If you work in an office environment you’ve probably played with a Powerpoint clicker remote allowing you walk around the room proudly while you click away wowing your audience with your presentation. Now my point being is that I like, no I LOVE the feeling of standing up and controlling the computer. This leads me onto this app which you can use on Windows or Mac OS X and remotely control the mouse and keyboard. I don’t know why but I feel really powerful controlling it with just my finger…

Anyway it’s called Air Mouse Pro and it’s available in the iTunes App store for only £3.49. You also need to download some free server software for either platform to install on your computer first available from http://www.mobileairmouse.com then with the simplest setup ever you’re off and away. The app on the iPhone has a mouse like feature which uses the built in accelerometer to move the pointer around your screen and to be honest they’ve done a good effort but I’ve found it too fiddly to use.  However there is the traditional trackpad, like on a laptop, available which I use and performs gestures like on a Mac so scrolling down on web pages is a breeze! A keyboard is also there to enter in information although I seriously recommend actually using a real keyboard if you’re writing more than a couple of lines; but it all works fine even with a preview on the iPhone’s screen to let you know what you’re typing. I guess this is a handy extra if the actual monitor is too far away to see!

That’s all I really need it for but I was amazed at how much this application packs and yet functions fully. After fiddling with some of the buttons there are shortcut keys for all the common applications like the ones you see on some multimedia keyboards nowadays.  When you have Media Player open you can skip tracks or in Firefox you can refresh the page or go back/forward easily.  They are a nice added extra and for people using it as a dedicated media device probably more important but I don’t mind using the time to move my finger on the trackpad to the refresh button because I enjoy the experience itself so much!  There are other perks available and one is when I connect it to a Mac, the Mac keyboard comes up and on a Windows PC vice versa so you always have the proper set of tools! Congratulations to the developer for being so logical, you’d be surprised how many other applications don’t include these features.

I must stress though that this is NOT a remote client and it does not in any way actually show you your computer screen.  All it is, is an imitation of a mouse and keyboard which works just like any other on your computer so is perfect for making presentations or using it on a media centre dedicated machine etc. What’s nice is the amount of updates that Air Mouse has had and they’re not just bug fixes, I’m talking about decent feature plus updates. I’m looking forward to using this application when I desperately need it and will save me wasting time finding another keyboard!