Mad Props!

Tonight* I take delivery of my new Logitech Harmony 880 remote control.

For those who haven't already had the sales-pitch from me in person: The Harmony 880 is a universal remote with a bit of a twist. Firstly, you program it by downloading codes from Logitech's web site, which saves the time of individually teaching it every command from your original remotes (although that's also an option). Secondly, it has an "activity oriented" UI. Rather than pressing a series of keys, one for each command, you can press a single key labelled "Watch a DVD", and the remote will turn on your TV, switch to the right channel, turn on your DVD player, turn on your amp, etc etc.

You can apparently program a whole slew of predefined or custom activities, and I've checked out Logitech's "test run" and was pleased to find that their database includes every piece of equipment I own.

I hope it works for me as well as it has for all the people I've seen post in forums about it ... it has a great reputation.

* Tonight, assuming I can get to the courier's place before they close.