Top Christmas Gifts #5 - #6

Universal Remote

#5 - Logitech Harmony 880 Universal Remote

$250

$250 seems like a lot to spend on a remote control, thats more than most people spend on a DVD player anymore. But for your $250 you can be assured youre getting a state of the art, best-in-the-business Universal Remote control that surpasses all others.

The Harmony 880 is the most critically acclaimed universal remote in the industry, lauded for its user-friendly if not unconventional approach to programming. Most Universal remotes are tedious to setup, between programming the codes that correspond to your gear and then setting up macros for the functions you need. Then there is no code for your device in the book you have to try and make the device learn how to perform the functions you need, a hit or miss proposition in the best of times. The Harmony 880 takes all that away if you have a PC with an internet connection.

Using the provided software and USB cable you just run the software and answer a bunch of questions about your configuration. Once the Harmony software knows what kind of activities you would like to perform you can map these to a button. It couldnt be easier. The Harmony 880 scores high marks for ease of use and its modern styling, its a well built handset with a contoured design and bright easy to read color display. Possibly the most convenient feature is the included cradle-charger, while giving you a place to store your remote so youre not digging for it between cushions tomorrow night, you also get a rechargeable lith-io battery so you never have to worry about replacing batteries.

Slingbox

#6 - Sling Media Sling Box

$250

The Sling box is a deceptively simple little set top box that provides a great service, surprisingly nobody has really thought of putting into a dedicated device before. This tiny box connects to your TVs source, which could be your cable box, PVR, satellite receiver or even rabbit ears. This Slingbox will go-between the source and TV, but it will also have an RJ-45 network cable connected to give it access to the internet through your router. This is where the magic starts, Slingbox will provide you with your TVs audio and video source while youre away, anywhere in the world.

All you need is a high speed internet connection and presto, instant TV on your notebook or remote PC. Since the Slingbox itself has an IR emitter you can take remote control of the TVs source (such as your cable box) from the Slingbox desktop application through which youll view the programming from home. The net effect is sitting back at a hotel room on the other side of the continent with your notebook and still able to catch the local baseball game or finale episode of Rome on HBO. Then when your program is over you can switch channels to some other programming perhaps the local news youre not likely to get at the remote hotel room. Although the PC that receives the Slingbox programming must have the client application installed, this is freely distributed from Slingboxs website for easy access from anywhere.

The Slingbox will go a long way in making programming truly worldwide. It will be of particular interest to sports fans, especially with the modern television sports market where even local games can be blacked out or youre dedicated to an out of town team and need to catch those games. Because its such an easy to use tool people will surely come up with their own clever ways to use it to broadcast their own content through the web. The only unfortunate limitation is that its not capable of a true web-cast in that it only has a one to one client relationship. You can send only to one PC, not to any PC that can listen. This prevents you from re-broadcasting licensed material through the web and guarantees the product is only for personal use.