Control Your Mac With A Bluetooth Handheld

Posted By: Ryan Thursday, September 4, 2003 11:44:07 AM

Salling Software has announced Salling Clicker v.2.0, a substantial update to its award-winning software that lets users remotely control Macintosh applications from a handheld device over Bluetooth.

The new palm program lets users control any Apple Mac OS X machine over Bluetooth. The software's functionality had previously been reserved for Bluetooth equipped Sony Ericsson phones. For instance, users can play and pause a DVD or music on your mac with iTunes and review track/album information from a Tungsten T. There is also a mouse mode, which lets users move the pointer with the Tungsten D-pad.

Sailing Clicker 2 While listening to music in iTunes, the latest version of Clicker allows you to see where you are at in a song, or what song is currently playing. Using the same technology, slide notes in PowerPoint are now presented on the display of your handheld,

The brand-new iPhoto integration, with picture slide show functionality, lets you search your iPhoto library by date or description, even giving you a chance to preview pictures (Palm only) before showing them on the LCD-projector.

In Salling Clicker 2.0, the original concept of proximity sensing has been extended to include more general "activity awareness". When you pick up your phone to receive or make a call, Clicker can pause iTunes or DVD player for you; when you hang up, the music or movie will resume automatically.

Salling Clicker v.2.0 is available through Salling Software's web site (www.salling.com) at a price of $9.95 (US) for Sony Ericsson phones and $14.95 (US) for Palm OS handhelds, per user license. The Sony Ericsson version is a free upgrade for existing customers. In unregistered trial-mode, Salling Clicker is limited to 30 clicks at a time. The software is designed to run on all Bluetooth equipped Macintosh computers, requires a palmOne Tungsten T, T2 (other models will be supported soon) or compatible Sony Ericsson mobile phone (T39m, T520m, T68m, T68i, T610, or T616), and Mac OS X version 10.2.6 (Bluetooth 1.2.1 recommended) or later.

Sailing Clicker is not the only Mac program to do this. Another developer has also just made available Veta Universal 1.0. The program uses Romeo 0.9.1 and a palm application to remotely operate Mac applications.

Thanks to Guarav for the tip.

Permalink |

Article Comments

(18 comments)

The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PalmInfocenter is not responsible for them in any way.
Please Login or register here to add your comments.

Comments Closed
This article is no longer accepting new comments.

windows

new505user @ 9/4/2003 1:02:57 PM #

Any plans for a Windows version?

RE: windows

ldrolez @ 9/7/2003 9:57:53 AM #

Then you need something better: PalmVNC

http://www.palmopensource.com/index.php3?more=38

It's FREE, open source, and you have FULL control over ANY OS (Win, Mac, Linux). It works perfectly over bluetooth and hi-res devices (I use it to learn Japanese on my T|T with software on the desktop).

Cheers,

Ludo

Excellent Software

RiddlerG4 @ 9/4/2003 1:42:19 PM #

It truely is a superb bit of software, I have happily been using v1 with my T68i for several months now but the Palm version is absolutely great, makes my TT even more useful.

Clie?

Gar @ 9/4/2003 1:44:12 PM #

While the earlier Clie units needed to have a Bluetooth MS inserted - which was too expensive, there is one current shipping model and soon to be another (UX-50) with Bluetooth built in.
Would this application not work on Clies because Sony used some different programming for their Bluetooth?

My wife has to sell a lot of candles (www.ccandles.com) to buy her new Palm.

RE: Clie?

unicron @ 9/4/2003 3:31:15 PM #

Works fine with any Clie. (I use a TG-50 and it works great!)

If only they had this for windows...

I.M Anonymous @ 9/4/2003 2:38:41 PM #

Just the ability to display and control powerpoint presentations makes it worth the $10. I'd love the ability to face my audience while making presentations without having to spend thousands on a dedicated remote terminal. I just need to wait for a PC version.

RE: If only they had this for windows...

sandeman @ 9/4/2003 2:59:14 PM #

There is something like this for windows. It is called PebblesPC and I've been using it for three months now:
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~pebbles/

RE: If only they had this for windows...

beebjunk @ 9/7/2003 11:10:48 PM #

That Pebbles app is fantastic. Finally useful bluetooth, cna't believe I hadn't seen it before.

