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Using Salling Clicker, if you unlock without a bluetooth signal, it just doesn't do anything. It has to start talking to a bluetooth device before it will lock for not having one.

You still get the annoying lock when your battery dies, but you just unlock it and move on, without the safety net of auto-lock when you leave next time.

Its good stuff if you need that sort of thing, its been a few years since I was in a position to actually require that level of security so I haven't used it in a while.

http://www.salling.com/clicker/

Salling Clicker is an app that will auto lock when it loses the Bluetooth signal from a device like your phone. Instant auto lock when you walk off as long as your phone is on you.

It can also unlock when you return, but thats obviously dangerous in a few different ways since it effectively makes your bluetooth device a token for authentication and that is easy enough to clone off.

http://www.salling.com/clicker/

The problem is you have to have it installed and your phone/device must be paired. This is acceptable for machines you use all the time, but doesn't really help at a kiosk or any other machine you're going to use once in a while.

For Unix there is the simple solution of just using one of the auto logoff deamons to kick you off after some idle time to cover when you forget to do so yourself. Of course, any sort of acceptable idle time that isn't annoyingly short is also long enough to be dangerous as hell.

Not sure why Palm does not bundle Salling's MediaSync, which allows syncing of multiple smartphones with iTunes (without pretending that the device synced is an iPod).

Maybe they could license a version that only sync the Pre, or pay Salling to create a version that performs fast sync on the Pre but not on other devices (if you download directly from Salling, the free version does basic sync; paying gives you a faster experience).

two words, dingus: Salling Clicker.

as another reply stated, just because you lack the imagination for why someone would want to access the hardware doesn't justify the hardware being inaccessible. 3rd party apps for sony-ericsson, motorola, palm, etc. phones for the overwhelming majority haven't done jack shite for "bringing down" cell infrastructures. face it: the reasons for not releasing an iphone SDK are bullshit, plain and simple. the whole point of the apps demoed so far is that we don't *need* a laptop to get at information, provide useful tools, or do things with this handy little gizmo that even the all-knowing oz^H^H jobs hasn't thought of yet. it may be a storm in a teacup, but it doesn't make the move any less bullshit.

I have been developing apps that run on Cingular's network for some time now. I write J2ME apps that run on most phones sold by Cingular. I don't need anybody's permission and so far nobody from Cingular has contacted me to say that I'm using too much bandwidth.

Yeah, but you probably can't access many of the features on the phone without Cingular or the phone manufacturer's digital signature on your code. For example, I tried to write a program for my Sony Ericsson W600i phone (Cingular branded) but I ran into restrictions on which J2ME profiles I was actually able to use. Without the digital signing, I couldn't access the file system, could only send data over certain TCP ports, etc. There weren't any SSH clients that worked on that phone, for example. (The phone's screen broke about 3 months ago so I gave up; apparently I could have flashed the firmware with the unbranded version to allow access to these features but that's hardly the same as being able to access them by default since very few users will want to do it. Never mind that it voids any chance of getting support from Cingular, and the manufacturers won't support phones originally sold through a telco.

I was really, really excited about this, but now I think I'm just going to get a Treo. Disappointing; I have a Mac, converted the rest of my family to Macs, own an iPod, etc, but I'm not going to spend $500 on something that won't have the ability for independents to write innovative software. As it sounds now, I'm not sure I'd even be able to install Salling Clicker on the iPhone. I waited for MacWorld to buy a replacement for my current (broken) phone on the off chance that Apple might announce something really cool (which I thought they had!), but this is really a let-down.

Jobs, you're making a mistake here. For me it isn't about the ability (or lack thereof) to install Skype or Ogg Vorbis. It's about the innovative ideas that might come from random small-time developers.

You may already know about it but you should try Salling Clicker http://www.salling.com/
It is a commercial product but it works with many more phones and is well worth the price. It is the coolest app I have seen in years.

The only one I tried worked great, although it didn't "just work" in the usual Mac way. I had to do some non-standard setup for some of this but I used it as a wireless GPRS modem, synced via bluetooth, and had Salling Clicker installed giving me all sorts of fun goodies. It was an Ericsson something-or-other. I'm back to CDMA land now so I don't use it any more.

Currently I use a Logitech bluetooth mouse which "just works", as well as an Apple bluetooth keyboard which "just works", as one would expect.

Try looking at Sailing Clicker. It turns most cellphones and PDAs into a remote for the computer, using either Bluetooth or WiFi. I've been using it on my Mac Mini, and it works great.

