New EL Touchscreen Remote Control

raminf writes "Stumbled across the Kameleon -- a new remote control device from Univeral Electronics. The interface is a blank electro-luminescent touch-screen. The 'buttons' are animated graphics drawn to match any device you choose . You can update new device interfaces via a modem (specs aren't clear how exactly). You can also define 'macro' buttons to do multiple tasks with one button. Apparently it also has a built-in motion-sensor and turns itself on when you pick it up. You can't buy it directly in the U.S. yet. Here's a British web-site that carries it and has some specs and a picture. Here's the company press release. RadioShack has announced they'll be carrying it retail pretty soon."

Comments

Strange

[CyberMonk]

Is it just me, or does that animated GIF give the appearance that the controller changes size (as far as its height is concerned)?

Sounds nice.

[uninet]

I seem to remember another device like this, but this one does look very nice. I wonder how much RadioShack will charge for it? Probably more than I want to know. I guess there is a "remote" chance I'll actually be willing to pay the price for one.

But can it withstand....

[Dinjay]

The drop test, the fluid contamination tests? This thing looks way too fragile.

tactile?

[Lepruhkawn]

It says it has a pushbutton remote "feel" but the surface looks flat to me.

The problem I have with these programmable touch-screen remotes is that I can't feel the buttons.

I hate looking at a remote when I want to use it.

Re:tactile?

[John Whitley]

It's not clear what feedback technology this company is using, but a fantastic SIGCHI 2001 poster presentation by an NTT researcher showed how this problem can be solved -- and cheaply at that.

The gist is that piezo "thumper" or a stock tiny portable speaker can be programmed to emit low-frequency vibrations when a key is pressed. Not only does this provide very nifty positive feedback from a touchscreen surface, but the feel itself is programmable. E.g. the demo hardware was an all-LCD desk calculator where the buttons were done as soft keys. The clear button had a tactile sensation distinct from the feedback given by the other buttons. I'm eagerly awaiting this tech to propagate into production devices...

A bit pricey at $105

[Anonymous Coward]

It's new new One For All URC-8060, it's available in Europe currently. But as One For All are the biggest manufacturer of universal remotes, I'm sure it will be stateside soon.

The actual manufacturer's site with photos and all the details is here:

http://www.oneforall-int.com/english/products/ur c/ URC-8060.htm

A number of the "One for All" remotes already have modems in them. Other than being a flat glowing screen, the remote itself really doesn't seem much more advanced than their current high end line. I think the modem is a bit overkill, by using the advanced codes or JP1 cables they can be completely customized.

Not so good: no "touch zapping"

[tamnir]

I don't know about you guys, but I usually don't look at the remote control when zapping between channels, changing the volume. Expect for the most exotic functions, I never need to look down and find the key. I just "touch type" on the remote control.

With this new device, that wouldn't be possible. Ok, you can have several remote controls integrated into one. But we already have that with normal remote controls...

So, really, apart from the geek fractor, this thing just sounds like a pain to use. Imagine a keyboard without keys! Oh, but wait...

Already done...

[singularity]

Marantz has been offerring devices similar to this for quite some time. Check out the RC9200 and RC5200. They offer a serial port connection for easy connection to a PC to get more codes installed.

They are also available in the United States.

Re:Mo-dem?

[JessLeah]

Ooh, please don't just recommend USB like that. USB can be dangerous in the wrong hands.

The land of USB peripherals seems to be the land of "rolling your own" protocols. For that (and possibly other) reasons, USB support in Linux is pretty sparse. Heck, I have some USB mice (!!!) that refuse to work (namely, the nice, cheap, $6 (but surprisingly high-quality) Kensington Mouse-in-a-Box USB (with scrolly wheel) even as of 2.4.19.

I'm not quite sure why, but some sorts of ports seem to invite "roll your own protocol"-itis. Parallel ports spawned much of this sort of behavior-- remember all the parallel port scanners, digital cameras, and electric tweezers that came out in the mid-90s? Ditto USB; everything seems to do things its own way.

Then there's serial. Serial is serial is serial, by and by, it's easy to reverse engineer things (since the tools to do so have been around for decades-- heck, you can just plug a serial device into a dumb terminal and watch the data flow by-- or more likely watch the device try to handshake with a non-existant desktop ;) ) Also SCSI. I've never heard of a modern SCSI scanner brand that ISN'T supported by Linux. ALL modern SCSI CD-ROM drives are supported. ALL SCSI hard drives (since they adhere to the same standard.)

But step into the world of USB and the picture gets a bit murkier... unless you're running Windows, of course, where all the drivers are available since the hardware manufacturers themselves make it.

Case in point: I lack a SCSI card in my box at the moment. And I needed a scanner, and didn't want to do any weird diddling with parport scanners. So I decided to go USB. It took me a whole 15 minutes of scanning through dozens, and dozens, and dozens of USB scanner listings on eBay to find one that was supported "stably" (not listed as "experimental" on the SANE page) under Linux/Unix...

Re:$60 at RadioShack

[pc486]

Most of the time electronics in the UK are MUCH more expensive than the US, not just on par. My floormate here at UCSC is a transfer student from University of York, England and he waited to buy tons of electronics here, like a new digital camera and a new monitor, because the prices were undercut by half, sometimes three times.

<OT> I used to work for Radio Shack and I can vouch that at $60 for that remote RS is likly making over $20 profit. Also remember that Radio Shack sales associates are under commision and spiffs, so never trust them on opinions and note that the price is probably lower somewhere else with some exceptions. Second hint: always ask about discontinued merchandise for expensive items. Most of the time the older model is just as good and sold under cost. Once a former coworker got a $270 scanner for $30. </OT>

Heck, forget buttons

[cellocgw]

Real or not, why bother with buttons at all. Go for voice:

"Channel Thirty Seven"
"Louder"
"Mode Dolby Digital"
"DVD On"
"DVD Play"

You can't lose your voice under the sofa cushion.