From the fringes comes this idea – a universal remote control with just one button. That one button transmits the ‘off’ command for most TV brands. Thus, the tiny TV-B-Gone becomes the way to turn off annoying TVs in any bar, club or office.

Now that infra-red remote controls are so common, it makes sense that one device should be able to control them all. For a while a my favourite student radio station had the slogan – Kill Your Television. Now you can.

From the Telegraph in the UK comes this story about Tintin books providing inspiration for the study of sharks. The image on the cover of one of the books provided a gem of a thought.

“The grandson of Jacques Cousteau has continued the family tradition of underwater exploring by tracking sharks in a submarine inspired by a Tintin book.

Fabien Cousteau, 38, first saw the cover of Red Rackham’s Treasure, showing Tintin in a shark-shaped submarine searching for ancient treasure on the ocean floor, when he was seven.

The shark-shaped submarine allows Fabien Cousteau to film sharks behaving naturally

Only now has his dream of emulating the boy detective come true, thanks to Troy, named after the Trojan horse.

The submarine is so close in appearance and movement to the great white sharks that live off Guadeloupe, part of Baja California, that they have accepted the craft as one of their own and given him an unmatched opportunity to observe and film their lives.”