because every computer has Bluetooth these days?
Most but not all portables do. Almost no desktops do out of the box.
Bluetooth has achieved its dream of being in a remote control, sadly it’s a remote for a mobile phone and not a TV, but surely a step in the right direction. The keyring-sized LG One Key can be used to find one's Optimus VU2 handset, fire up the camera for self-portraits and even control music playback, though with only one …
Indeed, you can even buy branded adapter from a reputable online retailer for less than £3
Admittedly only Bluetooth 2.0 or 2.1 with EDR, but that will more than suffice for most purposes, and 4.0 adapters can be had for a similar price on fleabay.
Not sure how any of the above is relevant to the article though? Having bluetooth in a laptop or PC isn't really relevant to connecting a remote control to a TV, or a phone.
Pretty much every new TV now has built in networking right? Almost everyone has a smart phone in their hands... So why not just stick to cheap IR on the remotes, and promote Smart apps?
I know I would rather have a better app on my phone than the crappy one I have now...
I always have my phone on me, but constantly am hunting for the TV remote my kids have hidden!
Get a Nokia n900 while you still can, and install Pierogi, a really nice working multi-device remote. Already supports a ton of devices and more get added frequently.
And also install TV-B-Gone while you're at it, a nice single-press turn-any-TV-off widget :)
I think there's some kind of gadget you can buy which does the IR part, with an iPhone and Android app as UI.
I personally have no need for it right now, but when I move I'll have to find it - it's probably the feature I muss most from my ancient Sony Clie PDA (and the only way to change the TV channel in a hotel or bar :).
If you have a non-trivial amount of A/V kit in a typical room then it can be difficult to maintain line of site from controller to appliance. In my case I have a TV, an A/V receiver, two games consoles (Wii and XBox), two set top boxes (one BT Vision, one home media streamer), a PVR, and a DVD player - Generally speaking we can manage to control that lot pretty seamlessly with a Logitech Harmony but from some locations within the room it's quite awkward to get line of site to all the bits of kit which needs to be switched on/off or reconfigured for a particular activity, and if a command gets lost (say due to a cat walking across the coffee table at the wrong moment, someone leaving a pile of books in an awkward place, or not having arms quite long enough to place the remote where it can "see" everything) getting evrything back into sync can be a PITA. Not only that but with an RF solution quite a few bits (the STBs, the PVR, and possibly even the A/V receiver) could be tucked away out of sight altogether.
You can get "bolt on" RF solutions which use IR emitters to relay signal to the kit (in fact there's a Harmony which works this way) but they're expensive and involves adding even more kit. A standardised RF solution (and Bluetooth would be as good as any other) would definitely be A Good Thing as far as I'm concerned...
My sky remote controls my TV and Sky box. And one for all remotes can be set up for all of your devices.
The PS3 remote, however, cant' be combined with them as its bluetooth.
Even if you had a multi remote that could do bluetooth, the pairing will throw some of them out. Not being identified as a genuine part will knock out others (some won't want you to buy 3rd party).
Bluetooth "chips" usually include the entire radio, sometimes even the antenna, and if not that's just a PCB trace.
Feed it power and data and you're done.
The elephant in the room is regulatory compliance, as once you go wireless the requirements get more expensive to test, although some jurisdictions let you stretch the bluetooth module certification to include your device and others (CE) you'll probably never get caught at Bluetooth power levels.