Samsung has introduced a new remote control that finally solves the perennial problem that plagued all its predecessors, providing of course you can find it… I saw it just a second ago.
The new Samsung Solar Cell Remote will be solar-powered via indoor or outdoor lighting, avoiding the need for replaceable batteries. You can charge it by USB if necessary, but the avoidance of disposable batteries will apparently save as many as 99 million AAA cells worldwide over the course of its seven year lifespan; and what’s more, it will be made of 24% recycled material from plastic bottles. That’s great news not only for the environment, but also for lazy people. Like me.
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Remote controls themselves were once a totem of laziness, the symptom of a society that could no longer be bothered to interrupt its couch potato lifestyle with a brief walk over to the television set to change the channel. But now that the bar of low expectations has lowered enough to accept this slothful shortcut, it’s comforting to know that we can soon go all the way and not even have to bother about changing the batteries either.
Gone, I hope, are the days of continuing to use a failing, dying remote even if that does mean five button presses to change the volume, rather than going through the fuss of changing the batteries. Personally, I can’t wait to see the back of hastily-handled raids through a draw full of your outdated, long-abandoned electric appliances that utilise the same compatible batteries. That is if they aren’t crusted over like a bad eye infection.
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Gone even, may be the days when you ever have to remember the difference between AA or AAA batteries. The only other thing I can think of that uses them is my carbon monoxide alarm, and all that’s done recently is to make a loud high-pitched sound that’s making me feel nauseous and dizzy.
On the flipside, it would sadly also leave Homer Simpson’s classic blues lament in the trashcan of tech history…
Along with this impressive move to reduce waste and environmental damage, Samsung has also announced that it will “seek to systematically decrease its overall carbon footprint in TV manufacturing”, and will expand its ‘eco-packaging’ design to many of its 2021 range of TVs to further reduce waste. It’s good news to hear this, and we hope that other major tech companies will follow suit.
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