The buttons on Zenith’s original ‘clicker’ remote were a mechanical marvel
The buttons on Zenith’s original ‘clicker’ remote were a mechanical marvel
The Space Command fixed problems we still live with today.
Give me a Technology Connections (@TechConnectify@mas.to) video on it
46ReplyThat was literally my first thought when I saw the article.
11ReplyGod, I love that man
13Reply
Oh, I so want that!
1Reply
I like the sounds of the tines! It's basically just a tuning fork, so wild.
12ReplyI’m old and still call the remote “the clicker”. My 7 year old wondered what the heck a clicker is.
Cue old dad “back in my day, the remotes actually clicked” story.
2Reply@reverendz @dingus, when I was young, I was the remote
3Reply
Our first tv with a remote control that wasn't me or my sibling using small vise grip on channel knob had a telephone included in the tv.
Like this was in 1982 so not a modem ... just a tv with a land line phone built in that you have to use the remote to make or receive a call.
7ReplyYes! Those channel knobs were so easily broken. I thought we were the only ones turning channels with pair of vice-grips clamped on the nub.
5Reply
I had a Heathkit TV that used a variation of this design! If you held it really close to your ear then you could actually hear it emitting.
6ReplyThis was mentioned a couple of weeks ago on the Vergecast. I was wondering if someone was going to get assigned the article, and here it is!
6ReplyThat's fancy. Our clicker only had two buttons for channel changing.
4Reply@igalmarino In my childhood our remote worked by emitting electronically generated ultrasonic sounds. It looked like that one: kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/tel…
3ReplyNever seen or heard from anyone using tape to mask their remotes. Is this really a thing?
3ReplyNever seen or heard from anyone using tape to mask their remotes. Is this really a thing?
Not this exactly, but my grandparents had a guide taped to the backside of their remotes to make it easier to use.
The tape strategy has some appeal, though, mainly in that I use maybe 5 buttons 95% of the time.
1Reply
Those don't take batteries and your click generates the electricity for the signal. Right? Like a wind up radio.
2ReplyNo, it's a tuning fork that produces 4 seperate tones, one for each "button." The TV had a microphone listening for tones and would respond accordingly. You didn't actually have to point the remote at the TV, which later became a problem, as the mic on the TV was technically always listening for a tone.
24ReplyNeat. I knew I could Cunningham Law this instead of doing research.
10Reply
Nope! It's the sound that does the work. The TV has a microphone in it.
4Reply