MORE:Gadgets | Retro | Strange + Wonderful | funny | patent | pole | remote control
Remote Control, Anyone?
Advertisement
March 10th, 2011
It’s amazing how far technology has come in the last 30 years or so. Just look at this patent filing from back in 1976 for a TV remote control.
Despite the fact that Zenith had been working on actual wireless remotes since the 1950s, U.S. Patent 3962748 provided for a rudimentary device which allowed you to change the channel without getting your La-Z-Ass out of your La-Z-Boy. The pole had a special attachment on the end to simply let you rotate the channel knob from across the room. I’m surprised there wasn’t an attachment to fetch a beer from the fridge too.
[via Futility Closet via Boing Boing]
Advertisement
Takara Tomy Beer Hour Turns Canned Beer into Draught
Kinect-omation Hack Controls Room Lights
|
If my TV had buttons, I would probably buy it! Just because it’s stupid ^^
But it probably wouldn’t work with buttons. You’d need good old school knobs!
This is only believable to those of us who grew up turning tv knobs and dialing rotary phones. These both seem like fiction to anyone born after 1990.