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Universal Remote's Days Are Numbered

Posted by timothy on from the get-it-numbered-numbered-like-the-keys dept.

theodp writes "While the universal remote has served humanity with distinction, its days are numbered, and your smartphone is to blame. Whether you want to control your music, your television or your PowerPoint presentation, there's probably a solution using your phone. Try as it might, the universal remote simply can't navigate the digital world the way the smartphone can — it's a lot easier to put the remote's abilities in the smartphone than vice versa."

2 of 429 comments (clear)

  1. Nice Slashvertisement by drinkypoo · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Maybe some links to, you know, some OSS would be nice? Unless that's what this stuff is, the sites are too crapped up to find out trivially, and with my slashdot attention span that's all I have time for. Personally I've never found a java midlet that was actually useful for anything for my RAZR V3i. The J2ME implementation doesn't include support for the camera (at least, not through the usual API; AFAIK the still and video camera applications are both Java MIDlets) but maybe it has some kind of BT support.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  2. iPod Touch? by Morky · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    You can pick up a low-end iPod touch for $230, which is cheaper than most touch screen universal remotes, so you could potentially use it as a dedicated device. You would still need (and I'm talking post-OS 3.0) a set of bluetooth infrared transmitters.