The impossible dream of the faraway world

You don’t have to explain why remote is a good idea. You have many things that need to be corrected; this thing rules them all. Many companies have planned to create something suitable for this idea, and one product came closer than most. It’s called Harmony, and for many years it was the world’s most distant market. Maybe the only one it was important. And yet, even Harmony couldn’t make it work.

Pa this part of Ancient Historywe are telling the story of Harmony. SeasideDavid Pierce, Nilay Patel, and John Higgins are included Matt RogersMill CEO and co-founder of Nest, to count twenty buttons and touchscreens. Product starts as Easy Zapper, takes off, sells to Logitech, grows like crazy for a few years… it starts to fade. Sure, you could argue smart TVs and integrated entertainment systems just made the whole idea redundant. But there’s something about the whole remote that feels as appealing as ever. So we try to find out why.

This is the first episode of the fourth season of Ancient History. (We are therefore back.) Over the next few weeks, we’re going to be telling a lot of smart home stories, from Hue lights to Keurig coffee to the virus that was The Clapper. Here’s how to get each episode, and all the other fun stuff, as soon as it drops:

If you want to learn more about the history and legacy of Harmony, here are a few links to get you started: