Turn your iPod into a Universal Remote

no_demons writes "Some clever souls over at engadget.com have posted an excellent tutorial in turning your iPod into a IR remote control. You also need a Pocket PC, an IR gadget from Griffin and a bit of patience, but hey, it's still a cool hack."

Cool hack? Not in my book.

For only the cost of a PocketPC, iPod, and Griffin IR gadget you too can iPod your Slashdot! [slashdot.org] To be fair, you might not have to pay the $17 for the IR gadget from Griffen... You could just buy a kit from Radio Shack and DIY for $5 less!

This isn't a "cool hack" or even "news for nerds". This is incredibly lame, backwards, and expensive. Why bother to use all these devices when you could just use a $10 or less Universal Remote from Walmart with a lot less futzing?

A cool hack would be controlling your iPod via a $10 universal remote from Walmart.

Cool.

I'm not interested in the whole PocketPC process, but the fact that you can do it is awesome.

Slap together an IR "microphone" and do it yourself if you don't like their process. I don't plan on rushing out to buy a PocketPC to try this, but that it can be done is worth noting.

You can!

A cool hack would be controlling your iPod via a $10 universal remote from Walmart.

1. Buy iPod.

2. But $10 universal remote from WalMart.

3. Use corner of universal remote to push iPod buttons and rotate volume dealy-widget.

So much more cool and high tech than using your primitve old finger.

Re:Cool hack? Not in my book.

This isn't a "cool hack" or even "news for nerds". This is incredibly lame, backwards, and expensive.

I think someone here doesn't understand what a 'cool hack' is. One of the things that can define a 'cool hack' is going the long way around to make a peice of technology do something that it wasn't originally intended to do, i.e.: installing linux on a dreamcast or connecting a cuecat to amazon.com.

Price never enters into it.

Re:Cool hack? Not in my book.

I think someone here doesn't understand what a 'cool hack' is. One of the things that can define a 'cool hack' is going the long way around to make a peice of technology do something that it wasn't originally intended to do, i.e.: installing linux on a dreamcast or connecting a cuecat to amazon.com.

Installing Linux on a Dreamcast or connecting a CueCat to Amazon.com to link your personal collections (books, DVDs, whatever) is far more exciting than using existing pieces of technology to do something.

This is a piece of PocketPC software that is talking to a Griffin IR gadget which the iPod is controlling. Woofuckinghoo.

It is certainly not "cool" by any stretch of the imagination. All they did was use existing technology through several different hoops to get a simple task accomplished. I can't even fathom how you could place it in the same realm as the CueCat hacks or Linux running on hardware X.

Hmm

Actually, it seems like it works by recording IR signals as audio, and then re-broadcasting by playing the sounds. Actually that's kind of interesting.

But, it would work with any Mp3 player, so it's a little annoying that they focused on the iPod exclusively, when any digital audio player would work.

It would also be a HUGE pain in the ass to actualy use, especialy if you've already got a pocket PC that could do all that already without all the work...

I've got a really cool gadget...

It's a pad of paper. To turn it into a remote control, all you need is the pad of paper (of course) and a remote control.

Re:I've got a really cool gadget...

also works with house pets, and, to a lesser degree, lions.

Great...

Now maybe my family won't fight for the remote so much, especially when I tell them that one wrong move turns it into a $300+ paperweight!

Why not play Led Zeppelin through the IR thingy?

That would cause all kinds of fun at your local sports bar.

Turn your iPod into a ...

Hey, that's cool. And with this [germancarfans.com], you can turn your iPod into a car.

Yawn

I guess "cool hack" is in the eyes of the beholder. To me, this sounds like a kludge (the Pocket PC, gadget and iPod). And all for what? That tired old, barely useful remote control "hack."

Griffin actually produced this for this purpose

Griffin demoed the PodMate at the 2002 MacWorld Expo. They were controlling a Sony TV and Stereo at their booth with one of these devices. Apple asked them not to develop it further for some reason.

They scrapped the plans and then made it part of their Griffin Mobile division - selling it for the iPaq originally.

The cool thing about this..

Is that you can, apparently, just hook up an infrared transceiver to a standard 3.5mm earphone/microphone plug..

So really, you only need the infrared-tranceiver-plug and some software to record sound. You sample the "sound" that comes from the tranceiver, then plug it into lineout and play back..

Of course, you can also hook up a microphone to your TVs tranceiver, and just play the recorded sounds out loud. Kind of like an old school "clicker" remote control that worked by audio. In fact, you could probably, with enough training, learn how to shriek directly in television-ese!

