Kit was inclined to agree. He spent an annoying couple of moments searching for the volume control on the DVD the remote was too busy doing its own shouting to be of any use. Finally he got the DVD to shut up,then once again punched a series of characters into the remote to get a look at the details on the DVD s core processor.

 Aha,  Kit said to himself. The processor wasn t made by the company that owned the brand. He had a look at the same information for the remote. It also used the same processor, but it had been resold to the brand-name company by still another company.

 Now look at that!  Kit said.  You have the same processors. You aren t really from different companies at all. You re long-lost brothers. Isn t that nice  And look at you, fighting over nothing! She s right, youare idiots. Now I want you guys to handshake and make up.

There was first a shocked silence, then some muttering and grumbling about unbearable insults and who owed whom an apology.  You both do,  Kit said.  You were very disrespectful to each other. Now get on with it, and then settle down to work. You ll have a great time. The new cable package has all these great channels.

Reluctantly, they did it. About ten minutes later the DVD began sorting through and classifying the channels it found on the TV.  Thank you, guys,  Kit said, taking a few moments to tidy up the paperwork scattered all over the floor, while thinking longingly of the oncoming generation of wireless electronics that would all communicate seamlessly and effortlessly with one another.  See, that wasn t so bad. But someday all this will be so much simpler,  Kit said, patting the top of the DVD player.

 No, it won t,  the remote control said darkly.

Kit rolled his eyes and decided to let the distant unborn future of electronics fend for itself.  Youjust behave,  he said to the remote,  or you regonna wind up in theCuisinart .