Do you have an Iphone or Ipod Touch? Do you watch video on your computer, while sitting on your couch?. Do you lose your apple remote control in your couch? If you answer yes to these questions, there is an application you might be interested in its called Snatch. It cost $3.99 and can be downloaded through the Itunes store. There is a free test version which you can download to try it out. You will have also download the Snatch server from the Snatch Web site and install it on your computer. This allows the application to talk to your computer. Once you set it up you can sit on your couch and use it to launch programs, as a remote control, a track pad and to scroll. The track pad, scrolling screen,and launch pad all come installed when you download the application.
The fourth icon says keyboard if you tap on that there is a blank screen, this is where the remote controls are installed, and where the really power of the application is. There are two ways to get a remote control on the application, the first is to downloaded an existing one from the Web site. There are presently 23 remotes available, including ones for Plex, Hulu, Keynotes and more. The second way to install a remote control is to create one yourself for an application you use. For example I use Miro, there was no remote available for Miro so I created my own directly on my Iphone. I then uploaded the file I created to the Snatch forum, where now anyone can download it. If the application uses keyboard shortcuts you can create a remote control for it. You can have up to 8 remotes installed on you Iphone or Ipod Touch and you can switch easily from one to another by scrolling from screen to screen. The one thing they do recommend and I agree with, is that if you do download a remote from the Web site make sure you check the properties of the keys on the remote before using it. You want to make sure the keys do what they are suppose to. The properties on the keys on the remote should be similar to the keyboard shortcuts for the program.
The track pad and the scroll pad also work really well. I had a lot of fun last night using the scroll pad with Google Earth. Scrolling around the terrain was much easier and more fun than it is on a key board or using a mouse. I can see the track pad being used to point something out on a screen or to click on it during a Keynote speech. Although I think it has less useful for the casual user. There are some problems I did notice with the application; the first is it does use up a lot of battery life, the second is if the Iphone shuts down you have to reconnect the remote with the network, which can be an irritation. Finally, if you prefer tactile buttons, this is not the remote for you. To me this application is well worth the price I paid for and I would recommend it.
Tags: Iphone, application, remote
P owered by Qumana