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I had built my presentation in keynote, hooked up the projector just to make sure all was working with my newly acquired MacBook Air. I hit play in Keynote and then grabbed my Apple remote to begin forwarding slides... but nothing was happening.

“What’s going on here?” I thought. Maybe I had a remote with a dead battery so I grabbed another and tried again. Still nothing. To my horror, I quickly learned the newer MacBook Air's no longer have an infrared sensor. The sensor had been replaced with a second USB port. Zoiks! I had a presentation in 2 hours. What was I to do? No way I was going to look like a PeeCee idiot and walk up to my laptop and click the arrow keys every time I needed something to happen.

I mean picture if that's how Steve Jobs gave a keynote presentation? We'd all think, “What a buffoon. How silly.” 

So what to do? I quickly did some research but came up empty on a USB infrared solution. Then Guy #1 said, “Ah, just get the Keynote Remote app for your iPhone”. What?!? There was such a thing? Apparently so. $0.99 and two minutes later I had a mui-cool™ remote for my keynote presentation using wi-fi. What's more the controls for the iPhone Keynote Remote are vastly superior to the old Apple remote. Plus, I always have my iPhone with me, so now I don't have to carry around another device just for doing keynote presentations. Just whip out my iPhone and use it.

One of the nice features with the iPhone Keynote Remote is you can see notes for each slide. You no longer need to have eagle eyes to read notes on your laptop from across the room.

My only complaint is it would be nice if this were explained at the time of the sale or there were something that helped me learn about this before my crisis. Yes, I can complain about anything can't I?

Even if you have an infrared sensor on your MacBook, MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, I'd highly recommend getting the iPhone Keynote Remote app. It just rocks — as did my presentation!

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1 Comment

1. RNKLN ~ May 20, 2011 05:47
   I've also setup this same app. Ideally, you would setup a computer-to-computer network, so that you can also use it in case there's no wi-fi network available. I've also noticed there are some alternative apps, that include a pointer for in case you want to highlight something on your slide.

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