The Universal Off Button 1169
jcr13 writes "Wired news is running a story about TV-B-Gone, a new weapon in the fight against the pervasiveness of television in our society. With this device, which takes the form of a keychain fob with a single button, you can turn off virtually any TV set. How does it work? By rolling through all known IR power-off codes, one by one, trying codes from the most popular brands first. Personally, I am terribly annoyed by TVs in restaurants and airports: they grab my attention over and over, no matter how hard I try to ignore them, and they distract me from the conversations that I should be having with my human companions. Unfortunately, the TV-B-Gone website seems to have already been swamped by the Wired coverage, so we cannot order these just yet. In the mean time, those of you with DIY proclivities may want to think about wiring one of these up yourself using a PIC chip or other micro-controller." An anonymous reader adds links to mentions at CNET, TV station KESQ and Ananova.
Now (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Now (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Now (Score:5, Interesting)
We had more fun one time in a bar...a bunch of us were in there drinking..barmaid came out and we asked that the channel on the main tv be turned to a game. She'd flip the remote...I'd flip the channel back with my watch...she go, I'd go...we'd go through this periodically...she couldn't figure out why the tv was acting so weird. At one point, we had her so confused, we actually got her to take the batteries out of the remote...and try it that way. "Magically" it worked properly..when she'd click a button, I'd do it from my watch.
I don't think we'd all ever laughed so hard. In the end we tipped the poor girl so much money to make up for it...but, man, that was fun. I think we tipped her near $200 or so...it was worth it.
But, always was useful...go into a bar...turn the volume how you like it...change the channel to what you want to watch. I need to find that damned thing, get some new batteries and see if it still works.
Re:Now (Score:5, Funny)
Mysteriously, the troubles would always clear up as soon as the teacher approached the VCR.
By the end of the period she was fit to be tied.
A silly prank, sure, but it still makes me laugh today to think about it. Unlike the waitress mentioned above, Mrs. Dunbridge never got a nice tip either!
Re:Now (Score:5, Interesting)
Been there, done that. Was useful in the dorms at college. When my roommate was playing his radio too loud, I'd just work out a calculation on my HP-48. White walls reflect the IR signal well, so I didn't even have to turn around to lower his volume a bit.
Oh, and it was also helpful for controlling the TV in the lobby. Especially when there was something better on a different channel.
Re:Now (Score:4, Interesting)
Sometimes simple fun is the best...lighten up and bit and let your sense of humor loose...
Re:Ahh, the digital watch/remote control :) (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Now (Score:5, Interesting)
Most modern IR-controlled electronics have discrete On and Off signals, they're just generally not used. Some remotes, such as those from One-For-All support these discrete codes. They're very useful for setting up macros. For example, one of my macros is set to send "On to TV, Input 2 to TV, On to Amp, On to DVD" if I want to watch DVDs. If I used the generic "Power" button, I couldn't use this macro when I was already watching TV because it would turn off the TV and the amp, but turn on the DVD player. In a similar vein, I have a "System Off" macro that sends discrete off signals to every piece of equipment in my rack.
Re:Now (Score:5, Informative)
Thankfully, it turns out that all my components bar one have discrete codes. It makes programming the remote for ease of use by non-geeks much easier. I just tell the wife and kid that if they hit "All Off" and the stereo is still on, hit it again.
The article is vague in this respect, but in the closing paragraph it seems to indicate that the remote uses "Power" codes, not discrete "Off" codes.
Re:Now (Score:4, Informative)
My TV has an off button which isn't a toggle. To turn it back on, you simply press a channel number.
Re:Now all we need... (Score:4, Insightful)
is a universal OFF button for car stereos. They are FAR more annoying, and entail FAR more of an encroachment on the rights of others. The icing on the cake would be a universal Self-Destruct button- because that's probably what it would take for the little queens that drive these cars to get the message.
As far as the TV goes, I remember working out at the local gym - there was this gaggle of women that would often show up at the same time. If the TV was off, one of them would make sure to turn it on. If it was on, one of them would make sure to turn up the volume. If that wasn't enough, they'd spend their workout practically yelling back and forth across the room above the noise from the TV. Oh how I would have loved something like this.
Don't stop at just a power button (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, that problem could be corrected by an acoustic sensor/camera combination that would detect these idiots on the road and mail them a ticket.
If they insist on flaunting their stupidity, they should pay dearly for the privilege.
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:5, Funny)
Now that's a noise ordnance! (Not the same as an ordinance, btw...)
