Go Go Go

Ok first off I just wanted to say with a clinched fist - Dam you soothing music on the alarm clock this morning!!! Yea I pretty much slept through the alarm clock, all 1 hour of it even. I did not even push the snooze button a single time I was so out of it.

Thankfully I did not have any early meeting that I was going to miss out on. There was one last minute meeting scheduled but luckily it's before lunch so that one will be easily attended. Lucky for me since it involves upper management and the director of my game studio. Not something a person wants to flake out on that's for sure!

Friggin' TV Remote

So I picked up this bad-ass Logitech Harmony Touch remote about 6 months or so back at Best Buy after mulling it over again and again along with tons of research. I was stoked to have it albeit a little expensive at $250, but it did everything I wanted and then some. It can be and was programmed to run tasks like "Game System" which would turn on the TV, Xbox or Wii depending on which I chose and with or without the surround sound, again depending on which I chose - all with only a single input selection on the touch screen - super nice!.

The setup was easy and intuitive, everything is saved to your account on Logitech's website in case you needed to make changes or additions and subtractions. It came with a rechargeable battery and a dock to charge it. Really cool to be honest and I am barely scratching the surface of the thing.

Now the bad part; one night Cicely goes to turn on the TV, touches the touch screen on the remote and it comes up bright white - no graphics - Fuck! We try all the usual stuff like rebooting, resetting and so on with no luck and did I mention that it's out of warranty? No, well it was. So we call support and they run us through some of the same things I had already done and then tell us we can send it back for a replacement - Woot!

The reason for the excitement is because all of the stories I had read online made is sound as though they either did not get a replacement or they had to pay nearly half what the original cost them only to end up receiving a refurbished one in the mail - dunno how much water those stories hold, but they are what they are.

Anyway, that next day I get an email from Logitech with a prepaid shipping label. I immediately package the remote and accessories up and I send it back. Immediately I go online and buy a different model (pictured below) that had much better reviews and can be used multiple ways like via your iPhone or with the remote it comes with, pretty cool! Oh and no touch screen which sucks, but that is ok - as cool as the touch screen is / was it is actually sort of a hassle in many ways.

You may be asking yourself "why" since I received a brand new one in the mail would he run out and spend another big chunk of change on another remote, much less from the same manufacture? I will tell you. When something that expensive dies that fast and there are tons of other users with the exact same issue all over the web I lose my faith in that product. Not so much the company, they were great with the return and other products I have from them have worked flawless for many years and are still ticking away. But the touch screen being the biggest selling factor of this remote and to have it fail that soon after purchasing it is not good and something they need to look deeper into.

So anyway, to recoup some of my cash I went ahead and listed the replacement remote that I got back from Logitech on eBay. I was not really keen on setting up an auction and all of that on my Sunday morning - not that it is hard, in fact it's cake compared to a few years back when I use to list stuff all the time on eBay. The best part of the listing is that this remote was sold and I was paid in under 8 minutes, no joke! I think that is my new record for selling something on eBay. I just hope the buyer has better luck than I did with it!

So now I have another Logitech remote, and I think it will prove to be as great as other Logitech products I own and have owned in the past. I simply need to find the time to set the bad boy up and start teaching Cicely how to use it as well as get her the app for her iPhone and configure it for her - fun stuff :D. Have I ever mentioned how much I love messin' with new gadgets and technology? Yea anyone that knows me even just a little bit knows I am an electronic and gadget junkie.

Yield

That will do it for today. I hope your Monday is not kicking your ass!

Photo: New remote to replace the Harmony Touch that failed after only 6 months of gentle use.