Cool Product: Universal Remote Control

With so many electronic devices, I struggled for years to find a universal remote control that actually works with all (or at least most) of my devices that is still easy to use.  I couldn’t tell you how many I have bought, only to despise them a few days later.

A year ago I was visiting my parents, looking for a universal remote that would work for their entertainment system, and decided to try the Logitech Harmony Xbox remote.  (The only things ‘Xbox’ about it are the white color and four buttons that match the A, B, X, and Y buttons on the Xbox controller; it doesn’t require an Xbox to work.)  It turns out, I loved it!  So when I returned home I bought one for myself.  And it worked great for my system as well... it controlled every one of the 14 components in my home theater setup perfectly, from DVD player to projector.  Just a month ago a higher end model went on sale at a fraction of its original price, so I bought two of them: one for home theater, and one for my bedroom. 

The Harmony remotes are different than other universal remotes.  Instead of just being a bunch of remotes in one box, they work on a different idea altogether: using intelligence to control devices based on the activity you are trying to perform.  With traditional universal remotes, you might have to go through a sequence of buttons to watch a DVD:

1. Select TV mode on remote
2. Press Power to turn TV on
3. Press Input button multiple times to select the appropriate input on your TV for your DVD player
4. Select DVD mode on remote
5. Press Power to turn DVD on
6. Press Play to start the DVD

With the Logitech Harmony series, this is reduced to:

1. Press the Activities button.
2. Press the Watch a DVD button.

That’s it!  The remote turns your TV on, sets it to the right input, turns on the DVD player, and starts playing the disc.  It’s much, much easier than using separate remotes or even a single traditional “universal” remote.

Programming the remote is actually pretty easy.  It connects to a computer via a USB cable and you use Logitech’s software to set it all up.  So there is no punching in weird 5-digit codes into the remote to get it working.  Everything is done in an easy step-by-step wizard on your computer.

The remotes do tend to be kind of expensive, but they are totally worth it, and there are cheaper ways to get them.  Refurbished remotes are available online, and you can always pick them up from eBay.  I actually like last year’s line better than the current lineup, so getting a refurbished, old stock, or used model might actually be better (the 720 model I recently got seems to have the best combination of features).

So there you go.  If you have more than a handful of components in your entertainment system, I highly recommend getting a Logitech Harmony remote to control it all.  You won’t have to remember how you’ve got everything hooked up, and don’t have to remember complicated sequences of button presses to control your devices.  The remote does all of your thinking for you.

Home Theater Makeover, Part III

I’ve been wanting to build a real platform for the second row of seating in my home theater ever since the living room makeover started five months ago, but my miter saw was misbehaving, so I didn’t dare use it (never trust a malfunctioning saw).  Which meant I had to wait until I could afford a replacement.  Two weeks ago I finally got one, and Brad was kind enough to assist me in building a new platform.  He brought his fiancé Erin along, who picked out the carpet for it and offered moral support.

So there it is… 8’ x 11’ x 10” of very solidly-built platform, constructed and carpeted in a hair over 3 hours.  It might not necessarily look that sturdy, but it is built very well – much stronger than the floors in your home, so I trust that it will last a long time.  And it has lots of storage underneath.  I’m thinking of adding safety lighting underneath too, but I’m still undecided on that.

And here’s the new saw, a DeWalt DW717.  It’s very nice.  And hopefully I’ll never have to replace it.

Next up for the home theater: a new equipment rack, and a stand for the TV and center channel speaker.  But who knows when either of those will happen.

More Pet Peeves, a Dead Battery, and a New Sofa

Pet Peeves, part II

Its really annoying too me when people can’t seam two get there spelling write on some very common words.  It really isn’t that hard too keep them strait.  Yet these words are interchanged all of the thyme. ***

• They’re, Their, There: They are, belongs to them, and a place.  They’re going to get their books over there.
• Here, hear: This place, listen.  You can hear the ocean from over here.
• You’re, your: You are, belongs to you.  You’re going to get in trouble if you don’t clean your room.
• Too, to, two: Also, a preposition or part of an infinitive, and a number.  I’m going to get two ice cream cones, too!
• Its, it’s: belonging to it, it is.  It’s a shame that the groundhog saw its shadow.
• Pitcher, picture: Liquid storage device, photograph or painting.  If you take my picture, I’ll make you a pitcher of lemonade.
• Who’s, whose: Who is or who has, possession.  Who’s going to do whose dishes?

Also:

• Further vs. farther: In addition to, more distance. * Further more, the concert is farther than I want to drive.
• Then vs. than: part of a conditional phrase or indication of time, used when making comparisons (often accompanies more, less, or fewer).  If you get me a soda then I will give you more jellybeans than Jimmy.
• Affect vs. effect: verb, noun.  ** Will the effect of a declining stock market affect my pay raise?
• Please don’t bear testimony or speak in the name of my son.  I don’t have one, and even if I did, I don’t think I’d want anyone speaking in his name without consulting me first.

* Except when used as an adjective, either further or farther can indicate more time or distance. Farther always indicates distance (think: ‘more far’).  ** In most cases the way we use the words today; affect is also used rarely as a noun, and effect as a verb.  But those cases are very rare. *** There are nine spelling errors in the first paragraph of this post.  How many did you catch?

Battery Dies, Finally!

The battery on my razor finally died today.  So it lasted for four months on a single charge.  Amazing.

New Sofa!

