Re: Hawking Technologies Unveils HomeRemote At CES

["Bill Kearney" <wkearney-99@hot-mail-com>]

> > http://www.hawkingtech.com/pressdetails.php?typeID=3&PressID=84
>
> This new system employs Z-Wave.

As do the new Harmony 890 remotes.  But in testing three of them I found the
build quality to be insufficient to justify the outrageous price.  The RF
receiver was poorly designed as well.  That and it's web-based programming
tool was very slow and unreliable.  I'm sure it's possible to make Z-wave
devices that are reliable, but this wasn't one of them.  There's also a
z-wave based unit from Monster.  It appears to be, essentially, a repackaged
Harmony.  But it's build quality was somewhat better; both in the remote and
the RF base.  I didn't bother testing but went with a Universal MX-3000
instead.

This year could be very interesting for remotes.  Windows has a feature
called "side show" that a couple of new remotes have announced using.  It'll
be interesting to see if/when they ship and how usable they are.  But a
working, cost-effective, bi-directional remote with an LCD screen would be a
very interesting breakthrough for the home.  Not that a wifi PDA doesn't do
much of the same thing.

-Bill Kearney