If anyone on PIC is listening, please feature this.

Adam Yap
-------------
The Australian Palm User Group
http://www.auspug.org/

PC

QDeath @ 9/4/2003 10:28:56 PM #

Is there a simliar program on Windows. That is to control the PC (bluietooth enabled) with a Palm?

RE: PC

joshuasherlock @ 9/5/2003 11:34:59 AM #

You could try PalmVNC, a great liitle app that allow full control of your desktop and ia available for several operating systems.

http://palmvnc2.free.fr/

RE: PC

alexito @ 9/5/2003 5:42:26 PM #

Agree on that! I just have an issues, do you know any way I can access my laptop from my palm, I don't have a network just a pair of WiFi adapters, one PC card for my laptop and the now unsuportex Xircom WLAN module for my palm.
Any help would be really appreciated.

Technology moves faster than you can afford... at least for me.

RE: PC

aardvarko @ 9/7/2003 3:12:23 PM #

just set up an Ad-Hoc and enter the appropriate IP...

-aardvarko
webmaster at aardvarko dot com
http://aardvarko.com

This is what BT is all about!

Hazniet @ 9/5/2003 8:37:11 PM #

I read PIC and many other PDA sites and all I ever hear about if wifi. BT IS NOT ABOUT BROWSING THE INTERNET.

This idea of controlling computers and other devices through each other is the core of what BT is really all about. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Imagine if you had BT in your car and on a cold day you just push a button on your PDA to start it up. Imagine if you had BT in your TV, the PDA instantly becomes a BT remote control.

The potential is amazing for BT, but everyone gets it confused with wifi. Until computers come standard with BT the potential will be untapped.

________________________________________
If you feel like you're under control, you're just not going fast enough.

RE: This is what BT is all about!

Gremmie @ 9/6/2003 12:34:58 AM #

Potential is the shell of vaporware. One could argue that WiFi is more suitable for this, think Terminal Services/VNC. I understand what you're saying and I'm not going to start a BT/WiFi war; but lets first get to the point of practical uses, above all lets finish what we've been wanting for awhile, more BT cell phones for our PDA's and a reasonable priced BT headset. What you've described can also be done with WiFi, being that we've never had remote car startup with a PDA and such, doing it with WiFi seem just as cool as with BT.

Will someone PLEASE put Bluetooth out of its misery?

The Ugly Truth @ 9/6/2003 2:26:15 AM #

Someday my Bluetooth PDA will be able to talk to my Bluetooth-enabled freezer, 8-track player, washing machine, shotgun and George Foreman's Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine®. Someday. But right now the only Bluetooth equipment I have is a headset for my cellphone that makes it sound like I'm talking from the bottom of a well. But I'm sure Bluetooh will be taking off any day now. I just know it.

Sometimes the truth just isn't pretty™

RE: This is what BT is all about!

Altema @ 9/6/2003 1:17:21 PM #

What kind of BT headset do you have that sounds like you are talking from the bottom of a well?

RE: This is what BT is all about!

Altema @ 9/6/2003 1:20:28 PM #

"Imagine if you had BT in your car and on a cold day you just push a button on your PDA to start it up."

It would need to be pretty close in order to work with BT. Although you can get differnt class BT devices with range up to 100 meters, the radio in most PDAs is the lower power class with a range of 10 meters... perfect for their intended use, but not enough to replace that garage door opener or car starter.

BT in automotive use will be a serious benefit in other applications though. Tap an address on you PDA which is sent via BT to your car's navigation system, or your car profile is kept on your PDA and is transmitted when you open the door to adjust your seat, mirrors, climate control, and radio stations. You could forget about taking out your BT cellphone to plug it into some clunky handsfree setup; it could link into your audio system and headliner mic automatically (with sensors that detect erratic driving and announce "shutup and drive!" over the car audio system).

I can think of one use that I need right now: download data from the car to my PDA to see how my teenage son's driving is doing ;)