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:4, Insightful)
"thump, thump, thu-bzzt"
No messy shrapnel or bits of bloody pulp, just electronics turned paperweight.
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:5, Funny)
It's in German, but if the google translation [google.com] is correct, this device will the brothers many more subtly to the leather, once the elephant leaves the water. Which, of course, goes without saying.
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:5, Informative)
Holy Moley! Do not make one of these! An 800W Magnetron into a splash-fed positive gain antenna? This may zap a stereo, but it'll harm people, too (especially the eyes). IF you do the math, 800W of 2450MHz RF into a 15 dBi antenna is 'safe' 47 feet from the antenna (in an uncontrolled environment). Even at 0 dBi (like in a sidelobe) the RF exposure exceeds the uncontrolled limit over 8 feet away.
I would think a strong RF field in the audio range (somewhere around 8-15 KHz) would cause the stereo to self-destruct without harming people. An equivalent safe distance at 10KHz and a 0 dBi antenna requires a power level of 1.2 MW (!!!) Good luck getting 0 dBi of gain at 10 KHz.
Another great translation (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Great translation quote (Score:4, Funny)
*AARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!*
Funny, I always have that reaction to Vogon Poetry.
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:3, Interesting)
Amusing thing is...most of the cars I set of just don't look like a car with that much to protect...
You're missing an important distinction: (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:5, Insightful)
What we (me at least) are annoyed about is that the vast majority of the folks who do the modding think that somehow by putting a rear spoiler on a front wheel drive car, adding a 6 billion watt stereo system, thin wheels, a tweaked engine chip and metallic paint makes them think that now they can go out and drive like the idiots we know them to be.
As far as the whumping is concerned, you want to play your stereo as loud as you want, be my guest. Just don't do down a neighborhood street at 10 at night on weeknight. Go to some abandoned warehouse or drive to some out of the way place and crank it up.
Don't think that by playing that crappy no rhythm 'music' that somehow you're 1337. You're not. You're just the typical wannabe who has no clue of what you're doing because 99.9% of the time you didn't even do the mods yourself. You paid someone to do it for you.
As far as making fun of those type, yes I do. Especially in parking lots with speed bumps. While they have to creep over the bumps so they don't crumple their air dams on the front I'm driving around them and over the bump so the traffic jam they are creating doesn't get any larger. And no, I'm not the only one who drives around them.
If they feel that whumping makes them important then I'm sure they won't mind me driving by their neighborhood at 7 in the morning with my death metal playing at similar levels.
Reare Spoiler on Front Wheel Drive (Score:5, Informative)
A rear spoiler on a front wheel drive car still makes sense, it possibley makse *more* sense. It *is* classically (mis)understood that the down-force provided by a spoiler is to improve traction of "the drive wheels" to improve power delivery and prevent high-speed power skids.
In point of fact, the typical modern car, is effectively a marginal lifting body (look it up, the air passing over the car goes further/faster and so the air passing under the car generates some lift). The name "spoiler" come from the fact that the airfoil "spoils" that lift.
In all front-engine cars the front doesn't need a spoiler because the engine weight is sufficent to the task of maintainting contact. The back end is left to kite around.
In a front wheel drive car, that lift is still present, and even if those rear wheels are not doing anything to make the car go faster, they *are* important to keeping the car under control. If you don't beleive you need the back end to control your movements, I recommend having a rear tire seize-up on you some time. It can be _very_ enlightening... 8-)
In fact, in a front wheel drive car, there is so _little_ weight in the back that the tendency to "lose the back end" while cornering at speed is rather increased. A rear spoiler combats that lack of weight and improves the manuverability of the speeding car.
So don't laugh. The rear spoiler is actually slightly *more* important on a front wheel drive car.
With a rear-wheel drive car it helps you accelerate when you are already going fast. With a front wheel drive car, it keeps you from experiencing a catstrophic loss of control at high speed.
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:5, Insightful)
Not only that, but, as awesome as the music may sound inside the car, those of us on the outside only hear low-frequency rumble combined with the sound of the car frame shaking. I'm a musician and I love good, loud music. When I want to hear it, I go to a club or crank the stereo in my own home. But, waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of a car stereo system overloaded and distorted is just annoying.
It's basically just an easy way for a muscle-neck jackass to proclaim "look how rude and annoying I am!" It's a power-trip because they have the ability to go around and create a big scene.
