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Inventor Open Sources "TV-B-Gone," and Why

Posted by kdawson on from the patents-b-gone dept.

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."

28 of 340 comments (clear)

  1. A Necessary Addition by hyades1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.
    1. Re:A Necessary Addition by david+duncan+scott · · Score: 5, Insightful
      OK, enlighten me. Are you bombarded by TV in public libraries and during funerals, or are you simply irked when a bar-owner decides to show a football game on his TV in his bar?

      Me, I carry my Customer-B-Gone, a pair of legs that allow me to absent myself from bars and other public places for a variety of reasons, without imposing my will upon others. Oh sure, it's not nearly as obnoxious as deciding for everybody, but we can't all be petty dictators.

      --

      This next song is very sad. Please clap along. -- Robin Zander

    2. Re:A Necessary Addition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I don't mind if a bar owner wants to put on a TV in his bar. That doesn't bother me. However, where I live (Orange County, Florida), there are television sets (with sound) in the following places that need not have them, and they are there for no other purpose than to show an announcement that could be served with a poster and no sound:

      • Libraries
      • Courthouses
      • Public Works Office
      • School Lobbies
      • University Common Areas
      • Hospitals
      • Waiting Room of the Morgue
      • Airport Baggage Claim

      There is NO REASON for this.

    3. Re:A Necessary Addition by st0rmshad0w · · Score: 5, Funny

      The Deaf.

      You can go now.

    4. Re:A Necessary Addition by Meest · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I don't even know how many places this will work? Are there alot of places that do not have Professional grade TV's installed in their places??

      I just recently left a commercial installer and all the professional TV's we were installing had no IR/RF it was all RS232 control. If they did the IR was on the back, and we would cover up the sensor with a backup IR control eye with a patch so nothing else could controll it.

      Most places I've gone to have done it right and installed TV's that you can't mess with.

      There are a few bars that have normal TV's. But if you're in a bar why would you be shutting of someone else's TV's in the first place?? what gives you the right?

      I just don't get why you don't just move/leave/go to another establishment...

    5. Re:A Necessary Addition by cide1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And we sell iPods in vending machines. We drive pickup trucks that get 12 MPG. We eat big macs like there is no tomorrow. We have shitty beer that you buy in 30 packs. Go on and criticize, but as long as people will spend their money on it, there is someone out there making money by selling them what they want. When it gets too expensive, this over-consumption will stop. In the meantime, there must be people who like to go to bars with lots of TVs. Personally, I prefer to eat somewhere with a TV when I am by myself instead of hearing people criticize what I consider normal.

      --
      -- the computer doesn't want any beer, no matter how much you think it does. NEVER, EVER feed your computer beer.
    6. Re:A Necessary Addition by st0rmshad0w · · Score: 4, Funny

      UGH! Coffee not working yet.

      That should have been THE BLIND!

      I'll go now...

    7. Re:A Necessary Addition by turtledawn · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Personally I find it to be the other way around- I don't like the slack-jawed, dazed fool I become when there's a TV in the room anywhere I can see it, which is why I try to avoid patronizing businesses that have them. Only hearing it is (usually) no worse than listening to any other inane conversation.

      --
      Uh, "if it looks roughly mouse-shaped according to my infra-red sensitive pit, eat it"? --Chris Burke 09-08-10
    8. Re:A Necessary Addition by sukotto · · Score: 5, Funny

      bwa ha ha.... my Coffee-B-Gone works!

      --
      Come play free flash games on Kongregate!
    9. Re:A Necessary Addition by v1 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Something the tvbgone users need to realize... those are IR lights. When you press the button and look at the front you don't see anything, or will see a VERY faint dim red flicker, and think oh no one will see that!

      But then take it into someplace like walmart with 200 security cameras all over the place. Think back, look at the youtube video, how bright the lights show up on the recording. It's like the white strobe on a fire alarm. Digital cameras are VERY sensitive to IR light, and it shows up bright white. As if that's not bad enough, it's strobing.

      Same thing at wal-mart. Nobody on the floor will know you are doing it, but EVERY person in the security room will immediately see the TVBG light up like a white beacon on any camera pointed your way, of which at a wal mart is a good dozen or more at any given time. You'll have about 20 seconds before one of their security personnel to get a call on their radio from the security room and is standing beside you and in a bad mood. The guard may not know what to look for and won't see the light, so the people in the room will tell them to get rid of you. If the guard sees a camera in your hand, there's his excuse.

