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.

[garcia]

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.

Great...

[Aphex Junkie]

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!

Yawn

[SYFer]

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."

Cool.

[Oculus Habent]

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.

Re:Cool hack? Not in my book.

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

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.

[garcia]

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.

Apple Hacking

[chia_monkey]

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?

Re:Cool hack? Not in my book.

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't even fathom how you could place it in the same realm as the CueCat hacks or Linux running on hardware X.

Two words: Apple zealots.

Re:Here's a clue gentlemen...

[NanoGator]

"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 limited to the iPod

[Brianwa]

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.