Watch City Brewing Company. A nice place to enjoy good Waltham craft beers. And if you’re a ThinkFlood software engineer named Justin Nguyen, it’s also a nice place to make the honest mistake of losing the next product in ThinkFlood’s line of universal remotes for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad—RedEye mini.

Justin Nguyen—a Northeastern University 2009 graduate and movie trivia master—is a ThinkFlood software engineer working on the RedEye app, the little program turns the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad into a high-end universal remote, when combined with RedEye hardware. A dream job for a talented engineer like Nguyen who always wanted to work at a hip, young company like ThinkFlood.

On the night of May 25, he was enjoying the fine house beverages at Watch City Brewing Company, a legendary brewpub in silicon savvy Waltham, Massachusetts. He was happy. After all it was his birthday. He was turning 24 that very same day and he was celebrating. The place was great. The beer was excellent. “I underestimated how good Waltham beer is,” he typed into the iPhone he was using to test RedEye mini hardware in the field. The RedEye mini he was testing earlier that evening sat beside him, cleverly disguised as ThinkFlood’s original RedEye remote. It was the last Facebook update made by Nguyen while he still knew the whereabouts of the secret universal remote adapter, right before he abandoned it on a bar stool, leaving to go home.

It was a simple, honest mistake in the middle of celebration. Something that anyone from Matt Eagar to Adam Shapiro could have done. Knowing how ferocious and ruthless ThinkFlood is about product leaks, those beers may have turned out to be the bitterest of his life.

(Almost) Impenetrable Security

Until now, ThinkFlood’s legendary security had always worked perfectly. Perhaps there was a blurry factory photo here, or some last-minute information strategically whispered to some friendly media there. But when it came to the big stuff, everything was airtight.

At their Waltham campus, any gadget or computer that is worth protecting is behind armored doors, with security locks with codes that change every few minutes. Prototypes are bolted to desks. Hidden in these labs, hardware, software and industrial-design elves toil separately on the same devices, without really having the complete picture of the final product.

And lurking in every corner, the ThinkFlood secret police, a team of people with a single mission: To make sure nobody speaks. And if there’s a leak, hunt down the traitor and escourt him out of the building. Using lockdowns and other fear tactics, these men in black are the last line of defense against any sneaky eyes. The Gran Jefe Matt Eagar trusts them to avoid ThinkFlood’s worst nightmare: The leak of a strategic product that could cost them millions of dollars in free marketing promotion. One that would make them lose control of the product news cycle.

But the fact is that there’s no perfect security. Not when humans are involved. Humans can lose things. You know, like the next RedEye remote, the portable RedEye mini.

Lost and Found
ThinkFlood security’s mighty walls fell (on the midnight of ) Wednesday, May 26. At that time, Nguyen was at Watch City Brewing, just 2.5 miles from the company’s Bear Hill Road headquarters, having his fun. Around him, other groups of people were sharing the jolly atmosphere, and plenty of the golden liquid.

The person who eventually ended up with the lost RedEye mini  was sitting next to Nguyen. He was drinking with a friend too. He noticed Nguyen on the stool next to him, but didn’t think twice about him at the time. Not until Nguyen had already left the bar, and a random really drunk guy—who’d been sitting on the other side of Nguyen—returned from the bathroom to his own stool.

The Random Really Drunk Guy pointed at the RedEye mini disguised as the original RedEye remote that was sitting on the stool, the precious prototype left by the young ThinkFlood engineer.

“Hey man, is that your RedEye base station?” asked Random Really Drunk Guy.

“Hmmm, what?” replied the person who ended up with the RedEye mini.

“No, no, it isn’t mine.”

“Ooooh, I guess it’s your friend’s then,” referring to a friend who at the time was in the bathroom.

“Here, take it,” said the Random Really Drunk Guy, handing it to him. “You don’t want to lose it.” After that, the Random Really Drunk Guy also left the bar.

The person who ended up with the RedEye mini asked around, but nobody claimed it. He thought about the young guy sitting next to him, so he and his friend stayed there for some time, waiting. Nguyen never came back.

Thinking about returning the Wi-Fi-to-infrared bridge the next day, he left.

