It cannot wash the car. It will not vacuum the floors. Nor have I been able to get it to floss my teeth—although I am trying make that happen. Otherwise, the NevoSL home controller does just about everything, at least in terms of controlling a home’s electronic entertainment equipment—and all with the greatest of ease. Just ask my mother-in-law.

Mom is one of the kindest women I know, but she validates every joke ever told by a comedian about mothers-in-law. After the hugs and kisses that begin her visits, she finds something to pick on. Lately, it has been the collection of remotes that control my home theater. The only thing I have ever seen her attempt to watch is the Home Shopping Network, for which I usually preset the satellite tuner and TV input before she arrives. All she needs to do is press one button on the television or its remote, but she is not happy unless she picks up five remotes, presses 20 or 30 buttons, and then whines about how she can’t get anything to work.

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Simple icons allow even tech illiterates to select favorite sources easily. NevoSL can also display digital photos from a networked computer, although we cannot figure out why you would want to do that. (Click images enlarge)

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A week or two before her most recent visit, a technician from manufacturer Universal Electronics arrives with a NevoSL, and using his laptop computer, programs it to work with all my home theater components. When Mom arrives, all the other remotes are hidden away. In their place sits the NevoSL. Mom is frazzled. “Where are the remotes? What’s this?” she demands, sneering at the NevoSL, which in its cradle looks more like a piece of avant-garde art than a remote control. “And what are you supposed to do with it?”

What you’re supposed to do with it is almost anything a high-end touchscreen remote such as a Crestron or AMX can do. Its makers claim that the NevoSL controls any audio/video device in the home from any place in the home. Given the right accessories and connections, these claims are not far-fetched. For example, the NevoSL’s 3.5-inch LCD screen can display all the MP3 files on the PC in your office, enable you to create a playlist with Windows Media Player, then play it in the den through a network media player (such as a Roku SoundBridge) connected to your receiver.

My mother-in-law wouldn’t know a playlist from Play-Doh, but she’s impressed with the NevoSL. “No, it’s not a little TV,” I patiently explain, “but there is an image of a little TV on it. Go ahead and touch it.”Acting as though I were asking her to milk a cobra, she begrudgingly holds out her hand. As her fingers wrap around the NevoSL’s sensuous curves, Mom tries putting on her best prune-face, but has difficulty maintaining it. The makers say the remote was painstakingly designed to fit any human hand, but I bet even a gorilla would be comfortable handling it. Then again, the big ape’s lack of an opposable thumb would negate one of the NevoSL’s best features, a cluster of fully programmable hard buttons—arranged with Tivo-style intuitiveness—that can be operated without looking away from the television.

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NevoSL’s sharp LCD screen allows for fantastic and useful graphics, from the basic control interface to CD information and cover art to icons for TV channels. (Click images enlarge)

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For the time being, the TV icon with Mom’s name is all that matters. She touches it and looks up as the TV comes to life. The receiver turns on and switches to the correct input, and the NevoSL’s display changes to a screen filled with television network logos. I point out the HSN icon. She presses it and sees the satellite receiver tune to her favorite channel. “How did it do that?” she asks. “Magic,” I reply. “Programming magic.”

A proficient installer should be able to make the NevoSL look, feel, and operate exactly the way the end user wants it to. A typical configuration might have a home page showing pictures of each user in the household. An individual could then simply touch his or her picture to make the NevoSL fit their entertainment needs.

One reason for the NevoSL’s versatility is its built-in WiFi wireless networking. This enables it to interface with any Windows-compatible device on your home network, and to provide access to the digital music, video, and photos on a networked PC. For example, Dad can play videos of the family vacation on the television, and his daughter can listen to all of her Britney Spears MP3s. The NevoSL can even display a slideshow of digital photos on its screen.

It can also command home automation products, such as lighting and climate controllers. However, most of these devices cannot at present be controlled through the Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP) standard the NevoSL employs. But many can be controlled through ordinary infrared signals, which the NevoSL can emit.The NevoSL touchscreen remote is limited mainly by the imaginations of the installer and the end user. A good installer—and good communication with the client—could net an incredibly competent remote whose price of acquisition is so trivial you may want to put one in every room.

Now if I can just figure out how to make the NevoSL floss for me.

DESCRIPTION
Touchscreen remote control with WiFi capability. Controls audio/video gear and home automation products through IR, WiFi, or networked NevoLink IR emitter. Accesses digital music, video, and photo files from computers

CONNECTIONS
Base: AC power input
NevoLink: AC power input, RJ-45 jack for Ethernet connection, four 3.5mm minijacks for IR emitter connection

DIMENSIONS
NevoSL: 1.4 x 3.2 x 7.5 inches (hwd)
Base: 3.4 x 3.8 x 7.5 inches (hwd)
NevoLink: 1.3 x 4 x 3 inches (hwd)

PRICE/CONTACT
PRICE: NevoSL $799 plus installation, NevoLink $200
CONTACT: 714.820.1000, www.mynevo.com