This may have been suggested already, but here is my (current) hair-brained idea:
I have been reading stories such as this one and dreaming of possibilities.
How about a removable LCD panel faceplate for the 970/990? I can't see the darn thing from 8 feet away and it would be nice to have a little more information. The 990 already has USB, so an external dongle with a bluetooth adapter is not too big a leap. Add a battery powered portable "faceplate" that could be stuck on a wall (or the back of the 990's remote), now that would be pretty cool.