When he got home, he downloaded the RedEye app to his iPhone and tried to play with the networked universal remote. I was buzzed and exhausted, so after trying to get it working for two minutes or so, I gave up and went to bed,” he told me in a telephone interview.

He had no clue that something was amiss. “It seemed like normal RedEye hardware,” he said. “It looked just like one—except I was confused because it seemed like the device’s owner was controlling bar TVs with it earlier in the evening, despite the fact that it had no power supply. I reasoned that maybe he took the AC adapter home with him and accidentally left the rest of it behind.”

When he woke up after the hazy night, he took a look at what he had carried home the night before. He immediately realized that there was something very strange about this RedEye.

At first it didn’t appear to have any special features, just a sticker that read, “JN’s Rm,” in the spot where you would normally find the device’s serial number, MAC address, FCC ID, and IC ID. All of the usual hardware identification numbers had been scratched off.

He already knew that the power cord was missing, but it was more than that. The 30-pin dock connector was gone too. He picked up the device and was stunned by what he hadn’t noticed in the crowded brewpub: something inside the base station was loose and rattling around.

He held the RedEye hardware up in the morning sunlight and finally saw that there was something other than a circuit board inside. After tinkering with it, he managed to open the fake RedEye base station.

There it was, a tiny and glorious thing, completely different from everything that came before. He immediately started Googling for the “JN” from ThinkFlood, who was sitting next to him the night before. Several minutes later he found a picture of ThinkFlood developer Justin Nguyen.

He reached for a phone and called a lot of ThinkFlood numbers and tried to find someone who was at least willing to transfer his call to Nguyen, but no luck. The company had recently relieved him of his occasional telephone duties so he could focus on finishing code for the in-app TV guide, that would soon be free for all RedEye remote users in the US and Canada.

He thought that eventually Nguyen would check his voicemail, and that he would receive a call back, but his phone never rang. The receptionists at ThinkFlood, who were unaware of the missing RedEye mini, thought the calls were part of an elaborate prank by ThinkFlood’s competitors (who often call to feel around for unpublished company and product information). Not to mention the fact that the caller’s tale was nearly identical to Gizmodo’s Lost iPhone Saga.

He thought that eventually the ticket would move up high enough that he would receive a call back, but his phone never rang. What should he be expected to do then? Walk into a retailer that sells the original RedEye system and hand the RedEye mini to a 20-year-old who might just end up selling it on eBay?

The Aftermath
Two days later, MoreControl.com got it for $100 in rolled quarters and a king size box of Swedish Fish. At the time, we didn’t know if it was the real thing because the RedEye mini didn’t work with the version of the RedEye app currently in the App Store (and all RedEye hardware is supposed to work with a single app).

Once we saw it inside and out, however, there was no doubt about it. It was the real thing, so we started to work on documenting it before returning it to ThinkFlood. We had the portable universal remote hardware, but we didn’t know the owner. Later, we heard the whole story, but we didn’t know for sure that it was Nguyen’s RedEye mini until today, when we finally tricked a receptionist at ThinkFlood to transferring our call.

Justin Nguyen: Hello?

Steve MacKinnon: Is this Justin?

J: Yeah.

S: Hi, this is Steve MacKinnon from MoreControl.com.

J: Hey!

S: You work at ThinkFlood, right?

J: Um, I mean I can’t really talk too much right now.

S: I understand. We have a device, and we think that maybe you misplaced it at a bar, and we would like to give it back.

J: Yeah, I forwarded your email [asking him if it was his RedEye mini], someone should be contacting you.

S: OK.

J: Can I send this phone number along?

S: [Contact information]

He sounded tired and broken. But at least he’s alive, and apparently still working at ThinkFlood—as he should be. After all, it’s just a stupid, little universal remote dongle for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, and mistakes can happen to everyone—Justin Nguyen, Gray Powell, Phil Schiller, you, me, and Steve Jobs.

The only real mistake would be to fire Justin Nguyen in the name of ThinkFlood’s legendary impenetrable security, breached by the power of locally brewed beer beer and one single human error.

