It does not meet your price requirements but the Philips TSU9400 has hard buttons, a touch screen, WiFi and IR as well as a programming language. The tools are available to all (I started life with a TheaterMaster 750 but was beholden to my dealer for tools so I upgraded to a TSU3500 then to the TSU7000).
An iPad or wifi pad will be cheaper but not include dedicated buttons. (I just bought an Acer netpad with 1024x600 lcd, wifi, 160gig HD and 1gig ram for $200 at Target - you will go crazy if you compare that to a high end programmable remote control ).
I have been using a TSU7000 (which lacks wifi and programming language) and it been has been pretty good but it lacks two-way communication. I just picked up a TSU9400 and RFX9600 and plan to rework my system with RS232 control of the receiver (for two-way volume control communication) and wifi to the HTPC and power sensing on the stupid we-dont-believe-in-discrete-on-off-codes Samsung BluRay. The extra cost seemed worth it to me to have the dedicated buttons over an iPad solution (and I like to hack so having JavaScript available seems like an invitation to trouble ).
