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Inventor Open Sources "TV-B-Gone," and Why
ptorrone writes "Inventor Mitch Altman explains why he open-sourced his TV-B-Gone kit, the original stealth keychain fob for defeating TVs in public places. The title of the article is 'Patent-B-Gone' and perhaps the most interesting fact is that Mitch's brother is a patent attorney, but he still decided to release an open source hardware version of the TV-B-Gone, with pretty impressive results."
Would be most happy to be owning an election-B-gone. Also, frist past the post!
Will code for new sig.
So many offensive television sets in inappropriate places...so little time.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
A fantastic little device, and a very nice move.
Thanks, Mr Altman.
I was watching a news report about this topic at the pub the other day. Well, I tried to watch it, but the fritzy TV kept turning off.
UTF-8: There and Back Again
I would love to take this to a sports bar during some big playoff and very discretely turn off the TV when a big play is happening.
Oh! During this shitty economy, a great way to make extra cash is to hire yourself out to bar owners to shut the competition down! Ka-Ching baby!
Great! Now there are technological aids to help people be annoying in public. Oh, and they're "open source", so anyone can build one. Beware Future Shop! Beware Best Buy! People can turn off your TVs by remote control. Ooooo! Scary!
Now here's the brilliant part. On one hand, this guy can market his TV-b-Gone, and on the other hand, he can market to big box stores a special security device. A discrete little box that you stick on the IR sensor and block malicious signals. The box contains a couple of IR LEDs, and a descrambler chip. The chip decodes signals from the special remote control (which he also will sell) so that the stores still have control over their TVs.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
So, other than creating a public nuisance almost certain to result in getting your face punched, what EXACTLY is the point of this device?
And, while we're here, The reason why he open sourced it, is purely for the purpose of getting a slashvertisment -- and successfully too.
Let's see. A device with no purpose other than to be malicious. Just because someone has the technical skills to create and sell a device, doesn't mean they should. If you don't like TVs in public places, don't be an ass. Just say something politely and maybe if they get enough feedback, they'll start shutting them off...or better yet, stop going.
There are reasons why there are TVs in public places. Some people value them. Just because you don't, doesn't give you the right to start powering them down.
What an assinine thing to be doing, good luck dealing with the big guy who was watching the game you just turned off.
That said, who even cares? Numerous PDAs have the ability to be used as universal remotes for ages now. Looks like a bunch of time wasted if you ask me.
Maybe TV-B_Gone is not patented for its TV remote abilities, but as a fight provocation device. I can see some novelty in a device which increases the chances of the user being punched in the face.
Televisions or Transvestites?
My web domain.
People won't be bothered to make one themselves but will be interested in it after reading how he's been so generous releasing his design that they buy premade ones from him.
I'm guessing all it is, is LEDs hooked up to a chip with all the common codes for power buttons and it just cycles through them when the button is pressed. Shouldn't imagine it's something that would have a patent granted.
The cause of and solution to all of lifes big problems. Oh, no, wait... That should be alcohol. Won't somebody please think of the children?!
--I like turtles...
I'm just waiting for a time I'm watching a football match in a pub and some arsehole switches off the TVs because he wants to drink 'in peace'.
Okay, yes, I know, I used to own the t-shirt too. ("If it's too loud, then you're too old.")
But goddamn it, when I'm in a bar chatting with friends, everywhere around is also buzzing with laughs and good times, why does the barman decide to pump his crappy music up to 110 decibels?
Because people don't drink as much if they're talking. It's to increase his bottom dollar, not to make your night out better.
I would love to be able to remotely reduce the volume or kill the music all together. Somehow, I doubt there'd be a massive outcry from people who were talking to their friends and can now hear them without shouting.
I'm getting to the point that I hate to shop because everywhere you go there is a radio station blasting on the overheads. No, not Muzak, local stations. With REALLY LOUD COMMERCIALS EVERY FEW MINUTES!!!!!!!
I have an iPod but if I turn it up loud enough to drown out the overheads I'll be deaf within a year.
I picked one of these up a few months ago and used to carry it every where I went. Here is some fun you can have with the bitch.
