The other day we lost our remote control. Being of the older generation I told my grandkids to not panic and just go push the button on the television. Button, you’ve got to be kidding. The television does not have a button, a shirt has a button. They thought grandma was crazy. The buttons are on the remote they are not on the TV, those are just decorations.
The next few moments were taken up by an explanation that remote controls are rather new. That they were not invented “in the beginning”. Of course, they were astounded that we used to have to get up every time we wanted to change channels. How were we able to surf all the channels? Well there were only three it was no big deal. Three, just three channels weren’t you bored. No, but that is another subject.
Now we have remote controls for many of our remote rolling code modern appliances. It started with the TV remote and has spread rapidly throughout our lives. VCR, DVDs, Stereo, Home Theatre, Cars, so many remote controls that now we are purchasing organizers for our remote controls. There are so many that the next step will be to hire someone to program them all for our use. Especially, if you are above the age of thirty.
As I started to look into the history of remote controls I was surprised to find how early they really started. The earliest remote was developed in 1893 by Nikola Tesla and was even given a patent number. There were other remotes in 1903, 1932 which was the first remote controlled model aeroplane. The First TV remote was in the early 1950’s and was unofficially called “Lazy Bones”. I wonder why? In the 1970’s more complex TV remote controls were being developed
In the 1980’s Steve Wozniak of Apple developed a remote control that could operate multiple electronic devices and made it even harder for the older generation to program.
Then in the early 2000’s the number of consumer electronic devices in homes increased. On an average American homes today have 4 remotes. A home theatre itself can require as many as 5 or 6 remotes, one for the cable or satellite receiver, VCR, or digital video recorder, DVD player, TV and audio amplifier.
Today remotes can also be used in industry, in space and of course for video games. So what do you do when one of them gets lost? Do you go back to the store where they will tell you that they will need to order it for you, maybe. Or you could go on the internet and type in Replacement Remotes. There are several good sites that offer name brand replacement remotes.
So after you get that last remote replaced you better invest in a location beeper to install on the remote or remotes as the case may be in your home.