Early remotes were not just inconvenient, they were comically flawed. Zenith's 1955 'Flash-Matic' worked like a ray gun, aiming a light beam at photoelectric cells on the TV. Sunlight or bright lamps could accidentally change the channel or adjust the volume. The famous 'clicker' that replaced it, the 1956 Space Command, used high-frequency aluminum rods inside the remote that clicked when a button was pressed. While inaudible to people, this ~ultrasonic frequency was easily heard by many dogs a