Captain crunch would approve.

Good idea?

The remote control perpetually wins the category of "most dropped electronic device in a typical home." Good way to scratch the iPod.

IPOD Articles

A) Connect Pocket PC
B) Connect Other Device
C) Figure Out How to Connect IPOD
D) Write Slashdot Article

How to control your TV via your cellphone...

It's a neat hack, but it's a neat hack that doesn't require an iPod or a Pocket PC... just a Griffin IR transceiver (or a handmade one, though you're unlikely to be able to make one as cheap and compact) and something to record and play back the 'sound' of the IR.

Put the control signals in your ringtone, and turn your TV on by calling your cellphone. Use custom ringtones and call from different phones to change the channel, adjust the volume, ...

Price beats Sony

Say what you will, this still beats Sony's latest entry [slashdot.org]. in the remote-control realm on price, if not on coolness, functionality, ease of use, form factor or support.

Recipe:

Let's see....

Take a relatively expensive toy,

Add a big ugly knob,

Trade in a lot of your one-touch buttons for lots more scrolling.

Surf for a while, simmer and search for proper recorder hacks. Cross fingers, will serve a few, frustrate many.

But it's cool as hell. Looks like a headache, but I can't not try it.

Cool hack but pointless..

We have all heard of those "One For All" remote controls. Well if you need all these different devices to use it ; isnt it more of a "All For One" system?

For some reason I'm thinking of the Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds [80snostalgia.com]

But can it do windows ?

Now if they could only make your remote play MP3s....
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/27/025024 6&tid=159&tid=126&tid=129 [slashdot.org]

Do you even need the PocketPC?

I'm not totally sure what this IR-to-audio device is, but couldn't you just line-in it to a regular PC (or a tape deck, even) and sound-record with that?

DMCA

If you publish your IR commands are you violating DMCA? Who will be the first to have a catalogue of IR .mp3 files sued by Matsushita/Sony/JVC for DMCA violation? On the otherhand it could be another way for those companys to make money... charge a dollar per command?

why?

Just spend a few bucks on software and you can use the pocket PC as a remote control now..

This 'make your ipod into a bla bla' is silly..

Its like killing termites with a flame thrower..

Cooler Hack

I just plug the IR bit into my guitar - now I play 'Sweet Child o' Mine' to change channels to Adult Swim, and 'Devil Inside' to change to C-Span.

It's really quite intuitive.

Rather Clunky, BUT

The premise is valiant. It seems like itching your left ear w/your right hand by going over the top of your head - why not just use the PDA to play the "sounds"?
I am waiting for the perfect convergence of all home electronics, appliances and climate/house controls "broadcasting" their capabilities (all with a lock-out, so my neighbor cannot turn on my stereo at 3am and play some Barry Manilow!) to a device (or PC), allowing a PDA-style remote to visually control them all (or even the web).

There are some very high-end AV/home controllers that do some of this, but I want more choices!

iPod as the "Java Ring" ?

Lots of interesting angles coming out for exploiting a wearable, portable data store. Seems like this was the proposition of the Java Ring, but that assumed too much bandwidth. People still need to carry their data with them until bigger pipes are easily available.

Would be interested to see someone float a thin client based on using the iPod as the user identification/storage component. Lots of ideas come to mind once you assume the iPod is ubiquotous.

Turn your car into a TV remote!

Since most PocketPC systems have IR built in you could just stop there. Or you coul just spend 20$ and buy a remote. Why the hell would you want to drag an iPod into this I dont know. You may as well turn your car, toaster oven, or microwave into a remote.

just one more thing

Just one more thing to keep us fat americans from having to get up to change the chanel.

Dedicated devices are better, here.

First there's an article on a $700 Linux-based Remote Control [slashdot.org], now this? Come on! The most expensive universal remotes [google.com] seem to cost $250 - and I bet they work a lot better than this. Oh yeah, and you can replace the batteries in them too.

Here's a clue gentlemen...

If you take a $10 item, and modify it to replace a $1000 item, that's probably a good hack.

If you take a $1000 item, and modify it to replace a $10 item, that's not a good hack. That's just stupidity.

It takes no cleverness to waste money.

There is much pleasure in useless information. [brainwagon.org]

Re:Here's a clue gentlemen...

"It takes no cleverness to waste money."

Perhaps not. But it does take a brain cell or two to look at this and go "Ah neat! So that's how they did that! I wonder what other applications I have for mucking with IR signals?"

It takes no cleverness to put something down.

Not that cool

You know what would be REALLY cool? Turn my remote into an iPod. Now there's a mod I could get into.