I was in the local best buy near the dvds across from the Wall of TV's and waited for the sales droid to turn every one of them on. I pulled this little toy out, pointed it, and all the tv magically went off. The look on the sales monkey's face was worth the price of admission. The real joy is seeing how many times the dumb ass will turn them back on before he catches on. For me it was twice. The local walmart never did catch on.
Works good in walmart and circuit city too.
Supporting World Peace Through Nuclear Pacification
I grew up with Mitch Altman,
and monetary compensation is far from his mind.
Mr. Altman prefers to spend his time on art and
is very activist in causes he believes in, and works
just enough to get by not to get rich. He does believe
that TV is something that sucks up time from other persuits
in life. My personal (and I can't speak for Mitch)
take is that tv-b-gone is supposed to be an equalizer,
yes it annoys other people but then your annoyed by TV.
He also teaches classes so ordinary folks learn to build
electronics.
If you want to see what he is up to Mitch does have a Facebook
account.
"But goddamn it, when I'm in a bar chatting with friends, everywhere around is also buzzing with laughs and good times, why does the barman decide to pump his crappy music up to 110 decibels?"
Because you're in the wrong bar. Bars do exist that provide a good atmosphere for conversation. I always make it a point to seek those bars out. In the US, most places that claim to be an English pub have reasonable volume levels but that's far from universal. I also look for bars that focus on drinks like wine or cocktails. I'm a beer drinker myself but the atmosphere is usually better in those places and they do usually have some sort of decent beer handy.
I must admit that I just use my finger to turn the TV off at the off switch. If there's no-one watching it, then no-one complains that it's off. If someone is, I'll either not turn it off or they'll say something when I do and I turn it back on and apologise.
what I find is that they are mesmerizing. When I walk into a room with a tv on I feel the pull to look at it, as well as notice that everyone is looking at the tv like it had hyptonized them. It is much like a drug. Turning the tv off is more about breaking it's inevitable grasp on everyone's attention for at least a short time, so people look up and look around once in a while. It's not like you break the tv, it can be turned back on, and probably will be in short order.
...the TV eliminates you!!!
and discovers that he is not Eddie Murphy:
Well the men they took to fightin
And when they pulled him from the floor
This geek he looked like a jigsaw puzzle
With a couple of pieces gone
[with apologies to Jim Croce]
Now give me an Internet B-Gone
In high school my friend had a watch that he could program to control TVs (had to know the code though, etc.) and he would use it during class to turn on the TV, fast forward videos, generally be a jerk to these poor 70 year old teachers. He did get caught though and all the teachers stacked a ton of punishment on him. It was really hilarious when he would use it during class and even better after he got caught.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
How would making your product open-source versus going the traditional patent route increase your sales? I understand that it helps to improve the product, but wouldn't this also allow other companies to sell the improved product as well?
I'd go write a software one right away :D
Any decent bar or restaurant (i.e. one that doesn't cater strictly to college students or rabid sports fans) uses closed captioning on its TVs and doesn't even attempt to turn up the volume. Every place I frequent is a place where everyone can have a conversation without yelling over the TV.
If you find that your desire for conversation now exceeds your desire for loud pounding music or blaring sports programs, then congratulations - you've joined the adult world. Time to move on from the old college hangouts and find a new place to drink beer.
So, basically, asshole number one decides he doesn't want the TV in a public place, and turns on his jamming device.
What a great way to enforce your want and will upon others.
Also, what a great way to get fined. Jamming devices are illegal in this country.
I HATE people that come up with this shit.. Although maybe if he did just a channel 5 one, I'd be OK with that... Just something to jam the channels that show Maury, Montel and Jerry Springer. :)
But seriously, this is a device causing other people to not be able to watch what they want?
--Toll_Free
Let's see. A device with no purpose other than to be malicious.
It just turns off a tv, it doesn't break it.
I think that the bgone appeals to the mischevious part of our nature. Certainly shutting
down a video wall during someone's presentation IS malicious (I remember
a youtube of someone doing this not too long ago), but there are plenty
of instances that you could use this device that would not be.
OTOH this is a great example of hacker thinking, doing things with
a technology that were not intended.
