It seems that the TV remote control is not going to be consigned to the scrapyard just yet, but it's unlikely to dominate home entertainment systems forever.

Insert it between your TV’s IR receiver and the flame from a lighter, and pull the slots along to generate the coded pattern. Get it just right and you have a paper and lighter remote control.

Forty percent of users ages 18 to 34 prefer to control their TVs with a smartphone or tablet instead of a remote, Petersen says, citing data from Altman Vilandrie & Co. and Research Now.

Once you’re set up, TV Remote provides a default set of controls tailored to your TV with on-screen buttons to navigate your TV’s UI, switch channels and sources, control volume, and everything else ...