Hey, iPhone, Cue Up That Nine Inch Nails CD, and Turn It Up To Eleven!

That multi-function remote control that runs your home theater is starting to look a tad nervous…

SpeakerCraft, makers of the MODE multi-room A/V control system, have unveiled their new MODE/iPhone Interface, which allows the Apple iPhone or iPod Touch to be used as a wireless remote.  Amazingly, this is a hardware solution that doesn’t require installing another iPhone app; an embedded web server residing on a chip inside SpeakerCraft’s ERS 1.0
Ethernet to serial adapter generates the interface, which is accessed through the
iPhone’s Safari browser.

Brags Jason Craze, SpeakerCraft’s Director of Electrical Engineering, "A
person can literally walk through their front door, press a single
virtual button on the iPhone touch screen and have access to all of
their system’s control functions.  This is another powerful addition for SpeakerCraft dealers [which] will expand SpeakerCraft’s control offering even
further. I hate to say it, but this is the beginning of the end for
keypads. Soon any keypad that isn’t emulated on a device like the
iPhone will be obsolete."

Of course, you must remember the Golden Rule of Early Adapters: First on your block to own one, do so at a premium.  The ERS 1.0 with the embedded software and related accessories will set you back a not-cool thousand bucks.

[Via HiddenWires]