Abstract: A hand held apparatus for remotely controlling consumer electronics appliances comprises an upper housing having top and bottom surfaces and a lower housing having top and bottom surfaces, with the bottom surface of the upper housing and the top surface of the lower housing being slidably engaged to permit the lower housing to move relative to the upper housing between closed and open positions. The remote control also has a display located in the top surface of the upper housing for presenting an image relevant to the control or operation of the remote control itself or the controlled appliances; a first set of tactile input devices located in the top surface of the upper housing and including an input device for interacting with the displayed image; and a second set of tactile input devices located in the top surface of the lower housing.

Abstract: An information system for selectively providing information in response to a request from a user comprises memory, for storing several databases of information; a search unit, for analyzing the user request and retrieving information related to said request from the memory to generate a first output information signal and for analyzing the first output information signal and retrieving information related to the first output information signal from the memory to generate a second output information signal. The system also includes a webpage unit for receiving the first and second output information signals and selectively displaying said signals on a webpage. The system notifies the user via an output unit, which generates an e-mail to the user which includes the address of said webpage.