Who needs Front Row? I have Salling Clicker and a Palm

I'm starting to think Front Row is a little overpriced. Why? Because Front Row (at least for now) only comes on a shiny new iMac. I have a previous generation iMac G5 at my disposal, and for the mere price of a wifi Palm TX ($299) and Salling Clicker 3.0 ($23.95), I can do just about everything Front Row can and more – thanks to Clicker's friendliness with Applescript. Sure, Scott's solution for using the Palm as an iTunes remote might be a little cheaper, but for a more robust, expandable and all-encompassing solution, I really think Clicker has the one-up on Apple.

Clicker works with a variety of Macs and a whole host of devices from mobile phones to PDA's. With my Palm, the iMac and an AirPort Express, I've got one heckuva slick setup for controlling the music that plays in most of the apartment in the palm of my hand. (Hah! Get it?) This setup would fully trump Front Row if I was fortunate enough to afford a Mac mini with wifi to just stick right next to our TV and stereo in the living room. Then I'd have video, images, audio and more importantly – anything else that Applescript would allow. In addition to audio and video I can view new Mail messages, new headlines in NetNewsWire and iPhoto images right in my hand, almost anywhere I go in the apartment – and that's with just the base install of Applescripts that come with Clicker.

I've only been playing with this setup for a couple days now, but so far it's been bliss. If the AirPort Express did video I'd be sending everyone in the engineering teams at Apple and Salling a very, very large batch of cookies.