Creating Custom Buttons for your Rē Remotes with Version 3.1

Posted on November 28, 2011 by admin

Custom Buttons for your Rē Universal Remotes

V3.1 introduces the ability for you to create custom button images and build a Rē universal remote view that matches your personal preferences.

Creating Button Images

For all you artists and creative users, this part should be easy. Simply create your buttons as .png images. You will want to use .png images rather than .jpg so you can maintain a transparent background for your button. The ideal size is 112 by 112 pixels at 326 pixels per inch for the best resolution; however, any square button will scale properly to fit the button space on the remote. Here are some example button images that I created.

After you have created your button images, transfer them into the Photos App on your iOS device. Do not use iTunes sync to copy the button images because it will convert the images to .jpg files with a white rather than transparent background. I use Dropbox to transfer my images. Emailing the images to your iPhone or iPad works as well.

Transferring the Buttons to your Rē universal remotes

Once you have a button set in the Photos App, you can begin using them in your remotes. The first step is to move the images into the Re App by adding them to the list of available button images. Then you follow the standard button editing process to add them to your remote. Here’s a video tutorial that steps through the process.

Custom Buttons for the Rē Universal Remote

Have fun with the custom buttons for your iPhone or iPad universal remote, and share some of your remote creations with us. Screen capture your Rē remote and email the photo to support@newkinetix.com.

The Re Holds Firm against the Blaster Invasion

Posted on October 28, 2011 by admin

The iOS universal remote marketplace has been invaded in the last year by new vendors selling external WiFi or Bluetooth controlled IR blasters. Gear 4, Peel, Griffin and Logitech have all entered the market to become your AV equipment remote control. Do these devices perform better than the NewKinetix Rē universal remote control for iPhone and iPad? Let’s take a look.

A good way to understand how competitive products fare with users is to check out their Amazon reviews. These reviews are written by users who bought the product on Amazon and have used the product.

Obviously, the NewKinetix Rē Universal Remote Control gets the highest user ranking. So what don’t users like about the blaster products? I scanned the negative comments about use that bring down the user rating and have included those problems representative of major use issues.

Griffin Beacon Comments:
“The Bluetooth is limiting since you can only pair with one device at a time. After the device goes to sleep the wake up process was not smooth. I had to play with it to get it to reconnect.”

“IR output produced inconsistent results. Position is critical and in my case I had few options for location”

Peel Comments:
“This remote cannot “learn” from existing remotes. It does not support all existing devices so if you have a device that’s not supported, then you’re just out of luck. There is NO OPTION for teaching this remote your IR codes!”

“Seems to be a 75% there solution, my biggest issue is that it needs to be 15-20 feet from the Peel cable which is connected to your router… more than that … does not work…. do not buy if your TV and router are not in the same room.”

Gear4 Unity Remote Comments:
“Does not reconnect smoothly to iPhone as advertised, you have to go into the iPhone Bluetooth settings every time you start to use it.”

“Runs on three AA batteries… And there is NO option for an AC power adapter.”

“I had difficulty getting the application to connect with the device consistently.”

“Bluetooth has a long delay between “pushing” a button and getting a response.”

Harmony Link Comments:
“the web interface you have to use to configure this product is the slowest, most clunky thing I have ever seen.”

“The connection should be automatic, and isn’t. Once you manually connect once and enter a password you should NEVER have to do this again, but it often asks for this. There is a connection timeout, and after that you need to enter your password again.”

Generalizations:
So what can we derive is wrong with the blaster concept?
1.Bluetooth and WiFi add complexity to setup and use.
2.Batteries are an expensive nuisance.
3.Bluetooth and WiFi introduce delay in controlling your equipment.
4.Blaster location is limited by WiFi or Bluetooth communications range.

Users want simplicity. Setup should be easy. Whether a NewKinetix Rē or a blaster, the user must define the environment he wants to control in the App. Plug in the Rē IR accessory and the Rē is ready to use. Blaster products all require you to power and place the blaster where it will be able to communicate with your network or Bluetooth as well as have line of sight to your AV equipment. Then you have to setup the communications link and reconnect on every use. And don’t forget to change the batteries! Want to move from your living room TV to the bedroom TV… Buy another blaster, or just take the Re with you.

What do users value about the Rē that is missing from the competitive solutions?
“I have had numerous “universal” remotes and “smart” remotes in the past. The beauty about the Re is that I can program it for different rooms and carry my iPad around with me wherever I am. Now I have one remote for my living room home theater, the same remote for my bedroom system, and even use it for traveling at the work apartment and various hotel rooms. Now that is flexibility.”

“I bought this as an alternative to the spendy Logitech remotes. Wow I was glad I did. It recognizes all my various equipment in 3 separate rooms and is VERY easily customizable without needing a computer. All the changes are done directly on the iPhone with iPhone simplicity. It actually was really fun getting it set up. Not sure what else to say. It’s AWESOME. And messing with the TVs at the local Champs on Super Bowl Sunday should be fun too.”

