Control Freak
Three hundred channels and a DVR full of recorded shows, and you´re still sifting through it all with a controller straight out of the ´80s. That´s why Hillcrest Labs designed the Loop, a remote with nary a number on it. Instead, a button brings up an onscreen guide, which you navigate with a scroll wheel. To select what you want to do-browse recordings, change settings-just wave the remote around to move an onscreen cursor through a series of intuitive, icon-driven menus. Accelerometers inside the controller detect where you´re pointing (a technology the company calls Freespace). Hillcrest expects to sign deals with set-top-box makers later this year, so you could get one with your next cable box. Now, if only they could make it easier to find in the seat cushions.
THE LOOP
SIZE: 5 inches across
WEIGHT: 5 ounces
BATTERY LIFE: About three months
AVAILABLE: Late this year
MORE INFO: hillcrestlabs.com