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This week, Appleinsider's Sam Oliver reports in a long and analytical article with lots of diagrams
that Apple is exploring the possibility of including a wireless "remote wand" with future versions of its Apple TV media system that would provide users with precise control over a cursor on the Apple TV screen in very much the same way a conventional mouse controls a cursor on a PC.
The wand, a patent application for which has been filed, would control the movement of a cursor displayed on a TV screen by the position and orientation at which it is held by the user. As the user moves the wand, the on-screen cursor would follow.
However, if you want a sort of "magic wand" device right now, as a substitute or replacement for an Apple Remote, one such is part of Targus’s new “for Mac” suite of computer peripheral and accessory products introduced last fall. Targus says the Bluetooth Presenter is the only wireless presentation remote control device of its type currently on the market dedicated to Mac users.
If you use your Mac for making presentations, you’ll probably find the handheld Bluetooth Presenter a much graceful solution for computer control when doing voice-overs than reaching to use the computer's built in keyboard and trackpad or mouse. It's (a lot) more expensive than an Apple Remote, but is much more versatile, and also interfaces via Bluetooth wireless, so will work with any Mac that supports Bluetooth, as opposed to the Apple device which is compatible only with Macs that have a built-in Infrared receiver.The Targus for Mac Bluetooth Presenter is a hand-held unit measuring 5.1” x 1.65”x 0.98” that does double-duty. It can remotely control your Keynote or PowerPoint presentations when in "presenter" mode, or be switched over to "cursor mode" to use as a pointer or cursor controller for controlling iPhoto slide shows, Numbers spreadsheets, or other applications that might be used for presentations, with a convenient slider switch on top of the unit to toggle between the two modes.
The Bluetooth Presenter uses the same revolutionary wheel-less trackball-less Touch Scroll tracking technology that is the marquee feature of the new Targus for Mac Wireless USB and Bluetooth Laser mice, with a solid-state optical sensor that operates the screen cursor using swiped and gestures over the optical sensor surface. The optical scroll sensor is flanked by two programmable buttons that can control functions such as previous slide/next slide, or just basic left/right clicking when in cursor mode.
There is also a handy red laser pointer, activated by pressing down on the Touch Scroll sensor, and controls for Black Screen on/off, slide show start and end, and a volume control on the right side of the unit’s housing and an On/Off power switch located on the left.
In order to configure the Bluetooth presenter’s programmable buttons you'll need to download appropriate driver software from the Targus software downloads site (there’s a kink form the product page — see URL below). Installing the software is straightforward, and the standard Apple installation of screens will walk you through it if necessary, after which the computer will need a restart to finish the installation. A new preference selection will appear under “Other” in the System Preferences window. Opening the preference panel and clicking Setup Device gives you access to selection buttons and menus to specifically tailored the Bluetooth Presenter’s functions to Keynote, PowerPoint, or other software features, such as launching the application, running AppleScripts, performing preset keystrokes, or other functions.
The Targus for Mac Bluetooth Presenter is powered by two standard AA cells that reside a slide-open compartment at the rear of the unit.
Power Up or Power Down are actuated by pressing for three seconds on the On/Off button. The red LED in the Touch Scroll sensor will glow once or twice respectively in acknowledgment. Personally, I would prefer a simple mechanical On/Off slider switch, but I guess this type of actuation goes with the general theme of this product, and it seems to work OK. The Touch Scroll LED also serves as a low battery power indicator — when battery power is low, the LED will light and glow for eight seconds, and when 30 minutes of battery power remains the light will blink continuously.
The Bluetooth Presenter also powers down automatically into sleep mode after 60 minutes of inactivity as a battery conservation measure. As is typical of Bluetooth peripherals, you must initially fiddle with identification and pairing configuration (thankfully relatively painless thanks to OS X) and there is a several second leg in reconnecting after startup or coming out of sleep mode.
In practice, the Targus for Mac Bluetooth Presenter’s Touch Scroll sensor works similarly to the ones in the two “for Mac” mouse products reviewed here back in January, which is to say quite well. The effortlessness and responsiveness to touch input is quite seductive, especially when performing tasks like scrolling through lengthy documents. However, a a big difference is that the handheld Presenter’s Touch Scroll sensor is most conveniently addressed using thumb gestures rather than with your index finger. I don’t find this completely foreign, as I’ve used a Logitech Cordless TrackMan Wheel trackball device with which the trackball is manipulated by the thumb, a configuration some fans swear by once they get used to it. However, to get intuitively proficient using the Bluetooth the presenter as on - screen pointing and clicking device will indeed take some getting used to. The Red laser pointer, on the other hand, is immediately intuitive.
The Targus for Mac Bluetooth Presenter sells for $79.99.
Product page:
http://www.targus.com/us/product_details.asp?sku=AMP11US
Targus for Mac:
http://www.targus.com/us/accessories_formac.asp
Charles W. Moore
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