Just when you thought they couldn't cram any more features into their Harmony 1000, the folks at Logitech are planning to give their uber remote a trio of features that'll include speech recognition, biometric security and a built-in search function.

The news came straight from Logitech's reps, who confirmed that their next Harmonies will use IBM's ViaVoice recognition software so that you'll be able to change channels by barking out commands. It gets better though.

The remotes will also rely on fingerprint readers to load customized preferences for every person in your household. Lastly, Logitech is working on a search function that'll let you load up songs from your media library by simply saying the name of the band you want to hear. So in other words, "play Sinatra" would launch your Sinatra tunes. I tend to stay away from universal remotes 'cause of their price, but something like this might be worth the splurge. – Louis Ramirez

Harmony Remotes to Include Speech Recognition, Search [PC Mag via Gadget Lab]

Tags: home entertainment | logitech | remote controls