Hasta La Gadget!

No surprises here, but Apple’s just released version 2.0 of the Remote app for iPhone and iPad, which adds in support for the new iOS-based Apple TV in addition to iTunes on OS X. The interface is mostly the same — a trackpad-like screen for ATV remote control and an iPod-like interface for more direct media playback — but it’s now optimized for the Retina display on the iPhone 4 and the larger screen size of the iPad. Since the new Apple TV is streaming-only, Remote also now has better support for controlling shared music libraries, making remote control of iTunes on your HTPC slightly easier as well. It’s available now and it’s free, so go grab it.

Apple Remote app 2.0 adds support for new Apple TV, iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are plenty of QWERTY remotes out there, trying to be all fancy and make operating your TV more like operating a computer. They think they’re so clever, but they’ve all overlooked one important point: you’re dead sexy. Do they really expect you to rock a remote that any old ugly person could buy at Sears and point at their more-than-an-inch-thick LCD? Philips understands, and its Home Control division is launching the Dual remote just for you. It’s a pretty simple execution, with a minimal remote on one side and the full QWERTY on the flip. It’s a little hard to tell from the presser, but it sounds like there’s an optical track pad hidden somewhere on here as well. We also don’t have any mention of release date or price, but do details like that really matter? No, they don’t. Because this remote’s sexy. And you’re sexy. Problem = solved.

Continue reading Philips Home Control’s Dual is a QWERTY remote for attractive people

Philips Home Control’s Dual is a QWERTY remote for attractive people originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Promotional Image from Apple.com.

The App Store has offered a Remote app for iOS devices for a while now, but the new Apple TV might be the best use-case to show what an app-based touchscreen remote can do.

The new Apple TV had two remotes. The first is the minimalist metal slab that will ship with your tiny box. The second is the iOS application that you’ll download from the App store.

The first iteration of Apple TV had the same little white infrared remote the company used to ship with laptops. It was great for clicking through a slideshow presentation. It wasn’t very good to keep around your living room, unless you stuck it in a bowl with your keys. It wasn’t a real remote, and most people hated keeping track of another remote anyway, especially one that got lost at the drop of a hat.

The new remote, released earlier this year, isn’t a lot different from that old white remote. It’s a nicer device; like everything else Apple makes now besides the new square iPods, it’s a long strip of aluminum. It’s still got just six buttons: up, down, right, left, play/pause and menu.

But that minimalism seems almost smarter now. Apple now seems to be figuring out the exact number of hardware buttons it needs on each device. It took away too much on the iPod Shuffle, so now some buttons are coming back. It wanted to get rid of the buttons on the Nano, so it changed it to touchscreen.

For the Apple TV, it’s keeping the action on the screen, with the software interface. Make that easy to navigate, give people the exact options they need depending on context, and you don’t need dozens of buttons on the remote/media player/phone.

Maybe you don’t even need a remote, though. That’s because Apple TV’s second remote control is the Apple-made mobile device that Apple TV customers probably already own.

Seriously — what are the chances of someone buying Apple TV who doesn’t have an iPod, iPad or iPhone?

[Continue reading]

Amulet Device’s intriguing voice-activated remote for Windows Media Center has long since missed its original ship date, but it just popped up at the FCC, complete with product shots and the user manual. Besides providing typical universal features like IR learning, as a package the rechargeable battery-powered controller, USB dongle, and companion Windows Media Center Plugin will allow users to operate their home theater by simply speaking commands to the remote’s built-in microphone. Like any good robot servant, the remote will also audibly respond to questions such as “what song is playing” and even distinguish when you’re talking to it versus just chatting with friends, thanks to nifty advanced positioning sensing technology. Sadly taking dictation isn’t in the cards and there’s still no word on an official launch date, but that hasn’t stopped the budding emperor in us from hoping it arrives soon.

Amulet voice-activated Windows Media Center remote hits the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just about every mobile operating system manufacturer can remotely delete apps from the smartphones they help provide, but if a recent patent application is any indication, Apple’s looking to lock down the whole enchilada on future devices. The basic concept is as simple as the diagram above — certain activities trigger the phone to think it’s in the wrong hands — but the particular activities and particular remedies Apple suggests extend to audiovisual spying (to detect if a user has a different face or voice than the owner), and complete remote shutdown. While the patent mostly sounds targeted at opt-in security software and would simply send you an alert or perform a remote wipe if your phone were stolen or hacked, jailbreaking and unlocking are also explicitly mentioned as the marks of an unauthorized user, and one line mentions that cellular carriers could shut down or cripple a device when such a user is detected. Sounds great for securing phones at retail, sure, but personally we’d rather devices don’t determine our authority by monitoring our heartbeat (seriously, that’s an option) and we’re plenty happy with the existing Find My iPhone app.

Apple attempts to patent kill switch that roots out unauthorized users, detects jailbreaks originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Aug 2010 20:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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