I doubt Sony has actually noticed these consumer efforts. The fact that USB had standby power after PSP remote play was enabled was probably considered a bug (I mean there's no logical reason for it to do that) and it was fixed without any consideration or knowledge of the Schmartz product.

However I *do* feel that Sony is trying to keep the PS3 just slightly inconvenient for home theater use, to better promote their standalone (and higher margin) BD players.

What I'd be happy with is a standalone BD player based on the PS3 hardware (which is just *so* nice and responsive), but in standard component size, with full IR remote capabilities, discrete codes, RS232 and so forth. It should be a full networked BD, Music and Media player, but can skip the entire game side.