TV remote has gone through many avatars
The favoured weapon of the couch potato could be overtaken by technology.
Had you flipped television channels on May 20 or even later, using your remote control, looking for news of Eugene Polley's demise, you would not have got much. The inventor of the first wireless TV remote, the Flashmatic, in 1955, died pretty much an anonymous death, aged 96, on that day. But the small, buttoned device Polley created engendered an army of sofa surfers, who found the distance between their seat and the TV fortuitously bridged.
Since 1955, the TV remote has gone through many avatars. Polley used visible light in his device. Later, remotes employed infrared, radio wave and ultrasound technologies. Today's remotes mostly use infrared light. When you press, say, 'Volume Up', the infrared light emits a series of superfast blinks, which tell the binary code receiver on the TV to initiate action to raise the sound volume. Most consumer electronics at home began coming with a remote.
And the number of these devices increased so much that they deserved a collective noun all their own - say, a confusion of remotes. Then someone (at Philips, actually) had the bright idea of a 'universal remote' which could be programmed for use with more than one device. So to the eternal gratitude of the sofa-bound, the same remote began to be used to manipulate the likes of the TV, the DVD player, the air conditioner and so forth.
It may be pure chance, but Polley's death may well presage the passing of an era. For, just a few days before he died, Samsung launched its ES8000 and ES7500 series of TVs that incorporate technologies which take over many of the remote control's duties. These TV sets respond to hand gestures, vocal commands and facial features. To activate voice control, all you have to say is 'Hi TV!' Yes, and if you find talking to your TV weird, you better be prepared to sit before it and start waving your hand or make grabbing gestures to change channels or access menus. A voice recognition programme and a camera that senses your hand's movements will work in tandem to carry out many of the tasks the remote currently does.
And there is more to come. "We expect to see the technologies replicated in our other products," says a Samsung official. So one can look forward to, perhaps, Blu-ray players and ACs, refrigerators and music players all meekly obeying our verbal commands or the wave of our hands. In an industry where one breakthrough is bested by another, you can be sure that a host of other companies will usher in their own remoteless gadgetry. In fact, both Apple and Microsoft have already tested the waters. Microsoft, which wowed the world with its motion-sensing Kinect for its Xbox gaming console in 2010, has already moved the technology to its Windows platform. It issued a beta version of a Kinect software development kit (SDK) for Windows in February opening up vast possibilities of its use on TVs and computers.
Apple, too, is working on its new TV. Its iPhone voice assistant Siri may have been a gimmicky prototype, but Apple is set on making voice control the essence of its concept of home entertainment.
The remote, which for nearly 60 years has been a muchloved accoutrement of the domestic circus, seems to be on its way out. However, it will not happen in a hurry. As one Samsung executive says: "There is a substantial populace which will not have access to these premium products. Hence, the remote will continue to be integral to Samsung products targeted at the masses." That the remote is not quite giving up its ghost yet is clear from Samsung's new TV, where some functions, such as navigating the (Samsung) Apps section, still require the loyal remote in addition to voice commands. The fadeout may take a few years yet, but a beginning has been made.
Since 1955, the TV remote has gone through many avatars. Polley used visible light in his device. Later, remotes employed infrared, radio wave and ultrasound technologies. Today's remotes mostly use infrared light. When you press, say, 'Volume Up', the infrared light emits a series of superfast blinks, which tell the binary code receiver on the TV to initiate action to raise the sound volume. Most consumer electronics at home began coming with a remote.
Joel Rai
It may be pure chance, but Polley's death may well presage the passing of an era. For, just a few days before he died, Samsung launched its ES8000 and ES7500 series of TVs that incorporate technologies which take over many of the remote control's duties. These TV sets respond to hand gestures, vocal commands and facial features. To activate voice control, all you have to say is 'Hi TV!' Yes, and if you find talking to your TV weird, you better be prepared to sit before it and start waving your hand or make grabbing gestures to change channels or access menus. A voice recognition programme and a camera that senses your hand's movements will work in tandem to carry out many of the tasks the remote currently does.
And there is more to come. "We expect to see the technologies replicated in our other products," says a Samsung official. So one can look forward to, perhaps, Blu-ray players and ACs, refrigerators and music players all meekly obeying our verbal commands or the wave of our hands. In an industry where one breakthrough is bested by another, you can be sure that a host of other companies will usher in their own remoteless gadgetry. In fact, both Apple and Microsoft have already tested the waters. Microsoft, which wowed the world with its motion-sensing Kinect for its Xbox gaming console in 2010, has already moved the technology to its Windows platform. It issued a beta version of a Kinect software development kit (SDK) for Windows in February opening up vast possibilities of its use on TVs and computers.
Apple, too, is working on its new TV. Its iPhone voice assistant Siri may have been a gimmicky prototype, but Apple is set on making voice control the essence of its concept of home entertainment.
The remote, which for nearly 60 years has been a muchloved accoutrement of the domestic circus, seems to be on its way out. However, it will not happen in a hurry. As one Samsung executive says: "There is a substantial populace which will not have access to these premium products. Hence, the remote will continue to be integral to Samsung products targeted at the masses." That the remote is not quite giving up its ghost yet is clear from Samsung's new TV, where some functions, such as navigating the (Samsung) Apps section, still require the loyal remote in addition to voice commands. The fadeout may take a few years yet, but a beginning has been made.
