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The importance of universal remote-control devices has risen in direct proportion to the number of single-purpose remotes that clutter our lives. But what we need now is a remote that's as easy to use as a single-purpose one.

Logitech's new Harmony One universal remote, introduced this week at CES 2008, is getting close to that ideal. At the least, it raises the bar for simplicity, function and intelligent design.

Logitech spent 20,000 hours researching remote controls, which sounds excessive. But the results are good: The unit is capable of replacing as many as 15 different remotes, with many fewer buttons to do it with.

This is serious equipment. It comes with computer software (Windows and Mac) and a USB cable so it can connect to a free service on the Internet that downloads the latest codes; this way, it will be able to handle any devices you might buy in the future. Setup is a matter of pumping manufacturers' names and model numbers of your components into your computer. Logitech's online database of more than 200,000 devices and 5,000 manufactures takes care of the rest.

That puts to rest the annoying business of punching in a bewildering series of numbers trying to find the code that works with each of your components.

It also comes with a docking station, which acts as a battery charger.

Its main reason for the low number of buttons is a 2.2-inch colour touch-screen to control various activities. This allowed Logitech to eliminate all but the 40 most important buttons; remote controls with no screens have to make do with more buttons. All you have to do is touch that part of the screen showing the desired activity (it uses capacitive technology, meaning it responds to the touch instead of pressure), and the remote takes care of the rest.

There is also an on-off button, which controls all the pre-programmed components. Moreover, the Harmony One tracks the power state and input settings on its own.

Mildly saddening, however, is the need for another spare outlet on the power bar; this certainly saves on buying batteries, but if you have a colour screen, you need the power. The screen itself is a little difficult to learn — you can't use it without looking away from the TV set, lest you miss the right command.

There is room for improvement here, but it is infinitely better than using three or four different remotes at once.

Digital photography raises the enticing illusion you can control your own pictures. What is often forgotten is the need to learn how to do this, and the need to get the right tools.

Photo-editing software from reputable makers, like Adobe and Corel, use "plug-in" programs to enhance the editing process. Alien Skin Software has produced a number of plug-in packages for the professional market but are simple enough to be used by enthusiasts (Windows and Mac).

The company has just updated two of its more successful plug-ins— Exposure 2 and Image Doctor 2. Exposure is an update of a film simulator, which can make a digital photo mimic one taken by a film camera loaded with one of a number of specific films, each with its own colour, contrast and grain biases (no two kinds of film reproduce photographs alike). Image Doctor 2 is an update of a picture-fixing suite to correct such things as dust and scratches, adjust skin tone or remove unwanted objects.

Both Exposure 2 and Image Doctor 2 are a little pricey as addenda for another program, but they add up to a dramatic toolkit for photo editing, still the most satisfying thing you do on a computer.

Exposure 2 leans toward the more discerning photographer and the professional, offering 300 preset darkroom-type effects simulating the colours offered by such films as Portra, Velvia, Kodachrome, Polaroid, and TRI-X, as well as some films no longer available, including Agfa Scala, GAF 500 and Kodak EES. You don't have to be intimately familiar with these films to use the plug-ins properly —mucking about with them will give you a good feel for what they can do.

Exposure 2 adjusts colour, dynamic range, softness and grain control. With them you can develop a personal style, and save it as a one-click process. You can even turn a perfectly nice digital photo into something that looks like a fading Polaroid shot, if you like that sort of thing.

You can even duplicate Yousuf Karsh's portraits, shot with orthochromatic film, a style that made him the greatest photo portraitist.

Image Doctor 2 is an enhancement of five tools that fix image problems, but go well beyond touch-ups and into the sphere of serious magic.

The software is now a graduate of beautician's college, and is much better at retouching skin to make it softer and free of blemishes. Other improvements over the first version involve the speed and quality with which the tools work.

The five tools — Dust and Scratch Remover, JPEG Repair, Blemish Concealer, Skin Softener, and Smart Fill — can restore a photo damaged by a scratch or a tear; Image Doctor will figure out what the pixels are like around the scratch and cobble together filler pixels to cover the damage. Similarly, it can remove blemishes such as pimples and scar tissue, and then soften the skin to further cover the surgery. It can also remove telephone poles, random dogs or ex-lovers using the same process. The results can be spectacular.

There's also a repair tool that can take a digital picture that has been compressed a little too much, such as something taken with a cheaper camera, and get rid of the "artifacts" so that the photos can be made more presentable.

Image Doctor 2 and Exposure 2 sell for $199 each ($99 for registered users of the earlier versions).

Finally, an unremarkable low-tech tool shouldn't normally be reviewed in this column, but this one saved me immense aggravation. It's called the OpenIt — you might have seen the ads on TV — and it's simply a pair of plastic-handled shears, with a couple of other features thrown in, made to open the needlessly thick plastic blister packaging used by an increasing number of high-tech manufacturers.

I'm convinced there's a secret cabal of packaging designers bent on destroying the world by reducing consumers into gibbering idiots and by filling up our landfills with eco-hostile plastic. The OpenIt won't defeat this evil horde, but it will keep us sane.

The OpenIt looks like pruning shears, but is obviously ear-marked for high-tech appliances because it has a Philips (or cross-head) screwdriver built into it, for opening up computer cases. There is also a small spring-loaded utility knife that pops out the bottom of the handle to cut tape and such.

Hilariously, the OpenIt arrived encased in precisely the kind of plastic bubble it is meant to destroy, suggesting that you need an OpenIt to open the OpenIt. But there were perforations in the cardboard backing to help remove the tool. Also, the tool's makers thoughtfully sent along a silly little action doll encased in this vile plastic to test the opener on.

It worked perfectly. What a relief.