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:4, Funny)
You know folks, if you hate these guys with the stereos so much, why don't you quit hiding behind technology and do what you want anyway - follow then until they park, and slash their tires. Or run them off the road.
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:4, Insightful)
Just another example of someone who knows what's good for me better than I do and feels the need to impose his beliefs on me.
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I'll push your buttons. (Score:5, Insightful)
What gives you the idea that you have a right to peace and quiet when you're in a place of public accomodation? That's simply ludicrous.
Don't like going to restaurants that have TVs blaring in the corner? Try going somewhere classier than a sports bar for once. You don't have the right to decide what everyone else is or isn't allowed to watch while they eat.
Re:I'll push your buttons. (Score:5, Insightful)
There was a time when the lowest common denominator of social behaviour was to be unimposing on the people around you. You would be polite and courteous to those around you.
Now the lowest common denominator of social behaviour is to be tolerant, no matter how horrible the people around you are. We all must tolerate them and not interfere with the activities of those around us. From screaming children, screaming adults, overwhelming perfumes, body odour, aggressive dogs, swearing, public harassment of hapless victims around them, loud stereos, late night parties, we must tolerate them.
The result is that the greatest asshole reaps the greatest bennefit. The people who do not value peace and quiet are never for want. Those who do not like it, have to distance themselves from the greatest assholes, leaving public spaces full of the most horrible people immaginable.
If somebody asked me to turn off a T.V. in a public place, I would be embarassed that I was disturbing them and I would turn it down or off right away. It's a public space after all, not my living room.
Flawed argument (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes they do. It's their damned airport. Don't like it? Try another airport. Can't find one to accomodate your needs? Don't fly.
I'm familiar with the classical "rights of man" argument you're making, but you're twisting it. You seem to believe that everyone, everywhere, in any place you could possibly go, is required to accomodate you to prevent you from being annoyed. Hate to tell you, but that is not the way the world works - nor should it. I'd certainly hate to live my life in a way that could never simply annoy anyone.
In this specific instance, more people are entertained - or at least have their boredom reduced - by the TVs than people are annoyed by them, or else they wouldn't be there. Contrary to what you seem to believe, you *aren't* more important than other people.
People in TV induced comas are known for their lack of situational awareness.
Ah, the classic condescending "you watch TV so I'm smarter than you argument." Hate to burst your bubble, but lots of extremely intelligent people watch TV. And a lot of people of meager intelligence avoid TV because they think it makes them appear smarter. To paraphrase "A Fish Called Wanda" - a movie, no less - an monkey can read Plato, he just won't understand it. Self-affected intellectual elitism shouldn't be confused for intelligence.
Re:I'll push your buttons. (Score:4, Insightful)
The TV doesn't belong to you. Others may be watching it; what gives you the right to disturb that? If you're annoyed by it, try to find a place to sit such that it isn't a problem, or do the right thing and complain to someone at the information desk about it. Will it cause change? Well, probably not, because a random person complaining every now and again shouldn't cause change. If the vast majority of people are fine with the TVs on (in most of the airports i've been in, they usually have news broadcasts on, which I don't mind, and often like to watch), then they should stay on. Period. You have no right to impose your will on others in a public place, or a private place owned and operated by someone else.
In my experience, I have no problem tuning out airport TVs in order to sit and read a book. If you can't handle that, perhaps that's your problem?
Having said all that, I do agree that we in the U.S. watch way too much mindless TV. But pissing people off isn't the way to solve that problem. It's only a way to show how childish and immature you are.
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:5, Insightful)
How about Max Volume? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:5, Funny)
Librarian Annoyer becomes TV DoS device (Score:5, Funny)
Why not combine this concept with the TV turner-offer? A small device that would periodically emit all the OFF IR codes for TVs. Make it unobtrusive enough that it could be stuck someplace where it wouldn't be seen, or camouflaged as something that belonged on the wall (many places have rectangular thermostat sensors all over -- small metal rectangle with no controls).
With the right power source and camouflage, you could really have some fun. It may also be interesting to not just send OFF codes, but to send random channel or input codes, mutes, volume up/down commands and so on.
A single IR command might be simpler to implement, but it'd still be a blast.
Re:Librarian Annoyer becomes TV DoS device (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:3, Insightful)
h
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Don't stop at just a power button (Score:5, Funny)
NFL (Score:5, Funny)
During the Playoffs (Score:4, Funny)
Re:During the Playoffs (Score:5, Informative)
Target Market (Score:4, Insightful)
This smacks of a novelty item / gag gift, I mean you won't take it to your bar, because if you really wanted that TV off, you'd ask the manager or leave. Only the most die hard axxholes would consider acting out the scenario presented, and few of those would have the stomach to do it twice, or make a regular occurance out of it.