Does it really matter how many devices with Bluetooth on they found? I always keep mine on, so that I don't have to turn it off and on when I am leaving/getting home to use such nifty tools as Salling Clicker in OS X (available for Windows too)

You've been able to do that for years with a bluetooth capable Powerbook and a bluetooth pda or phone that can run Salling Clicker so you can use it as a remote. Powerbooks can run with the lid closed, and if you had a bluetooth headset you wouldn't have to worry about cords, either. Dunno about heat and battery life issues, though. My aunt's Crapaq Presario would get so hot in the bag that I was tempted to try cooking brownies in it once.

Salling Clicker can do this if you have a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. I'm not sure if there's a built-in proximity alarm, but you can set AppleScripts to run when you go out of range or return.

Hmm, looks like there's finally a Windows version, too. It's always nice when the best software comes out for Macs first.

IMO bluetooth is not a technology a lot of people have embraced

I guess you don't know any Mac users. We're busy using our Bluetooth-enabled phones as remote controls for iTunes and DVD Player, and Powerpoint clickers, among other things. People haven't embraced it on Windows because it's a pain in the ass to set up. On the Mac it just works.

Here is a post from a 2003 /. discussion on what a failure Bluetooth is. You should read the whole discussion.

~Philly

...not Bluetooth. And even if it were Bluetooth, you'd still be able to use something like Salling Clicker to turn any Bluetooth-enabled phone or PDA into a remote, though this usually ends up sucking.

The biggest surprise to me today is Salling Clicker 3.0 shipped for mac and.. windows XP!

And I was in closed beta test for mac version. :) If you want to keep a secret, you really can!

http://www.salling.com/

(I still wonder how he managed to win against evil windows bluetooth stack(s))

I've already synced my SonyEricsson bluetooth cell phone with iCal and the address book on my Mac. So if the iTunes can sync, so should these things.

Add something similar to Salling Clicker as well and the phone is now a remote for the Mac. http://www.salling.com/ Since this doesn't currently work with Motorola

Finally, since I have a charger for my cell phone that can plug into a USB port for power, include a dock that provides syncing and power ( though BT syncing should still be possible.)

Apple had said no PDA, but a modern phone has Contact Manager, Caledar, Camera and Voice. Improve the music player and it could be a slick package.

If you have a Bluetooth-equipped phone or Palm PDA, you can use Salling Clicker to get the same results as an RF remote, with even more features.

Agreed.

As pointed out in the discussion in your link, everything described in that video is possible today on Mac OS X using Sailing Clicker. I'd be surprised if there wasn't equivalent Windows software.

Now add the ability to control iTunes remotely (say from a Palm or PocketPC) and we've got a product.
I think you should check out Salling Clicker

As for the pricing and features list - yes, it's a shame that Apple makes a product with a feature set and at a price that sells well (80,000 pre-orders, apparently), but that you don't like. Maybe you should email Steve Jobs and see if he can create a different version and price it specially just for you.

If you still have OSX installed on that Powerbook and have a bluetooth-enabled phone, look into Salling Clicker. It's a great little program which just might convert you stinky opensource nerds back to the fruity way. :D

Get your hands on a bluetooth enabled cellphone like the Sony Ericsson line and you can use Salling Clicker to change the iTunes album, song, volume, and most other things too. It will pause iTunes when you receive or make a call and can be set up to pause when the bluetooth device is out of proximity (ie when you leave). Comes with plenty of default scripts and is extensible with AppleScript. Seems like the prefect combination of devices

I love Bluetooth, but I think the reason that so many people see it as pointless is becasue of the things they are able to do with it.

I have a PowerMac G4, and with the Bluetooth dongle from DLink I sync my contacts between my PC and phone, sync my schedule too (very handy) and also, when I'm around the Mac (as I am a LOT of the time) text messages will appear on the screen instead of the phone, and I can reply via my keyboard (heaven!).

I watch a lot of DiVX on my nice big screen and when I found that I can use as a remote control I was hooked! My Mac now plays music when I come back from a lecture and shuts up when I leave the room.

I love Bluetooth, I use it every day, and NO it is not the same as having cables. Windows users I feel sorry for, as MS seems to be ignoring all this great functionality.

Ok, it's NOT going to revolutionise your life, so STOP EXPECTING IT TO! But it is very handy and useful, and *cheap* too. Which is a big factor.

-Nex

I have ended up using Salling Clicker (linked above) for more things than I thought. (keynote, turn on password protection, etc)

While controlling remote control cars may not be all that cool. (Range is horrible for those little cockroach cars) I do think it would be nice to have something like the feature integrated into Sony Clies where you can control ANY TV STEREO or CABLE BOX with just the selection of a brand name and type of device. I would love to be able to do this with my phone.

After talking to the programmer of Romeo, a similar program - I have been keeping up with developments that t68i phones will soon be able to control TV's and VCRs, and etc - through an actual "on phone program" - right now Romeo and Salling Clicker are Push based.

Does anyone know if there is an infrared to bluetooth or vice versa converter coming out?