What difference does it make how many versions MS wants to sell? So what if Ultimate costs more, I'll be pirating it anyway. Everyone should. The idea behind 5 versions is to make MS some extra money. Does anyone really believe they built the cripple version first, then spent more money to build ultimate? No, they built ultimate and then stripped stuff away to make a 'low cost' version that actually raised the cost of the project as a whole while being entirely unnecessary. If they want to charge extra for something that didn't cost extra that's as much theft in my mind as pirating their shit is. They stop playing their game, I'll stop playing mine.

I'm pretty sure you'd have to live alone for this to work. Either that or you'd always have to be home whenever anyone else is, at least if they wanted to watch TV, which people only do for 6 hours a day. It's a neat idea, and if the remote app is superior to other options, then I would consider using a touch as a full time dedicated remote, especially as has been said, over wifi with ir blasters. I somehow doubt that it would be though, 3rd party apps just usually don't look as good or work as well as manufacturer apps. If Apple built a remote into the touch, it would probably be the best remote on the market. As far as I'm concerned though that has more to do with the poor choices available today for a remote.

It's low end, but I don't want anything more than my gyration media center remote. Gyroscopic mouse is dead on, TV support is great, surround sound not quite so much, but it is a learning remote so you can map things... one annoyance, the volume buttons cannot be used on AUX, it defaults to the TV, it does work for PC, and a simple remap will let you control surround volume. If you have a media center program on your computer it's all the better. And, at $150 from them, or $75 on ebay, it's better than, as the article says, dropping half a grand on a harmony, although nowhere near as pretty.

I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now....

I too came to comments just for the reference. Us poor poor children of the 90s.

I don't think the automated/connected home is really all that far off. Someday we'll have something that looks very much like this in our entryways. Sadly this one is not good enough to make the high-end systems that exist in the homes of the wealthy today, probably too high a price for the DIY automator and serves little other niche and is therefore probably doomed to fail before its time ever comes. Mark my words though, in 5 or 10 years this will all start to go mainstream and something very much like this will make a lot of money.

I'm pretty sure the headline is meant to be "Blackberry Storm Blows," although I don't think it was ever meant to be a bad thing; simply a play on words. Lesson: When attempting a play on words, don't fuck up, it ruins the whole thing and makes you look bad.

Poor allislost. If the comment (and article) had been about buds instead of blow it'd be highest ranked. Certainly there's plenty of potheads in the engadget readership (and staff) but no one wants to stand up for the coke heads. Cocaine users and dealers are Communists; heroin users and dealers are Jews; meth users and dealers are Trade Unionists; Marijuana users and dealers are Catholics and you non drug users are Martin Niemöller.

I too have the old version. At first I was thinking I only paid $99, and that $80 for a little LCD seemed steep, but thinking about it now I'm pretty sure it was $149, so $30 isn't outrageous. I certainly do love mine. The gyroscopic mouse works perfect. Only problem is that it's limited in terms of a true universal. In terms of functions it can't even begin to hold a candle to higher end Harmonies. No macros, no unified controls and it can only control 4 devices. Computer functions are as expected, works great as a TV remote, seems to have all the buttons I need. For my receiver though it's had problems. Default programming wouldn't adjust volume. The volume buttons are locked to TV or PC. I repurposed some other buttons, but the learning is lost quite quickly. I've finally given up even trying. 4th function is for a Cable/Satellite box, which I don't have because I have an HTPC... I think that may quite frequently be the case with this remote and makes me wish there were something more useful on that 4th button.

SAVE MY PASSWORD

Anyone want to help me hunt down my high school physics teacher? I suggested this use back in the day when we were talking about deconstructive interference and she told me it'd never be done because it'd be too dangerous not to be able to hear anything from outside the car. I should have known then that she was wrong; we all care far more about luxuries than we do about things like not killing people. It was plainly obvious it'd be implemented in no time...