Universal Remotes: Some Things to ConsiderWritten by Bear Cahill
We probably all have about 8 "universal" remotes these days. Every new component you buy comes w/ one, but none of them are really "universal" because there's always some feature on one device that other remotes don't have a button for. But wdn't it be nice to really be able to use one remote for all your devices? I do!There are so many different universals on market these days that it's impossible to go over them all here. So I'll hit high points and let you decide. I'll pick a few popular types/models and go over a few points that helped me decided for or against them. One thing you need to understand is what a 'learning' remote is. That means that you can set remote to learn other remotes' signals: you set it to be ready, aim another remote at it, press a button on that remote and learning remote stores that signal. Now whatever button you set up on learning remote sends that same signal. This way even if your univeral remote doesn't have a 'Eject' button, it can send that signal. All of remotes listed here are learning b/c that's only way to be truly universal. Most universal remotes these days also allow you to run macros. That way when you want to watch a movie, w/ just a couple button clicks, you can have it turn TV on, stereo to DVD player, etc. Also, usually have timers so you can turn TV on and off while you're out of town for example. Big LCD: Sony RM-AV3000 This remote was 'big boy' on block for a long time. It does it all and looks cool doing it. The two main draw backs to this model are size and buttons. Because it's so big, it's hard to use w/ one hand - you can't reach across remote to press some buttons or parts of LCD. Next time you're watching TV, see how often you just use one hand on remote and think about giving that up. This model used to be pretty expensive, but it's getting better. Internet: Harmony SST-659 I haven't actually tried this one, but I get idea and I like it. You can program this remote to work w/ your devices and upload configuration. That way others can use it. More directly, you can use other peoples' configurations! The point of this one is ease of use so I'm assuming it wd be relatively straight forward to hook it up and program it. Maybe a little intimidating, but I bet most people cd do it and it wd be worth it.
| | THEY'RE VIBRANT, THEY'RE TALENTED, AND THEY'RE LEAVING: Luring Our Youth Back Home With TechnologyWritten by Jill St Claire, President - JSC Marketing, LLC
What do young people of Humboldt County do after leaving high school and college? Some can’t wait to leave, and others want to stay but aren’t satisfied with job opportunities, or lack thereof, in this place they’ve known as “home”. The real question is -- how do they perceive options available: minimum wage retail sales, join a branch of U.S. Military, family farm, or just hanging out with their friends who are in same situation. Some, through their own entrepreneurial activities, see options for working from home or for business opportunities in their own community. Most however, are just glad to have found a good job somewhere, and “somewhere” usually isn’t Humboldt County even though leaving home isn’t what they really want. The editor William Vitek says in his essay, Community And The Virtue Of Necessity, "What keeps a community together is inability of its members to leave, either because of dangers that lie outside community--a forbidding desert or an enemy clan, for example--or ties that lie within community--traditions, laws, fear of being cast out, rejected, or destroyed." In recent times that has been mitigated (or weakened) by technology: automobiles, telephones, outside investments, ties to state and federal assistance programs, but some people do not feel that they can ever leave and continue a constant cycle of struggling with finding a means for economic security. For many of Humboldt County’s residents, their identities are heavily intertwined with their community. The importance placed on where they live and what keeps them there (other than “we can’t just move farm”) seems to be tranquility, natural beauty, perceived lack of crime, and most importantly, people and relationships. To prevent loss of our productive population and slow death of many of Humboldt County’s smaller communities, as we’ve seen happen with all too many, we have an enormous responsibility to make this place matter enough for our young talented people to want to stay or return after attending college elsewhere. By garnering our connection to technological age and educating our youth about unlimited entrepreneurial possibilities technology offers, we provide opportunity and a mechanism for our youth to succeed. Having a job that makes use of skills acquired in college would be an important step in keeping them here and luring those who’ve left back home. While technology and Internet alone may not revive an entire community, it can provide a good income in places where there are few traditional new jobs. Some good examples are: GIS expert working from home in Hilo, Hawaii; pack goat supplies in Weippe, Idaho; Tionesta students selling digital stories; small ISP in Imperial, Nebraska; future Spanish language institute being formed in Elsa, Texas; and marketing of fine wood products in Orofino, Idaho.
|