@musiqrulez: Exactly. I can imagine the whole endeavor seeming a lot like getting your HTPC set up with LIRC, etc.

@musiqrulez: All of those things are quite possible, and not out of the ordinary for home automation type systems.

@musiqrulez: If I were going to actively make the jump, I'd go cruising some forums for a while, as this endeavor definitely is a knowledge is king sort of thing. After some research, I'd hopefully have a little better idea of which of the technologies I'd use (each has its advantages and disadvantages).

@musiqrulez: If it were me(I've got some programming chops), I'd get a USB to whatever bridge that's open enough to write some code for, as it opens up the greatest number of possibilities for being about to integrate with a HTPC. For example, remote access can easily be accomplished using dynamic dns, punching holes…

@musiqrulez: I wish I could be of more help, But I'll get you my take on things.

@musiqrulez: Okay, I'll entertain some discussion, as I've always been interested in home automation.

Using the calculator with unit conversions. Sometimes just for comedic value.

Pass the eye-bleach.

Time tracking was the first thing I thought of when GoogleCL was mentioned.

@Firesphere: I'll give it a shot.

@jam_ie: No-Man

@TheButcherfly: I know my chicken.

@tacotime: I switched over to Ubuntu 3 years ago, and I still love it.

@SmallWorld: Just about any low end system($300-$500) will run circles around any upgrades you might do.

@W24x192: In my experience, closing it reduces mildew.

@Frisbee: For some reason, I prefer all of the mt.dew "flavors" to actual mt.dew. If I had to pick a favorite, the black one from a couple of years ago was probably my favorite.

@trashcanpatrol: Many moons ago, I wrote an iPhone webapp that displayed the rss feed. If there's enough interest I can post a link to it. It needs to be updated to the vip feed though. (easy peasy)

@AmphetamineCrown: I couldn't have said it better myself.

@zombies.like.lattes.too: Many moons ago, stars were universal.

@robio376: You're looking for a plugin that uses lightbox/lytebox.