Windows Sideshow is back in the spotlight today at CE Pro with the news that Sideshow remotes and devices will officially support control of Media Center Extenders.  I’ve briefly talked about that before, but it’s good to hear it again.  Sadly, the most visible (yet still not shipping) Sideshow remote from Ricavision now costs $350 which puts it way out of my range.

DnC Multimedia is also out with news today that they have an upcoming portable media player that will include Sideshow support.  No price or release date yet, but I’m now more interested in devices like this.  What if instead of using a more standard remote with Sideshow integrated we could use a portable media player instead.  I’d love to see a remote gadget which would allow such a device to still control Media Center using a slightly different form factor.  The fact that this is a portable media player also gives hope for multi-zone audio.