Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

DVR Remote for iPhone

Dvrremote

I recently found DVR Remote, an App for the iPhone that allows you to control your Tivo over WiFi.  I have a Logitech Harmony 880 universal remote which I love, but when I found this app, I became intrigued.

As a remote control for my Tivo, this is pretty lame:

  1. The buttons are small and it's easy to hit the wrong button.
  2. The auto-sleep on the iPhone makes it annoying when you when you want to say... Pause now.
It works, but it doesn't replace your Tivo or universal remote.  However as a guide and keyboard, this app is great!  These are a few of my favorite features:
  1. Type using your iPhone!
    This is the best reason to get this app.  I hate typing things on the Tivo using the left, right, up, down buttons.  But with this DVR Remote App, you can type what you want, hit enter and the app will send the correct sequence of buttons to type out anything.  This saves you so much time and frustration. 
  2. Browse your Now Playing List
    You can can also browse what has been recorded and read the summaries on the iPhone from anywhere in your home.  If you are watching a show, you can browse the Now Playing without interrupting your show.  The only thing missing is the ability to actually select a show from Now Playing to watch. 
  3. Favorite Channels
    You can also setup favorite channels, which is very convenient
As TV's and DVR's become more connected, the remote is going to need to evolve.  Text input and content browsing need to be overhauled.  This will be an interesting space to watch as the smartphone market continues to grow and smartphones become the interface for other devices. 

Twitter

I am making a concerted effort of using Twitter.  In the past week, I've had maybe a dozen people add me on Twitter - even though I do not "tweet" much.  If you read this and you actually use Twitter (and you care enough to), you can follow me @szetopia

So what client do I use to Twitter? Sometimes I simply use twitter.com.  On my iPhone, I was using Twitterific, but am now using Tweetie ($3).  On my mac, I am using TweetDeck, an AIR client.

I also think Twitter search is very cool.  I sometimes keep an eye on #meebo to find out what people think about the latest Meebo release.

Everyone seems to use Twitter in slightly different ways.  As I figure how I like to personally use Twitter, I'll post a few more thoughts about it here.  If you stumble upon this post, please feel free to leave a comment as to how you use Twitter, or if you don't - why not?


Macbook Pro

The new 17" Macbook Pro has some pretty amazing specs.  To me the most notable feature is the 8 hour battery with 1000 charges!  That's great.  I have pretty much converted to Apple these days with my iPhone and older Macbook Pro. 

There are only 2 things left that I think I need before I would get a personal Macbook Pro:

  1. Please give me a 15" with 10 hour battery.  17" is too big.  I can barely open my 15" on a plane.  13.3" is too small for my tastes.  You would think that a bigger screen would have smaller batter life, but no - the new 15" has a 5 hour battery.
  2. Blu-ray please.  I like to watch movies on my laptop - particularly when when I travel.  I have started a Blu-ray library and I would like to use them on my Macbook Pro.    Even my wedding video is Blu-ray.