To be realistic, often these things wind up in the hands of obnoxious assholes,
which is half of all males between 12 and 30.
music lover since 1969
Most universal TV remotes to be paired with the TV set do exactly what the TV-B-Gone does: they send the switch-off signal via IR using various protocols until the user's TV turns off. At this point if the user pushes a button within a very short time (1 or 2 seconds max), the remote stores the protocol used and finds out what brand/model the TV is, otherwise it continues cycling the switch-off signals and sending them.
If you put it in front of a lot of different TV set, it will turn off all of them.
In other words, most universal TV remotes contain a superset of the TV-B-Gone firmware that does the exact thing, plus the feature that stores the brand and model once the user pushes a button.
To me it seems that the TV-B-Gone patent would have been unenforceable because it's a subset of something already patented.
Get rid of the Irish too.
You're in somebody else's place. If you don't like how that place is, you can get up and LEAVE.
Enforcing your will on other people by turning off or down the TV is worse than what anybody else in that entire bar is doing, you self-righteous prick. Get off your ass and make an adult decision to go to a bar that caters to you and your kind instead.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Would it be possible to use an IR laser for sniping TVs off?
.. because it's just a goofy novelty, with a minuscule market, and isn't worth the $10-$20k it costs to patent the stupid thing?
He needs to get over himself.
People have been sharing plans for electronic toys like this for years. How does it become news when some guy slaps an "open source" moniker on it?
Oh, noes...I might get busted by rent-a-cop Mall Security...it might go down on my PERMANENT RECORD!
They could ban me from Wal Mart, FOR LIFE! I can't afford to take that kind of risk...
Try the Kezar in Cole Valley.
There are cell jammers available online, but the corporate-owned FCC considers them illegal in the US. I nearly lost it when a bitch orally answered a message in the middle of a Swan Lake performance last week.
and Opal Fruits and Marathons.
Squirrel!
Its an electronics kit that allows your child to make one item that allows him to be a fucking tool in public.
Bravo!
Thats some nice judgement in parenting skills there (phil from MAKE magazine) (if that is your real name) ...
Where is the schematic? What is the 8 pin DIP in the socket? i'd suppose it would be a PIC microcontroller or something, if it was then where is the code? But idk if it is just an OPAMP. Does it actually pulse codes or does it do a random oscillation of the IRs until something shuts off?
TV is actually an adition like alcohol. Try taking away the bottle from an alcoholic watch his reaction. irst he becomes combative "who the hell, give my that back". Hell do anything to get more. Same happens with TV. Try turning it off and the TV watchers first reaxtive is to be combative, then they try to turn the TV back on. TV adicts will pay anything, even $100+ a month just to watch
I figure there must be some built-in "feature" in the huiman brain that makes us like TV. It is the same with food, there is a built-in "feature" that makes us over eat. A million years of evolution made us so that we like to store ecces calories as fat so we can survive periods of sparce food. Something like this must be the cause of TV addiction, there must be some biological reason why we prefer a zombie-like state of stupidity. Perhaps it is as simple as calories burning, switch the brain off and we burn less. The human brain uses a lot of energy. Perhaps the ability to become a zombie helped our ancestors to survive.
When something is so universal and appeals to all cultures I always suspect a biological root cause.
There must be a biological reason we like TV.
Now his product can be shown to the evil geeks of Slashdot who might want such a thing.
He does believe that TV is something that sucks up time from other persuits in life.
...Mitch Altman announces the development of a "Slashdot-B-Gone" key fob.
Have gnu, will travel.
You complain that you can't shut up the neverending stream of stupidity spouted around you, and then immediately assert that people should not be able to switch off the televisions that surround them? Wow.
I'm curious how avoiding patents, and open sourcing his product would protect this guy from a big company, that say... has a good partnership with Best Buy, making a copy of this product and due to it's bigger marketing power and retailer deal, taking all the potential profits away from the guy? Would his open source license protect against this? I'm not being rhetorical- I really don't know.
Perhaps you'd prefer a nice lounge. Perhaps with a piano? Don't forget to wear a polyester leisure suit!
Funerals should be conducted in Faraday cages or hermetically-sealed steel/cadmium/zinc-lead mesh rooms.
