the hztprm roku universal remote ($15) arrived today, allowing me to consolidate 3 remotes to 1: the factory roku remote, the cable remote (which we use to turn on the tv because the on button on the tv remote doesn't work very well), and the samsung tv remote. this universal remote works by recording the infrared remote signals of other remotes. it's kind of old school (compared to the learning capability of the cable remote, which has preprogrammed settings for all the hundreds of different TV manufacturers) but it still works. the universal remote resembles in the factory roku remote in size, but slightly thinner and much lighter, so much so that it feels a little cheap.

my $25 mi band 4 arrived today. originally i got it to maybe give my father, but i decided i wanted to test it out first, make sure it works. it arrived with chinese language, which i later learned was just instructions to sync the band with the mi fit app. once i did that, it synced the language to my system preference (english) as well as the date and time, and updated the firmware. there are a couple of things i like about the v4 compared to the v2 (the ones that my mother and 2nd aunt have). there's a color touchscreen instead of a B&W screen with button, although the button is still there, just a capacitive button hidden underneath the bottom of the screen. v4 band is waterproof, instead of just water resistant. v4 also has weather, though updated from the last time the band was sync'ed with the app.