harmony

5 tech products you can do without in a recession

You know it's going to be really bad when the man who first revealed that the world is flat, Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, says it's going to be really bad.

Here's how bad it is: Russians are drinking less vodka.

So, as you gird your loans and tighten your money belts, perhaps it's time to live a simpler life. One that revolves far less around luxurious and complex technologies.

Here are five tech products that you will surely be able to live without in this recession/depression/secession from Alaska.

1. Twitter. … Read more

The 404 232: Where a machete is more accurate than Bill O'Reilly

Justin kicks off the show with some fresh haterade for Fox "personality" Bill O'Reilly and his views on the godless liberal city of San Francisco. Also on the show, Wilson goes hands on with the Blackberry Storm, an inmate gets $300 K for his lost genitals, NASA installs a fart detector in the space station, same sex couples can join eHarmony and PETA releases "Cooking Mama: Mama kills animals." We conclude with a geeked out discussion about X-Men.

Dan the Mantern here. In case you haven't seen it already, you should check out the above "documentary" from the O'Reilly Factor that claims that, should the Christian right not remain vigilant, all of America will begin to resemble San Francisco, the modern-day Sodom. If you analyze the video, you'll notice that several interviews were conducted with homeless people and burnt-out hippies, precisely the type of people who would make any city seem like an undesirable place to live. Obviously O'Reilly is running out of material. You better watch your back, Bill, because I know a 130-lb. Asian man who loves skinny jeans and ass-whupping, and his skinny jeans are in the wash...

UPDATE: If you're having problems listening to today's episode of the show, please re-download the episode. We apologize, but there was an error in the MP3 encoding, which caused the file to not play passed the 7 minute mark.

EPISODE 232 Download today's podcast … Read more

TigerDirect.com has the Logitech Harmony 1000 Advanced Universal Remote for $349.99, after $150 Instant savings.

Save $150 on the Logitech Harmony 1000 Advanced Universal Remote from TigerDirect.com >> Regular price is $499.99 >> Sale price is $349.99 >> Savings $150 (30%) >> Click here for deal

Able Planet Clear Harmony NC200 headphones offer noise canceling on a budget

Flying the friendly skies has sure gotten a lot more enjoyable with the advent of portable media players, but frequent fliers realize it takes more than a decent MP3 player to deal with nuisance-ridden travel. A good pair of sound-isolating earbuds or noise-cancelling headphones can do wonders when it comes to escaping into your own world of personal entertainment.

Of course, active noise-canceling sets can cost a pretty penny, which is where the Able Planet Clear Harmony NC200 headphones come in. The pair is sold on Amazon.com for around $60--a palatable price if we ever saw one. You'll … Read more

Can the URC Digital R50 take down Logitech Harmony?

You could be forgiven for thinking that Logitech's Harmony line has all but taken over the universal remote market. But--just as the iPod isn't the only choice for portable media players--there are still plenty of alternatives out there. One of the latest is the URC Digital R50. (URC is short for "Universal Remote Control," the aptly-named company that also makes remotes under the Home Theater Master brands, as well as many of the "generic" remotes that are packaged with cable boxes and other devices.)

The Digital R50 is a $150 clicker that includes a … Read more

Logitech debuts Harmony 510 universal remote

Logitech has stealthily released the Harmony 510, a new entry-level $100 universal remote that slightly reworks the design seen on the company's previous 500-series models. It's almost an exact copy of the Harmony 550, except for a different color scheme and slight reworking of the keypad. There are two fewer keys, and some buttons are relabeled. For instance, the bottom four buttons on the 550 are Sound, Picture, A, and B; on the 510, there are just four unlabeled colors (red, green, yellow, and blue). In fact, those color keys are actually borrowed from the European versions of the Harmony remotes--note the very similar Harmony 525.

To confuse matters further, there's a third remote--not counting the now (presumably) discontinued Harmony 520 and the Europe-only 525--in the line that's also a near-doppelganger: the awkwardly named Logitech Harmony Advanced Universal Remote for Xbox 360 (which we dubbed "AURX360", strictly for expediency's sake). Even for non-Xbox 360 owners, that model may actually be the pick of the litter, because it has a couple of extra buttons over the 550--and controls 12 devices, rather than just the 5 the 510 does. All four U.S. models can be found online for under $85 dollars. … Read more

Thoughts on Logitech Harmony One universal remote

I recently purchased a universal remote control to replace the three other remotes that littered our living room. Both the remotes for the Comcast cable box and Marantz AV receiver were theoretically universal, but none really functioned as such as they were too hard to set up and too hard to use. So my wife and I did the familiar remote juggle.

Hoping to fix this I selected the Logitech Harmony One for various reasons which I'll go into. (I should also note that Logitech is a client of Frog Design, where I work, but I'm writing this … Read more

Is ESPN's new Wi-Fi universal remote the ultimate?

We got an e-mail Tuesday announcing that ESPN's Wi-Fi remote was going on sale just in time for Father's Day. The remote is simply called ESPN The Ultimate Remote, which shouldn't be confused with another heady remote, Logitech's The One.

While The Ultimate Remote did make an appearance at CES in January, we really hadn't heard anything about it. It looks somewhat like one of Logitech's last-generation Harmony remotes, but it's apparently made by tvCompass, "a provider of digital media solutions."

On paper anyway, ESPN The Ultimate Remote looks like a … Read more

Aperion's new Intimus 5B Harmony SD speakers rock

We just posted our review of Aperion's new Intimus 5B Harmony SD home theater speakers, and the verdict is in: Aperion's new system sounds seriously awesome. It's got a new remote-controlled sub, with adjustable EQ, which we loved for changing sub levels on the fly without getting off the couch. But the real selling point is the system's sonics, and resident Audiophiliac Steve Guttenberg gives it a strong recommendation. We had some quibbles--the biggest of which was the difficult subwoofer setup--but overall we were really impressed with performance and build quality of the Intimus 5b Harmony … Read more