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Wireless Control for Presentations?
Bifurcati asks: "I recently bought a Bluetooth enabled Powerbook G4 laptop, which comes with a trackpad. I often give Powerpoint presentations, so I'm interested in getting a wireless controller, to flip back and forward through slides without touching the laptop. Google turns up many options, e.g., Honeywell's, Beamplus and this doohickey. Another option is a combined mouse-controller, throwing an external mouse into the bargain. There are wireless mice (e.g., Logitech's) which need a USB plug-in, but are short range. Or there are Bluetooth mice, like the X-Wing, which are neat and have a 10m range, but seem to be a pain with battery life/charging. Another option is Logitech's Bluetooth Presenter, which is a mouse, PP controller and laserpointer in one (but costs $200!). So many choices! So I'm turning to good old Slashdot. All of you presenters out there, do have favourite remote control devices? What are your experiences with using them? What type of connectivity is the best (wireless, Bluetooth, something else?!) And what about devices that double as an external mouse, or even as a controller for movies, iTunes, etc?"
I once saw someone give a presentation with a gyromouse. I checked out their prices, approximately $150 for some models. Kind of pricey, and probably not needed, unless you need to have cursor interaction with your slides. They are so cool though.
/^([Ss]ame [Bb]at (time, |channel.)){2}$/
Disclaimer: I've never tried this software as I don't have a mac.
What, you bought that shiny G4 and don't have $ left over for a BT phone/pda? Cry elsewhere you insensitive clod :-)
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We've got one of these at work. Totally cool. Great for using in games as well. They cost about ~ $150 or so. web site
Use your cell phone if it has bluetooth.. Sony Ericsson T610/T630 works great. FMA is nice if using Windows. In Linux there are a few programs that let you control your mouse with the arrows on the cell phone. If any of those don't suit you it's very easy to cook up your own software!
;whatever you do, don't use a *wired* solution.
;i'm responsible for technology at a small college and we work on a tight budget (to say the least). i thought i'd save some money by implementing wired presenter mice with extension cables. now granted, these were the PS/2 variety--which you wouldn't use with a mac--but the wired mice get disconnected from the multimedia computers all the time, and its only a matter of time before the cords all short-out from abuse. the biggest issue w/ wires is the nightmare of someone (yourself included) snagging their foot on the cord as they pass by and yanking the entire laptop to the floor.
;do yourself a favor and stick with wireless. it's actually not more expensive in the long run. if i could go back and spend $150-200 per unit on a wireless solution, i would. it would have saved me (and our instructors) time, energy, headaches, and money (as i will now have to replace the ones we have) that we spent on the wired mice.
;TreeHead
"If any part Linux was stolen, then Windows was the biggest heist in history."
Personally, I use a friend.
Faster response time, Batteries don't go down on you! and cheap to run (a beer or two).
Has the added advantage that if the audience doesn't turn up, you have someone to talk to.
For problems, seek only the simplest solution, complexity brings with it more problems.
All these nifty bluetooth and WiFi solutions are fine and dandy, but don't forget IR! I don't know whether the latest Mac laptops come with IR ports, but a surprising number of PC laptops still have them. Either that, or the IR controller will come with its own base unit. Admittedly it's directional, but a laptop sitting on a table isn't a moving target and you're likely to be in its line of sight if you position it and yourself sensibly.
There are some cheap controllers out there intended specifically for presentations that come with software and so forth. Also I've seen a software package that allowed you to use standard TV and DVD controllers with your laptop's IR port (if it was sufficiently good at seeing the wavelengths that consumer devices use, which is not universal). They're often a lot cheaper than these new-fangled bluetooth devices.
A wireless mouse is definitely your best bet. I'd check some of the various bluetooth mice. My favorite for features right now is the mx900 by logitech, at around $99. It's bluetooth, double precision, egronomic, 5+ buttons, and it has a recharge station. the recharge station also doubles as a bluetooth station if you hook it up to a computer without internal bluetooth.
I personally bought an apple wireless mouse for $65 at my local store and have been quite happy with it in presentations.
- tristan
The Keyspan Digital Media Remote is a small IR controller. It comes with a base that connects to the PC or Mac using USB. It has keys for play, stop, rewind, forward, next, previous, etc. I've tested it with PowerPoint and various media programs, and it works at least as far away as 25'. And cheap to boot, I got mine for $35 at the local computer store. More info.http://www.keyspan.com/products/usb/remote/
I worked for a state school in Upstate NY and we had just gotten the Powerpoint controllers. They work like a dream...just plug the antenna into the USB port and ur set. The controllers we had had a laser pointer, forward and reverse, and a button to blank out the screen. You could probably find one online for about 80$ (I think it was a honeywell). Depending on the manufacturer, I'm sure you could map keys to it for use in iTunes, etc.
