Macworld Expo 2011 was confined to Moscone North last year, and moved over to Moscone West this year. Despite the smaller show floor, there were still a lot of great products to try out. Here are the three items on hand at Macworld Expo that most impressed the Appletell writers in attendance: two devices to improve your channel surfing, and one to improve your gaming.

Using your iDevice as a universal remote sounds like a great idea, right? The only problem is that solutions thus far have been expensive. Not anymore. Ryz Media has an app and hardware combo that totals $9.99. Yeah, less than ten bucks. That’s so crazy it might just work. Check out the promo video after the break.

Overall, the RedEye iPhone universal remote system works very well. As long as all of your gear works with IR, then you’re set. The app is pretty slick looking and has enough functionality to shake a stick at. But there are two huge problems here. First, the dock isn’t intended to move, so either you’ll want to have all of your IR gear in one room, or, to ThinkFlood’s delight, you could buy more than one RedEye dock. But now we’re to problem two; it costs way too much.

You might feel like you’re pulling at the strings of the world with an iPhone in your hand, but there’s one thing you’ll have some difficulty with: controlling your TV. Well, I suppose that’s always been the case, even with universal remotes of the past. This year, you’ll have plenty of accessory options to control your TV or other IR gear from your iPhone.

The Viper SmartStart System, a new Best Buy exclusive hardware and software combination only available for the iPhone and iPod touch, allows you to do a number of cool things with your iDevice and your car, such as start your car with virtually unlimited range, warm it in winter and cool it in summer, unlock it, arm the alarm, and more.

You might want to grab some popcorn and a few extra napkins this week. Why? Because Showtime has released their iPhone app that allows streaming of full episodes of some of their TV shows. Oh, and the extra napkins are for the butter that will enevitably end up all over your iPhone. So maybe you want to skip the popcorn. I also have another virtual instrument for you to play, and some more goodies. Check it out…

Boxee, a company known for providing software for the Apple TV and other platforms, has created an application for the iPhone that will allow you to use your mobile device as a remote. Like the Apple iTunes Remote, its purpose is to make it easier to control your media from a far distance. The application is already in the App Store, and is free. Currently, it has gesture and button mode and works over Wifi on your local network. One of the best parts about it is that you can more easily enter text by using the iPhone keyboard instead of having to use a keyboard on your TV.

With the new iPod shuffle, comes iTunes 8.1. And with iTunes 8.1, you now get iTunes DJ. What’s iTunes DJ? You may remember it as Party Shuffle. It wasn’t a ground-breaking feature of iTunes then, and while it doesn’t take center stage now, it’s slowly getting there.

Today Apple updated their Remote app on the App Store to version 1.1. The update is free as is to be expected.

So what’s new?

• Create and update Genius playlists
• Create and edit playlists in iTunes

Now you’ve got a little control over making playlists with your iPhone.

You’ll probably remember last month when I wrote about a rumor stating that Apple planned to make their own iPhone remote for release in the App Store. Well, it turned out to be true, and it’s awesome. Apple, with a stroke of genius, has decided to call this iPhone application Remote. It’s free, it’s 1MB, and it’s available through the App Store that was launched yesterday.

First impressions after the break.