There are better things to hack

I can't imagine the combination of boredom and wealth that would lead me to want to do this to an iPod. If you want something useful to hack, reverse engineer a Garmin GPS receiver so that I can modify one to calculate and show the coordinates of the target of a laser range finder. I'd rather use an existing piece of equipment like that instead of having to design and build my own.

Apple Hacking

Does anyone else find it kind of comical that Apple, the company that revolutionized "easy computing", simple interfaces, simple industrial design, etc has become a geek's haven for hacking? OS X with their BSD underpinnings gives the UNIX geeks so much to play with. Newton diehards are hacking the crap out of it to keep it "alive". People are hacking iPods in so many different ways. All this for a company that takes pride in their "we make computing easy for you". I wonder what will be hacked next. Guesses anyone?

How about??

Replacing the iPod with a bowl of grits? Or ham and cheese sandwich bought at the gas station?

Ummmm Ok..

Spend at least $249 for the Ipod, a couple of hundred for a pocket PC, etc. thats over $400 bucks for an IR only Universal, plus the time of putting it together. Not to mention the clunky interface, when you could buy THIS [hometheatermaster.com] and controlly everything via RF + IR from anywhere in your house, plus a streamlined, easily programmable (from windows sorry) control interface (took me 10 minutes to set up DVD, Reciever, Cable BOX, and 3 TV's).

Turn your iPod into a automobile.

All you need is an iPod, an automobile, and some crazy glue! I love my AppleCar, and hope that you can appreciate my hack!

IR - Audio

This project [thecodeproject.com] describes the most interesting part of this hack... converting the IR into a waveform in the first place. That Griffin gadget is fascinating.

The article talks about how you read off the IR codes in the first place, and convert them into usable waveforms. It uses C# targetted for PocketPC. I found the underpinnings of this hack far more interesting than the hack itself.

Pocket PC and IR gadget?

Reminds me of a Dale Gribble quote from King of the Hill:

"If you want, I can show you how to make a bomb out of a roll of toilet paper and a stick of dynamite."

Recap?

I didn't RTFA, could somebody quick recap how it is you can turn a PocketPC into an iPod? What is the point of doing this, exactly?

Another one.

Great, another $700 remote control [slashdot.org]

ultrasonic remote "hacks"

Jingling a ring of keys or pouring a handful of change from one hand to the other would operate the TV.

Logitech Harmony

One of the comment posters on the site pointed to the Logitech Harmony [logitech.com] universal remote which looks pretty neat.

The poster claims its an XML compliant universal remote - although I couldn't find the information on the website (admitidally I only looked briefly).

One downside is that it's very expensive ($299) but one cool thing is that it has support for TV channel guides built into the remote.

I'd prefer turning a remote in an iPod

Ok that's cool but when are you going to turn an universal remote controller in an iPod? THAT would impress me!

Reverse engineered TV

A better idea is to reversee engineer the TV so that when you say "volume up" the volume would go up. I guess you could create a box that changes preprogrammed sound into a specific IR channel. i might try it...HMMM i wonder "Cat eat", "Cat change litter pan" thats what ill do, ill plug this griffin converter in to my cat!

COULD SOMEONE READ THE MOTHERFUCKING ARTICLE?!

Jesus fucking christ, people. You're like a bunch of five-year-olds. Huhuhuhuh... let's read the misleading summary and make fun of it!

The hack is to record the IR pulses as sound files and play them back with an IR LED connected to the iPod's headphone port. It's a really smart and cool idea but I guess you guys wouldn't know one of those if it bit you on your collective ass.

The reason the article calls for a Pocket PC is because it can read ifrared signals and pass those to the headphone jack for output. If you just piped the IR port on a computer to the sound out device, you'd have the same solution, minus the Pocket PC. This is NOT like the stupid-ass iPod to iPod transfer "hack" from a while ago. This is an actual neat concept that I'd wish you'd stop shitting all over with your ignorance.

Thank you.

Playlists!

Ok, the hack is pretty lame but the potential is cool.

For instance, you could create a playlist that turned on/off all of your equipment in a certain order - add to that: volume, channel defaults, recording options, xbox setting, dvd setting...

Add in a IR x10 system and you could Dim the lights, shut off the phone and load your pr0n DVD in one playlist.

Write a story about me, too!

I figured out a way to turn an Airport Extreme station into a dirt hauling and delivery system! You'll also need a dump truck, some super glue, and a back hoe!

My next project involves making a blow torch into a toaster. Also required are an X-Y plotter, some hardware cloth, and a surveyor's transit.

