Techie Tuedsay: TV Remote Control Watches

Beauty or Brains??? 

I think the idea of having a watch to control basic TV functions is rather a slick idea. On the mischief side, secretly changing the channels at the electronics store or at that sports bar appeals to me. On the practical side, quickly changing the volume when those annoyingly loud commercials come on also appeals to me. It must be a guy thing, wanting to have that power close to hand, and what is closer to hand than the wrist?

Both of the watches pictured above can be found for under $40 on the web. On the left is the stylish Midas Remote Control Watch and on the right is the, ugly as sin, CASIO CMD30B-1T. Funny, that, it could almost be a political metaphor.

The Midas RC watch uses a list of manufacturer's basic IR codes to program its functions, much like most universal remotes tend to do. Whereas, the Casio RC watch learns IR code directly from the remote control device and will hold several different settings. In theory, the Casio RC watch could learn any IR code to control any IR device because it learns directly from the remote itself. Which means you can 'hack', or choose parameters for, many different devices.

To resolve any right or left dilemma, I found the middle ground - how about wearing both of them?