This was even cooler two days ago before Engadget swiped it from Hack-a-Day...

http://hackaday.com/2009/06/19/usb-reader-for-snes-game-carts/

Build your own, it's easy.

Wow. This just set the recod for how little I could care.

Yet I post anyway... sigh.

I'd trade it for an iPhone.

(guaranteed winner! Everyone else should just quit now.)

Disagree completely. That attitude also contributed to the tech crash of 2000/01.

Functionality people, FUNCTIONALITY!!!!!

I own a Harmony 890 (~$220 when I bought it if I remember right), and it is a trainwreck. What's so sad is that the remote itself is nice hardware. Tons of potential anyway.

First, there's a design flaw with the older cradles that prevented a reliable recharge connection. I have to place a small weight on top of my remote to force the connection. Logitech offers a free replacement, but I'd rather not wait 4-6 weeks to use a device I just spent $200+ on...

That hardware glitch is acceptable to me. However, their software isn't, and it sounds like Denon may be shooting themselves in the foot with the same approach: web-based programmer. Logitech offers NO way to directly program the remote with raw codes or even customize it to your liking. Instead, they force you to log into their (wickedly slow and unreliable) web site and specify the specific make/model of each and every component you wish to control with your remote. [hmmm, I wonder if that user database has any value to marketers????] Then, the software TELLS YOU how the menus will be organized (alphabetically mostly). And all this only allows you to control one device at a time with the keypad without having to manually switch devices on the remote (similar to inputs on your TV menu, 3-6 keystrokes involved).

Say you have a home theater system (if you spend $200+ for a remote control, it's a safe bet you want to control more than a 19" b&w TV). Obviously you might want the 'Channel +/-' button to control your Cable/satellite while having the 'Volume +/-' control your A/V receiver without needing 4 keystrokes in between to change components on the remote. Can't do it natively with the Harmony. Instead, there's a whole other dimension of hell involved with configuring their "Activities" menu. An expert with this device starting from scratch would need 1-2 hours to set up the most obvious config: sat recvr + a/v recvr + TV.

Don't believe me? Just read the support forums at the Harmony site. I've followed it for almost 2 years, and see posts almost daily from people flat out BEGGING Logitech to offer a utility that allows raw programming and/or without requiring an active internet connection. I'm convinced their silence has more to do with the marketers subsidy (from the user db I already mentioned) than any technical limitation with the flash. In fact, someone got so frustrated about the inability to even customize the order commands are displayed on the LCD that he wrote a trivial Firefox extension that lets you change the order yourself while using Harmony's web-based programmer. For shame!

Another thing that annoys me: "customizeable slideshows" for the LCD. Buy it and then find out the remote only displays the slideshow when it's docked on the cradle - with the weight I have to place over the screen in order for the charging contacts to touch ;)

"but we bet all those customers and partners are still pretty psyched to know the new codename for a product that's three years out."

I absolutely agree that this is barely news.

It's not as if Stephen Colbert bought an iPhone or anything.

Hell, as long as the backlash has descended to the level where conspiracy theories are now believable:

A couple months ago there's a story on here claiming the iphone had been delayed till winter. Apple's stock dropped a few percentage points in a matter of hours. Anyone else scratching their heads about how that whole muss just seemed to go away too quickly and quietly?

Remember: keep the shiny-side of the tinfoil on the OUTSIDE when making the hat.

On a related note, Horny16yo is currently on #Teensex... That's all you!

How the hell is this related to the iPhone???

Ryan-

You misunderstand the business-customer relationship. None of your readers pay anything, your advertisers do. That creates a profit-motive and is all I'm saying. I'm sorry if that infers a motive for bias, but it is what it is: the defacto ad-based business model. This isn't an opinion, it's a fact of market economics.

Network television, for example. We'll say over rabbit-ears for simplicity. Why is it profitable to develop programming to attract the largest number of viewers who pay nothing? Because the number of viewers drives their advertising rates. Scary-accurate analogy.

Same applies for cable-tv once you make it past the subscription fee to Cox (or whoever) to subsidize the commercial-free stations and public-service fees (for C-SPAN and local gov't broadcasts)