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October 21, 2004
TV-B-Gone








Some wit has designed TV-B-Gone, a TV remote that has only one function: To turn TVs off. He got so annoyed at the omnipresence of TVs in public venues that he collected the "power off" commands for dozens of units and put them in a single keyfob device. Point it at the TV in your local bar during the Red Sox/Yankees game, hit the button, and presto: The TV will go dead. And so will you, since when people discover you're turning their TV off in the middle of game they'll beat you into a bloody pulp.

Which brings us to real cultural meat of this subject. The TV-B-Gone is interesting, but not half so interesting as the furious debate it provokes about the role of TV in society. Wired News hung out with an anti-TV activist who used it to click off a huge bank of TVs at Euro Disney:

"It fills you with naughty laughter to know you did this and other people have no idea what happened," Burke said. People around him noticed that the screens had turned off, but no one raised a fuss.

Meanwhile, the Gizmodo editor tore the inventor a new orifice in a hilarious posting:

... TV-B-Gone has a single purpose: to power off televisions whenever the user feels like being a dick. [snip] Maybe after making his tens of dozens of dollars on the TV-B-Gone, Altman can invent a gadget that transports self-important cocks who think they're waging a subversive culture war to a log cabin coffee shop where they can reassure each other how awesome they are for hating television.

And on and on the opinions go. Some bloggers point out that they are "easily mesmerized" by TVs in public places, and thus "philosophically love the idea"; others cackle ironically loving TV-B-Gone because "I can piss people off and impose my views on others -- then I'll be a one-man Government!"

It's kind of amazing. Even the most blood-soaked video games don't cause this sort of cultural agon. But sixty years on into its mainstreaming, TV is still a ferociously love-it-or-hate-it proposition.


(Thanks to Parker Morse for this one!)

Posted by Clive Thompson at October 21, 2004 01:18 PM

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Comments

That's totally on my x-mas list. I think Gizmodo is over analyzing it a bit. I'll be turning off the televisions in every waiting room that I find myself in from now on. You'll know it was me because I'll be the one with my head buried in the latest Palahniuk novel un-phased by the sudden return to sweet silence.

Soon as he gets his site back up off its knees I'm ordering one!

Posted by: temp at October 21, 2004 2:13 PM

Yeah, I've seen this all over the blogs lately.
Cool idea, I'll freely admit that I'm down with the subversive side of the device, but hey, I still think waterproof wicks on M-80 cherry bombs are gods gift to pre-pubescent boys.
I guess what throws me off is why there's so much hoopla about it? I mean, it's kind of already been done, only with more panache in my opinion.
http://tinyurl.com/3l2ow
When are blogs going to start reviewing things that matter, like the latest in juvenile firecracker technology?

Posted by: brian at October 21, 2004 3:09 PM

I'm gonna buy one and put that TV from a few posts back out of its misery.

Posted by: marc at October 21, 2004 4:12 PM

One of the best moments of my freelance design career was when I had to move my desk just a little bit more directly under the muzak speaker (yes, bad gig) so i could stand on it and disable the speaker with my swiss army knife. That felt so good.

I want a device that jams FM radio *and* kills tvs with no need to move furniture around. It's not so much the programming on either that gets me, but the ads. The programming bores me, the ads make me completely psycho. Now if you were trying to do your laundry in a laundromat, would you want a bored psycho seething near you? Nah. Much better to turn of the crappy radio or tv. definitely safer. yup.

Posted by: john t unger at October 22, 2004 1:43 AM

Yeah, Brian, I think those remote-control watches are actually even more ripe for sowing confusion, because instead of turning the TV off, you can set it to force people to watch Wife Swap.

Temp, Marc, let me know if you actually get one!

John, I salute anyone who wages guerilla warfare against muzak. You fight for us all.

Posted by: Clive at October 22, 2004 2:13 AM

I used to use my (somewhat huge) Clie' for this (it had an extra high-power LED for the purpose, good for at least 20ft, at which range you can usually tell the brand nane and select it off the menu.) If they ever get the website back on line, I'm ordering one :-)

Posted by: Mark Eichin at October 22, 2004 2:54 AM

TV-B-Gone? Who needs it? How about annoying cellphone ring be gone? Or, too loud radio be gone?

