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Inventor of the TV Remote Control Dies

Posted by Soulskill on from the rest-in-peace dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Yes, kids, you used to have to walk across the room to change the TV channel. That changed with the introduction of the 'Flash-Matic,' a revolutionary device that was 'Absolutely harmless to humans!' and could 'even shut off annoying commercials while the picture remains on the screen.' Eugene Polley, inventor of the now ubiquitous TV remote-control died Sunday of natural causes at age 96. In 1996 Polley received an Emmy for his invention, but during his 47-year career, he was awarded numerous patents and worked on projects ranging from advances in radar to push-button car radios."

9 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Duplicate idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not sure if dumb or troll...

  2. Do you think they've tried turning his batteries by duguk · · Score: 5, Funny

    Do you think they've tried turning his batteries round and smacking him against the coffee table?

  3. Re:Duplicate idea by Chemisor · · Score: 5, Informative

    > this device was quite much copied from Nokia's symbian phones

    Even though we have remote controls today, and clicking on the article link no longer requires you to get your ass out of your chair, you can still make a fool of yourself by being too lazy to read it and discover that the first remote control was invented in 1955, long before there was Symbian, or mobile phones.

  4. Re:Duplicate idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think the '1996' in the article threw him off; actually this should be about the inventor of the wireless remote control, it's from 1955 (the one with the wire was from 1950 and was called the Zenith 'Lazy Bones')

  5. If it was invented tomorrow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ... I wonder what the MPAA / RIAA / The Bad Guys would say about muting their precious commercials?

    I'm sure a "do not mute" flag would quickly appear in the DVB stream.

  6. "Currently Dead"? Check! by balzi · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can't believe this guy. He is so committed to getting in the current slashdot poll, that he's become the newest "Currently Dead Inventor".

    I will create a post in the poll comments to record his memory forever - the inventor is dead! Long live the Inventor!

    --
    "I split coffee all over my wife's nightie .... serves me right for wearing it" -Speelberg, no 'Spar
  7. Re:Do you think they've tried turning his batterie by Bigby · · Score: 5, Funny

    To honor him, every channel should show him at the same time for 5 minutes straight. People will start using their remotes to change the channel, only to get nowhere. Only then will they truly understand the importance of the remote control.

  8. Re:Duplicate idea by ortholattice · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Actually, the first remote control was invented by Tesla in 1898 (U.S. Patent 613,809). He used it to remotely flash lights on a boat, amazing an audience. Eugene Polley specialized it to "for a TV". Sort of like many modern inventions consist of an earlier idea + "on the internet". (OK maybe not that simple but I thought I'd toss it in for a good troll...)

  9. Re:Do you think they've tried turning his batterie by mykepredko · · Score: 5, Funny

    Tabatha Southey (Toronto Globe and Mail Columnist) suggests that it would be most appropriate for Mr. Polley to be buried under some couch cushions.

    RIP and thank you for relieving the few calories of energy it took to get our fat asses up and over to the TV to change the channel.

    myke

    --
    Mimetics Inc. Twitter