Nary a fortnight after the VUDU XL started shipping and the company's v1.3 software was outed, VUDU has decided to push its product -- namely the extra capacious model -- into homes via a number of home automation and residential control leaders. More specifically, VUDU has inked agreements with Control4, Crestron, Logitech, NetStreams, Philips, Universal Electronics and Universal Remote Control, and according to VUDU, the whole lot is looking to "integrated their key products with its HD-capable product line." As of now, channel IR codes for the VUDU and VUDU XL are available in programming tools and databases for Logitech Harmony, Advanced Universal Remotes, Prestigo and Pronto lines of controllers, but future plans for the partnerships weren't exactly spelled out in detail. Click on for the full release.

The dream of an automated house has never been more achievable, and thanks to DIY software like Cinemar's Mainlobby, just about anyone can roll their own at a reasonable price. Of course, the more you can control with your home automation system the better. Now, in addition to being able to control lighting, security, home theater gear, thermostats, whole house audio and manage all your movies from a wall mounted touch screen, Mainlobby owners will soon be able to use their iPod Touch or iPhone as a remote. The key to making this work is Mainlobby's built in web server and Safari's extensive AJAX support -- sorry Windows Mobile fans. Unfortunately, this is only a first look, but these examples will be included in future versions of MLServer. And considering the lead developer on the project plans to use it as his "primary handheld controller," it should mean lots of future development. More pictures after the jump.

You already know that Sony's PlayStation 3 can be dictated via IR, and even your iPod can be manhandled by an umbrella, but the latest discovery in controlling gizmos in unorthodox ways involves Microsoft's Xbox 360 and your universal DirecTV remote. Thanks to a little bit of trickery, you can save yourself the hassle (and expenditure) of buying an Xbox 360 remote by just using the one you've already received with your DirecTV service, and thankfully, the steps to completion are far from difficult. Simply switch the remote to AV1 and hold down the mute / select buttons until AV1 blinks twice. Then, key in 991, followed by 2, and finally tag the Power button; once you've worked off a few calories doing all this, just cycle Up a few dozen times until your console powers up, and once it does, just mash Select to complete the (essentially painless) process. If you're still holding tight to your doubts, be sure to hit the links below for a bit more proof, and click on through for a live action video showing the two (very) distant relatives playing nice together.

[Via Xbox360Fanboy]