How Many Remote Controls Do You Have?

Universal. Cracker basket. Fan. How many remote controls do you have?

Various Remote Controls, for tv, DVD, VHS

Linda was frustrated.

It seemed like every time she turned around she needed a new remote control.

Her son had even given her a universal remote that was supposed to control her cable television, her stereo, and something else she was never able to get to work.

One evening, she had friends over to visit. One of them counted the remote controls she had carefully laid out side by side on her coffee table.

There were five. One for her ceiling fan. Three for various electronic devices – her television, stereo and DVD player. Some overlapped each other, controlling two out of three devices. But, she needed all of them.

During this conversation, she discovered the fifth one was broken and gratefully threw it away.

Her friend laughed. “My husband spotted a basket designed to hold soda crackers that is just the right size for our remote control devices.”

The Consumer Electronics Association reports that the average American home has four remote control devices.

History

Remote controls now typically use wireless infrared signals to control the device they are paired with, but this isn’t how they started.

Remote control of devices, using radio signals, debuted in 1898, with a remotely-controlled boat invented by Nikolo Tesla.

In 1939, Philco demonstrated the first wireless remotely-controlled airplane, with a battery-operated low-frequency radio transmitter.

Subsequent developments included the use of sound frequencies and infrared communication. In 2006, motion control to detect gestures was introduced by Hillcrest Labs.

They control VCRs, DVD players, tv, cable and satellite receivers. Now, gaming consoles, starting with the Nintendo GameCube, come with remote controls.

While inventors like Steve Wozniak, of Apple, developed remote controls that could be programmed for several devices in the 1980s, by the early 2000s, the number of consumer devices using remote controls outpaced these multi-function controllers.

The newest controllers are software applications for smart phones.

Have you told your grandchildren that when you first got a tv you had to get up to turn it on or off?

Did they believe you?

Do they know what an On/Off button looks like?

When was the last time you asked your son or daughter or grandchild to reprogram your remote for you?

To you and keeping up with your grandchildren.

This is where grandparents come to remember when the world they grew up in was a place they want their grandchildren to know. Click here for more of our stories to remind you of your stories by following us through this blog in your Reader.

Carol Covin, Granny-Guru

Author, “Who Gets to Name Grandma? The Wisdom of Mothers and Grandmothers”

http://newgrandmas.com