It sounds like we might have more people coming for movie night this week than I originally thought would be able to make it.  So I accelerated part of my living room makeover schedule slightly and bought a sofa last night to create tiered stadium seating.  I picked it up this afternoon and it’s now sitting on a temporary platform until I have the time to build and carpet the real one.  With the addition of this sofa, I should have comfortable seating for around 14-15 people easily, more if we all pretend to be good friends.

Living Room Update / Free Stuff!

It has taken me about eight hours to move stuff away from the walls in preparation for wallpaper removal and for painting next week.  Two hours the first night to do the front half of the room, and another six to do the second half.  The second half took a lot longer because I had to move two bookshelves, and my desk, all of which have been sitting in the same place for more than a decade.  As a result of moving things around, I have thrown out several hundred pounds of stuff, and have created a real mess.

The up side is that the living room already looks a LOT better without the sleeping bag wallpaper, even if it is rather bland at the moment.

I also promised a picture of the wiring behind my home theater equipment, so here you go:

Free Stuff?

One casualty of moving everything around is my desk.  It just didn’t want to be moved (it’s about 300 pounds), and when Brent and I finally got it to move it decided to crack in half.  It’s barely holding together at the moment, but it isn’t going to be usable again.  So I guess I’m forced to retire the old office area now. 

So I’m getting rid of some old stuff that I won’t need any longer with the old office gone.  To start with, the computer monitors need to go.   So I’m giving away a 19”, two 17”, and one 15” CRT computer monitor.  They all work great, I just won’t need them any longer.  If you need a monitor, they’re available for the taking; just stop by and pick one up.  (Shipping probably won’t be an option; it costs $75 and up to ship a monitor these days.)

Specs: 19” will handle 1600x1200 at 75 Hz, 17”s will do 1152x864 at 75 Hz (or 1280x1024 at 60 Hz), and the 15” will do 1024x768.

I also have a professional quality Epson inkjet printer that I’m giving away.  It needs new ink cartridges (which will run about $100) and a good cleaning.  It has seen very little use and probably has only been used to print a couple hundred pages total.  It is one of those models that can print on CDs.  I just don’t use it, and won’t have a place for it.

More free stuff will follow once I’ve had a chance to triage the remaining pile of stuff.  I’ll start by posting info on my blog for my faithful followers, and anything left after a few days will go up on facebook, then ksl.com.

Busy Week!

So General Conference was this last weekend.  But I didn’t get to see much of it; both of the guys I’m working with on our Point-of-Sale application were tied up with other things, so all customer questions and problems fell on my shoulders.  So I pretty much missed most of Conference.  The part of the Saturday morning session when I could have watched because I wasn’t on a support call was missed because I only got four hours of sleep so I pretty much dozed off right after getting off the phone.  Fortunately I did record it, so I can watch it over the coming weeks.

Saturday night after conference Brad and I headed up to Riverton to visit some old friends.  Our friend Jessica had flown into town from Dallas, and wanted to meet a bunch of friends at Lalis’s apartment that night.  Jenn and Ariel were also there as well as some other people I didn’t know.  It was fun to see everyone.  Lots of good memories.

Since we hadn’t seen Jess since before her mission, Brad and I went to lunch with her yesterday.  Brad had to leave to get back to his studies, but I brought Jess back to my place and we watched August Rush and played some Guitar Hero for a bit.   (Don’t worry, Jared, I had my laptop and cell phone nearby during the movie, and took care of the issues that came up during that two hour window.  I’m not a slacker.)

In a few days I’m flying back to Spokane to help install our software in another Little Caesar’s up there, and to have a multi-day powwow with the rest of the Custom Register Solutions party patrol personnel.    Have you ever noticed that the word powwow is half Ws?

While I’m gone my living room is going to be painted (hooray!!! no more 1980s sleeping bag wallpaper!).  So between now and then I have to move everything away from the walls.  It’s going to be especially fun moving a 300-pound desk that has been sitting in the same place for ten years.  And the bookshelves which have been there for eleven.  I can’t wait to see who what is behind those.  I spent a few hours tonight moving my TV and audio equipment away from one wall so the wallpaper can be removed from behind it tomorrow.  (I’ll have to remember to take a picture of the wiring involved in a fully equipped home theater setup while it’s visible… it’s impressive.)  I’ll need to finish moving everything before Saturday morning when they want to remove the rest of the wallpaper.  I’ll also need to do a bunch of rewiring between now and then to “neaten up” the room.  No more visible wires dangling from the ceiling or clinging on the base of the wall around the corner into the next room… at least as much as I can get away with it, anyway.

As part of the living room makeover I plan to remove the computer and desk behind the couch to add a second row of stadium seating, and to build a new professional rack for all of the A/V equipment.  I was also going to mount my new TV on the wall, but the more I think about that the more I think that isn’t such a great idea; it wouldn’t be visible at all from the kitchen or one of the couches if it were on the wall.  So I’ll have to build a nice (and simple) stand for it at some point.  Things to ponder.

My friend Dave is also getting close to needing my help wiring his studio.  He’s has built a video editing / audio recording studio in his dad’s back yard and it’s now time to run the wires before putting up the drywall.  We went over the last little details before purchasing the wires last night.  But I still need to figure out how to terminate the wiring.  We’re going to be installing about 2 miles of wiring in a couple hundred cables, and I’ll have to add ends to the vast majority of them unless I can teach him how to do it.  Fun.

The POS stuff is going well.  We’ve had about twenty sales in the last two weeks.  And we’re getting more referrals all of the time.  Nearly everybody we show the software to is buying it.  I also just found out that we are trying to get into a tradeshow/convention thing in early November.  Which means I’ll have some big changes, as well as a demonstration video, to make between now and then.

If only I had something to do with my time.