Posted by: Debbie at October 22, 2004 9:48 AM

I needed one of these this morning in a waiting room when I and others were forced to watch Fox "news".

Posted by: Jeff at October 22, 2004 2:26 PM

Jeff, heh.

Debbie, I actually think mobile-phone suppressors have been around for a while, though they're illegal in the US.

Mark: Was there software you could download that would control a wide array of TVs?

Posted by: Clive at October 23, 2004 11:31 PM

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Posted by: TERRAL GREEN at October 26, 2004 4:27 PM

What on earth?

Posted by: Joel at October 26, 2004 6:30 PM

Hey Terral,

Good idea but let go of the shift key and get someone else to write ur business plan dude!!

btw: boomerang tracking system already does this and it's a little less confrontational.....element of surprize is key here

Posted by: Uncle Rob at October 27, 2004 11:17 PM

Hooray! I hope I can turn off the TV of my nearly deaf neighbor who has insomnia. The TV is loud and playing all hours of the early am and also late at night. It's not loud enough to call police but just loud enough to invade the bedroom walls of my mobile home.

Posted by: Y.Whitt at November 9, 2004 3:29 PM

Guess what..... I just got TV-B-Gone and it works as advertised, but as I assumed prior to buying this nifty little toy, IT TURNS ON TV's TOO!!!

Haaa, I want to watch that tv over there and its off. Not anymore!!!!

thanks Cornhole Electronics!

E$

Posted by: E$ at November 16, 2004 12:05 PM

Guess what..... I just got TV-B-Gone and it works as advertised, but as I assumed prior to buying this nifty little toy, IT TURNS ON TV's TOO!!!

Haaa, I want to watch that tv over there and its off. Not anymore!!!!

thanks Cornhole Electronics!

E$

Posted by: E$ at November 16, 2004 12:05 PM

Guess what..... I just got TV-B-Gone and it works as advertised, but as I assumed prior to buying this nifty little toy, IT TURNS ON TV's TOO!!!

Haaa, I want to watch that tv over there and its off. Not anymore!!!!

thanks Cornfield Electronics!

E$

Posted by: E$ at November 16, 2004 12:06 PM

I just got this nifty little button pusher and guess what.....


IT TURNS TVS ON TOO!

hey, that TV over there is off and I want to watch it... It's not off anymore thats to TV-B-ON.


E$

Posted by: E at November 16, 2004 12:08 PM

I just got this nifty little button pusher and guess what.....


IT TURNS TVS ON TOO!

hey, that TV over there is off and I want to watch it... It's not off anymore thats to TV-B-ON.


E$

Posted by: E at November 16, 2004 12:08 PM

So you can turn the TV on. What's the problem? It's not that the device can turn them off or on, it's that it puts the turning under your control.

Posted by: e wha at November 27, 2004 8:43 PM

TV-B-Gone is great. Now we desperately need
a Jukebox-B-Gone!

Posted by: Axoltl Feiff at December 4, 2004 1:54 AM

JUST GOT ONE OF THESE.
THOUGHT YOU MIGHT LIKE TO KNOW THAT IT WORKS ON OTHER THINGS APART FROM TV.S.
SUCH AS ELECTRONICLY LOCKED SLIDING DOORS.
THE DOORS IN QUESTION ARE WORKED BY SENSOR, AT NIGHT THESE ARE LOCKED ONE WAY TO ALLOW EXIT ONLY
AND NOT ENTRANCE.
UNLESS YOU HAVE GOT A TV B GONE, AIM AT THE INSIDE SENSOR AND MAKE MOVMENT, THIS MAY TAKE A WHILE 30 SECONDS OR SO, BUT IT WORKS.
SICURITY ISSUE OR WHAT ???

Posted by: simon at December 27, 2004 4:10 PM

Hello folks nice blog youre running

Posted by: lolita at January 20, 2005 12:08 AM

I want a people-b-gone, how about it Mr. Inventor? I need to be able to zap away the dumb-asses around me all day.

Posted by: Ira at February 8, 2005 7:42 AM

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