You see, the television was turned to a German station that broadcasts a Yule Log-esque fireplace in the early morning hours, so a remote was the right tool for the job. Ahh senility…where everyday and everything is an adventure. [AP / Thanks getmstevedave!]

AU: It’s for the Ashes, obviously.

[Forever Geek via Technabob]

If you have iTunes DJ enabled, anyone with the newest version of Remote on their iPhone can vote on songs that are coming up in your playlist, or browse through your entire collection to request a song. Whatever songs get the most votes will be played next.

In iTunes, the “Votes” column will show the votes so if you’re at your computer you can see what’s getting voted on.

It’s a neat idea in theory, but somehow I don’t think a party where everyone was dicking around with their iPhones would be all that fun a party. Who knows, I guess it’d be worth playing with to see how it turns out. [Gadget Lab]

TiVoRemote is the first network-based remote control program for the iPhone. Aside from the novelty of changing the channel, you can use the iPhone’s full QWERTY keyboard to search for programming.

Realise that the software isn’t officially TiVo-branded. And we wouldn’t call the UI stunning, or even attractive—though it certainly looks easy enough to use.

But since it’s priced at a buck, we’re willing to take our chances (and hope for a glossy black update sometime in the near to far future). [iTunes and TiVoRemote]

Constant Secure Remote Disable, as it’s called, isn’t being touted as a first line of defence. In fact, quite the opposite: “This is kind of like a morning-after pill, I guess” said Stacy Cannady, Lenovo’s product manager for security and apparently the only person at Lenovo to miss the company-wide memo about not using awkward reproductive metaphors in PR. The update will be available as a free download for compatible laptops in the next few months. [Crave]