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From The Show Floor - Harmony Universal/PC Remote Announces Mac Support
by , 2:30 PM EDT, July 16th, 2003
If you're a Mac user, odds are your Mac isn't the only piece of electronic gadgetry you have in your house. Chances are that you have lots of devices, all controlled by a different remote. Sure, there are "universal" remotes that are usually a pain to program. If only there was a better way to control all of your devices...
We had a chance to speak with Mike Warrener, Sales manager at Harmony Remote, to update us on their remote control product offerings, as well as their recent announcement of Mac support. Harmony was showing two units, the SST-748, a low-end unit, and the SST-768, a more full-featured unit. Both units have a 84 x 48 pixel backlit display, and buttons for basic device operation. The 768 has many more buttons that the 748, and also sports 2 MB of memory, as opposed to 1 MB for the 748.
The SST-768 Comes in Different Colors
One thing that makes these devices unique is the method used to program them. Rather than pointing all your other remotes at it, the Harmony system provides a web site where you can specify the devices that you want to control. You then download this information from your Mac to the remote using a USB connection. You can also download channel and 2 weeks worth of TV listing information to the remote.
What makes the Harmony different is a feature called Activity Control. Rather than having to program a complicated macro to set up all of your components, you can just make a single selection such as "Watch Television" or "Watch a DVD" and the Harmony will (hopefully) take care of the rest. We'll be sure to report on this feature in an upcoming product reviews.
The SST-768 retails for US$299, and the SST-748 for US$199. Stay tuned for a full review once we get one of these in our hot little hands.
The Mac Observer Spin:
Great to see yet another Windows-only vendor decide that the Mac is a platform worth supporting.Observer Comments
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