Take a television/DVD/VHS/radio/etc. remote control, point it at your face, and press a button. (Go ahead, violate the Four Rules of Remote Control Use.)
Did not see much, did you?
Now, take the same remote control, point it at an activated digital camera with a live-preview LCD on its back (like most point-and-shoots and a very few DSLRs), and press a button while looking at the camera’s screen.
That, my friends, was the infrared pulse of information the remote control sends out to communicate with its base unit. Kind of shiny, huh? Useless, but shiny…
That’s SOP for checking to see if the batteries are still good. Not so useless.
… I always just pointed it at the TV, and if it does not work after ten or so button-pushes, I go ahead and replace the batteries.
.
I guess this would work better