fresnelly

Have you ever been out on the town and suddenly realized you forgot to set the recorder (PVR, VCR, whatever) for that special TV show starting soon?

I'd like to have a recorder that can be operated via telephone to resolve that very situation. Just dial in, punch in a few key commands and you can stay out safe in the knowledge that you won't miss that season finale after all. We can already do this with answering machines. Wait. Can Tivo already do this?

My second idea is a just a regular TV remote but with the added feature of a small scroll wheel embedded in it. As you scroll it forward, your TV starts surfing up through the channels. The farther you scroll it, the faster it cycles through. Scrolling it back towards you switches the channels down. It's intuitive and would reduce muscle strain from all that clicking.

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Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life