Earlier today I was over at jkOnTheRun and read something that really caught my attention. It was an observation that the iPhone could potentially turn out to be a Vista SideShow Competitor. Now, before we get into the details of how the iPhone could work great as a Vista SideShow competitor, I thought we’d review exactly what it was first. On Microsoft’s website, they explain it as the following:
Windows SideShow is a new technology in Windows Vista that supports a secondary screen on your mobile PC. With this additional display you can view important information whether your laptop is on, off, or in sleep mode. Windows SideShow is available in Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, and Windows Vista Ultimate.
Thanks to gadgets and programs, information from your computer is extended to other devices using Vista SideShow. So where does the iPhone come into play? Well, once Apple releases the SDK, someone could come up with an app that will utilize the iPhone as a secondary display, just like sideshow does. I hadn’t ever thought of this before, but I could really see it. I think Kevin’s observation over at jkOnTheRun just might be right.
Oh, and one last thought. I wonder what would happen if Apple got the same idea themselves, to use the iPhone or the iPod Touch as a secondary display? Maybe users would be able to control iTunes on their computer from the iPhone? What do you think? The possibilities could be endless…

There is this 3rd party app called VNSea or something. That lets you control your PC/Mac using your iPhone/iPod Touch. I tried it, and didn’t work for me!
[iospirit.com] already has a great iPhone/Touch AJAX interface for controlling your Mac (iTunes and many other applications, plus as a mouse or keyboard).
It’s cool to see that those web interfaces are available for those things, but I don’t think those are enough to compete with sideshow at this point. There needs to be something that doesn’t require it to go through the Internet so that the action is more instantaneous.