Here’s a neat app for iPhone that makes your home smarter. Many people have dreamed of automating their house, but it has always been an expensive proposition. Now anybody can do it for a reasonable price, thanks to DIY software like Cinemar’s Mainlobby. The Mainlobby iPhone app works with iPhone and iPod touch. It will turn your iPhone/iPod touch into a universal remote control that can control almost everything in your home, like lighting, heating, TV, security, audio and video etc.

It works with the iPhone/iPod Touch web browser,and Mainlobby’s built in web-server using Safari’s Ajax support. It basically becomes a touch screen which sits on your wall and interfaces with all your equipment. How cool would it be to control your home using your iPhone or iPod?

If you like to be the one in control at all times, I present to you your new watch. This watch will allow you to control TVs and other devices from many popular brands - Sony, Panasonic, Philips etc. from up to 5 meters away. Just aim the watch at the appliance and channel surf.

Some features include: An LED Back Light, Time and Date mode, Auto-Week, Auto-Calendar up to the year 2049, 12/24 Hour formats, 8 digits Calculator, Alarm and hourly time signal, 1/100 second stopwatch with split Volume, and channel switching and power ON/ OFF remote control for several remote control TV, VCR, DVD, VCD, SAT.

The Digital Media Remote or DMR is an advanced programmable remote concept that has wireless data capabilities. The WiFi connectivity gives you wireless setup, and access to content and network backup of user settings. You don’t need a PC for installation and it will even wirelessly update with new features, content, client software and firmware.

Very user friendly and very customizable. That’s the idea. Features patented wireless configuration software and device codes and has both the WinWAP browser and the Click365 Mobile Content for messaging, entertainment and gaming. It’s also got off-screen EPG browsing.

If there was one universal remote to rule them all, this new Harmony model being introduced by Logitech at CES might just be it. The Logitech Harmony One is priced at around $250.

The Logitech Harmony One sports a 2.2-inch touchscreen on its slim body, letting you touch the appropriate activity button so the remote can do a variety of pre-programmed functions like turning on the television, home theater system and TiVo. You can also have the remote display icons of specified TV stations for quick access to favorite stations.

ELAN Home Systems, a developer of multi-room A/V and come control systems, revealed today the early shipping of its new N800 touch controller. This remote on steroids is priced around $1,200.

The ELAN N800 offers wireless Internet access and lets one control ELAN and third party supported systems. A graphical interface allows you to control entertainment, theater and whole-house systems. It’s based in part on Nokia hardware and sports a four-inch touchscreen display.

These will definately add some style to your home. At first, these apple remotes seem to be on the silly side, but they are a pretty interesting take on remotes, with some interesting features. This concept device is brought to you by Jason Roebuck. They certainly beat standard remotes as far as being eye pleasing. When in their charging station or cradle, or “bowl” if you like, they’ll blend in with their surroundings.

Each member of the house can have their own personal remote, programmed to their specific likes. Want to lower the volume? The device is motion sensitive. Just rotate it left. Rotate it right to raise the volume. When they are not being used, just sit them in the charging station.

It looks like a remote control for Dark Lords of the Sith but then again they always had the better looking ships in the “Star Wars” movies. The Darklite DVD Remote from Messiah Entertainment is made for PlayStation 3 owners in mind. Connecting right into your PS3’s USB port you can control the Blu-ray DVD player’s most needed functions using the top keys of the remote or slide out the secondary keys if you need something extra. Menu selection, play/pause, rewind and fast forward are all controlled using the Darklite’s center button. The base is also a charging station for the remote and even charges up straight from the USB port on your PS3 console.

I’m not sure whether this is the most ridiculous thing to come out of Art Lebedev design studio ever or it’s meant to be taken lighthearted, but here is their design for a 102-channels button remote control for your couch potato lifestyle. I’m guessing that the idea behind the Pultius TV remote control is to make it easier for you to go to channel 296 by pressing the “200″ button first followed by the “96″ button, a whole savings of half-a-second of your life by eliminating pressing a third button.

