The Mobile Presenter

[Update 2012-03-08] As discussed in the comments below, Apple broke the Bluetooth connectivity between Keynote and Keynote Remote in iOS 5.0 and 5.0.1. The good news is that they fixed it again in iOS 5.1 [/Update]

When you're wrong, you should admit it: When looking at Keynote Remote, I claimed that the connection between the controlling device and the device being controlled was only possible via WLAN. Turns out I was wrong: It also works with a Bluetooth connection.

The Keynote Remote app for iOS has been available from the AppStore for a while now. It turns your iPhone or iPod Touch into a remote control for a Mac running Keynote, Apple's presentation program. With the recent release of Keynote 1.4 for iOS, you can now also use it to control the Keynote app running on an iOS device, i.e. an iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch. Since this is something I had long wished for, it's time to take a closer look at this little app and see how it works.

Keynote for the iPad came out on the same day as the original iPad, i.e. a little over a year ago now. Version 1.0 was already usable, though maybe only in a "yes, you can do presentations with it" way, i.e. not very comfortable but doable. Since then, Apple has - slowly, but steadily - improved the app. With Keynote 1.4, most of the major shortcomings have now been resolved. Let's have a look ...

I attended FOSDEM last weekend. This is one of the biggest open source events in Europe. So it was full of geeks, i.e. very smart people who are very passionate about their respective subject.

Unfortunately, many of the slides on that weekend didn't show the same level of enthusiasm. In other words, many a presentation consisted of nothing but slide after slide filled with bullet points.

But there is hope.

The Naked Presenter: Delivering Powerful Presentations With or Without Slides by Garr Reynolds

After introducing his Presentation Zen method and concentrating on producing better slides in his previous books, The Naked Presenter now takes a step back. It focuses on the art of presenting itself, i.e. the presenter and his interaction with the audience.