iPhone Universal Remote app for HAL unveiled

Remote controlling everything in your house from your iPhone is the dream right? Well yesterday we unveiled an app that brings us a step closer to a universal remote for the iPhone. At the CEDIA expo in Sydney we unveiled an iPhone app that lets you control devices like Foxtel, DVD, TV and tuners throughout the house. It integrates with some new hardware (HAL) from OzHifi which handles the routing and amplification of audio and video.

The iPhone app starts up and shows a overview of all the rooms (or zones) configured in your house and lets you control basic functions such as power, volume and mute. Clicking the info button for each zone takes you to a remote control for the device that is currently playing in that room. The screenshot below shows a Foxtel remote being used but the user could also select another source such as a DVD player or tuner and a different remote would appear. You can also link zones together to have the same thing playing in multiple rooms (party!), again all controlled from the iPhone.

The hardware will start shipping late this year so look out for even more features from the iPhone app before then.

jTribe's secret iPhone app will be revealed mid July

Hey, how cool is it to have a secret iPhone project.

We developed an iPhone app for home entertainment automation. That's as much as we can say.

The app will be revealed on the 15th of July 2009 at the CEDIA Expo in Sydney. So more info about the app after the launch date.