The Complete Lost RedEye mini Saga:

• This is ThinkFlood’s next iPhone, iPad, iPod touch remote—RedEye mini
• How ThinkFlood lost the RedEye mini
• How ThinkFlood conceals prototype RedEye minis

Click any image to enlarge

ThinkFlood’s original RedEye remote was the first complete universal remote control system for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. It allows users to control virtually any infrared devices from any room in the home (without having to attach anything to their phone, MP3 player or tablet).  The RedEye system is a Wi-Fi-to-infrared bridge that can support multiple rooms, controllers (iDevices), and users simultaneously.

RedEye has been growing in popularity around the world since the product launched last December. In January, the RedEye app was selected to appear in iPhone print ads that ran in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and Newsweek.

While ever-increasing RedEye remote sales and the company’s rapidly expanding list of distributors are sure signs that things are going swimmingly at ThinkFlood these days, the greatest testament to their success came last week when Apple started featuring the RedEye app in the What’s Hot section of the App Store.

Still glowing from the launch of the RedEye system, ThinkFlood is preparing to launch the second product in its line of networked universal remotes: RedEye mini. Think of it as the original RedEye remote’s little brother.

RedEye mini is a small adapter that plugs into the headphone jack of the iPhone, iPod touch and  iPad—transforming it into a completely portable universal remote. RedEye mini owners will be able to use their iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices to quickly operate anything anything controlled by infrared signals, anywhere they go: TVs, DVD and Blu-ray players, set-top boxes, stereos, gaming consoles, etc.

The power… The anarchy… The RedEye mini. Okay, I’m getting carried away, but you get the picture.

While ThinkFlood may tinker with the final packaging and design of the final RedEye mini hardware, it’s clear that this lost-and-found RedEye remote—is drastically new and drastically different from what came before. Here’s a detailed list of our findings:

What’s new and exclusive to RedEye mini?

• Completely portable – Download IR codes anywhere using a 3G connection (or Wi-Fi). RedEye mini is much smaller than a thumb drive, and comes with a free carrying case
• The price—only $49—the most affordable RedEye universal remote yet
• Instant gratification – No waiting for IR commands to be communicated over Wi-Fi. Since RedEye mini attaches to the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, IR commands for controlling your gear go straight from the application to the RedEye mini hardware
• Can also be used in conjunction with the original RedEye system for control in rooms without a RedEye base station, or to control equipment outside the home

What do RedEye mini and the original RedEye remote have in common?

• Compatible with iPad, iPhone and iPod touch
• The iPhone application itself–RedEye
• Database of 45,000 IR codes and ability to learn codes from existing remotes
• Nearly unlimited device and command capacity
• Activity-based control and macros
• Constantly evolving features and functionality
• Available in 52 countries around the world
• In-app TV guide (coming later this summer for users in the US and Canada)

Differences between RedEye and RedEye mini

• Power source – RedEye mini does not plug into the wall; it plugs into the headphone jack of any  iPhone, iPod touch or iPad (Note – a common, inexpensive headphone jack adapter is required in order to use RedEye mini with the first generation iPhone)
• Storage – With RedEye mini, IR codes and activity configurations (remote control button layouts), are stored on the user’s iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Since the original RedEye is a multi-controller system, its codes and configurations are stored on the RedEye base station
• Dock connector – RedEye mini does not use Apple’s 30-pin dock connector; it plugs into the headphone jack of the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. The originial RedEye remote does include the 30-pin connector, however, it is only there for convenient charging. Users don’t physically attach anything to their iDevices to operate the original RedEye system
• Line of sight – RedEye mini users must point their iPhone, iPod touch or iPad at the equipment they wish to control; while the original RedEye remote only requires that users be somewhere in range of their Wi-Fi network
• Internet connectivity – No Wi-Fi needed to set up or operate the RedEye mini. If users aren’t in range of a Wi-Fi network, they can quickly download IR codes for controlling their equipment (or anyone’s equipment for that matter), using a 3G connection
• Easier setup – Getting started with RedEye mini will be faster and easier than the original RedEye remote because the wireless networking element of the setup process is no-longer part of the equation

Click any image to enlarge

How it was lost
Here is a detailed account of how the remote was lost.

Why we think it’s definitely real
We’re as skeptical—if not more—than all of you. We get false tips all the time. But after playing with it for about a week—the overall quality feels exactly like a finished, final ThinkFlood remote—and after disassembling the unit, there is so much evidence stacked in its favor, that there’s very little possibility that it’s a fake. In fact, the possibility is almost none.