Conclusion:
Portability and simplicity prove to be the key factors in using a universal remote control on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. That is why the Rē continues to outperform the blaster competition and one of the reasons that the Rē gets higher ratings from users than blasters.

Are you a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program?

Posted on August 25, 2011 by admin

Now is your chance to sign up and start earning.

The Amazon Affiliate program supports writers, bloggers and webmasters and is also an easy and simple way to add supplemental income to your site.

We here at New Kinetix would love the opportunity to be added as an Affiliate link on your site. Maybe you are a fan of the Rē IR Remote and want your readership to know about it, maybe you have already reviewed it in the past; whatever your reason we encourage you to add an Affiliate link and start cashing in!

Since our initial launch of the product, we have sold the NewKinetix Rē via Amazon and have it listed here.

The Rē universal remote accessory is across the pond, too! Find our Amazon UK listing here.

Have more questions? Visit Amazon’s Affiliate Program FAQ page and find out if the Affiliate program is right for you.

“The Associates Program offers many benefits to Web site owners including the opportunity to generate revenue via their site, a wide range of relevant products to promote from Amazon’s huge selection, easy-to-use tools to create and customize the links that work best, detailed reports to help you better understand your visitors’ preferences and link performance, an association with Amazon.com, and the chance to interact with a broad community of other Web site owners.”

NewKinetix’s Rē mentioned by Fast Company!

Posted on August 18, 2011 by admin

NewKinetix was recently mentioned in FastCompany when they highlighted Apple as the #1 Most Innovative Company.

The Rē contributed to Apple “dominating the business landscape”, listed as #59 by “Turning the iPhone into a universal remote.”

Being mentioned by FastCompany, along side with Apple’s success has been wonderful – We have been reviewed on many sites, and user feedback has us constantly making the Rē better and more efficient. It has become a very impressive universal remote, and we owe all our thanks to all of you.

Read the rest: The World’s Most Innovative Companies (http://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2011/)

We Love It! – Kyle McCurdy

Posted on July 26, 2011 by admin

I am writing this to share our delight with the NewKinetix Re. We have effectively stored away all of our remotes and love being able to control our rooms with our IPhone’s. This was one of those situations where I didn’t really expect to use the device much and was completely proven wrong. It was incredibly easy to set up with our living room, kitchen, bedroom and basement and consistently impresses when company is over. My personal favorite use is being able to adjust the stereos in the kitchen and living room with something I carry around anyway. I 100% recommend this to anyone with an IPhone and who is a fan of things being convenient.

Kyle McCurdy

NCAA Re Giveaway – Top 3 Brackets will win a Re!

Posted on March 14, 2011 by admin

Excited about Tourney Time? The team here at NewKinetix sure is and this year we are hosting a tournament group on Facebook.

If you join our group you will be automatically entered to win a Re. We are giving away Rē Universal Remotes to the top 3 finishers. All you have to do is create a bracket and join our group. The beauty of this system is you only need to fill out 1 bracket it will be scored with the group once you join.

Here is a quick run down to help navigate you through the process.

1) Login to Facebook and Visit the NewKinetix NCAA Group Page.
2) Kindly join our group. (Link is just below the group photo, see example below)
3) Fill out a bracket before tip off first game of the tournament. The Facebook brackets couldn’t be easier, you just need to click the team you want to advance.
4) You will need to “Like” NewKinetix over at Facebook as well.
5) Enjoy basketball at its best and see if you can get your hands of one of the three Rē’s up for grabs.

We couldn’t have come this far without our great customer base and the valuable input we continue to receive, so even if you have a Re we would still love for you to enter our group!

Two Portland Oregon Companies Collaborate to Make the Rē Universal Remote

Posted on February 25, 2011 by admin

When the time came to hire the manufacturing team to build out our design for the Rē Universal Remote, we were adamant about using a local company. Lucky for us, and you the consumer, we found ControlTek right in our backyard. Located in Vancouver, Washington, ControlTek is a highly reputed Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) provider known for their consistent, quality products, and experience working with start-up companies. They were the ideal choice to put our challenging new design on the market. It couldn’t have gone better, as we have yet to have a single problem with any unit thus far. We were so pleased with the outcome of our partnership with ControlTek, that we made a fun little video about it.

It is rare to find a technology based product completely manufactured in the USA, much less in the same town. Portland has been a great resource for us in these first few and exciting years. Enjoy the video!

Buy a Rē today!

The Xfinity App needs the Rē Universal Remote as a Companion

Posted on December 13, 2010 by admin

If you are a Comcast/Xfinity customer, have you downloaded the new Xfinity App from the App Store? I decided to check it out. The Xfinity App for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, controls watching live TV and On Demand in addition to scheduling recordings on my DVR. The App delivers the promised features, but using it immediately demonstrates a huge weakness. You can’t turn on your equipment, control volume, or even playback a recorded show on your DVR without reaching for another remote… Unless you own the Rē Universal Remote for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

App switching (multitasking) in iOS4 enables the Rē and the Xfinity App to work together on your Apple device to provide an excellent entertainment control environment. You can control every aspect of your Cable entertainment from your iPhone or iPad without reaching for another remote control, EVER!

