Better "Universal Remotes"

I've had to use universal remotes, and so far they suffer from a few universal complaints.

The MUTE button is far too small. It is the button I use most frequently when watching TV: I use it whenever commercials come on.

They use buttons to select which device to talk to, but there is no way for the hapless user to tell which was actually selected.

So you can add a great deal of value to the remote by

• Put the MUTE button close to the bottom for easier thumbing, and make it bigger: 1cm or bigger in diameter.
• Use a 3-position sliding switch to select the device. This lets you see immediately which machine you are trying to talk to. The additional component cost won't be more than a few cents. If you want to simultaneously add a battery check and offer more feedback for people with poor vision, add three LEDs across the top of the remote--one for each device type. Punch any command and the LED for that device lights up briefly if the batteries are still good.

Bus Stop Bus Monitoring

Bus stops on State Street have route maps and local schedules. By local schedule I mean a list of the times the bus is supposed to be at that stop, assuming all goes well at the previous time point. (All time points are bus stops, but most bus stops are not time points.)

Suppose each bus had a GPS and ID, which the central routing system mapped into a position on the street. One could estimate the corrected arrival time for a bus all along its route and display the info at simple computer displays at each bus stop. Most of the time this would be close enough to the estimated one that it would make no difference, but in bad weather (think 8 inches of snow) I'd find it helpful to know whether the bus I was waiting for was canceled or merely late. (Do I take the other bus and make different connections, or wait another 20 minutes?)

Of course, it would be really fun to have a dynamic city bus map, showing where all the buses were.

Of course, I can burst my own bubble here. I know what happens to bus shelters: they get plastered with Grateful Dead stickers and gang slogans, and perhaps vandalized with lighters. A computer display would simply be a more attractive target for the lowlifes who love destruction.