Let's face it, we already know who would abuse this device, they're the same ones that are yelling at the manager / barkeep all the time, but don't have the common sense to stop coming to their "favorite resturant / bar".
A piece of tape will solve the TV problems, and then they'll be back to ridiculous statements of infringement of their personal space / hearing when visiting a public place.
I can see it now... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I can see it now... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I can see it now... (Score:5, Insightful)
What about the TVs in Cafe's or airports or other random places? Maybe you have a friend to chat to, but what about that lonely person behind you sitting all alone? Maybe she would like to be distracted while she eats her lunch. Maybe the employee at the local video store would like to watch the TV since its slow that night and they don't have much else to do.
The bottem line is, your not walking around the park and having MTV blaring at you. When you run into these tv's its because the owner of that establishment has decided that for one reason or another they want it there. Sure, you don't have to be subjected to the TV, but your recourse is to leave the establishment, not turn off the TV. Or talk to the manager about it. But you are not the only person that lives in the world, you will not find everything convienent.
Re:I can see it now... (Score:4, Insightful)
Not a good analogy: you own your computer that you use to view the spam and where you install the anti-spam software. You do not own the TV, the property that the TV is on and you share the TV with others that like the 'spam'
The anti-spam for TV would be blinders and ear plugs. The TV-B-Gone for spam would be a device that let anyone shutdown any SMTP server that was sending them mail they didn't want to receive, regardless of what it is and who else was using the server. Still, a TV-B-Gone would be fun, if not quite ethical.
Re:I can see it now... (Score:5, Insightful)
Obtrusive TV can come in one of 3 forms: A private TV in a private venue (a TV in a bar for example); A private TV in a public venue (a TV inside a store but pointed out the store window.) A public TV in a public venue (a bit more rare... an example would be TV monitors in subway stations/trains that show train schedule information and news.)
In the following I will assume that in none of the cases you are the person that owns the TV, venue or is otherwise responsible for the TV or venue.
1) Private/private: I am sorry, as much as you may not like it, it is no more your right to turn off the TV a bar or restaurant owner has chosen to play than it is to decide who he or she is allowed to have as customers or what items they should have on their menus. It is your right to choose to eat/drink/seek entertainment someplace else though. Just because you do not like it does not mean the proprietor of an establishment must choose to accommodate you. You can ask for it to be turned off and they will choose between your business and the business of the people that enjoy having the TV on.
2) The Private/Public case is a little more consensus... but in my opinion should be considered in the same light as bills, billboards and placards. Taking it upon yourself to turn of any TV that bothers you is an unfair abridgment of the owners first amendment right. Just because you do not agree with the message or the media it is presented on does not give you the right to suppress it. Part of living in a free society is living with others that wish to enjoy their freedom as well and I am sorry but your "freedom from distracting television" is not as important as others freedom of expression.
3) The Public/Public case (assuming that it truly is a public/public case): Being a public TV in a public place I would assume that some body acting on behalf of the public interest choose to operate a TV running specific programming. Now, just how is it your right as an individual to override this decision on behalf of everyone else because you do not agree with the message or the media? It is your right to complain to the public body responsible for the set and it's programming so they can weigh the requests for with the complaints against and reach a compromise.
I just can not see how it can be your right to turn off a TV that you do not own, on property you do not own with out the owners/operators consent. I applaud the motivation, but the execution is flawed. People if it really bothers you make it known, let the manager of the bar or restaurant you are at know that you find TV a distraction and you will choose to go some place else if they insist on playing it... if there is a public TV in a public place you find objectionable submit a complaint to the governing body. Part of living in a society that cherishes freedom though is accepting that there are other views that must be considered and you just may have to live with a public TV in a public space because the majority wants it and unless we throw the right to freely express one's self out the window you will always have to live with the private TV projecting into a public space, live with it, it's part of being free.
DMCA (Score:5, Insightful)
.. And thus begins the demise of the universal remote.
Re:DMCA (Score:5, Informative)
Basically, a company called Chamberlain was suing another company called Skylink for building a "universal" door opener that operated with Chamberlain's products. Chamberlain cited the DMCA, but the case was thrown out on appeal.
toggle? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:toggle? (Score:5, Interesting)
Discrete on/off codes... (Score:3, Interesting)
With your typical consumer-grade TV sets, the only power code is a toggle. So this device is as likely to turn TVs ON as it is to turn them off.
