Skip to main content
All Stories Tagged:

Button of the Month

In today’s digital age, it sometimes feels like hardware has taken a back seat to the software that drives our devices. Button of the Month is a monthly column that explores the physical pieces of our phones, tablets, and controllers that we interact with every day.

Today I learned about the ‘80s Casio calculator that doubles as a massive lighter.

I wanted it to be February’s Button of the Month — partly because its big honking button has an incredible click and shoots out a monster jet of flame, partly because it triples as an alarm clock (!), and partly ‘cuz it hearkens back to Casio’s original invention: a finger ring for cigarettes.

Sadly, the Casio QL-10 seems rare. Last time one hit eBay, it sold for $499. Behold history through other people’s cameras in our gallery instead:


<em>Makes for </em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/44337451@N00/5677495372/"><em>an iconic photo</em></a><em>.</em>

1/7

Makes for an iconic photo.
Photo by Vincente Zorilla Palau

The Indiglo button let there be light

Press this button to remember the dark age of gadgets.

S
Youtube
The forbidden popcorn button.

Technology Connections is a phenomenal YouTube channel, and I have no qualms letting Alec’s latest video take the place of our regularly scheduled Button of the Month for December — it’s very good.

I got a tad too busy with daily live courtroom reporting and some gaming handhelds to write or edit this month’s column, but I promise it’ll be back in January! Hint: think blue.


S
Youtube
TIL someone got the amazing analog Space Command remote to control Alexa.

No batteries, no infrared — just the original “clicker” TV remote’s ultrasonic pings translated into digital commands by an Arduino computer, which then speaks in a robotic voice to get Alexa to do your bidding.

Here’s our Button of the Month about the 1956 gadget — and its service manual.


The Action Button is the most significant new iPhone feature in years

A little button that you can program to do virtually anything you want unlocks a lot of possibilities for the computer that’s with you the most often.

This USB button helps Jeopardy! contestants get their buzz on

Also: Liam Neeson used it to blow something up.

S
Instagram
Mechanical marvel.

We recently re-introduced you to a TV remote for the ages, the Zenith Space Command, which uses tiny hammers and tuning forks instead of electricity! That means no batteries :-)

Here’s a closer look... and we even pulled out our screwdriver to give you a peek inside.


The buttons on Zenith’s original ‘clicker’ remote were a mechanical marvel

The Space Command didn’t rely on infrared — or batteries.

We defeated bad elevator buttons!

Remember when we we shared the utterly infuriating elevator buttons stationed in our very own offices? They’ve been vanquished!

Now, instead of every soul aboard a crowded elevator stabbing a keypad in disbelief, a single tap and a single touchscreen press simultaneously summons the elevator, programs it to visit the appropriate floor(s), and points YOU in the right direction. And friends, the doors... they open instantly. Smartest elevators I’ve ever seen.


The unsung heroes of the Apple Watch are its hidden buttons

Changing watch straps isn’t new, but Apple’s hidden little buttons simplified it and took it mainstream.

The Stream Deck mastered the LCD key by making it peripheral

Button of the Month bonus: we made our own Stream Deck plug-in for you!

The BlackBerry Storm showed why you should never turn a touchscreen into a button

Button of the Month: the BlackBerry Storm’s SurePress screen

The eject button held all the power on the original Xbox

Button of the month: the Xbox eject button

You must never press the original Razr’s forbidden internet button

Button of the month: the Motorola Razr internet button

The Palm Pre home button was the first to be the last

Button of the month: the Palm Pre home button