Using your mobile as a remote control

[Sam18451]

I know most of us walk around with our mobile phone surgically attached to our sides.

My question is:-

Are there any mobiles out there that can be programmed to act as an remote control? .... I know many have bluetooth, IR and now Wifi built in ... also many allow new software programs to be loaded on them (smartphones) so this seems like a natural progression

1st post, so Just humour me if its totally off the wall

[eviljohn2]

A good question but I think we're some time away from this kind of technology convergence.

The IrDA protocol used to transfer data is very different from that used for remote device control I'm afraid.

[Sam18451]

Wow just found this bit of software.

Looks like someone has already developed some software to go on your smartphone to control all your IR devices.

http://shop.psiloc.com/en/Application,65544,irRemote

[Sam18451]

And there's more ... how about controlling software on your pc from your mobile phone.

http://www.salling.com/Clicker/windows/

[baldrick]

Bringing this one back to life, I downloaded Salling Clicker for Mac last night and it's brilliant, you have full access to your iTunes library via your phone, browse, select, hit play and iTunes starts playing. Not only that but it passes the album art back to your phone....

I found it last night when I was thinking it would be good to have a device that allowed me to navigate the music on my PowerBook without having to sit infront of it. I had a phone app that worked as a basic play, pause, volume remote but for $25 Clicker is perfect!

Originally Posted by eviljohn2

A good question but I think we're some time away from this kind of technology convergence.

The IrDA protocol used to transfer data is very different from that used for remote device control I'm afraid.

The future is closer than you think. For months now i've been able to control my house from my phone over my cellular network. I can use it for Home Automation/Home Theater Automation so I can check on the house while we're out and/or control equipment on behalf of the housesitters.

Here's the current set of interfaces I made for it, had some pretty good luck with them.

So get this: I was able to pull up all these screens, accessing my Home Automation Server [inside my house], from a movie theater 100 miles away from my house. The wife's folks were babysitting our kids, I kicked off a DVD for them so they didn't have to deal with anything other than turning TV on.

Ok, that's not so useful 99% of the time. But I can also:

1) Turn HVAC [heat or fan or A/C] on from the phone when we're en-route back home. [useful in the winter]

2) Have security system page me. Then, or whenever I want, check security system, pull up cameras located in/around the house

3) Check motion detectors, see where folks are.

Obviously these need some serious GUI work, but it was done in <60 minutes so it was "good enough" for me.

BTW, these use my HA package (CQC) PDA app which directly hits the server in my house, so I don't need logmein.com, and so no unnecessary software or security holes. Plus, there's a level of optimization possible that can't get done any other way [ie, the same image is shown 10 times. Don't download it 10 times, just download it once]. The HA/HT server software which integrates all the hardware and software devices on my house costs $500 now, will go up to $900 in a few weeks, and I already owned or planned to buy an RS232 controllable thermostat, security system, and receiver, so it was pretty cheap.

Frankly, thanks to that PDA viewer app for CQC, I can control anything on my smartphone that I can on my HTPC. I only did these cuz it was what I'd want to do when out of the house.