Very interesting gizmo... http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2857523 From airports to restaurants, gizmo kills blaring TVs SAN JOSE, Calif. - Ticked off by the TV? Turn it off -- anywhere. A new keychain gadget that lets people turn off most TVs -- anywhere from airports to restaurants -- is selling at a faster clip than expected. "I thought there would just be a trickle, but we are swamped," the inventor, Mitch Altman of San Francisco, said. "I didn't know there were so many people who were into turning TV off." Hundreds of orders for Altman's $14.99 TV-B-Gone gadget poured in Monday after the tiny remote control was announced in Wired magazine and other online media outlets. At times, the unexpected attention overloaded and crashed the Web site of his company, Cornfield Electronics. The keychain fob works like a universal remote control -- but one that only turns TVs on or off. With a zap of a button, the gizmo goes through a string of about 200 infrared codes that controls the power of about 1,000 television models. Altman said the majority of TVs should react within 17 seconds, though it takes a little more than a minute for the gizmo to emit all the trigger codes. Altman, 47, first got the idea for TV-B-Gone a decade ago when he was out with friends at a restaurant and they found themselves all glued to the perched TV instead of talking to each other. No one was around to turn the TV off. The self-described geek with a masters in electrical engineering started tinkering full-time on the project a few years ago with help from money he had earned from a company he co-founded, data-storage maker 3ware Inc. Altman remembers spending most of his childhood unwittingly captivated by TV, watching shows like "Gilligan's Island" and others, regardless of whether they were entertaining. He quit as an adult and hasn't owned a television in 24 years. He has tested the TV-B-Gone remote discreetly in many places, including in other countries, and says he usually gets little to no reaction from others after the background TV noise and glare disappears. But he said he would never dare silently kill the machines in places like sports bars, where patrons expect TVs to be on. "I can be mischievous, but I'm not going to do anything malicious, and I don't want to make anyone's life more difficult," Altman said. "I just don't like TV, and I'd like people to think more about this powerful medium in their lives."
if some fool buys this...and brings it to a sportsbar...and hits it while i'm waiting for a big pitch to be delivered during the World Series...well....i'm gonna....not like that guy very much.
I love watching SportsCenter at 24 Hour Fitness every morning. If anyone ever changed the channel or shut off the TV, I'd pummel his/her ass without giving it a second thought.
And now, the invention of the TV-B-ON $4,000,000 each. This is gonna be a nightmare. I could see people being shot over such a gizmo.
Well, the same gizmo will turn the TV back on again. That feature will double sales as people get annoyed at others for turning TVs off and have to get one to turn it back on again.
synergy would reply to that but he's not listening to you, he's watching TV over your shoulder right now.
When I show up at 24 Hour Fitness, usually at 4AM, the channels are all tuned to Public Access, BET, or religious stations. When I ask for the remote to change the channel, the front desk attendant always tells me she can't find it!
I know how you feel. I get there at 5am and the TV is always on channel 51, cartoon network or religious stations too. But I pick a TV where only I (and my long arms) can lean over and change the channel while everyone else watches in horror thinking i might fall over the ledge and down to the first floor.
They should make one those things that shuts off car stereo systems instead of TV's. I would pay any amount of money for that.
Another useful invention - CELL-PHONE-B-OFF For those suckas in the movie theatre who not only don't turn off their cell phones, but answer their calls.
Take note of the make and model of the TV, then buy a universal remote, program it for that TV, and take it to the gym with you. -- droxford
JayZ, there's actually a Cell Phone Blocker that was made by Israeli Intelligence. It's being put into churches and universities etc (reduce noise and stop cheating). Only a matter of time before it's in movie theatres.
I can also make amusing fart noises by pressing the palm of my hand against my eye socket -- droxford