      The field tester that ran into walmart problems was lucky that they didn't realize what he was doing, and kicked him out for filming. (the ppl in the room probably thought the camera was causing the flashing on their monitors) That won't last. They'll be a good deal more unfriendly if they realize there's actual malice intended rather than possibly innocent filming.

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    10. Re:A Necessary Addition by st0rmshad0w · · Score: 4, Funny

      bwa ha ha.... my Coffee-B-Gone works!

      OK, now THAT little device is definately going to lead to bloodshed. :)

    11. Re:A Necessary Addition by Strawser · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But then take it into someplace like walmart with 200 security cameras all over the place.

      I see an emerging market for security-camera-begone.

      --
      The louder he talked of his honour, the faster we counted our spoons. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
    12. Re:A Necessary Addition by Toll_Free · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So, you basically went to a sports bar.

      There are also bars that have NO televisions in them.

      It's called freedom of choice and expression. Two of the things the American settlers left the old world for.

      We like having freedom of choice here. And our freedom of expression.

      The cool thing was, you could have gone to another bar, one you liked, instead of being in the "sports bar" style place.

      That's one of the things that makes our country a great place to live. We can actually make choices, and people with the drive to prosper can keep making (and I agree with you, I HATE the sports bar mentality, the TVs, etc) places the people want to go to.

      Just because you didn't like it doesn't mean it doesn't have it's place.

      --Toll_Free

    13. Re:A Necessary Addition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'm an electrician and I've wired a Walmart when it was being built. I can assure you that only ~10% of those black domes contain cameras. It is true that the electronics department has cameras, but the one I worked on only had 2 covering the whole section.

      Posted AC because I'm probably not supposed to tell people that.

  2. Re:I for one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I am officially open sourcing my firstpost-B-gone

  3. So glad this was posted by halcyon1234 · · Score: 4, Funny

    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
  4. Brilliant! by camperdave · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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!
    1. Re:Brilliant! by sleeponthemic · · Score: 5, Informative

      Have you heard about the discrete IR blocker they generally use in these stores? I believe it is marketed as "Black Tape". But don't be fooled. It isn't authentically black :)

      --
      I record my sleeptalking
    2. Re:Brilliant! by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      sorry but that little black box will not work.

      my 1W IR led version will turn off a set with black tape over the IR receiver sensor. the plastic around the sensor area carries the ir signal in to the sensor for me. SO unless you encase the entire set in a black box it will not work.

      and yes, it's good to be annoying when it comes to frivolities like TV. I wish more people were annoying in regards to frivolities.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  5. Re:I would love to take this to a sports bar. by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Someone did this during the World Cup (Video). He's lucky he didn't get caught and lynched.

  6. Re:purpose? by Mr.+Underbridge · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, other than creating a public nuisance almost certain to result in getting your face punched, what EXACTLY is the point of this device?

    It's for sanctimonious, condescending assholes who think TV is beneath them, and who need to force their choice upon others.

    In other words, it's for getting your face punched. ;)

  7. Re:purpose? by ptorrone · · Score: 4, Insightful

    it's an electronics kit, i've seens thousands of kids make these and later their parents tell me that their kids want to be engineers. it's hard to know what will "spark" a kid's mind to get excited about doing things like engineering, but this is one of them.

    (phil from MAKE magazine)

  8. Not the TV's so much as the music being too loud. by VShael · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  9. Re:purpose? by VShael · · Score: 5, Funny

    In other words, it's for getting your face punched. ;)

    Hah. I've been managing that for years without the aid of technology.

  10. Re:purpose? by hal2814 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "go to any bar and I will almost guarantee that the sound is way too loud and NO ONE is watching/listening."

    I'm not a big bar patron but I do go to watch the occasional sporting event. I can guarantee you that the vast majority of the bar is watching and listening during that time.

    "I like TV, but not all the time. Don't *I* have a right to some f*cking peace and quiet?"

    In someone else's bar or airport? No, you don't.

  11. Having stopped watching tv for a while by fredrated · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  12. Re:purpose? by st0rmshad0w · · Score: 4, Funny

    In other words, it's for getting your face punched. ;) Hah. I've been managing that for years without the aid of technology.

    Luddite.

  13. Re:purpose? by geminidomino · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I like TV, but not all the time. Don't *I* have a right to some f*cking peace and quiet?

    Yes. Plant your sanctimonious, entitled ass in your own living room with the TV turned off, you self-righteous prick.