How does it all work?

The Rē is based upon Activity Remotes, so I have set one up to “Watch Comcast” with a custom layout to match the original Comcast remote. That isn’t necessarily the ideal activity remote layout, but it does show the power of the Rē’s customization, and is a familiar interface for a longtime Comcast user.

Start

Open the Rē App and select the “Watch Comcast” activity. You have to start here because you can’t turn power on with the Xfinity App. Press the “Start” button macro to turn on the Comcast Cable Box, the TV and a Receiver if you have one for audio. The “Start” button handles all of the input switching as well. After everything is on and the volume is set, double tap the Home button and then reopen the Xfinity App, assuming it was already in the background.

Use the Xfinity App

The Xfinity App immediately appears from the background, and provides a great environment for surfing the guide to find shows to watch and record. Just tap the channel in the grid or the “WATCH ON TV” button to instantly change channels or tap “RECORD” to record a show now or in the future. Just double tap on the Home button to return to the Rē App at any time.

All of the controls you need for watching a recorded show, controlling volume, or menu functions for the Comcast Cable Box are already in the Rē Activity Remote. You certainly don’t need the Xfinity App for watching and scheduling TV with the Rē App, but it does provide a nice user enhancement. The Xfinity App without a Rē is really incomplete; it’s a lot like a ship without a sail.

If you are a Comcast customer, I highly recommend the Xfinity App as a useful download, and if you really want to be free from grabbing your old Comcast remote, get a Re to complete the package. Here’s yet another reason to dump that old Harmony or Pronto universal remote. They really can’t play in this new connected world!

Using Folders and Zoom

Posted on November 24, 2010 by admin

The V2.1 release of the Rē App features the addition of folders for organizing and displaying groups of buttons on any remote. Folders are a great way to organize an iPhone or iPod touch remote display so that buttons stay in a fixed location and limit vertical scrolling. In addition, on the iPad, you can use folders to organize the display for optimum viewing using Zoom to magnify the buttons.

Setting up Folders

Figure 1: iPad full Screen View

Figure 1 shows a full screen view of an Activity Remote.One of the benefits of the iPad is that it displays 13 rows of buttons, and in this example shows the full remote. The same remote displayed on an iPhone or iPod touch requires scrolling to view all of the buttons.

Using folders, you can compress the display into 6 rows of buttons available on the iPhone or iPod as shown below in Figure 2.

Uniersal Remote for iphone, iPad, iPod touch

Figure 2: iPhone with Folders

Folders are added to a remote just like adding a button; select “Edit” in the remote view and double tap a blank space to add a folder. Create the remote in Figure 2 from the full remote in Figure 1 in the following steps:

Add a row to the top of the remote
Add the three folders shown. (Control, Channels and Transport)
Slide each button into the desired folder
- The Control folder contains the top row of power and switching buttons.
- The Channels folder contains the number buttons and Channel Up and Down.
- The Transport folder contains the three rows of buttons shown at the top of Figure 3.

When a folder is open as in Figure 3, the buttons in the folder are always displayed at the top of the remote. Anytime you open a folder, you know the exact position of the button on the display. This makes finding the correct button much easier than scrolling through the full display. The main display between the folder and the Audio Bar is still scrollable.

Figure 3: Transport Folder Open

Creating a Mangified View on an iPad

In order to maintain compatibility across the different size screen of the iPad and the iPhone, we chose to use only the center of the screen on the iPad to display remote buttons. This allows you to transfer settings from an iPod touch or iPhone via Bump and email.

A useful display option for the iPad is to use Zoom to fill the display with large buttons. To zoom the iPad display, select Accessibility under General iPad Settings, and turn on Zoom. When you start the Re app and select a remote view, you will see something like Figure 4.

Figure 4: iPad with folders, normal display

Double tap with three fingers on the display and you will be able to view the magnified view shown in Figure 5. You can scroll around the magnified view using three fingers. Now you have an identical display as on the iPhone or iPod touch, but the buttons are magnified.

Figure 6 shows the Transport folder open at the top of the iPad screen. You can still scroll with three fingers to access all of the buttons in the remote view.

Figure 5: iPad with folders in Zoom mode

Figure 6: iPad with Transport Folder Open

The Gadgeteer and “multifunction remote junkie” Gives the Rē a Great Review

Posted on November 15, 2010 by admin

“I’m a multifunction remote junkie. I admit it freely. Anyone with any kind of home theater soon finds juggling three or four remotes just to watch media gets to be comical. The typical progression of obsession is to go from one of those 3 or 4 function remotes, to perhaps one of the medium-priced learning remotes, and finally to end with a high end programmable touch screen remote. After your child drops one of those $200 suckers and kills it, it’s back to the medium tier, but the longing for crafting that PERFECT remote often lingers on. The Rē combination seems like a great solution – with the addition of a small IR dongle and a nice app (which is a free download in the app store- so you can play with it all you want before you commit to paying for the dongle) you can turn you iOS device into a very high end programmable remote.”
Full Review

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