Griffin, of iPhone (and iPad) case fame, continue to branch out into the world of accessories with the very clever Beacon.
First spotted at CES in Las Vegas earlier this year, you can use your phone to control anything that uses its own infra-red control, like stereos, TVs, Blu-ray players and more.
How does the Beacon work? Well, you pair your iPhone with it through Bluetooth, and the beacon then transmits its own IR signal to whatever device you’re looking to adjust.
The best bit; it’s your phone, so if you lose your remote, you simply have to ring it to find it.
The iPhone needs Dijit, an app made for the Beacon, to work, but the app itself adds a spadeful of extra functions, like a search option for TV shows and genres, and connectivity with your digital TV’s recording function. There’s also access to NetFlix through the app. The Dijit developers have boasted that their app even has an “integrated learning feature for unusual devices”. Resistance is futile, but we get remote-controlled blenders.
The Griffin Beacon has been announced in the US already, costing $80 (£50) from Griffin or Apple’s own online store. The Beacon doesn’t have a release date just yet, but we can confirm it will be coming to the UK this year.
A spokesperson for Griffin told Recombu that the Beacon will arrive on these shores, alongside even more intriguing accessories. We’ll have to wait and see how many of the US Beacon’s features arrive alongside the UK version. More when we hear it.
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