Re:Discrete on/off codes... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:toggle? (Score:5, Informative)
Free market, people (Score:4, Insightful)
Then don't eat there. It's not your TV to turn off, and maybe other people want to watch it.
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Free market, people (Score:3, Funny)
Suicidal (Score:5, Funny)
Duct Tape over the receiver.... (Score:5, Insightful)
who gave you the right? (Score:4, Insightful)
if you are in a public place, you cannot turn that TV off as it's not solely yours. if you are in a private place not your own, you cannot turn that TV off as the TV is not yours.
if you can't manage to turn off the TV in your own home, then you got other problems.
Re:who gave you the right? (Score:3)
I guess I'd phrase it a little differently: who's restricting my right to produce some unregulated IR signals? If people want it on, they can duct tape over the IR window and use the buttons. I suspect the majority of people (as the inventor implied) don't care if the TV is on or off anyway. Should we hold a vote before turning it on (or off)?
Anyway, it's only a matter of
Re:who gave you the right? (Score:5, Insightful)
Many times in a former life, I was the only one at a remote gate at O'Hare airport, minimal staff, no other passengers, TV blaring away on "CNN Airport" or whatever. In this situation, it would be nice to be able to turn the thing off without distracting the staff from their real jobs.
If there are other people, my posession of this device does not automatically oblige me to discourteously deprive them of their TV. It's a tool. It can be abused. Boo hoo. If that happens, punish the abusers.
Boo hoo for you... (Score:3, Insightful)
So because you don't have the ability to focus on a person sitting right in front of you and/or you can't go to a different establishment that meets your needs. Those of us that go to such places because we want to watch the TV there have to suffer. Not to mention that I'm sure it annoyes the owner of the establishment because he obviously wants them there.
Re:Boo hoo for you... (Score:3, Funny)
cover the ir hole (Score:3, Insightful)
this could be done here as well to circumvent any tv haters
Awesome! (Score:4, Funny)
Don't forget .... (Score:5, Funny)
FP-be-gone
In-Soviet-Russia-be-gone
Microsoft-anything-sucks-open-source-everything-r
Cowboy-Neal-be-gone
Re:Don't forget .... (Score:3, Funny)
Wow (Score:4, Insightful)
Almost.
What business is it of yours to tamper with things that don't belong to you? Other people might want to watch, and it sounds like the submitter has a problem with controlling his own actions if he can't talk with his "human companions" in the proximity of a TV. Television is merely a conduit of information; there is nothing inherently evil about it.
And it's the height of arrogance and intellectual elitism to think that it's any of your business to turn off TVs that don't belong to you, in public or private places.
The Wired article talks about "anti-TV activists". For fuck's sake, people...
Re:Wow (Score:5, Informative)
Just put electrical tape over the IR sensor. Problem solved. Carry on.
Now all we need is a ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Whoever creates a small consumer-oriented cell phone signal jammer should win the Nobel Prize.
Re:Now all we need is a ... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Now all we need is a ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Now all we need is a ... (Score:5, Insightful)
If you are really so incapable of using words to get people to turn their cellphone off, then I think there are more serious problems. And please don't assume I'm talking about jammers and such in theaters and the like, thats a whole nother can of worms.
People do things that annoy other people, it does NOT give you the right to enforce your view on them.
Don't forget TV Turn-Off Week (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Don't forget TV Turn-Off Week (Score:3, Insightful)
It'd be a much louder message to try to depress the ratings during a sweeps period.
Try it out during the final Sox-Yankees game (Score:5, Funny)
All of us was ADD and AADD.......ooh, a shiny! (Score:5, Insightful)
It doesn't matter how horrendous the show that's on is either. If it's there, I zone in on it.
Finally, an escape!
Bad idea. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Bad idea. (Score:3, Insightful)
I actually agree with you. Keep the laws and govt. out of the issue. Let the free market decide about smoking. If a restaurant/bar makes more money allowing smokers in...they'll keep doing it. You as a non-smoker, have the right to go somewhere else. If this hurts the bu
but can it be used to turn off (Score:3, Interesting)
OR, if you have a really strong death wish, turn off the Red Sox/ Yankees game at you local bar?
better hide that little sucker in IR-transparent hiding place and keep you cellphone handy with 1-button 911 service programmed into it if you are going around turning off tvs that other people are watching. I was always warned not to get between a dog and its dinner but I think that goes for humans and there TV's too.
thats kind of offensive (Score:3, Informative)
Do you have some sort of neurological disorder? (Score:5, Insightful)
You've got to be kidding me. Whenever I see TVs in places like that, they're always too small, too far away, and too quiet to keep my attention even when I want to watch them.