Bang and Olufsen puts out some of the coolest, different looking (and most expensive) stuff; take this Beo 5 Remote Control for example. Like a number of B&O’s things, this looks like no other remote control we’ve seen. Combining control of your A/V system along with a little home automation the remote control is said to be simple and very functional.

It’s built with a square glass display on top that shows dynamic menus and has “soft touch” on the screen. The bottom consists of an aluminum ball shape with a flat back and tactile keys on the front along with a circular scrolling volume wheel. The Beo 5 sits in a cradle when not in use to charge, and lights up whenever touched, ready for use.

The Messiah Darklite PS3 has a sleek slider design making it look quite a bit like a mobile phone when in fact its only function is as a remote control for the Blu-ray player on the Playstation 3. Since the PS3 doesn’t have a built-in infrared port a person can’t use a standard universal IR remote, but the Darklite connects to the PS3 through a USB port and provides an IR receiver for the remote and also acts as a dock to recharge it.

The remote is backlit to allow easy use in the dark when watching movies and has some basic functionality through a control ring on the front of the remote. More advanced functionality can be accessed by sliding the remote to expose the additional buttons.

This remote brings a nice convenience instead of using a a game controller and looks as slick …

Take a look at this iRing design concept by Victor Soto used to control any Apple media device including iPods and the iPhone. The ring charges in its own custom-sized cradle and has a small OLED display inside the small Apple logo that indicates it’s current status of play or pause, which can then be toggled by touch. Sliding a finger across the ring one way or the other will adjust the volume and the ring can be locked by squeezing your finger to avoid inadvertent touches. The ring can be used play, pause, move tracks back and forward and control the volume of an iPod or iPhone wirelessly, and will instantly identify you beyond the shadow of a doubt as a tried and true Apple fanboy.

The iMirror iPod dock and remote control from Bexy gives you control over you iPod from up to 150 feet away. The wireless remote has an LCD built-in that automatically loads and displays the media content of your docked iPod and allows you to control the playback without having to get out of your seat.

The iMirror iPod dock has outputs of S-Video, RCA stereo audio/video, 3.5mm headphone jack, line audio mini-stereo connectivity and USB. It can be connected to a computer to handle syncing your iPod with iTunes and can output audio and video to your home stereo or TV. The dock also charges both the remote control and the iPod when docked.

Also noteworthy with the iMirror is it’s smooth look. Bexy did a good job making both the dock and the remote reflect the clean style of …

The DLO TuneStik provides the combination of an FM transmitter and a wireless remote control for your iPod into one package. The remote control uses RF and works from up to 40ft away providing control of your iPod and up to 4 preset FM transmission signals. It also comes with a cradle for your steering wheel so you can control your iPod playing through your car FM stereo without taking your hands off the wheel.

Keyspan has announced the release of the RF Remote for Windows Vista. The remote is used to run the Vista media player for watching TV, movies, photos or listening to music or the radio on both Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate. The real “key” in this remote from Keyspan is the “RF” part, however.

The RF remote uses radio frequency signals to control the Vista media player which is unlike most remote controls that use infrared (IR). The RF remote control does not require a line of sight to operate and the signal can go through walls and furniture. This gives you more flexibility in designing your home entertainment system since you can place your PC with the USB-connected RF receiver inside a cabinet or in a closet and out of the way and …

The remote control has become a requirement for any home entertainment system these days. I’ll walk around for a long time looking for the remote control instead of simply walking to the TV and turning it on manually. Come to think of it, I’m not even sure where the manual power button is on my TV?

Well, as if you aren’t feeling convenienced enough with you regular remote control Hammacher Schlemmer has a universal remote that runs off of voice commands for when your just to tired to push the buttons with your fingers (or maybe you can’t see them in the dark).

It’s a universal remote that can be programmed to run a multitude of devices such as your TV, DVD, VCR (if you still have one), cable box and many others. The remote also uses a voice recognition system …