Spotted at CES: I never paid too much attention to remote controls, but at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show several caught my attention. Audiovox Corp., for one, introduced a new voice-activated TV remote, the RCA Voice Control Universal Remote or RCRV06G.

All you have to do is talk to it. Besides telling it to turn on the TV, it’ll obey your command to increase the volume, start a movie, switch channels and turn everything off — 25 activities in all. You don’t even have to touch a button.

I’m unsure how the remote is able to distinguish between voice commands and regular chitty-chatting since I didn’t test this out myself. But just pointing it out…

And it’s surely not the most advanced remote but for $39.99, it seems to be one that could appeal to the masses who aren’t interested in spending $100+ for the Harmony remote or the new LCD-display ones from Samsung and Vizio.

The universal remote will control up to six devices, which, apparently, requires manual set up. I guess voice-activated set up will come in version two.

More on remote control technology:

• CES: RCA Audiovox Let’s You Talk to Your Remote (Big Picture Big Sound)
• 6 Unique Remote Control Technologies (CE Pro)
• RCA Voice Control Remote: It Talks to You, You Talk to It (Gizmodo)

For more CES 2010 coverage, visit the Gadgetress CES page at gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/ces2010.
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