Flashes of Panic

An article in Wired News today describes the TV-B-Gone, a key-fob-sized “universal remote” which simply runs through about two hundred “power off” codes for a wide variety of televisions. Through the course of the article, the developer and his friends are turning off distracting TVs in waiting rooms, restaurants, etc. It’s delightful.

[Inventor] Altman said he prefers to ask people to turn off TVs. The problem is places where there’s a captive audience and no one is available to respond to requests, like the Laundromat or the airport. Altman said he has turned off sets at his local laundries and at airports around the Pacific Rim.

…Responding to the accusation that it sounded like unaccountable power, [user David] Burke said, “You’ve heard about the battle for eyeballs. They’re your eyeballs. You should not have your consciousness constantly invaded. Television people are getting better and better at finding ways of roping us into TV where we can’t get away.”

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