Cutting the cable-TV cord has turned me into a remote-control minimalist. I can’t stand having more than one remote on the coffee table just to watch TV, especially with only one set-top box in the living room. But the main TV remote must always remain in reach because neither the Roku nor the Amazon Fire TV remotes include TV-power or volume-control buttons.
For fellow minimalists, a device called Sideclick aims to be the solution. It’s a small, programmable IR blaster that clips onto the remote for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV or Google’s Nexus Player. Effectively, it combines TV- and streaming-device controls onto a single unit.