A rant on remotes: Talking Tech Podcast

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Hey there, listeners. It's Brett Molina. Welcome back to Talking Tech. Okay, let's revisit CES once more. Shout out to my former colleague, Eli Blumenthal. He is a senior editor at CNET. He shared on Twitter, how we need remote finders in all TV remotes. What sparked this was an announcement from Sony. CNET reported on this. They talked about how there were a bunch of TVs that... Sony, excuse me, introduced a bunch of TVs at CES. A couple of those models included a remote with a built-in remote finder. According to CNET, it is the first time that we've seen a remote finder included in TV remotes. I write about this in the Talking Tech newsletter, and you can check it out on tech.usatoday.com. Or if you want to subscribe, go to newsletters.usatoday.com. I have to say, I was absolutely baffled when I heard that this was the first time a TV maker included a built-in remote finder with their television set.

We have all this incredible tech. We have smart bathtubs, we have drones, we have crazy robots. I was reading about a robot masseuse. We just have all this incredible, advanced technology. How is it we don't have every television remote with a built-in remote finder, so that you can press a button and it'll beep to let us know where it is? Granted, most of the time it's in between the cushions of a couch, but some of these remotes are getting skinnier and skinnier and they are digging into these crevices in our furniture and elsewhere, where it is really tough to find this stuff.

And as Roku has proven, having a remote finder is really helpful. If you don't own a Roku device, their remotes come with a remote finder. What you do is, I have a Roku Ultra at home, if you can't find the remote for any reason, there is a button on the Roku Ultra. You hit it and, after a while, it'll play a beeping sound from the remote to help you find it. Super helpful. And it's great too, because sometimes maybe you didn't leave it on the couch. Maybe you brought it with you somewhere else and you didn't realize it, or maybe it's just tucked away somewhere in your couch and you're just having a really hard time finding it.

I'm really shocked we don't have this in all TVs. With all the advancements we've seen everywhere else, we can't figure out how to add this to every TV remote? And again, I don't want to harp on TV makers, because it's not just their problem. I've seen this on a couple of different streaming devices. Obviously Roku is an exception, but even on some of their other devices, like the streaming stick, stuff like that, it's not there either. It's also not on the Google Chromecast. I learned this the hard way, because I have a Chromecast as well. I had to use the remote on the smartphone for a couple of weeks because that remote was missing, and I had no idea where it went.

I don't have an Amazon Fire at home, but from everything I have seen and dug into this, it doesn't appear that there is an option for Amazon Fire TV to include a remote finder, so if you lose your remote. And Apple, if you can't find your Apple TV remote, they say either use your phone or you use another remote entirely. Now, I know that a lot of these streaming devices give you the option to control your device with a smartphone. I get that. I think it's super nice at a pinch, if say you're having trouble finding it and you just need to turn off a TV, but I just don't want to use it all the time. I like having the physical remote. I use my phone for a zillion other things, I don't want to add remote to the list as well, unless it's just a quick thing I need to do.

So, I make this plea to everyone that's at CES. My goodness, can you please figure out how to get every TV to include a remote finder within the remote? It can't be that hard. If it is that hard, let me know. But seriously, come on. Listeners, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Is this just me talking like crazy old man rant? Is this a legitimate thing that tech companies should consider, especially TV makers who are building these remotes? Let me know on Twitter. I'm @BrettMolina23. Also, if you have any comments, questions, show ideas. Hit me up with those too.

Please don't forget to subscribe and rate us or leave a review on Apple podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, anywhere you get your podcast. Also, we talked about the newsletter earlier. If you want to get tech news delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to the Talking Tech newsletter. It's out every Thursday, go to newsletters.usatoday.com. You've been listening to Talking Tech. We'll be back tomorrow, with another quick hit from the world of tech.