LogMeIn Ignition has plenty of company in the iOS App Store from other remote control apps. TeamViewer, for instance, is a personal favorite of mine. With its latest update, however, Ignition adds one killer feature that gives it an additional edge: direct remote transfers for photos and videos.

Establish a connection to your host machine (say, your desktop computer) in Ignition, then open the remote file browser. You can then select the files you want to copy (or move) to your iPhone or iPad and drop them into a local folder. Once transferred over, you’re free to view them in the built-in the Photos app or your favorite media player.

File transfers work on both Wi-Fi and 3G connections, so take care — pulling down a big HD video clip from your PC or Mac at home could chew up a considerable portion of your monthly cellular data allowance.

Full details on the new release are available at the LogMeIn blog, or just head on over to the App Store and download LogMeIn Ignition and try it for yourself!

TiVo has been offering an iPad app which lets you schedule recordings, view program guides, find online video, or read cast bios and other information while you’re watching TV. Now the company has made the TiVo app a universal app, which means you can run it on an iPhone or iPod touch as well.

The TiVo app for iOS is available as a free download from the App Store.

It’s designed to work with a TiVo Premier digital video recorder, but the latest version also adds limited support for TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD set-to-boxes as well as RCN Premiere and Suddenlink DVRs. You can also now use the app in guest mode if you want to explore the features but you don’t actually have a supported DVR.

Remote Potato is an iOS app that allows Windows Media Center users to scheduled recordings, view pictures, and even stream music or videos from your PC to your iPhone. Now the developer is preparing to launch an iPad app. It’s expected to hit the App Store on July 12th.

Windows Media Center is Microsoft’s 10-foot interface for controlling a PC. It’s built into most consumer versions of Windows 7 and it includes photo, video, and music features including the ability to view and record live television broadcasts if you have a TV tuner on your computer.

Remote Potato HD will let you view a program guide or browse for media on your computer. The app connects to your PC over a home network, but you can also use it when you’re away from the home to stream music or movies over 3G or WiFi. Several video quality options are available so you can adjust the stream depending on your connection. You can also download media to your iPad for offline access.

The app also supports AirPlay so you can stream media to an Apple TV. That way you can have Windows Media Center running on one PC in your house, but use an iPad with Remote Potato HD to send media to a TV with a $99 Apple TV set top box.

You can check out a demo video after the break.

The iPhone and iPod touch version is already available for $6.99 in the App Store. The iPad app should be available in a few days.

via The Digital Lifestyle
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CyberLink PowerDVD is one of the top applications for watching DVD and Blu-Ray discs on a Windows computer. But if you’d rather not have to sit right in front of your computer to hit pause your video, interact with on-screen menus, or perform other actions, CyberLink has you covered. The company recently launched mobile apps for iOS and Android that can turn your smartphone into a remote control.

The PowerDVD Remote apps let you control PowerDVD 11 running on a PC over your home WiFi network. You can navigate on-screen menus, use your phone as a wireless mouse pad, or just play, pause, skip, fast forward or rewind.

You can also use the app to browser photos and listen to music. The app supports multi-touch gestures for rotating photos or zooming in for a better view.

PowerLink DVD Remote is available in free and paid versions. The paid apps run $4.99 from the Android Market and iTunes App Store and work with PowerDVD 11 Standard. If you ahve PowerDVD 11 Ultra or Deluxe, you should grab PowerDVD Remote Free for iOS or Android.

via Android Guys

BlueputDroid is an Android app that lets you connect your phone to a Playstation 3 or some computers via a Bluetooth connection, and use your phone as a wireless keyboard and mouse. The app requires root access, and doesn’t work on all Android phones or with all PCs. In fact, right now it’s reported not to work with OS X or Windows and only supports computers running Linux, but the developer is working on fixes.

The app is available as a free try-before-you-buy download from the Android Market, but if it works for you, you can buy the full version for $2.81.

You can find a demo video after the break, and more videos along with a compatibility list at the xda-developers forum.

via xda-developers

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Microsoft bundles Windows Media Center software with the Windows 7 operating system, allowing you to use your computer like a TiVo or Roku box and access music, movies, and photos from the comfort of your couch — assuming you have a remote control or wireless keyboard. Microsoft also offers some pretty powerful media software in the Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system. You’d think it would be a no-brainer for Microsoft to include the option to use your phone as a media center remote control. But instead it falls to third party developers to offer that sort of functionality.

That’s just what developer Bradley Mauk has done. His Media Center Remote app showed up in the Windows Phone Marketplace yesterday.You can purchase it for £2.49, or about $4 or take a free trial for a spin.

The app lets you navigate through your music, movies, and photos on a computer on your home network running a small server application. You can also access your now playing list to play, pause, or rewind media. The app also lets you control Netflix Watch Instantly videos.

You can also use the Meddia Center Remote app to open or close your DVD drive, search for media, or even convert speech to text so you can tell your media center PC what to do using your voice.

via The Digital Lifestyle

DirecTV has launched a free Apple iPad app, allowing you to use the iPad as a remote control for your satellite receiver.

Given it’s size, I find the iPad cumbersome as a full-time remote replacement. Yet, like TiVo’s iPad app, DirecTV has rounded out the experience with additional info and features that potentially make it a compelling couch-side companion. While there doesn’t appear to be as much in-depth content info as found within the TiVo iPad app, the DirecTV app is customizable and provides a dedicated sports section… with live scores.

For maximum functionality, including the virtual remote control and access to remote scheduling, you’ll need a broadband-connected DirecTV Plus HD DVR (models HR20, HR21, HR22, HR23, HR24 and H21, H23, H24).

More details and pics can be found on DirecTV’s site and DBSTalk has produced a multi-page overview.

This article originally appeared at Zatz Not Funny.

While TiVo doesn’t currently offer an iPhone app, the very fine “DVR Remote” has us covered. Of course, the first thing you get is a virtual TiVo remote. Actually, a number of virtual remote skins are available via the now pre-loaded themes, with some ability to customize.

Unfortunately, none look exactly like what you might find from an official TiVo app — as Stutsman has probably made a conscious effort to stay away from trademarked imagery and even the TiVo name. However, these are non issues that iPod Touch and iPhone owners can safely ignore.

The virtual remote is split into two sections, with function keys up top and the ability to swipe a numeric keypad in and out of view as needed for direct entry. Most important to TiVo Premiere owners is the updated QWERTY keyboard input, which has been a long time coming, and is the highlight of version 3.5. Additionally, as shown in the release notes above left, nearly all graphics are higher resolution to accomodate those us with Retina Displays.

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