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.

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.

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 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/)

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/)

Kyle McCurdy

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!

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!

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!