iPhone
iPhone TV Remote ?
Wed, 01/13/2010 - 14:47 — the1silverwolfI was reading an article at Dvice by Peter Pachal and decided to post my comments about the viability of using an iPhone as a TV remote control.
Here's his article (click to read the complete article with photos):
The Re Remote is a small accessory for your iPhone that turns it into a remote control for your home theater. The $70 dongle pairs with a special (free) app that lets you set up your phone just like a normal universal remote, with activities, macros, learning ability, customizable buttons — the whole bit. The dongle communicates via infrared, so it's perfectly compatible with most gear, and yes, it will work with the iPod Touch, too.
That's all well and good, but is the fundamental premise of the product — using your phone as a remote control — really sound? Strangely, I'm leaning towards no, mainly because I remember some surprisingly serious arguments over the remote control in my household growing up. I really wouldn't want that happening with my iPhone. Sure, you could just use the Re/iPhone combo as a secondary remote, but then why have it at all? Anyone dying to have this? If so, it should be out by spring.
And, here's my thoughts :
Pete,
I think your comments regarding the viability of using your iPhone as a remote control are dead-on.
I have toyed with the concept already and found the following points:
- Feel - to me it's important to be able to feel the buttons on a TV or Media Center remote in a dark room. Having to look at the remote (and wait for your eyes to adjust) to locate a button is a much larger annoyance in practice then one would think. This point also applies to some of the high end universal remotes that are touch screens as well.
- Convenience - at first glance it would seem that having an extra remote built into your phone would be very convenient, but is it really ? You have to carry around that little adapter to plug into the phone whenever you want to use it as a remote. (you might as well just be carrying around a regular universal remote). Plus with the phone going to sleep every 5 minutes you would have to unlock it every-time you wanted to use it.
- Use Scenario - Consider this, if you are watching TV and the phone rings, what's the first thing you do ? Answer; you mute or pause the TV so that you can answer the phone. You wouldn't be able to do that with this setup because the remote display on the iPhone would have already been replaced with the incoming call notification.
- Cost - $70 for a plug in IR transmitter and Receiver ? Really ??? This thing should cost $15.99 tops, at that price you could just get it as a novelty, in this economy $70 isn't an amount people can just throw away. Furthermore, you can get a very nice dedicated universal remote that would offer more value, convenience, better feel and performance than this application for a lot less than $70.
It sounds like a nice idea in theory, but given the above, who can justify buying this thing ? If you just have money burning a hole in your pocket, then go ahead and get it. I guarantee it'll be either lost in the house somewhere or collecting dust on a shelf in 30 days.
iPhone Ringtones
Sun, 01/13/2008 - 16:44 — the1silverwolfI've created some iPhone ringtones using Garageband for use on my phone. I've uploaded them to the site in the event that someone else would like to use them.
Time magazine names iPhone the invention of the year
Fri, 11/02/2007 - 12:05 — the1silverwolfWe are pointed to this story by Cnet who, with a clear history of being Biased towards Microsoft, criticize the appointment and Time magazine. Among much anti Apple rhetoric in the post is the following:
Sometimes, it's just easier to pick something that will make everybody happy rather than to actually put some thought into the person or the thing that helped change the world that year.
Besides, science is hard. Look at the shiny thing! Isn't that the shiniest thing you've ever seen!
I mean come on.... they are obviously extremely biased against Apple, you can tell that by reading most any article on the site, and the are just trying to attack them in their own small way.
This comes in the wake of Cnet's recent attempt to push into the Macintosh market with the versiontracker.com purchase (Which makes me very nervous by the way, versiontracker.com is a very important website to the macintosh community.).
If they want to make any serious headway in this market they are clearly going to have to clean house, and start turning out clear, unbiased articles instead of the Microsoft Propaganda they are putting out right now.
iPhone develoment goes legit ?
Wed, 10/17/2007 - 22:35 — the1silverwolfFrom nytimes.com:
After engendering frustration from some customers and software makers, Apple has changed its policy to encourage independent developers to build programs for use on the iPhone.
Apple said that in February it would make available a developer’s kit, which would allow independent software makers to more easily create mobile games, navigation systems, screen-shot capture programs and other tools.
This is a fantastic development, It looks like Apple has finally come to their senses here.
When I first heard about the nefarious actions of apples latest iPhone update, It seemed like a truly, uniquely, stupendously idiotic thing to do, and it contrasts greatly with Apple's usual behavior toward it's users.
With this announcement however, it looks like they are finally coming around, we can expect at some point anyway, to be able to install fully supported and proper 3rd party applications on our iPhones, and I couldn't be happier about it, I can honestly say that I've never been at odds more strongly with Apple that I was over this issue.
iPhone update v 1.1.1 progress is being made.
Wed, 10/10/2007 - 21:13 — the1silverwolfFrom Computerworld:
Just two days after reporting preliminary success in opening iPhones updated to firmware 1.1.1, the iPhone Dev Team has published a process for getting around Apple's updates to jail break an iPhone and install non-Apple applications. The process involves downgrading the iPhone to version 1.0.2, patching it, upgrading, and patching again. If you think that sounds convoluted, you're right. The hacking process is somewhat convoluted and is definitely not for the faint of heart.
So it's now possible to update your iPhone to the new version now and keep your 3rd party applications! It's pretty hard to do at this point though and I think I'll wait for an easier method before I make the upgrade but it's good to see that progress is being made.
