Harmony
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Logitech's Harmony 1000 Advanced Universal touchscreen remote
If you felt Logitech's Xbox 360 remote was just too focused for your tastes, the Harmony 1000 should provide the depth and breadth you're craving in a universal remote. Upping the ante on its long-standing lineup of home entertainment controllers, its new flagship unit sports a sleek silver and black finish, a 3.5-inch color touchscreen, internet programmability, rechargeable batteries, and a slew of one-touch activity options. Aside from completely pimping out any living room table, you can control nearly every electronic facet of your home via the IR emitter, and if you toss in the RF-enabling Harmony Wireless Extender ($149.99), you can dictate the gadgetry in any room of your crib. Sporting the Smart State Technology also found in the Harmony 890, the 1000 allows for automated control of various systems / activities with a single button press, and with an online stockpile of 175,000 devices at your disposal, setup shouldn't cause too many headaches. If you have enough remotes to supply a small Radio Shack, and you're looking for one ring remote to rule them all, the Harmony 1000 can get your setup(s) under control for $499.99 later this fall.[Thanks, Gristle]
Buying a plasma means supporting nuclear energy
And you call yourself an eco-friendly human being. You sport the Prius with pride, munch on twigs and berries, and even plant a tree each Arbor day, but you still have that plasma hanging above your minimalistic Ikea table; shame on you. Didn't you know that a plasma TV requires nearly four times the amount of energy a normal tube TV does? It is getting so bad in England, they might have to build two extra nuclear power plants just to power all these new flat panels that are being installed in homes and pubs across the country. Plus, when you add in all the extra equipment to complete the digital experience, (e.g. DVD players, DVRs, media centers, ect.) it just means that our little, green globe is going to burn up even quicker. So you know what this means right, it is a great excuse to pick up a nice Harmony remote that turns things off when they are not in use. How else where you planning on spending all that cash you are saving by driving a Prius?
Motorola's "Harmony" project to support iDEN, WiMAX
In a move aimed squarely at Sprint Nextel, Motorola has announced that it's working on solutions capable of supporting iDEN plus WiMAX as a stop-gap 4G solution. The big picture (back end, devices, chipsets) is known as "Harmony," and though the announcement itself is of little interest to most consumers -- especially with iDEN ultimately moving into the government's hands -- this should at least catch Sprint's attention as their hopes and aspirations have lately been wandering from WiMAX toward other 4G initiatives. As PCS Intel points out, with iDEN / CDMA handsets around the corner, it's a pretty short hop from iDEN / WiMAX to the iDEN / WiMAX / CDMA trifecta, leaving Sprint with the total package for supporting CDMA in the consumer sector, high security (read: next-gen) iDEN for government services, and WiMAX for 4G. Of course, Harmony is still a one-trick pony and if Sprint politely declines, it's almost certainly dead in the water. We're pulling for ya, Moto.
Navio makes good on promise to "unlock iPod"
It looks like Navio Systems have made good on their promise to open up the iPod to non-iTMS content, at least according to a report by Business 2.0, which says that the company is planning to enable its customers to offer iPod-compatible, copy-protected videos by the end of June. Although the details of Navio's methodology are not entirely clear, it seems that their engineers have deconstructed Cupertino-neighbor Apple's FairPlay DRM in order to create a separate-but-equal copy protection scheme that content providers can use to offer their own encrypted products to iPod owners. You'll remember that RealNetworks employed a similar tactic with their Harmony technology, which allows songs purchased from the RealPlayer Music Store to play on iPods, and which Apple did their part -- albeit unsuccesfully -- to thwart by way of firmware updates. Will Navio's technology spark a similar firmware arms race? Only time will tell, but we can't really see Steve and friends just sitting back listening to Beatles tunes while other players start eating away at iTunes' market share.[Via iLounge]
Motorola patenting Feng Shui-enabled cellphone
Motorola knows what a pain it can be to hire a consultant every time you need to get your Feng Shui-on at a new location, so they're trying to patent a method for measuring chi levels right from your cellphone. In order to provide the user with the greatest amount of must-have qi, phones equipped with this tech would use nearly every available sensor -- and one dedicated one -- to develop an accurate overview of the environment: the camera is used for evalulating color saturation and spacial relationships, the GPS reciever for determining proximity to "undesirable" sites, the microphone for gauging ambient noise levels, and even the radio for measuring AM/FM transmission strength from the nearest towers. Since no Feng Shui reading would be possible without knowing which direction the main wall of the building faces, the Moto patent also calls for the inclusion of a "three-dimensional Hall-effect sensor" that would measure the strength of electromagnetic fields to deliver digital compass readings. While this all seems a bit complicated, software would take care of most of the hard work, essentially allowing the user to snap a few photos and sit back as the phone's sophisticated chi engine leads him/her to a harmonious balance.[Via Unwired View]
Castlevania: Dual Moons
Forum poster Think Tank recently did a little snooping at Gamepro.com to shed some light on the supposed upcoming DS Castlevania title. It looks like we have an actual name for it now. Castlevania: Dual Moons isn't as gripping a name as Aria of Sorrow or Harmony of Dissonance and hopefully will change before the suggested 2007 release. Stay tuned to DS Fanboy for more information as it develops. [Via Go Nintendo] [Update: Gah! We fell for an April Fool's joke. Serves us right for that nasty Mario DS Lite prank we pulled.]
