Signal 1.0.2
Signal 1.0.2 was released last week, this version includes full support for the iPod Touch, an updated view for the playlist, a software update notification interface for Windows, and several stability and performance fixes. Full details are available in the releases notes.
In particular, the iPhone version is now much better at handling situations where the iPhone initially wakes up on EDGE and transitions to Wi-Fi. Signal will now automatically detect that it does not have a connection and queue up commands to be sent as soon as the iPhone re-joins the Wi-Fi network. This means you can wake up the iPhone and tap pause/play, next track, etc without having to worry about whether or not the iPhone is on the cellular data network – Signal will take care of getting that command sent as soon as there is a connection.
September 25th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
If I purchase this software can I use it both on my computer here at work and my computer at home?
I really need it for home, having it at work is just for bragging rights when I show off my iPhone to co-workers
, so it’s not a deal breaker, just curious.
September 25th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
jason: You bet. You can use your Signal license on any of the computers that you personally use, at home or at work. Make your co-workers jealous
September 25th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
This is a great idea and is similar to the ‘iPhone Remote’ server. However, I would really like some way to use this on my AppleTV to control the music, etc. It would also be much easier to use this for a YouTube search (iPhone keyboard vs. letter picking with the Apple Remote)
Dan
September 25th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Dan: Thanks! Unfortunately Apple does not have a developer story for the Apple TV (there is no official API) so I’m not sure if this is something that Signal can support or not. I don’t want to put users in a spot by requiring that they hack their Apple TV only to find that Apple closes this out later or worse yet, that the hacking process damages their device somehow.
However, due to this being a very popular feature request I’m getting an Apple TV set up here now to tinker with and see what might be possible.
September 26th, 2007 at 8:56 am
Cool!
September 28th, 2007 at 12:14 am
I understand the logic behind making it iPhone capable (first) – any thoughts on making it Smartphone/Windows Mobile 5+ capable?
September 29th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Ross: Support for additional smartphones (and other web-capable devices) is being considered. The current client plan is to build up the iPhone/iPod interface with a few more features, refresh the Pocket PC client UI, then take a look at what other devices might make good remotes.
October 2nd, 2007 at 5:23 pm
I am thinking of buying this bc the trial is amazing, i am wondering how many licenses have already been sold?
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:16 pm
I am having problems getting the Signal application to work with my iPhone. The mobile Safari browser errors out with the following message “Safari could not open the page because the server stopped responding.” When I try typing the “http://192.168.2.1:3569/” URL into the browser on my MacBook Pro, the URL automatically changes to “http://192.168.2.1:3569/iphone/phone.html” and it get a “404 Page Not Found” error message.
I have open the requisite TCP ports in the Sharing/Firewall (3569; Signal).
I am using an Airport Extreme connect to a cable modem, but have 3 Airport Expresses connected to various speakers in different rooms in my townhouse.
I have tried restarting Signal, restarting both iTunes and Signal, as well as restarting the MacBook Pro, iTunes and Signal.
I would love to get this to work, and would purchase a license, if I could.
Any suggestions?
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:55 pm
Path: Thanks, glad you like the app! While we don’t disclose sales figures, I’m happy to answer any other questions you have about the product.
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:03 am
David: Hmm, the “server stopped responding” message is usually what’s seen when the connection is blocked by the firewall – I’ll send you an email so we can follow up directly.
October 5th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Hey I love the demo! – I’m going to review this on my site soon http://www.ukmac.co.uk Great work guys! – will we ever see a cover flow version of the browser? – many thx…any chance of a ‘freebie SN’
October 6th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
James,
You might hit up the folks at coverbuddy.com to see if they’ll add support for the iphone/touch. Their product was geared as a coverflow-type remote control app and it’s been out for a couple years or so.
Good work on signal. Price is too salty for my tastes, especially when Patio Tunes and Coverbuddy seem to do the same thing, even though their interfaces aren’t as pretty.
October 7th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Wonderful App !!!
Today I discovered an artwork on the iPhone with signal that wasn´t in my iTunes library….Does signal get it somewhere else ? ….and if yes… a nice feature for the future would be an autopaste into the id3-Tag of the corresponding song!?
I got one more…. iPhone / touch don´t support the display of lyrics… any chance to integrate those into signal?
Greetings from the Oktoberfest!!!
October 9th, 2007 at 9:36 am
James: Thanks! A real Cover Flow interface (with all the animation and smooth, fast scrolling) would be pretty hard to do within the limitations of Mobile Safari – something like this would really require a native app.
With that said, we may look into having album art play more of a role in browsing if it integrates well.
LeMMi5: When Signal can’t find or process album art for a song it will automatically search the internet for a match to display. This also works for internet radio stations that expose track information.
There have been a few requests to have the found album art automatically inserted, but I think for something like this it would be better to have a dedicated interface that allows users to preview the changes to be made. The album art matches are usually pretty good, but not always 100% correct.
Lyrics could be interesting, that’s on the list for future consideration.
October 14th, 2007 at 10:02 am
Matt, I just wanted to say thanks for developing such a fantastic apps with such a clean Apple style interface. I’ve tried a few other similar apps but nothing made me want to make a purchase due to over complicated feature sets or ugly GUIs. No problems installing on my iMac and running on my new iPod Touch either. Access to my library of 35′000 plus tunes is fast and flawless – I love the way it handles everything so well.
I’d like to echo comments made above for more use of cover art throughout the interface to keep navigation simple and interesting. Use of an alphabetized search option would certainly speed things up for those of us with large libraries as would the option to group compilations as in iTunes to prevent each artist being displayed.
I also love the support for playlist folders – especially as this is something Apple seems to have neglected in the latest iPod OS. It would be helpful to view the contents of a playlist when selecting it rather than launching it straight away.
A fabulous application all in all though and well worth the price. Keep up the good work Matt!
Many thanks, The Duffer
October 15th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
The Duffer: Thanks for the comments! I’ll put some thought into how to better integrate album art for media library browsing. If it goes in I want to make sure it’s useful and not just there for the sake of being there.
An A-Z jump is definitely coming, as I agree this is what the media library really needs to complete browse navigation. Group compilations is also on the list for future consideration, as is navigation into playlists.
Thanks again to everyone else for the feedback and suggestions, these are always greatly appreciated.
November 13th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Matt, any chance you could forward me the same mail you sent to David Wilson – I’m getting the exact same error – the one about the server stopping responding… thanks…