ThinkFlood first released information about RedEye mini in March of this year. Hardware renderings of the portable, super-remote were also released at that time.

Someone would have had less than three months to create their own functioning universal remote accessory that looks nearly the same as the renderings of the RedEye mini, and functions nearly the same as the original RedEye remote.

And if someone unaffiliated with ThinkFlood produced a working solution faster than ThinkFlood did,  and then chose to mark their creation with ThinkFloods logo… Well… Come on! Nobody would do that! Why would anyone do that?

Even more seriously though, considering how complicated it is to turn a standard headphone jack into a tiny modem that allows users to control any piece of infrared equipment in the world using an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad—something that’s never been done before—a pre-launch RedEye mini knockoff is pretty much impossible. Here are the reasons, one by one.

It has been reported lost

ThinkFlood-connected James Dellamort, Principle and Chief Engineer at design and consulting firm delResearch, says that ThinkFlood has indeed lost a prototype RedEye mini and they want it back.

So I called around, and I now believe this is an actual unit from ThinkFlood—a unit that they are very interested in getting back.

Obviously someone found it, and here it is.

The look
Here’s the most obvious reason why this little adapter is probably ThinkFlood’s RedEye mini (left): it looks a lot like the hardware renderings that ThinkFlood released in March (right).

It’s not exactly the same. The actual hardware is a bit more squared off than it appeared in earlier pictures. And the RedEye logo on the actual hardware is entirely black, not blue.

The real RedEye mini looks a little less like the antenna your phone had in 1998, and a little more like the antenna your phone wished it had in 1998.

The App
According to the person who found it, the mini and an iPhone were being used to control televisions at the bar where it was found—Watch City Brewing in Waltham, Mass. The person briefly saw a remote control button layout on the iPhone screen. We showed him several screen shots of the current RedEye app, and he confirmed that the screen he saw that night looked nearly the same.

How could the young man have been using what looked like the current RedEye application to control the RedEye mini? Easy answer—ThinkFlood informed us that all RedEye remote hardware uses the same application.

It’s likely that owner of the lost RedEye mini was running a not-yet-released version of the RedEye app, which included support for ThinkFlood’s new RedEye hardware. Since the company hasn’t submitted that software to Apple yet, we were not able to test RedEye mini hardware ourselves. [UPDATED - Minutes after we published news about the lost RedEye mini, ThinkFlood's crisis communications department got in touch and offered to share a version of their app that would support RedEye mini. According to ThinkFlood, they submitted the software release to Apple last week. See our demonstration of the RedEye mini in action at the end of this post.]

The camouflage case
The case the RedEye mini came in was an acrylic enclosure, possibly designed to make it look like the original RedEye remote.

However, it looks like they just pulled the guts out of a RedEye base station, put the mini inside and popped the top back on. It’s a perfect disguise.

The fact that it’s in the wild right now
Logic can also narrow down why this hardware is this year’s RedEye mini remote, rather than next year’s model or one from the previous year, just because it was found in the wild right now. It makes no sense for ThinkFlood to be testing 2011′s model right now, in super finished form—they wouldn’t be nearly done with it.

Since there’s no evidence to suggest that there was ever a 2009 RedEye mini, thinking such a thing would be a ridiculous exercise.

And for those of you who haven’t thought everything through yet, this device can’t be last year’s RedEye test model because a majority of last year components (based on original RedEye teardowns) were way different. The hardware we have in hand has no power supply, a much smaller board, no 30-pin dock connector, no Wi-Fi, no storage. That only leaves room for this to be the 2010 RedEye mini.

The guts, the definitive proof
And finally, when we opened it up, we saw multiple components that were shared by both the original RedEye and this new device.

Despite the RedEye mini’s much lower price tag, the folks at ThinkFlood appear to have kept the components bar high, using the same Vishay IR receiver modules and high-speed infrared LEDs across burgeoning product line.

Even if someone cared enough (and was clever enough) to create something that looks exactly like ThinkFlood’s yet-to-be-released RedEye mini, the chances that he/she would also care enough to use many of same key components as ThinkFlood’s original RedEye remote are slim.

