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Remote

home control

Philips Makes Pronto Home Control Mega-Remote More Mega: TSU9800

It's been a long while since we mentioned Philips range of Pronto home-control remote systems, but Philips hasn't forgotten them: it's been making the mega-remotes even more mega with the upcoming TSU9800. With a bigger touchscreen (6.4-inches, folks), and an dock that also does ambient lighting, it can also be mounted on the wall of your swanky Wi-Fi-enabled remote-controlled house to let you switch on "audio/video servers" for which it gives "feedback information such as album/DVD art and song information." Philips has also updated the software used to program the remote through a PC, and now ProntoEdit Professional 2.0 lets you drag and drop design your configurations and user interfaces for the 9800. Swish indeed: which is why it's due to cost $2,400 when it's out in September. Press release below. More »

RC Enterprise

Touch Screen RC Star Trek Enterprise Boldly Goes Where No RC Vehicle Has Gone Before

Interstellar space flight may have been poo-poo'd on by astrophysicists this week, but that doesn't mean we can't have a little pseudo space-faring fun with this first-of-its-kind RC Star Trek Enterprise. Due to arrive in May 2009, the $80 foam flyer is controlled via a vintage Star Trek touchscreen communicator (Captain James T. Kirk womanizing is not necessary, but recommended). More »

army tech

British Army Competition Yields Bomb-Dropping, Hi-Def Video Taking, Unfortunately Noisy Flying Robot

One of the front runners of an ongoing British Army-sponsored competition for new military technology is this miniature spaceship-looking thing, which is designed to inconspicuously drop bombs and listening devices behind enemy lines. The external blade-less shape allows the machine to enter buildings through windows or doors, and an HD camera feed lets it double as a surveillance bot. More »

geek art

British Artist Paints Using RC Cars As His Brushes

And you thought Etch-a-Sketch was tough. Ian Cook made this portrait of a Chevy Camaro by soaking the wheels of remote controlled cars in paint and then painstakingly driving them around on his canvas. He also uses full-size tires to fill in large blocks of color, but still, the results are pretty amazing—if you've ever tried to ambush your unsuspecting cat with an RC you know how tricky precision maneuvering can be. He's currently camped out at the London Motor Show doing portraits of cars (meta!). The work is especially admirable when you see it coming together in this video, stroke by radio-controlled stroke. More »

toys

I Pity the Fool Who Doesn't Get this A-Team RC Van

Listen up you fools! I know that you cry and cry because you can't get a cool van like mine! Stop whining now and get the RC version for just 60 Washingtons! Or ask your mama for it if you don't have the money! More »

iphone remote

MythTV's MyMote iPhone Remote App

The idea of controlling your DVR via your iPhone is nothing new, but this MythTV iPhone remote allows Linux DVR users to get in on the fun of using their phones as visual remotes. It's got a real-time program guide so you can easily set recordings, plus the standard channel and volume buttons to flip around channels with. The only thing we have to complain about is that the UI is fairly ugly and not refined at all, but it's bearable. Unfortunately all of us here use either TiVo or Media Center or the cheap set-top-box provided from our Cable company, so we can't test it out. Let us know how it works for you. [eHomeUpgrade]

toys

Remote Controlled "Ultimate Wall-E" Available For Pre-Order at $250

Maybe it was a miscalculation, or perhaps it is Disney trying to capitalize on the success of the film, but the Ultimate Wall-E remote controlled robot is now available for pre-order at $250—about $60 more than originally expected. Not a big deal, though—this toy is so feature-packed, it is almost like having the real thing. [Disney]

digital cameras

Hack Your Point-and-Shoot into a Time Lapse Camera

CamTim is a hack that'll let you use any digital camera with a remote control for time-lapse photography. It's not super-easy, but it won't make you cry (probably). It's basically a board you program to buzz the camera's remote button at whatever interval you want. Using a ZigBee module, you can also set it up to run wirelessly, which is pretty handy for long-term spying... on birds. [ZigGrid via MAKE]

voice control

Direct Voxx Muso is Natural-Speech Voice Recognition Dongle for iPod nano

There are plenty of iPod cradles that let you remote control the device, some built-in to cars, but Direct Voxx has come up with the Muso that lets you do it by voice. It's an interesting bit of kit that doesn't require training to understand you, and lets you demand particular tracks, scan through playlists, pause and resume playing music just by speaking in natural language like "play California Dreaming by the Mamas and the Papas." Check out the video to see it in action. More »

