The impossible dream of the universal remote

Article excerpt

The universal remote has been a perennial holy grail, one device to rule them all. Logitech's Harmony came closer than any competitor, dominating the market for years as arguably the only universal remote that truly mattered. Yet even Harmony, despite its success and technical sophistication, ultimately failed to crack the code. The Verge's Version History podcast explores why this seemingly simple idea kept stumbling, tracing the product's rise and fall through the history of home entertainment technology.