macnn.com — One embodiment of the present invention provides a universal remote control, which includes a display screen and a user input mechanism. The universal remote control also includes a processing unit that is configured to display information on the display screen and to accept selection data from the user input mechanism
Oct 12, 2006 View in Crawl 4
patienceOct 12, 2006
Fanboys unite: Below, you will see Apple Fanboys talk about how this will be the best remote ever.Guys: Its just a remote. Unless it knows when it is under the couch, its just a remote.
ebfoxbatOct 13, 2006
Can my 16:9, full-screen, iPhone/true video ipod do that?
flag564Oct 13, 2006
"C'mon. Its apple. All the EVER DO is copy other people's ideas and then quickly trademark them!For gods sake you stupid f**king apple dronez, stop worshiping at the alter of jobs for just a few minutes a week and take a peek into the real world for a change. You might be surprised!!"Seriously. Apple just ripped off the universal remote and the Chameleon remote, and the fanboys want to give them the Nobel prize.
Closed AccountOct 13, 2006
"Look at the patent publish date. It was first applied for as a patent in April 2002, which means it was probably invented sometime in late 2001. By your own admitting, this invention predates it. Maybe your PDA software was inspired by this patent application."Fair enough, except the copyright date on the software is 1997. Care to explain how the company was 'inspired' by Apple's patent application now?Apple remains a bottom-feeder.
robroeOct 13, 2006
"This specification can be encoded in a markup language such as extensible markup language (XML) or hypertext transport protocol (HTTP)."Being a pedantic geek here, but isnt HTTP a protocol rather than an "extensible markup language" would the comparison not be with HTML? Maybe you don't have to have any accurate technical data for a patent??
mrpeachOct 16, 2006
What I haven't seen in the comments thus far is the clear and unequivocal notion that this is built on BIDIRECTIONAL communication between the remote and the device, and NO legacy device supports this. I don't mean to trash this idea by any means - it's a fundamental change in the way CE devices work and I think a good one. One that should have been undertaken by CE Cos long before now. And since Apple has patented it, that means we won't be seeing it in the future either because they aren't going to want to pay the "Apple tax".Sigh.
ekralc007Oct 27, 2006
This type of remote does not address the issue of the appliance sending the remote a list of buttons and commands that have a bad UI and don't make sense.