My new Mac came with a nifty little remote control that works with the Mac's "FrontRow" software to play DVDs, music, slideshows, etc on the computer. That's nice for home stuff, but I found myself wishing I could also use the remote for business applications--specifically, for PowerPoint presentations that I use in class and at conferences. I was jealous of people like Larry Lessig and Dick Hardt who didn't have to hunch over their keyboard while they clicked through lots and lots of one-word slides.
Then last week I saw an article about Mira, a Mac software tool that allows you to use the "Front Row" remote bundled with new Macs for a variety of other applications. For $16, it seemed worth trying, so I bought a copy.
And it works! It adds a little control panel to the system preferences pane, and allows me to configure what each remote control button does for any given application. It comes preinstalled with a huge number of defaults, including some for PowerPoint, so I didn't actually need to configure a thing...just point and click and it works.
Well worth the price, and it will make it easier for me to do the kind of presentations I'd like to in class and at conferences.
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