I'd like to tell more, but I have to go to the can. Normally, I'd use toilet paper, but I figured out this thing with a power drill and a corn cob...

sound capture for mac...

haven't tried it yet, but I am pretty sure you could record the IR using AUDACITY, a nice GPL'd sound editor. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ - incidentally (and coincidentally) it's the SF.net project of the month for 7/2004.

Share audio/IR files, iPod recording capability?

If people were really interested in this functionality, they could share the library of IR control code audio files.

General musings on iPod recording capabilities etc (from one successfully using an MD Walkman for years of pro audio recording):

A) Wonder if the 8 Khz recording bandwidth of the iPod would be enough to record the IR pulses directly? (Lessee, I got a homebrew [Radio Shack plan and parts] IR detector around here, throw a 1/8" jack on the output and plug into the Belkin Universal Microphone Adapter for iPod....)

B) Bug Steve-o about the wisdom allowing 44.1 Khz stereo recording on iPod. What the hell, I'm gonna buy a high-end Sony Hi-MD Walkman ANYWAY since he won't go for it....

C) Four easy steps for making my professional school lectures available to students on-line: 1) Record lectures on iPod using lavalier mic; 2) Drop audio file and exported lecture Powerpoint JPEGs into iMovie; and 3) edit and export to CD or class Web server. 4) There is no step 4....

D) Of course, at 8 KHz the iPod recorded audio won't be as crisp as what I get off my MD Walkman. On the other hand, I eliminate the step of importing narrative audio files through a pro MD deck with optical S/PDIF outputs.

E) Yeah, Duke is SO lame for giving incoming students iPods ;-) (Wonder if the radiologists in their medical school use iPods for carrying medical image files like our radiologists do?).

Hardware hacking 4 ever.

Not limited to the iPod

You could use just about any device that can record and play back a sound wave to do this. I think now they mass-produce chips that let you record a short soundclip and play it back. You could use one of these (or any mp3 player, or even casette player, etc) to imitate a sequence of button-presses from multiple remotes. This could be useful for someone who just wants to watch a DVD rather than juggleing remotes so he can get to the correct screen.

Kinda useless

Since you can use palm pilots as universal remotes already

I've got it!

I've done some research, now griffin were demonstrating this working on the ipod and its rather obvious that they have just taken the some technology and chucked it on a pocket pc rather than it write off. If someone could provide/leak/build the software there would be no reason to use a pocket pc at all!

Downloadable Signals

Hey, if enough people got together and traded signals for different remotes then you could have a website where you could just look up your remote model and then download the playlist for it. Kind of like a CDDB for remotes...

All you would have to have then would be the $10 piece of hardware and no iPaq, etc.

Re:another subterfuge

My universal remote is better than this: an HP-48gx graphing calculator. I would think that most pocket PCs could probably be used as a remote because of their IR ports without adding an iPod and an IR kit anyway. Well, I guess my UR hacks are just old-fashioned.

Re:so, what does the iPod do?

RTFA - the pocket PC is used to GET the IR signals, not as the remote.

Re:Why include the iPod

You went to the trouble of finding those links, but couldn't read the article to find out whether you were completely wrong about it?

Re:PlocketPC

If you read the article, you would see the point. Or even if you read one or two of the comments in this thread.

Re:PlocketPC

"Many IPAQs have a stronger then usual IR transmitter/receiver to be able to control your TV using the NEVO software, which comes with it. So I don't see the point of this!"

You don't think the process they used of converting IR to sound and back again is interesting? I really question the integrity of some of the nerds around here. How can they completely miss the point of something like this?

Then Sell Me your AAPL stock at 5$/Share

If you believe that apple is doing so terribly i will buy all your stock in apple at 5$/Share. given that you believe that apple is in such terrible shape you should be overjoyed that someone would pay you soooo much money for a worthless stock. if you don't have any stock than you can just buy 500 shares at market price and i will gladly pay you 5$/Share also if you have a G5 or Imac ill buy that from your for 100.00$ that riiight 100.00$ American dollars, you should be overjoyed that someone would pay so much for such a worthless computer. funny though last i heard apple payed off all of its debts spent 2bln in research and still poses a 200mil+ profit for the year.

Re:um, nice joke?

c'mon dudes...this post is a JOKE! It's a parody of every other tech pundit over the last 20 years who's tried to make the dire prediction that Apple is dead. The irony of its success despite all the WinTel domination is the joy of the joke.

On the off chance that the poster was totally serious, its obvious he has no clue and its not worth the keystrokes to tell him.