How it feels
Freaking amazing. As a person who doesn’t actually have his own home Wi-Fi network, and who never really loved the hockey-puckish appearance of the (original) RedEye remote hardware, the tinier, sleeker, blacker, squarer design is super welcome.

It feels completely natural in your hand. And because it’s a lot smaller, it feels even nicer in your pants (I don’t care to explain why I ever attempted to carry a RedEye base station in my pants).

What all this means

It’s possible that the RedEye mini, at only $49, will perform better than universal remotes that cost three, five, even ten times as much. Not to mention the fact that those pricey home theater remotes aren’t meant for controlling everything, everywhere you go.
After spending a lot of time comparing the original RedEye and the RedEye mini side-by-side, it’s clear that the exterior of the RedEye mini is drastically different from that of the original RedEye.

Now you have a thinner body, a much more pleasant form factor with no wasted space. But the design isn’t the most important part that’s changed.

ThinkFlood has delivered may of the features that people have been waiting for—complete portability, for example—while at the same time upgrading everything else.

Folks who bought the original RedEye six months ago are now in the perfect position to add a RedEye mini to their system for controlling equipment in rooms without a RedEye base station. And of course current RedEye users who don’t feel like adding a mini to their system will still get to enjoy the other new features and improvements coming in ThinkFlood’s next software update.

ThinkFlood is really onto something with their futuristic line of remote controls. The iPhone SDK opened the door for their first products, but I’m starting to sense that in the not-too-distant future they will expand their offerings to include more mobile operating systems, and maybe even enter the realm of browser-based remote control and home automation.

Bottom line—RedEye mini is the thing that you always wanted, but hadn’t thought of yet. Okay, maybe you thought of it; but you didn’t make it happen, did you? It’s powerful. It’s cheap. And you’ll be walking around with the best party trick in town.

If you’re still asking yourself why this is appealing, here’s some inspiration:

• Don’t like those yappy (I mean lovely) ladies from The View? Feel free to change the channel at your mother’s house, even though she’s holding the remote. She’ll never know what happened.
• Desperately need to tune the nearest bar TV to the game that you actually want to see? Go right ahead. And when someone switches it back, you can feel free to change it again.
• Wish you could turn off all that noise when you’re the only one at the Laundromat and the TV is blasting at full volume? You can. You should.
• What about looking slick and completely together at your next important presentation? Only a true pack leader would unfurl the projector screen and control his slides with his phone.
• Upgrading to iPhone 4? Pack up that stack of remotes and use your old iPhone 3GS or 3G as your one and only controller.

If confirmed this summer, and if it performs as we expect, this next-generation RedEye remote looks like a winner. [UPDATED -RedEye mini performs as we expected. See video below of us using the lost RedEye mini with the RedEye software.]

The Complete Lost RedEye mini Saga

• This is ThinkFlood’s next iPhone, iPad, iPod touch remote—RedEye mini
• How ThinkFlood lost the RedEye mini
• How ThinkFlood conceals prototype RedEye minis

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Supposedly an acoustic trigger could have remotely sealed the under sea oil well that is currently spilling 210,000 gallons of oil per day into the Gulf of Mexico.

Many news outlets are reporting that if British Petroleum had invested in this particular remote control technology, workers escaping from the burning BP rig on April 20 would have been able to send a signal more than a mile under water, causing 450-ton hydraulic rams to close off the well, almost immediately stopping the flow of oil.

Since they didn’t install an acoustic trigger, the people at BP are now shamefully watching their precious oil contaminate the once-beautiful Gulf, killing thousands of innocent sea creatures (as well as the price of  their stock).

So why didn’t BP have a remote valve shut-off system in place? Most of the reports I’ve seen and heard blame it on the $500,000 price tag for an acoustic trigger . I know what you’re thinking: “That’s one expensive remote!”

Do I hear crickets chirping?

Okay, so maybe you’re actually thinking about the environmental and economic devastation starting to take hold in the Gulf; but please take one more moment to further consider the remote control technology that “could have” saved the day.

