When Apple first came out with a remote, i thought it was the silliest thing.  like many things “apple”, the genius is not obvious at first sight.  i’ve been thoroughly impressed (and sometimes disappointed) by all the great mac products that have come out in the past 5 years.

The remote is so simple.  Too simple even.  it’s slightly larger than the first generation iPod shuffle, and has the same button layout except for the additional “menu” button.  can’t do much with this thing... i thought.

Then i got to play with it on the Macbook and iMac, where i found that those functions are just the surface.  Depending on the App, you can do a lot with it.  Say in Keynote, you can control the entire presentation with it.  You can run the whole iLife apps with it seamlessly.  And when Apple says seamless, then mean it.  The gorgeous Front Row is so much fun to mess around with.  I can even run my TV Micro with it, change channels and volume.  It’s an integrated wonder.  With open programming, i’m sure there are many functions to come.  A computer with built in remote has never made more sense.

These days, i turn on the computer with the remote, and put it to sleep by holding the “Play” button until the little remote sleeps on screen via dancing Z’s.  Brilliant.  Time to test that out.