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The Universal Off Button

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the does-not-work-on-people dept.

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.

4 of 1,169 comments (clear)

  1. Yes it does! by mib711 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    You didn't RTFA, did you?

  2. Re:Don't stop at just a power button by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Better yet, write a program on a PDA to fire off IR sequences stored in a file (if your PDA has an IR port).

    Flexibility. :)

    ~AC~

  3. Re:Don't stop at just a power button by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    A paintball gun tends to get their attention. Personally I'd love to build a herf gun. I always wanted to lay into the car of one of those jackasses that would stop at the stoplight outside my apartment complex and crank up the bass. I swear I could see my alarm clock shaking. A herf gun would have made all the difference.

    Lets edit that a bit.

    A *edit out*paintball*edit out* gun tends to get their attention. Personally I'd love to build a *edit out* herf *edit out* gun. I always wanted to lay into the car of one of those jackasses that would stop at the stoplight outside my apartment complex and crank up the bass. I swear I could see my alarm clock shaking. A *edit out* herf *edit out gun would have made all the difference.

    There, thats better.

  4. To all of those that hate this invention... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Did it occur to you that you could buy one as well and just turn the TV back on?