Nexus One as your remote

[TommyG]

There is a lot of talk that the Nexus One has been designed to function as a control for home audio and video systems and that this has been confirmed by the FCC documentation. Is this something that others are hearing? There is a lot of interest from the design space in this as the it seems this could be the big breakthrough that the CEDIA gang has been looking for in terms of merging the home network with remote. Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks -

[NeonMonster]

How hilariously frustrating it would be to change peoples radios/tvs on with your cellphone! It seems a bit unneeded and lazy to me, but the ability is awesome.

[TommyG]

Agree - it sounds a little lazy but the demand is coming from two areas - one to control heating and cooling either remotely or in a more efficient way (you are more likely to turn your heat down if you don’t have to go down to the basement to turn it back up; additionally, understanding efficiency / costs could be made more accessible if all linked into a central system). The seccond focus is lighting which is a space where there is a lot of development in order to control indoor and outdoor lighting from a safety and energy conservation perspective. Audio / Visual is a good testing ground as, if you don't get it right, the issue can be corrected easily and in relative terms, it is not expensive to trial run. A lot of designers/builders have been waiting for a more standardized system to come out before embedding these offerings in new houses and major renovations.

[themikemiller]

I don't believe there is an IR port so it would have to use RF which is much less common in consumer electronics. Linux MCE supports a ton of home automation features that work with bluetooth or an RF remote. All of the older Palm/Treo devices that came with IR ports had apps for remote controls.

EDIT:

Here is an application that will let you control some things on your computer:

G-mote Rocks!