RC Tank

Floating, Off-Roading, BB-Shooting RC Tank Delivers Beer, Removes Eyeballs

We think Danbar Toys has a winner on its hands today with this $92 amphibious BB-shooting RC tank, with cupholders. I mean, what better way to cap off a beer-fueled barbecue than with a remote-control tank that can go anywhere, turn on a dime, and take people's eye balls as war trophies at the same time? The "creatively written" instruction manual (borderline Engrish) cautions against firing at people or animals, but we've had a few already this morning, and Uncle Bob and his stupid cat are totally asking for it. Drink, er, fire away. More »

First iPhone Remote Hands-On

First iTunes Remote App for iPhone Hands-On

One of the first apps I downloaded while doing the App Store video walkthrough today was the new iPhone Remote for iTunes. There's only one word to describe it: perfectomfgthisissocool. As you can see in the video, it just works, giving you full control of all the music, video, podcasts, and movies stored on your computer or AppleTV. The applications show you the art, your personal playlists (including the smart ones), all in real time. Updated: second part of the video is up, plus some more impressions. Verdict: download it now. More »

apple tv

Apple TV 2.1 Update Adds Remote App and Mobile Me Support

Apple TV 2.1 is out via Software Update. It adds two things: Support for the Remote app for the iPhone and iPod touch (awesome), and support for MobileMe. Hoo. Ray. [iLounge]

iphone remote

Apple Remote iPhone App Controls Your iTunes Over Wi-Fi

The App store went live a few minutes ago and the remote app we saw last week went live as well. It controls your iTunes through a screen that looks just like the regular iPhone/iPod touch player, and it only works through Wi-Fi. You can control AppleTVs, too, and you can also control speaker output.

toys

Infrared Tracking R/C Car is Remote Control Toy for the Truly Lazy

This remote-control car has an infrared follower system built in, so you steer it simply by pointing the IR beam from the controller somewhere ahead of the car, and it works out where you want it to go. So yes, it's a simple remote control for those who can't be bothered to learn how to steer their toys with a joystick or wheel and throttle remote. Or kids. Ah... now I understand. The "magic dot" can be up to five feet ahead of the 9-inch car and it'll still work, and you get about 20 minutes of racing, cat-bothering action from one charge of its batteries. Available now for $49.95. [RedFerret]

airline security

Prototype Remote-Activated Wrist Stun-Device Shocks You For Airplane Security

This story from the Washington Times seems more ridiculous than ridiculously awesome, but the base of it is that some official in the Department of Homeland Security has "expressed great interest" in a wrist bracelet that can be remotely activated to stun the wearer. It works by taking the place of a boarding pass, which you then wear on your wrist so the flight attendants can know who you are, where you are, and even shock you if you're misbehaving. What makes this thing completely absurd is the diagram after the jump. A man threatens a crew member with a knife. The crew member shocks the man into submission, then SHOCKS EVERYONE ELSE as punishment for sitting passively by while he was being threatened. More »

concepts

Twist and Squeeze Remote Concept Requires Two Hands

Jason Kline's gesture-based remote looks cool, but might not be practical for everyday usage. You adjust the volume with the left knob and the channel with the right, but there's no place to enter in buttons. It does allow you to keep going with the knob turning concept of old time TVs while still allowing you to be lazy on the couch. Not that we'd ever use it, but it might be a decent concept for octogenarians who still miss the old days. [Yanko Design]

tivoremote

TiVoRemote App Updated with Slick GUI and Handy Features

TiVoremote, the iPhone / iPod touch Telnet TiVo Remote app, was finally updated a few weeks ago with an ooey gooey GUI, and some really useful new features. Now at version 0.23, the app can now detect TiVos on your home network, allowing for easy selection of the TiVo you want to control. What's even better is the app now has the ability to download the Now Playing list data from the TiVo, allowing the iPhone to show what's been recorded and display each recordings data info. The app can also use the NPL data to start playing the recordings automatically. So if you've got a Jailbroken iPhone / iPod touch, and a Series 3 TiVo, I would suggest giving the app a try, it's surprisingly useful. [TiVoRemote]

weird science

Team from UC San Diego Use Human Face as Remote-Control Unit

This is possibly the ultimate hack—turning your face into a remote control unit. A computer-science Ph.D student from UC San Diego can use his fizzog to speed up or slow down video, as part of a project that hopes to make robots better teachers using automated facial expression recognition. More »