ATI makes a remote control the uses Radio Frequency instead of Infrared.

The big benefit of using this remote (for those who may not understand infrared versus radio frequency) is that you do have to point this remote at the reciever and you don't have to have "line of sight" for it to work. It can work through walls etc.

Here is the homepage for the remote control if you'd like to look at the specs and some reviews. I'd suggest going here to find a reseller with a decent price. It looks like you can pick one up for about $35 shipping included.

I think I am going to buy one to try out for my system at home, so If you want to wait and see how mine works, I'll let you know. Or if you'd like to buy one and play around with / write some code for it and then present at a future PCLug meeting I'd be glad to listen to you present on that topic.