If you can't pay attention to a real human right in front of you because of a TV somewhere in the distance, maybe the television isn't the real source of the problem.
steve
For those who like their TV... (Score:5, Funny)
Patent is, of course, pending, but I'll be offering a free license for use in this sort of situation.
Why the hardware? Palm, etc... (Score:3, Interesting)
How about a Button to Turn Off People (Score:4, Funny)
This is the height of pathetic victim mentality (Score:4, Insightful)
No technology will ever substitute for lack of an internal moral compass (and by moral I include my atheist self - this is not a religious argument). You are in TOTAL control of what you perceive and your reaction to what you perceive. America (I assume the author is a member of the growing American victim class) has become a bunch of spineless victims that can't live in a world unless it caters to their total lack of impulse control. From the drug war, to the growing food war, to all the "for the children" arguments, this type of thinking is scary, and gives cause for more government control of every aspect of our lives. We need to grow some balls and stop playing the victim at EVERY opportunity.
Truly universal... (Score:3, Funny)
Seriously though
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
OT Remote story... (Score:5, Funny)
My manager liked to take one of our universal remotes, and after hours turn the volume WAAAAAAAY up, then turn off the TV. He did this to all that his universal remote would reach.
The poor TV store manager (who was a friend of my manager) would come in, hit the 'on' button on HIS special remote and get blasted out the front door...
Fun with consumer electronics
Waste of money... (Score:4, Funny)
Now, if they could invent a zapper that would kill the cell phone of the idiots who think they can drive and use one at the same time I'd be happy.
Amusing (Score:5, Insightful)
Vandalism (Score:5, Insightful)
If the TV in a restaurant bothers you, DON'T GO TO THAT DAMNED RESTAURANT.. problem solved. The world doesn't revolve around your sorry ass.
TV Remote Control Watch (Score:4, Interesting)
I surprised at the posters getting all upset about this type of device. Yes it would be rude to mess with people in a crowded place like a bar or whatever if its obvious they're watching it. But how is an open IR receiver any different from say an open WAP? It's their fault if they didn't think about the possibility of someone using it in a way they didn't envision.
Where the hell did these "rights" come from? (Score:5, Insightful)
TVs in the airport? Maybe people want to know what the weather's going to be like at thier destination. Maybe that guy who just spent 4 hours staring at the back of a seat would like to watch a game for an hour before spending another 6 viewing the threadcount of a headrest.
TV at your local restraunt? Noone forced you to be there, if you don't like it, ask to be moved away from it or go somewhere else.
TVs in stores? It helps to actually see a fully warmed up picture when viewing a TV. Besides, doesn't a TV turned on seem much more appealing than one turned off? If you wanted to view a TV turned off wouldn't you just get a cabinet?
Just as I don't have the right to take that cell phone and shove it up your arse, you don't have the right to turn off someone elses TVs.
Oh, and malls, airports, and restraunts are NOT public property. If you want public property to dispense your own brand of vigelante justice, the BLM land is usually well marked on topo maps. Go there and tell the crickets to shut the hell up. They might care.
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The TV OWNS the room (Score:5, Insightful)
Unfortunately, in our society, the rule is that The TV owns the room.
If I read the paper, I don't bother anyone. If I listen to my iPod, I don't bother anyone. Conversation, eating, etc.. But TV is different. If just ONE person in a crowded room wants to see the TV, then they can have it on. Loud. And you're a jerk if you turn it down/off. Doesn't matter if someone was sitting right in front of the "off" TV prior.
And marketers exploit this, e.g. in airports, where you can't hide from the things.
The rule needs to change.
No, one would hope... (Score:4, Insightful)
If there's a TV playing in someone else's bar, restaurant or whatever, what gives you the right to turn it off? If you don't like the TV being on you're always free to take your business elsewhere.
Some people might politely ask the owner to turn down the volume, switch it off, etc if it really bothered them. This gadget is a cowardly way of avoiding possible disappointment and foisting your opinion on someone else. Score one for mannerless morons.