Was  BP just trying to save a buck (er… 500,000 bucks) when they opted not to  install an acoustic trigger in their undersea drilling operation that’s now hemorrhaging oil into the Gulf? Maybe. But we should also consider the possibility that acoustic switches aren’t quite as foolproof as certain outraged lawmakers and media outlets would like us to believe.

These pricey switches are used voluntarily in many offshore drilling operations, and are required by law for drilling off the coast of Brazil and Norway. So why isn’t this technology required for offshore drilling in the US?

Consider one of the earliest everyday remote controls, Zenith’s Space Command, which first appeared in 1956. This remote used sound waves to control the television it was paired with. History tells us that sound control didn’t last long on land; but why?

Zenith’s Space Command fell out of favor because noise in the home environment—say the plunk of a child’s xylophone or a squealing little brother—often matched the frequencies for controlling the TV. Accidentally changing the channel or powering off was all too common.

Could competing sounds be the same reason acoustic triggers aren’t the most popular item in the offshore drilling safety toolbox?

In 2003, the U.S. Minerals Management Service commissioned a report on whether oil companies drilling offshore should be required to install an acoustic trigger for remote valve shut off.

The report concluded that,  “Acoustic systems are not recommended because they tend to be very costly, and there is insufficient data available on system reliability in the presence of a mud or gas plume.”

Hmmm… so it doesn’t really work?

I checked out the MMS report, and here’s what I discovered: the reason sound waves are not the preferred way to achieve remote control under water is same reason sound waves are not the preferred way to achieve remote control on land—acoustic signals leave too much room for error.

Under water, acoustic interference caused by the noise of a flowing oil well or a plume of mud can make the operation of an acoustic trigger unreliable.

It seems both land and sea are just too noisy for acoustic control to be especially effective. Other sounds can get in the way–skewing, blocking or mimicking actual commands.

In living rooms around the world, infrared light has been king of the remote control universe since the 1970s. Unfortunately for the little fishies of the Gulf (and every living thing on Earth),  IR isn’t a viable solution for triggering emergency shut-off valves deep in the ocean.

The Dillinger Escape Plan is giving out 2,000 TV-B-Gone universal remotes with its upcoming album. Watch the anarchy unfold...

Hardcore (-ish) band The Dillinger Escape Plan recently announced that it will include a television quashing universal remote in limited edition box sets of its upcoming album, “Option Paralysis,” on sale March 22.

The band appears to be encouraging its fans to, “Be Here Now,” by arming them with the TV-B-Gone.

The TV-B-Gone is stripped-down universal remote that only controls one function, power. While it can turn almost any television on or off, The Dillinger Escape Plan only appears to encourage using the TV-B-Gone to shut down blaring televisions that are on for no particular reason.

How does it work? When you push the only button on the TV-B-Gone remote, it sends out a sequence of infrared power codes for nearly every television imaginable.

Users will find that 90% of televisions will turn off within 17 seconds of pushing the power button. It takes 69 seconds for the remote to cycle through all of its power codes; fortunately the device emits codes for the most popular televisions first.

Check out TV-B-Gone’s website for a hilarious collection of customer testimonials. Here’s an excerpt from one of my favorites:  “I can’t wait for the next time I go to my doctor’s office so I can turn off the continuous pharmaceutical ad video that runs in his waiting room. “

Dillinger has tour dates scheduled all over the world between now and mid-August; no region is safe. Watch out for unruly, remote-toting fans. I’m picturing Gizmodo’s TV-B-Gone hijinks at CES 2008, but on a much larger scale…

Though this isn’t exactly a TV for the mass market, Hannspree certainly made a splash at CES (and on the web) with their newest anti-gadget. Surprisingly it isn’t a gimmick, either, and will be hitting the market in March for those of you who need a new TV … and love polar bears (a large demographic, to be sure). No word on weather of not the TV can catch seals for dinner, but I at least hope it comes with a waterproof remote.

Image via Gizmodo

Slingmedia showed off the beautiful new Sling Touch Control 100 this week at CES. The Touch Control 100 has a 4.3 inch touchscreen and a stunning design which was sleek enough to get it selected as a CES Innovations 2010 Design and Engineering Award honoree.

