Keynote Remote Hands On
Aside from all the great updates to iWork, iLife and iTunes the one aspect of today’s Macworld Keynote has to be the iPhone presentation remote. In education teachers battle presenting PowerPoint presentations using keyboards, mice and a few bluetooth, radio remotes. The latter certainly works the best but the ‘present keynote’ option that allows the presenter to see the next slide etc obviously needs access to a second screen.
Today Apple announced a little Keynote remote application that works over wifi and allows the user to see both the current Keynote screen as well as the next step screen.
I have been dreaming of an application like this for sometime. The ability to control Keynote directly from the iPhone or Touch. For teachers (or anyone else giving presentations) the ability to present from the small screen on the Touch is a massive plus. From the presentation screenshots it also looks as if the slide notes are also available on the iPhone screen and progressing to the next slide is just a swipe away.
The iPhone / Touch App is sold separately the good news is is costs only £0.59p (get it here).
After downloading the demo of iWork 09 we obviously headed directly to Keynote and loaded up a standard presentation.
The first thing we spotted was the addition of the iWork.com uploader button in the centre of the toolbar. The next step it so link the iPhone and Mac probably to protect you from members of the audience with an iPhone and the application installed.
Click the iPhone Remote App. (click for a larger view).
This will display the default “You have not linked to Keynote” screen. Click to link to Keynote.
Back on the Mac. Go to Preferences and click the ‘Remote’ option along the top tool bar. You then need to activate the ‘Remotes’ option and you should see your device listed. Click link and enter the four digit code currently displayed on your Touch or iPhone. One complete you will see your device listed as ‘linked’.
You are now ready to present. One unexpected bonus is you can actually start the presentation directly from the mobile device. Personally I think the landscape mode is the best (options) as it offers the next slide or transition step.
Simply swipe in either direction and the Keynote application on the desktop does the same. I really think this feature and 59 pence application is really going to revolutionise the way I present with Keynote. I loved my radio based controller but this is a whole new level.
You can download a trial of the new iWork now from the Apple site or buy it (and pre-order iLife) from the Apple Store Get the iPhone / Touch Application here.
Maybe a stupid question:
What happens to your phone?
Does dit application allow to phone to shut off?
In airplane mode: You don’t have wifi signal, so your phone has to be on.
And than can be tricky when presenting your ideas with your audiance
You definitely could not be in airplane mode as it needs wifi to work. It would be interesting to see what happens if you get a call, SMS or email though, that could make for an interesting presentation. Perhaps they had the Touch in mind when designing it.
Actually, in Airplane mode you CAN use WiFi. I think this was added in a 2.x release. Comes in really handy when you want to avoid international roaming charges but still use Safari/Mail/etc.