Another iPhone Band-Aid

erco

UGH: http://www.woot.com A $20 iPhone add-on to make a universal remote. Isn't EVERYTHING better when it uses an iPhone, even if you have to go the long way around and pay more for a clunky hardware dongle than for a cheap universal remote? I see bins full of universal remotes for $5 every day.

I realize must be the last person on earth to despise iPhones, but it really seems like their owners live to find reasons to pull out their iPhone and show you their latest "app".

Even an Arduino's better than an iPhone. Fewer "apps", if nothing else.

NOW am I a crusty old curmudgeon?

Heater.

erco,

I realize must be the last person on earth to despise iPhones,

Err..I can't parse that. Does it mean:
a) "Everyone else already despised the iPhone and you are the last one to do so".
b) "Everyone else has come to love the iPhone and you are the last one to despise it."

Anyway, wait to see what we can do with an Android phone and the M.K.Borri's Android Debug Bridge for the Propeller.

Microcontrolled

I just looked at this deal on Woot and thought, "Hey, this might be cool" but upon looking at the price tag turned away. However, people will still buy it because you can use it with your precious iPhone, and that makes everything better, right? Interestingly enough I went straight to the forum after reading that to find that someone else agrees.

@erco: An Arduino better than an iPhone? That's low.

Peter KG6LSE

I guess they should have kept the IRDA port ..... * Pets My palm Centro*


I use a Bunch of Old newton MP130s for TV remotes..

kwinn

erco wrote: »

UGH: http://www.woot.com A $20 iPhone add-on to make a universal remote. Isn't EVERYTHING better when it uses an iPhone, even if you have to go the long way around and pay more for a clunky hardware dongle than for a cheap universal remote? I see bins full of universal remotes for $5 every day.

I realize must be the last person on earth to despise iPhones, but it really seems like their owners live to find reasons to pull out their iPhone and show you their latest "app".

Even an Arduino's better than an iPhone. Fewer "apps", if nothing else.

NOW am I a crusty old curmudgeon?

Welcome to the crusty old curmudgeon club!

ctwardell

What's an iPhone?

C.W.

Mike Green

Just as an interested private citizen here, I'd prefer less iPhone or iPad bashing. It's a great tool for some things and no better than a boat anchor for some things. That's the nature of tools. Apple did and re-did a great design (purely from an artistic standpoint). It's sold a bazillion of them because, for what a lot of people want, it works very well, well, and at least adequately depending on what. It's a lousy developer's platform and it's a worse hacker's platform ... that's not what it was designed for. Use the right tool for the job! Don't complain when an adjustable wrench makes a lousy hammer!

I happen to have an iPhone. It works well and reliably for my personal life and my paying job. For my needs, I prefer many of the restrictions on the App Store as long as they're applied fairly and the most ridiculous of them are dropped as they have been. On the other hand, it makes a terrible tool for my hobbies for some of the same reasons. So?

mindrobots

I completely enjoy my iPhone and iPad for what they do. As with anything, it's all a compromise and luckily there are choices - nobody's right or wrong.

...on a more serious note, I did pick up an iPhone breakout board and have a couple Arduino nano's laying around......the potential for a "build it and they will buy it" moment could be in the works....the Arduino based iPhone hardware device for Angry Birds social interaction.