izzie, they may want to invest in a DVR or TiVo!