CBC News: Public TV zapper hot product The world needs this like a hole in the head. I’m watching a game in a bar and some bozo turns off all the TV’s with this device. I think in some situations, he’d be killed. How about a device to turn on all the TV’s? That would be funnier.
SAN JOSE, CALIF. – A keychain device that enables people to turn off TVs just about anywhere is flying off the shelves, its inventor says.
Cornfield Electronics, which makes the device, is rebuilding its website because of the rush of orders.
The TV-B-Gone ($14.99 US) remote control was made public Monday in Wired magazine and on the web.
“I thought there would just be a trickle, but we are swamped,” the inventor, Mitch Altman of San Francisco, told the Associated Press. “I didn’t know there were so many people who were into turning TV off.”
The device, an on-off switch, works on about 1,000 TV models, offering users relief from unwanted pictures and noise in airports, restaurants and bars.
It’s like a universal remote control programmed to run through about 200 infrared codes that turn TVs on or off.
Aim the device, push the button and most TVs will go off.
Altman, an electrical engineer, says he tested the device all over the world and most people didn’t react when the TV went off.
He doesn’t like television and doesn’t own one.
TV’s don’t bother me. Cell phone users do.
“The world needs this like a hole in the head.”
What the world NEEDS is a remote that can shut down the sound system blaring at Best Buy.
But as a person who detests Americans’ need for ever-present sound stimulation, I ain’t complaining about the current device either. 🙂
Saw a story on this at Wired’s site – and last sentence is that it also turns on TVs
Last sentence, in their two-page story: And TV-B-Gone served its less-publicized purpose — it also turns on any TV.
Link: http://tinyurl.com/6s5zp
I also think cell-phone jammers are more important. 🙂
I think we need cell phone remotes. Every time I go to the movies the person in front of me is blinding me with their cell phone.
Does your tv zapper operate on u.s tvs , we wanted to know since the only place we can get it shipped from is the u.k , if you know a website that we can get it shipped from the u.s and operates on u.s tvs , please tell us the site.
I bought a Cornfield TV B Gone. It only worked two times and quit. I replaced the batteries and it still did not work. I sent it back to Cornfield with a note and a paper showing that I had actually purchased two of them at the same time.
They NEVER RESPONDED. i AM VERY DISAPPOINTED.
Hello! World!