h a l f b a k e r yGetting blown into traffic is never fun.
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Many universal remote controls all but require an instruction manual in order to be usable. Misplace the instruction manual and your remote is a $20 piece of useless plastic and circuitry.
My suggestion would be to include a micro-printed copy of the instruction sheet and a micro-print viewer;
to see the instructions, the viewer looks through a cheap plastic lens while turning a knob to view the instructions. With suitable cheap optics this could be accomplished while adding minimally to the volume, weight, or price of the unit.
[link]
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I think this is useful for cameras and cell phones, too. + |
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Yet better, why not have the remote equipped with the appropriately hued dentition, linking it with a similiarly endowed PC, and store the instructions electronically inside it? You can crank up the font on the computer to a comfortable viewing size, even for granny's dim eyes. |
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Why not just print the URL for the manual on the side? The manufacturer's name and product ID are already usually enough to pull up instructions for many electronic products. |
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Instructions are usually easy. It's the codes that I forget. How about a place to write the codes, like the inside of the battery compartment door? Have a label preprinted with
VCR __ __ __
TV __ __ __
CABLE __ __ __
and the user writes their codes in the appropriate spot. |
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A barcode on the item for which you need instructions, a barcode scanner-equipped iPAQ, and little Pocket IE Web pages of the instructions. |
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Hewlett Packard had good concise instructions printed right on the backside of the product (HP11 and others) back when they made great calculators. |
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Q: How would you read the micro-printed instuctions on the side of the micro-print viewer if you forgot how to use the micro-print viewer? |
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// Q: How would you read the micro-printed instuctions on the side of the micro-print viewer if you forgot how to use the micro-print viewer?// |
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Uh, to use the microprint viewer, you hold the flat white part of the device in the direction of a light source while you look in the lens-y part. Pretty straightforward, though I guess I haven't noticed any of the toys that worked on that principle anywhere for quite awhile. I did, though, see a pet collar that worked on that notion; it had a little thingie one would look in to reveal a huge amount of information about one's pet (assuming one had suitably filled in the form and sent it into the manufacturer who would then return the teensy-weensy film thingie). |
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{quarterbaker} - My Universal remote has a sticker exactly as you described. Its a "3-2-1" remote if your bothered. |
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Peter, I wish you did too. I'm trying to find the 'off' button. |
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Maybe some hacks out there can tell us how to crack the UR to cause any infrared device to display a generic text menu on a TV universally. I'm guessing most folk own a remote ready TV or equivalent by now. |
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Hmm... Since most remotes require the user to "get close" and then fine-tune things, how about setting up a remote so that completely non-interoperable devices had a "class ID" from 02 to 69, and then have a button which sends out "channel 02" to a class 2 device, "channel 03" to a class 3 device, etc. Once it's done, you can tell by which channel your TV or VCR is showing what class it is. |
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