Couch Potatoes Everywhere Are Mourning The Death Of Eugene Polley At 96

If you have never heard of Eugene Polley, you are not alone, but you honor him every time you turn on your TV and channel surf to your heart's content. Polley died on Sunday at the age of 96 and he invented the first wireless TV remote in 1955. That first remote made life so much easier. Gone were the days of actually having to get up off the couch, walk over to the TV set and turn the channel knob to scan the four five channels that were actually available at that time. Boy, how things have changed with the hundreds of channels that are now available at our finger tips  thanks to Polley's creation.

Nowadays, if you lose the remote, heaven forbid you would actually change the channels by hand....OH THE HUMANITY!! No channel shall be changed until the remote is found!!!

In 1955, if you wanted to change channels, you did it by hand unless you bought a Zenith television with Flash-Matic tuning.  The "flash tuner" was a device that looked more like a sci-fi ray gun that you pointed at the TV and pulled a little red trigger. That trigger would not only allow you to change channels, but would also allow you shut off the sound of those annoying commercial jingles.

Polley's invention opened so many doors that allowed us to venture way beyond the actual dial. Some technology experts think that without Polley's idea, we might not have the internet.....can you imagine?

Polley created something out of the idea of convenience that changed the world we live in today and he always kept his original device with him right up until his death. Polley won an Emmy in 1997 for his work in pioneering TV remotes.

Polley did have the opportunity to watch his invention evolve and change the world. Goodbye Mr. Polley and thank you. I have Tevoed the news coverage of your passing to watch when I get home.

[AP]