Jason Unger

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The iPhone is the perfect device to function as the ultimate convergence remote.

Think about it. Remotes suck. Nearly everyone agrees that there's not a truly great remote out there. They have too many buttons, poor user interfaces, and sometimes even use a stylus (which is ridiculous).

Even worse than remotes, however, are keyboards. Since Media Center PCs and Internet-connected consoles/TVs are an active experience (which is a bad idea, in general), you need a keyboard.

But really, who wants to use a keyboard with their TV? Nobody.

To balance the active interaction of typing in URLs (keyboards) with the passive experience of changing channels (remotes), you need a device that can function as both. The iPhone, with its portable form factor and touchpad keyboard, can.

(Sidebar: I call remotes a passive experience because you can't go OUTSIDE of what it allows you. You can only go up or down. Like the elevator vs. the Wonkavator)

Obviously, the iPhone is not the first touchpad controller commercially available. But nearly everyone who has used one agrees it's one of the best.

In the home automation space, both DIY solutions and manufacturer-created options for controlling your home systems have popped up.

SpeakerCraft's Jeremy Burkhardt has even said the iPhone will kill keypads.

"I hate to say it, but this is the beginning of the end for keypads," says SpeakerCraft president Jeremy Burkhardt. "Soon any keypad that isn't emulated on a device like the iPhone will be obsolete."

But don't you need some hard buttons — like for power, volume and channel? Well, maybe. There aren't a lot of hard keys on the iPhone — one power, two volume and a sleep — but I don't see that as a huge hinderance.

The idea here is that the iPhone may not permanently replace your universal remote (since you can't be talking on it at work while someone else wants to change the channel), but when you're in front of the TV, you whip it out of your pocket, bring up the interface, and do everything you need.

When you just want to see what's on, you've got the simple channel/volume/power interface. When you're on YouTube and want to search for a video, the keyboard pops up. It's the best of both worlds.

As I was writing this, Dave Zatz posted a video where he's controlling his TiVo with his iPhone over Wifi, using some Crestron functionality. See? It's starting.

Considering that so many consoles and TVs are getting WiFi, the capability is there. All we need is the official functionality.

Image of the GUI is from Residential Systems Design, which does Crestron and AMX programming.

Searching for a new format war?

Look no further than HDMI vs. Component Video. Yeah, it's not a new battle, but it sure is one that's being fought pretty tooth and nail by custom installers.

In the HDMI vs. component debate, plenty of people have strong opinions on the subject. CE Pro recently solicited these opinions via an e-mail blast.

The vast majority of respondents far prefer to use component video for a number of reasons. Most of the complaints about HDMI center around distance issues, the challenge of terminating in the field, the fact that the connections easily disconnect, the fragility of the cables, the large connector size and HDMI’s far greater expense.

There were also a number of complaints about compatibility issues, the lack of HDMI standards, HDCP issues and a negligible quality improvement.

In the Unger household, we use both: component from our cable box, and HDMI from our upconverting DVD player. It's a pretty simple solution and we haven't yet run into any problems.

But for guys who are making their living setting up home entertainment systems, non-functioning equipment is a huge problem. And as much as you may argue otherwise, a lot of it has to do with HDCP (the content protection scheme used in HDMI to "prevent piracy."

When I caught up with Steve Venuti of HDMI Licensing at EHX, he pretty much admitted that a lot of the early problems could have been avoided if HDCP didn't exist.

HDMI would have entered the market easier without HDCP, but the studios wouldn't have let it happen. "It's a situation not everyone is happy with," he says. "But the reality is, they own the content."

So if I buy a Blu-ray disc, they still own the content? That's the problem with content "protection" in general: it assumes that consumers are thieves. What business gets away with treating its customers like that?

Component video does not have HDCP. And that's one of the big reasons installers like it — there's no handshakes to go along with it.

But this war is not new: it's not like component video has come out as an alternative to HDMI — it's been around for much longer. So think of it more as SACD vs. CD — which one do you buy?

Exactly.

PS - thanks to Gordon for making the comparison to HD DVD to me, which inspired this post.

So I received a package from a public relations company on Tuesday with the expectation of getting a pair of AirDrives for iPhone earbuds to review online.

With a $99 price tag, it's $70 more than the standard Apple offering. (You can't use a normal headphone/microphone combo because of the iPhone's recessed jack– unless you go the Patrick Norton route).

Much to my surprise, it wasn't the AirDrives inside the FedEx box … it was two boxes of FruitaBu organic smooshed fruit twirls.

Yup, somehow I ended up getting strawberry and apple fruit snacks instead of iPhone earbuds. Oops.

So what's a FruitaBu? Here's what the included press release says:

FruitaBu was designed to evoke wonder and excitement in children while enabling them to enjoy organic fruit anytime and anywhere.

Yeah … okay.

So in order to provide you with expert coverage, we're getting experts to weigh in on the FruitaBus. Debbie is taking them into her preschool, where 15 3-year-olds will have the chance to taste the snacks and share their thoughts.

FruitaBu: Join the Fruitolution!

I have a million ideas for products. Literally.

Ask anyone who has ever worked with me, especially Andrew, who I've dragged along on a million cockamamie plans to strike it big.

(My biggest fault is that I have difficulty following through with new ideas, but that's a whole other story.)

Now when it comes to product ideas, it's easy to think of something that serves little to no purpose and has no chance of making money (see: Web 2.0).

So when I was browsing the DVD rack at Best Buy last year, I came up with what I thought would be a useful and potentially profitable idea.

You see, I always have this problem of not knowing when a "deal" is actually a good deal. Is that TV show boxset actually a good price? Is that thing cheaper here? How would I know?

These days, the answer is an iPhone (no, I did not have the idea for that — someone else did). But if you don't have an iPhone, how can you comparison shop when you're no where near a computer?

Simple: SMS information about the product to a service, which spits back prices from Amazon, Froogle, Buy.com, etc. Then you know if you have a deal or not.

Sounds great, doesn't it? Too bad I was one year too late on it.

iPhone users have their own application for it, pricecheckah. And even Amazon is getting into it, offering products for sale by text message.

Obviously, it's a good idea, if there at least three services doing it (or something like it). I'm not convinced it's a dumb idea to try and run with it, but I'm not nearly as excited about it as I once was.

Tuesdays are newsletter days for CE Pro, and I was inserting the ads for today's issue I noticed a pleasant surprise:

I've been kidding with Jenni, who manages ads for us, about getting a banner for jasonunger.com in an open newsletter spot for a while — and it finally happened!