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
shut them down... then call ASCAP, RIAA and those companies (damn, can't remember their name, hehhe) that goes around in trucks and visits places that didn't payola-umm, pay up to "perform" or duplicate in public the performance...
Then, OTOH some of those places might lose customers, and have to fire employees, and deprive cities of "their projected tax-based revenues"...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
I'm a drywaller, and I can assure you that as I cut holes in the ceilings for lighting there were wires run to all those domes. Wires! Tesla did all kinds of things with wires. They could MRI scan anyone at any given time and see what's stowed in your rectum.
Every time I go into Blockbuster (to return my via-mail DVDs or redeem an in-store coupon), they are blaring the TVs with some gawdawful movie trailer, usually for a movie that would be playing on a 24/7 loop in hell. Now, I am a paying customer ($19.99/mo), so yes, I should dictate what my ears are bombarded with. And I have never met anyone who likes those blaring trailers either.
There seems to be an increasing roar in the public space that is annoying the crap out of me. Advertisements via overhead page in supermarkets, little spam LCD monitors at gas pumps and checkout lines, even urinals are getting into the act. Personally, I think such guerrilla tactics are called for until the ad industry gets the clue that pestering your customers to death does more harm than good.
I'm actually going to get one of these devices to try at Blockbuster for when I have the misfortune of actually walking into one the stores.
Ironic that you think turning off a telescreen is being a dictator. I'm not sure who would be more vindicated, Orwell or Huxley.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
I travel regularly through Hart's Field. There is NO place to escape the relentless CNN pumped through thousands of large screens. You cannot listen to an Ipod, you cannot talk on a cellphone without shouting, you cannot read, you cannot contemplate. The only thing you can do, is watch the goddamn CNN! It leaves me grouchy, tired and hating the airlines.
The airport is a communal space. Your bar, your choice - don't expect to see me there.
(Excuse the rant)
Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
What's the phone number I can dial to get my free serving of Sarcasm from you?
What's that? If it doesn't inflate my eeeego then you'll refund the shipping and handling costs?
Were you one of those Enzyte scientists counting the beans as they rolled on the tray into the pill container?
"There is NO REASON for this."
If by NO REASON, you mean LOTS OF REASONS, then you're on to something.
How many people go to those places and don't read English?
Or don't read at all?
Or don't have eyesight good enough to read the posters you want?
Also, as a resident of Orange county myself, I call BS on several examples.
The courthouse televisions are used for more than announcements. They are frequently used to prepare people in advance of seeing the judge (traffic court) so they don't ALL ask the same stupid god damned question, or need the same god damned paperwork, etc. There is no way, having recently been forced to sit through the presentation at traffic court, that a poster could give the necessary information.
Schools and universities have programming that runs on the TV's you seem to think can be replaced by a poster. Those examples fail.
In fact, there isn't a single example on your list that could be replaced by a poster. I suspect you've never actually paid attention to what the TV's are used for, and by suspect, I mean, I am certain based on your grousing.
+5 my pale white ass, this guy bitched and was just plain wrong, and gets +5.
Why are so many posts with factual errors modded up?
The base setting for a public space is one of silence, which is then filled with various signals. A TV is an advertising vehicle, and I would argue that the true asshole in this equation is the person who has unilaterally decided to infringe upon everybody's attention with his/her message without permission.
If you believe that being hammered at by a TV is the normal state in your environment and that you are somehow harmed when that signal is shut off, then you are Borg, dude.
-FL
I'm more annoyed that people constantly spout stupidity just about 24/7 but I have no right to forcibly shut them up.
Conceited. It's good that we don't have that right, because believe me, to somebody else you are one of those spouting stupidity.
Its NOT your TV. Its NOT your PROPERTY. Leave if you don't like it. Or maybe here's a thought, ASK the propriator if they'll turn it off, down, etc.