Good Luck!
I'd second the comment eariler to try Salling Clicker or the Logitech MX900. The MX900 works with the built-in Bluetooth in your Powerbook, so you don't have to use the base station for anything other than recharging the batteries, which is also optional (it takes standard AA batteries). Salling Clicker allows you to use your Bluetooth enabled phone to run presentations, iTunes, DVD Player, VLC, and others. IR is nice, but directional, so if you tend to wander, it isn't a good option. If you do want an IR option, the Keyspan Presenter is a very good choice, works very well and is cheap.
I had the same problem a few months ago, only I was working with sales people. I found the remote with the longest range and the least buttons. PocketPoint RF. I think the company that made this was bought by InFocus but it's still the same product. Incredible range, long battery life and it only has two buttons.... Plus the laser pointer.
I have a set (mouse + mini kbd), and have used it for presentation. Works pretty well, and was only $90.
The laptop sees it as just another USB device, so no fancy bluetooth stuff needed.
Infrared generally requires line-of-sight, and you don't want to have to turn around and point your clicker at your laptop when in the mist of a presentation.
I've had great luck with the Keyspan Presentation Remote - it has a little USB wireless dongle which attaches to my PowerBook, and it works well with PowerPoint & Keynote.
It looks like a USB mouse to the system, so no additional drivers are required; it provides mouse-type functionality, so you can do remote demos, etc. I haven't tried it on Windows or Linux, but I'm pretty sure it would work in Windows with no drivers and in Linux if you have your XF86Config file set up properly (this should be tested, though).
is what we use here for presentations.
Personally I use the ATI Remote Wonder [www.ATI.com]. Primarily meant as a remote for their TV tunners, but has media support none the less. The receiver plugs into the USB port and the transmissions are all done via RF, so no need to worry about line of sight.
I like the fact it has a direction pad for controlling the mouse and the media playback buttons, and four programmable buttons. There are plugins available for PowerPoint and WinAmp, personally I don't have them installed but the device still works fine. The fact I can be in the kitchen making dinner, changing the tunes on my PC on another level of the house is always nice too.
I got mine to use with my TV card about 8 months ago, and it's still on the original batteries that came in the box.
We use a couple of these here at work. They're not perfect, but they have a damn good range, control Powerpoint presentations, Acrobat files, and web browsers (page foreward and back only). I only wish they had a built in laser pointer, though.
Ed Wedig
Graphic design services
docbrown.net
This only costs about $5 +shipping, and works up to 8 meters. It requires 2 ps2 ports, but I'm pretty sure you could get a 2-ps2 to 1 usb adapater, and it should work just fine.
Ed Wedig
Graphic design services
docbrown.net
Some projectors come with a remote control that sends next slide / previous slide commands to the computer via a USB cable from the projector. This results in Page Up / Page Down occurring on the computer, which changes the slide. Not exactly universal, but it is an option.
Gabriel Ricard
We use the Gyration GyroRemote, which works quite well on the Trade Show floor. They use commodity AAA alkaline batteries, so you don't have to worry about keeping them charged.
--Mike--
Bifurcati, I would suggest the Targus Notebook Wireless Presenter. It retails at 49.99 but I've seen it online for as low as 41.
It works via USB and uses RF to control the mouse. It basically subs as a mouse and you can program the buttons to do different commands.
I like laser pointer that it comes with too.
I've used this before, it works nicely and I've liked Targus for their notebook companion items a lot. If you have warranty issues they'll take care of it right away.
Let me know what you think of it.
UID 1000000 is just around the corner.
This won't help you with a Mac, but I bought a Streamzap for my home theater PC to control Winamp and myHTPC, and plan to get one here at the office to control PowerPoint for those folks who want to walk around when they do their presentations.
It supports a lot of apps, and they're updating it all the time to improve existing supported apps and add new ones.
This may not help you with your powerbook, but it is an easy $39 solution for PowerPoint remote control.
Todd
Yes, they're called "comments", but you don't have to manually escape them like you would when programming.
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Get yourself a nice HMD (or build one) - mount the gyromouse electronics on top - and now you have a dead simple sourceless 2DOF head tracker. A baseless (and/or wireless) joystick, and you could easily build an immersive virtual reality game system for your favorite first person shooter.
Cheap head tracking hardware is difficult to come by - multiple axis compass/tilt sensors for this application are not cheap - it is nice to see alternate devices on the market for VR and other immersive/augmented reality applications...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
http://www.crystalgraphics.com/presentations/remot e.main.asp
we use this for all our ppt presentations and it works perfectly. we have the $129 model.