Remote Buddy 1.0 Preview for Mac OS X released
JUNE 06, 2006 - NUREMBERG, GERMANY
IOSPIRIT GmbH is proud to announce the immediate availability of a preview
of version 1.0 of its universal program for Apple's Remote for Mac OS X,
that extends the new Intel Macs to a complete media center by seamlessly
integrating with both Front Row and EyeTV 2 plus allowing to control
applications, mouse and keyboard via the remote control. The introductory
price is just 9,99 EUR.
What is Remote Buddy?
The latest Macs ship with a remote control that allows its users to control
Front Row and a couple of Apple's applications. Beyond that, not much else
can be done with it, though. Remote Buddy fundamentally changes this. It
gives the user control over the rest of his computer via the remote control
and also improves the available functionality in those apps that already
supported the remote control by themselves.
The highlights at a glance:
* Completing the media center setup
Probably the most prominent point of criticism about Front Row is that in
its current state it lacks support for anything television. Remote Buddy is
now changing the game! With a single remote, a user can activate or
deactivate Front Row with all its media capabilities and then switch back
and launch EyeTV 2 to watch live television or recorded video. Users can
choose recordings and TV stations via the onscreen menu supplied by Remote
Buddy and use their Remote to pause playback, control volume, rewind and
fast forward. Using Remote Buddy's inbuilt virtual mouse, even recordings
can be programmed!
* One stop interface
Remote Buddy provides its users with a one-stop interface that allows them
to control almost anything on their Mac just with the remote control.
Besides tools that allow the user to emulate keyboard and mouse, eject CDs,
terminate applications and much more, Remote Buddy also can control
applications directly. It does this through specialized plugins, so called
Behaviours. Already included with Remote Buddy are Behaviours for iTunes,
Keynote 3, PowerPoint, Photo Booth, QuickTime Player, EyeTV 2, DVD Player,
VLC Media Player and Real Player. Since IOSPIRIT GmbH provides source code
to developers and also continues to work on new Behaviours themselves, a
lot more can be expected to come along!
To make its usage even more comfortable, Remote Buddy features a set of
intelligent algorithms that can automatically choose the best fitting
behaviour for the currently running applications. Also the user can always
view the currently active button mapping or return to the hierarchical menu
of available Behaviours by pressing the Menu button.
* Virtual keyboard and mouse
Even if there is no specific Behaviour tailored to an application, the
virtual keyboard and mouse can be used to move the mouse cursor, drag and
drop items, open context menus and make a selection, emulate cursor keys or
replay strings that have previously been entered. With this, a user can do
anything, from replaying often used sentences at work to playing games and
solving minor problems with a keyboard and mouseless media center Mac.
* Unlimited expandability, easy installation Behaviours - plugins for
Remote Buddy - are a smart technology. A double click in the Finder
installs a Behaviour and automatically inserts it in Remote Buddy's menu
structure. That's really it. It just works.
* Not just Applescript
Written in Cocoa and tightly integrated with Remote Buddy through a
carefully defined abstraction layer, Behaviours provide superior
performance, stability, reliability and flexibility. They are real
binaries, not scripts, which makes them more efficient, versatile and
capable of doing things you just can't do in Applescript. Behaviours are
implemented as Cocoa bundles, so they can bring along the resources they
need and provide a clean, lightning-fast interface to Remote Buddy and the
applications they connect to.
Availability
Remote Buddy 1.0 Preview is immediately available for Mac OS X 10.4.6
("Tiger") and higher as a Universal Binary at an introductory price of 9,99
EUR (approximately 12,90 US-Dollar). The price will presumably be raised to
14,99 EUR later. On the hardware side, a Mac with Apples Remote is
mandatory. Remote Buddy does not include any of the controlled
applications. They have to be purchased and/or installed separately. A
trial version can be downloaded at http://www.iospirit.com/remotebuddy/ .
There are no functional limitations during the 30 day trial period. Remote
Buddy is fully localized in English and German.
About the IOSPIRIT GmbH
The IOSPIRIT GmbH has been founded in 2004 by Felix Schwarz with the aim of
developing high-quality software for the Mac - low-priced, so everybody can
enjoy it.
A special focus during development lies on the latest technologies in Mac
OS X, their innovative use, own innovations and industry novelties - far
away from outworn paths.
At the same time the IOSPIRIT GmbH is its own distributor. The platform
used therefore is an internal development - tailored to the needs of the
market - and therefore allows efficient and fast processing of incoming
orders and queries.
The IOSPIRIT GmbH is based in Nuremberg, Germany.
