Voice TV

Published Feb 14, 2003

Back in the early 90's, when I was living in Las Vegas, I'd purchased a brand new 25" television. My roommate and I had set it up and were playing around with the fancy remote control when my roommate's girlfriend Kate came over. I was seated at the end of the couch, with my arm hanging over the edge, my hand clutching the remote control completely out of Kate's sight.

My roommate decided to play with her mind, and promptly announced that the TV was "voice-activated." Kate, obviously, didn't believe him. He said, "TV: Volume up." Without missing a beat, I hit the volume up button on the remote, and it went up a few notches. My roommate then proceeded to "issue" the TV a series of commands. This lasted for about five minutes, and Kate was getting more and more amazed at this "incredible invention!"

They left for dinner, and I forgot about the whole thing until the next afternoon. I came home from work and found Kate standing in front of the TV, visibly angry, shouting at the TV: "ON! ON! TV! ON!"

Taking pity on her, I said, "Kate? Here..." and handed her the remote. She took it, glared at it and promptly shouted "ON!" directly into the remote as if it were a microphone.

Originally published February 15, 2003.

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Voice TV

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