Perhaps you didn’t know that your iPhone or iPod Touch can act as a Wi-Fi remote for many hardware devices and software applications. You simply connect the iPhone through Wi-Fi to the same local network, though in many cases you’ll also have to install a PC utility (provided by the app developer) that listens for instructions from your iPhone over the Wi-Fi network. here are my favorite tools for controlling PCs and other devices.

1. i-Click PowerPoint Remote (www.senstic.com – $10 approx) manages presentations, even displaying your speaking notes or upcoming slides on the iPhone . It’s a great couterpoint to the remote available for Apple’s Mac-only keynote tool in iWork.

2. Switching to the topic of PC controllers, Air Mouse Pro (www.mobileairmouse.com – $6 approx) acts as a computer keyboard and mouse, so you can command your system from across the room. Air Mouse Pro’s clean design and application-specific functions make this utility stand out among a crowd of App Store competitors. For a free app that does petty much the same thing, give RemotePad for iPhone (www.tenjin.org/RemotePad) a shot.

3. The App Store also sells many VNC (virtual network computing) clients, which let your iPhone see and control the PC screen. Look to those if you already have VNC server software running on your PC. Otherwise, I like the $30 LogMeIn Ignition for its easy setup and interface with LogMeIn remote-access software.

4. Staying on the PC, if you use the highly popular VLC Player to play your media files, then you can use VLC Remote (www.hobbyistsoftware.com/VLC-more.php) to control playback and volume controls whereas if you purchase the full version for $0.99, you can even load files on the player.