For the techie onyour list, try In the Beginning Was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson, his extended essay on the relationship between culture and the computer.
By using a controller device called the WACI NX you could turn on the TV, turn on the XBOX, switch to the correct input on the TV, and send the PLAY command to XBMC all in 1 button press onyour PSP.
They call this thing ChatPerf, and it's a thumb-drive-sized atomizer that plugs into your mobile device so it can be triggered to release specific odors oncommand.