I’ve never used a universal remote in my life before trying Griffin’s Beacon, so I really had no idea what to expect, how everything would work, or whether my TV would even be compatible. But I was pleasantly surprised by almost everything about it. Most of all, I was amazed at how fast and easy set-up was; the whole process took me well under five minutes to complete.

Maybe you didn’t think ThinkFlood’s original RedEye IR dock was the best solution for controlling your IR gear. That’s okay, because ThinkFlood listened and is preparing to release the RedEye mini; and like their original IR solution it’s just a bit different from the competition. Instead of using the dock connector and a dongle like everyone else, the RedEye mini uses your iDevice’s headphone jack. Anyone else feeling a little deja vu?

Using a mobile phone as a remote control is nothing new. Most of the advanced Nokia handsets have supported this feature for a while now. But then, it was limited to controlling mostly just TV sets. Surprisingly, we have not just a mobile phone, but a very popular portable media player which can actually do more »