Can't They Make a Better TV Remote Control? Here's What I'd like to See

OK, so call me a couch potato. How else can you explain my intimate familiarity with TV remote control technology? I'm old enough to remember when televisions did not have remote controls, and remember well my first TV with a remote (circa 1980): it was a Zenith television with an ULTRASONIC remote control, called "Space Command" -far out! Shortly after that the infrared remote technology was developed that is still used today.

As televisions became more and more complicated, with features like multiple inputs, picture-in-picture, surround sound, multiple display formats, etcetera, the number of buttons on the remote became unwieldy. Universal remotes are even worse, with a plethora of buttons for controlling DVD players, home theater systems, DVRs, VCRs, and more.

So I have a couple of major issues with these remotes:

(1) Do we really need all those buttons? Can't they simplify it? Most of the time I only use the same few over and over, and the rest just get in the way and complicate things.

(2) If we really need to have all these little-used buttons, why not make them smaller, differently-shaped, or out of the way from the really frequently-used ones?

(3) Let's think outside the box-why not dispense with buttons altogether and create a graphical user interface (GUI) like on modern personal computers, with pull-down menus and point-and-click simplicity?

Consider the plethora of buttons. Think about this - how many of the buttons on your remote do you actually use in a typical TV-watching session? Once you have the TV set up the way you want, as far as things like display format, sound options, etc. you probably never need to fool with those buttons again. So you'll only need: power on/off, volume up/down, channel up/down, and the most frequently used button of all: MUTE! Note that I did not even mention the numbered buttons for direct access to a specific channel. With the prevalence of onscreen "viewing guides" and with programmable channel up/down buttons that only go through your pre-selected channels (or alternatively a "favorites" button that does this) you don't really need them routinely. So a well-designed remote control should separate the little-used buttons from the frequently-used ones-perhaps even hide them behind a special door of some kind.

It can be pointed out that some set-top box remotes for cable or satellite TV do offer the ability to control just the main TV functions, in the same remote for controlling the channel selection through the cable box (I still wish they'd make that mute button bigger! Hate those overly-loud commercials where they think if they shout at you you'll be more inclined to buy their product...). But even those are typically not laid out very well and could be simplified, in my opinion.

What I would really love to see is a remote control with a single button! How would that work, you ask? Well imagine this-you point it at the TV and a simple menu pops up. As you wave the remote around a pointer on the screen follows you and you just click the single button when the item you want to activate is highlighted, just like the GUI on Mac or Windows computer. The menu could be designed to be very simple to navigate, with those few frequently-used items in easy reach, and the rest buried in pull-down menus. You could have a separate button for each of your favorite channels, so all you have to do is point to it and click.

Is the technology here now to do this? I think it is. Consider for example the Logitech MX Air "air mouse" - it has the direct pointing technology needed, with no need for trackballs or joysticks or other slow move-the-pointer buttons. Surely some clever engineers could combine this with a menu-overlay system that appears on the TV screen when you point at it?
Oh, and as for that mute button - I'd put it right in the middle of the screen so all you have to do is point your remote at the TV and press the one button!