Not a hack, but the universal remote in my living room is a Palm m500 running NoviiRemote. It works better than anything else I've tried, and people are giving old Palms away; think I have three of them at this point.

Also, it's fun to tell people that it's my work PDA when they notice it. Beam me your business card. Oh, your iPhone 9000 can't do that? Okay then.