Peel universal iPhone remote puts discovery first

From CNET News.com: A handful of companies, including ThinkFlood, L5, and New Potato, offers adapters and app to help you transform your iPhone or iPod Touch into an adaptable, touch screen universal remote. None of them have taken off, and honestly, I'm a little surprised. With full-featured universal remotes hovering in the $200-$300 range, you'd think convergence would win out and the iPhone would gobble up this market the same way it took a bite out of MP3 players, portable gaming devices, e-readers, internet radios, etc.

Start-up company Peel believes they've hit on one part of the problem: people don't want to use adapters. Whether it's a plug that you stick in a headphone jack (that you'll inevitably lose), or a dock adapter (which doesn't fit with your case), the simple truth is that expensive adapters suck.

The Peel system uses no iPhone adapters. Instead, a free Peel iOS app communicates with a wireless transmitter plugged into your home's router. When you use the app to turn on your TV, home theater component, or select a show to watch, the selection is bounced to the wireless adapter and back to a little battery-powered pear-shaped IR blaster, which can be placed anywhere in your living room. It sounds a little complex to wrap your head around, but the system is fairly ingenious, and the end result is zero adapters for your iPhone. You walk the door, launch the app, and that's your remote.

The hardware logistics are only one part of the equation. The real heart of what makes Peel unique is their free app, which makes a serous attempt to understand your viewing preferences and offer its best guess of what currently playing shows you'd be interested in watching. It's part channel guide, part Tivo-esque personalized recommendations, and part remote. It's also just plain pretty, which is something many of the other competitors haven't been able to nail. The end result is a tool that, ideally, will help users cut through the clutter of cable offerings, and breaks the mold of the uninviting channel grid.

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