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A truly universal remote

You know what's always been lacking in my universal remote control? A bottle opener. No more! The Clicker universal remote adds bottle opener for the ultimate couch potato gadget.

Abbi Perets
Abbi Perets has been writing about technology and family and consumer issues for over ten years. Her work has been featured in print and on the Web, and she has taught courses on consumer and business electronics for HP, Sony, AOL, and other companies. Abbi has also written extensively about business technology for Tech Republic, Gantthead, and other tech sites. Abbi's passion for home appliances stems from the kitchen remodel she managed in her new home in Houston, TX where she lives with her husband and four children.
Abbi Perets

Never leave the couch again. The Clicker Company

You already know how much I love 2-in-1 appliances and gadgets. Generally, the best dual-purpose devices combine two things that, when you see them together, make you take notice and wonder why it's taken this long for the world to come this far. The ones I enjoy writing about most, though, are often those that make me shake my head and say, "What the heck were they thinking?"

And the latest entry in the "Seriously, I can't decide if this is brilliant or pathetic" category, we have the Clicker, a universal remote control...with an integrated bottle opener.

On the remote control side, you're covered for up to eight labeled components (DVD, DVR, TV, and the others you'd expect to see), and you can set it up fairly easily with its 630 preset codes, or let it learn from your existing remotes. The programmable macros give you plenty of options for one-touch control, and the remote supports picture-in-picture and twin-view functions.

And on the bottle opener front: you can open bottles, without relinquishing control of the remote. Or leaving the couch, like, ever. Which makes me wonder if this remote was perhaps invented by our enemies for the purpose of making us even less active than we already are.

Sadly, the Web site says that the Clicker is currently out of stock, but you can sign up to be notified when it's available again. The Clicker costs around $25.