I bought a Harmony Remote yesterday from Best Buy (they just started carrying it) and I set the thing up yesterday. I like it -- it does it's job and it's far better than any universal remote control at orchestrating all the devices in my home AV system.

Taking a step back from the Harmony Remote, the fact that something as complicated as the Harmony remote is even necessary highlights the unnecessary complexity of home audio/video equipment in general. Jakob Nielsen talked about this a few weeks ago in his alertbox column. He talks about the usability of BMW automobiles, and consumer electronics remote controls. Personally, I'm always shocked at how cryptic the on-screen menus are on every Sony camcorder I've ever used. I could go on and on with examples of horrible user experiences from traditional consumer electronics devices -- I find them at every turn. This is a problem that we are very tuned into at SnapStream