This is a topic I really ought to post about more often, if only to support that small percentage of products that I buy that I find are competently designed and actually useful.

Top on my list right now: the Logitech Harmony Remotes. A few months ago I bought the Harmony One, and more recently I bought the Harmony 900 for a different room, which is basically the One plus an RF repeater.

These are expensive, though less so on Amazon, but if you can afford one then it's worth it. I got the first one because it was cheaper than buying replacements for the remotes the dog ate, but you don't need that excuse.

The value should be obvious, but I'll summarize. Most universal remotes suck, because all they do is let you have a single remote that can "chameleon" into multiple remotes. You still have to press five buttons to get everything working, but you only need one remote. This works fine by yourself, but when you have, say, your parents visiting, it becomes a disaster.

The Harmony Remotes are different. They are modal by activity. The desktop software (PC and Mac) is very slick and lets you describe the hardware you own. It then suggests and walks you through setup for activities like "Watch TV" or "Listen to iPod" or "Play Wii". Once the activities are configured, you choose one on the remote and it turns the right things on and sets the right input settings. If something goes wrong, it has built-in help to fix the problem.

That's pretty great, but beyond that it has a huge database of equipment and also lets you configure activities and buttons manually if something is missing. The 900 also comes with an RF device that the remote talks with, which repeats IR commands so your equipment doesn't have to be line-of-sight with the remote. (This helps in my bedroom where everything is in a closed closet.)

I've found a few problems with setup, but nothing the software hasn't allowed me to fix manually. This, to me, is a sign of a great product. When it doesn't work right, I can spend some time and fix it. Something that is possible far too rarely. If you have 3 or more AV components, get one of these things. It's totally worth it.

Next Up: I got a Moxi DVR + Moxi Mates because I've given up on TiVo ever innovating again. After the next software update I hope that I will be able to recommend. Right now there are still some rough edges, but I've been told by support they are being fixed soon.

Ах безлимитный интернет и WiFi! Как я скучаю по вам... Стерва сотовая связь конечно даёт почти везде, но за дорого и без любви, и без картинок - с картинками совсем разоримся. Читать друзей в ЖЖ без картинок совсем грустно, но уже совсем скоро к нам присоединятся остальные члены команды (буквально - я, как всегда, единственная "без-членная" в команде) и мы помчимся к той Африке которую я так люблю, оставив позади выхлопные газы и гам города, и у нас будут свои картинки.

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O unlimited internet and WiFi! How I miss thee... Mobile internet is a total bitch. Of course you can have it nearly everywhere, but it's like sex with a prostitute, expensive and no love. And nothing "graphic" - loading photos burns a hole in you pocket in no time. Reading the friends page without pics is quite depressing, but the rest of team will be here real soon, and we'll leave the smog and the the noise of the city behind us and dive into the Africa that I love so much - and in full Technicolor.

(Purple - states with bottle laws Yellow - states with campaigns for laws)

So today I re-learned that not all 50 states have beverage container laws. I live in Michigan and we do have these laws so I assumed they were everywhere. My boyfriend Christopher told me this before but it didn't really register with me until today. Only California, Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Hawaii, Maine, Iowa, New york, Massachusetts, Oregon and Vermont have the law. What the hell are the other 39 states doing? Destroying this beautiful planet even faster because of all the beverage bottles being trashed. It's a damn shame that every state doesn't have these laws. Anyways earlier at work I was ringing up a lady and her husbands groceries. Her husband grabbed a coke zero from the cooler and told him to grab her one too. So I rang them up and she was like "Wait. WAIT WAIT. What is that 10 cents? I didn't buy a deposit?!" I explained to her that it was a deposit and she'd have to take the bottles back to get the 10 cents on each bottle back. Then she asked why for and explained it's our way of reducing littering and encouraging recycling. Then she said "Oh I don't want them then. TAKE THOSE OFFFF right now - I'm not paying for no deposit! I'm from Texas and we don't have that there." As if the policy was a bad thing. nhyhyiow23qetyg56787wesdr3657u *Bangs head on keyboard* Then I asked her if she were going to come back to Wal-mart before she left and she said yes. Then I explained that all she would have to do was bring them with her and take them to the bottle return in the store. She told me no because it's too much trouble. Too much trouble? All I was thinking at point was what a lazy, not a friend of mother earth typical American. Even if she didn't want to return them it's 20 freaking cents more - 10 cents a pop. Two dimes - if that breaks your budget you got some serious financial issues.

Oh and BTW I don't want to hear anything about me working at Wal-mart. I know all about them but I have my reasoning for working there. I'll explain in a future blog how it's actually good/activist like for me to work there.

Just for the record- Would you want me to just let you do what you want with your lives if I found you in a bad situation? Because my first instinct is to try like hell to change that situation and if I find any of you sleeping outside with an addiction problem... I'm very likely to chain you in my basement while you detox and I force feed you until your facilities are more about you. If that's not what you want you may want to tell me now because it's kind of a case by case situation and knowing me... I'll come looking for you if I think you need me. That's just what I do.

Самолёт вынырнул из пурги, и я вздохнула с облегчением. Внутри заскрипело чувство вины - так всегда когда покидаешь родных в родном городе. Киев и Москва укутались в шубы и шарфы, а мы, с каждым километром, снимаем с себя очередной слой одежды, предвкушая Африканский зной.

Аэропорт Найроби это и есть настоящие Африканские джунгли.
( Сорри )

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The plane rose above the blizzard behind, and I sighed with relief, tough feeling a little guilty about leaving family behind. As Kiev and Moscow pull on their fur coats and scarves, we shed the layers with every kilometer in anticipation of the African heat.

Nairobi airport is the real African Jungle.
( Sorry )

There are certain benefits to being on the road all the time and living out of your backpack. This time Marmot, Keen, and Black Diamond have given us some of their equipment to test. They join the ranks of other, no lesser, brands in the arsenal - let's see if they stand up to the challenge.
Below the cut we will be presenting the new additions, criticizing some of our old choices, and showing off my favorite travel gadgets.
( into the backpack we go )
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Нас часто спрашивают что у нас в рюкзаке. А ведь рюкзаки, и то что в них, это почти всё что у нас есть! С годами мы стали своего рода специалистами по части того, что стоит брать в дорогу, и на этот раз мы взяли у компаний Marmot, KEEN, и Black Diamond немного снаряжения на экспертизу.
Ниже мы описываем всё что мы берем, что брать не надо, и что нам особенно нравится иметь с собой.
( ныряем в рюкзак )

I just got some new AV equipment.

I have a Pioneer VSX-1019AH-K AV Receiver, connected to a Samsung UN46B8500 television.

When I turn on the TV it shows a few seconds of video and then the AV Receiver says "HDCP Error" and stops. Because, you know, my TV is TOTALLY TRYING TO STEAL HOLLYWOOD'S VALUABLE CONTENT.

This is going to be so fun to try to get the vendors to debug or fix. Of course, when I plugged in the TV to the network (it has an Ethernet port), it said "A software update is available for your television. Do you want to download and install?" Interesting future we live in.