Yes, trying to hack a remote control

["Brian Kerley" <kidgenius () gmail com>]

Ok, you guys are going to probably think I'm the biggest loser, but here's
what's up.

I've got a new Harmony 1000 remote from logitech. It's a new touchscreen
remote that has just came out.  Of course, I can't leave well enough alone
and would like to take a look at the inner workings of this thing.  That's
where it gets difficult and I'm hoping someone might be able to help.

The remote connects via usb using a Belcarra USB Lan Link.  The remote gets
assigned an IP address of 169.254.1.2  I've scanned it and it shows that it
is running both telnet and ftp (as well as another service called "discard"
according to nmap).  So I've tried to telnet/ftp into it using a various
combination of passwords and usernames.  I've also tried to do a dictionary
attack, but the remote shuts the service down after so many attempts.  I've
also tried using both Cain and Wireshark to analyze the packets being sent
to the remote during an update that is performed by the included software.
I got a lot of data, but I can't seem to find any plaintext passwords or
usernames in the packets.  The software running on the computer is java, and
the remote's software might be java as well.

Do you guys have any ideas on how I might be able to get into this thing?
There are also a lot of guys running linux that have other logitech remotes,
and of course are high-and-dry right now about how to update without running
a virtual environment.  If I can figure how to get in over one of these
services, then maybe it can be of some help to those guys.

Thanks,
Brian