When we have friends and family staying with us, there's a ritual we go through. In addition to showing them how to lock the door and where the tea and coffee making stuff is, we show them how to use our various remotes to control our TV, VCR, DVD player, etc. While I can't do anything about the keys or the coffee, there is a solution for the entertainment control situation.

It's called the Harmony Remote and it changes the way you handle your audio-visual devices. I have never been a fan of the so-called "universal" remotes because they take way too much work to be worth the hassle. But the Harmony is different. For starters, it doesn't have the dozens of buttons that universals have - just a few buttons on its rather retro-looking body. There's more to it than that, of course.

It is Internet-enabled, so you can connect it to your computer and it will download the correct technical data for each of your devices (you do this only each time you have a new component). This can save you hours of time. The main difference is that you now think of the "activity" you want to do (watch TV, listen to a CD, watch a DVD) rather than think of specific devices. You tell it what you want to do using a simple scroll wheel and the LCD screen, and it just does it for you.

As Seth Goldwin, a Manhattan gadgeteer who was an early adopter, showed me (and ABC-7 viewers), you can use the Harmony to simplify your life and remove that remote clutter from your coffee table. (By the way, Goldwin has a dream home theater system that I would love to have, but cannot afford).

An unusual feature: If you are watching TV and you press the "zap" button, it will make a note of what you were watching and then, if you connect your Harmony to your computer, it will automatically take you to that particular program's Web site or an associated site.

As with any new technology, it isn't completely simple and isn't cheap. It takes a little getting used to the way it works, but is worth the effort. And as for the price, it costs $199, which is too much for many consumers, but for those who could really use the simplicity, it might be fair value. I expect the price will come down with future versions.

To learn more, visit the Harmony Remote site:
http://www.harmonyremote.com

To learn more about remote controls:
http://www.remotecentral.com

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