Settle down. It's just a tool to be applied when appropriate. If you're in a sports bar, you'd be very rude to use such a device. If you're in an airport which is blasting everybody with an endless CNN loop nobody requested, especially when you're trying to sleep during a 10-hour layover due to a flight delay and nobody on the floor has the ability to modify the background noise, (lived through that one a couple of times), then hell yes, I'd love to have an off-switch for the overhead TV. I'd probably ask the people around me first if they minded, and if you happened to be there, I bet you'd be obliging unless you really are as much of a jerk as you sound here. (Luckily most people are not. They just like to blow off steam on-line.)
In any case, I can't imagine that anybody actually ever uses these devices in a practical manner; it'd be a lot of trouble to carry one around all the time.
-FL
don't fuck with stuff you don't own, and don't go to bars you don't like. Is this really so difficult?
...Youtube be gone?
OK, for all those saying this is a bad idea, Doctors surgery, waiting rooms all have TV, all playing Oprah or Dr Phil... sitting there for the inevitable long wait as they're always behind schedule... since having a child, hence spending a lot of time in and around medical centre's a TV begone is the BEST investment I have made in a long time. Not only do I not have to watch, listen or absorb the mindless crap that spews forth from the insidious idiot box but I get some REAL entertainment from watching the staff try to figure out why the TV is on the blink. And for those that would say it's mean to the surgery staff well I say it's a hell of a lot meaner to consistently make me wait an hour (when I've rocked up on time,) and at the same time not offer me a place I can wait comfortably. Ie no fuggin television.
7,329 people died today while browsing the Internet. Sources inside the Interpol state that all of them were reading a tech news site called "slash-dot", and that their brains exploded without apparent reason.
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
I've got quite a bit of experience using a TV-B-Gone in Wal-Mart stores, so let me fill you in on some details.
First, much to my disappointment, the TV-B-Gone doesn't work on whatever model of TV they have hanging from the ceiling blaring ads all day long. I've tried a bunch of times in different stores, both with the stock TV-B-Gone and with one of Ladyada's kits, using hacked firmware with more manufacturers' codes in it. No luck. I've also tried looking for a make/model on the TV's themselves, but have never managed to find one. The front of the TV's are covered with a cardboard or plastic cover, and the backs are next to impossible to see from the floor.
When you walk into many Wal-Mart stores, there'll be a small monitor hanging from the ceiling showing a feed from one of the security cameras. At least in this case, it turns out the cameras can't see the IR from the TV-B-Gone. The cameras are probably the variety that come with IR filters. Why they'd choose such models, I have no idea. I also have no idea whether any of the other cameras in the store see the IR or not, but the ones feeding the displays near the doors definitely don't.
Nobody from security has ever bothered me about using my TV-B-Gone. This isn't the Pentagon, it's freakin' Wal-Mart. The security people are probably making $7 an hour and really don't give a rat's ass if some jackass like me with a high-tech toy is walking around turning off TV's, especially considering I'm also a paying customer. I may be bored enough to turn off TV's for fun, but I'm not bored enough to actually drive to Wal-Mart just for that purpose.
Yes, it's fun to turn off the big-screen TV's while Bubba and his rode-hard-and-put-up-wet girlfriend are gawking at them, trying to figure out which one will fit through the door of their double-wide. But that's nowhere near as much fun as turning off the TV's in the video game section when Bubba's pudgy little 10-year-old son is in the middle of playing some Xbox game.
That's fine by me! I don't even come in to work until 11:00am or so.
Look, the weird think about television etiquette is that it's always regarded as acceptable to turn the things on, but turning it off requires a complicated process of polling every person present to find out if anyone is "really watching it". If you have a TV-B-Gone you can flip off the televisions, and if anyone cares, they'll have them turned back on, but it changes the bias in the situation.
There are many people running bars and restaurants who seem to feel that having the television on is an essential part of providing a homey atmosphere or something, and they're completely oblivious to the anti-social aspects of the television-trance phenomena. The TV-B-Gone lets you fix this problem without engaging in a philosophical debate with a low-level employee shuffling around the dining room.
I was out at a gathering in a bar not too long ago with dozens of people regarded me as a hero for getting rid of some (not all) of the fahrenheit-451-scale screens we were surrounded by. Hypothetically, I could've gotten to this point by harassing some extremely busy bartenders for ten minutes, but somehow I think the TV-B-Gone was the less annoying option.