Old School Technologies
Sometimes the solution to a problem we're having can come from old school technologies: the stuff that was cool until we discarded it for something new and better. These old tech artifacts can be modified to meet the needs of modern-day problems, we just don't know exactly how yet.
The Zenith Space Command TV remote
(via The buttons on Zenith’s original ‘clicker’ TV remote were a mechanical marvel - The Verge)
The Space Command is a product of mechanical engineering rather than electrical. By pressing a button on the remote, you set off a spring-loaded hammer that strikes a solid aluminum rod in the device, which then rings out at an ultrasonic frequency. Each button has a different length rod, thus a different high-frequency tone, which triggers a circuit connected to a microphone in the television to finish the command.
fascinating old-school tech
Source: theverge.com