The Touch Control 100 lets you control SlingGuide enabled DVRs over IP via your home 802.11 wireless network.  Traditional IR devices are supported as well, but no mention of its scope of coverage.  Slingmedia has yet to reveal any information about pricing, but they have said that it will not be sold through traditional retail.  Instead the Sling Touch Control 100 will be offered through various cable and satellite providers as part of a new suite of Sling products.

Certainly the resemblance to another “touch” product — the iPod touch — is unmistakable. Which brings up the question: why spend so much money on developing this kind of hardware, when a solid iPhone app and dock would do just as well?

Call me old fashioned, but I still don’t get this whole gesture control movement that is being adopted for TV’s and other devices.  I get the use of it in video games — it’s more fun playing tennis in a video game when you get to at least swing something instead of just pressing a button.  There is that associated action of swinging your arm and playing tennis.  The problem is, I don’t have any motion or movement that I would like to associate with TV viewing.  Like what’s the thumb’s up gesture associated with? What was the hand wave for page up again?

This doesn’t seem to phase Microsoft and their Project Natal for the X-Box 360.  Yeah, I know Project Natal is originally for playing games but some recent talk from Microsoft shows that they are extremely interested in using Natal as a complete input for your home theater.  Granted they also want you to run that entire theater through an X-Box 360 of course.  With services like SkyTV and Netflix they want to provide all of your media content which you could control via your Natal, or Project Natal, or whatever it will actually be called.

Having your media content centralized in a single place is awesome, I love my XMBC setup but I don’t feel I need any special way to interact with it except for my remote control.  Now to be fair, Microsoft is actually touting the facial recognition and voice recognition as the main way to control your media via Natal, but do I really need a 360 and Natal for that?  The facial recognition is nice since everyone one has different tastes and you can have custom content for each user.  The voice recognition on the other hand, isn’t too special.  My Macbook has been able to recognize voice commands for a few years now, if I wanted to I could easily set all that up myself.  In fact that is a good idea, I think I’ll go do that now.

Everyone company wants to be “green” now and doing their part, or at least claim they are green, because it is so popular right now.  I haven’t seen much actual progress yet unfortunately (especially from the electronics industry), but then I ran across this interesting prototype from NEC.  They have created a remote control that doesn’t use batteries or any source of external power except for you.  It’s not going to save the world or anything but every little bit helps.

Apparently the device draws its power from the actual clicking on the buttons — something called “scavenging” or, (more appealingly) “harvesting” because it uses waste energy for a good purpose.  Basically it’s the same idea that Swiss watchmakers have been using since the late 18th century to wind watches automatically.

NEC joined forces with the company SoundPower in order to work the technology into their remotes. When a user clicks a button vibrations are created, these vibrations are what they actually draw the power from.  Each click generates enough vibrations and power in order to send the command which means the device should be “sustainable” … another one of those green words.

Personally, I think NEC has a very interesting concept on their hands. It would be very nice to never have to change the batteries in my remote again, specially since I never remember how to properly throw them out.  Then again it would probably be a whole lot greener if we didn’t have to use remotes at all, or at least 10 per household.

• iPhone controlled R/C Car
• An actual Oldsmobile
• Dance lights
• A minivan (2007)
• R2D2
• Dog feeders
• Military Drones
• A helicopter

What next? How about a bi-pedal walking robot named Walky.  The robot and controller were developed by a group of grad students from Keio University in Japan. Video after the break.

Walky understands a set of touch gestures that allow him to walk, jump, and kick.  Apparently they had attempted other methods of control like a PS3 Controller unsuccessfully and had settled on the iPhone. The touchscreen is more intuitive than a joystick since you can simulate walking using two fingers — remember the old Yellow Pages ads? Walky is pretty simple, but still seems well made and I like how they have broken the mold here with iPhone gestures.

No offense to Motorola, Verizon, or their Droid commercials, but this doesn’t seem like a very closed development system to me. Yeah, it’s true that the App store requires some approval, but that doesn’t seem to be discouraging too many people. The iPhone SDK is well thought-out and by far the easiest mobile development platform out there. Period. Plenty of people are using it to develop for reasons other then making money in the App store, including academic and scientific pursuits such as this one. I’m not going to be looking for the Walky Robot app on iTunes, but it’s nice to know that I could develop something like this if I wanted to.