"Desensitized by tv,
Overbearing advertising,
God of consumerism,
And all your crooked pictures,
Looking good, mirrorism,
Filtering information,
For the public eye,
Designed for profiteering,
Your neighbor, what a guy."
-- from the song "Boom!" by System Of A Down
TV B-Gone
is fun. This universal remote control has only one button which can turn TV
sets off. Though a little larger than most key fobs, TV B-Gone is surprisingly
light. The growing annoyance of television in public places can be eliminated
with this handy device.
Sold by San Francisco inventor Mitch Altman, TV B-Gone runs through a string of more than 200 infrared (IR) codes that correspond to around 1,000 different set frequencies. The intrusion of TV can be minimized by simply pressing a button. As described on the TV B-Gone website: "TV B-Gone remote controls mimic all of these different ways that manufacturers have of pulsing IR light. And it does it in the same same way that almost all other remote controls do it: by a small computer chip sending out the correctly timed pulses from information stored in its own database to the IR LED."
This will help you break free from TV. "But unlike most universal remote controls," explains the website, "TV-B-Gone only emits pulses for POWER, which, of course, is the only important function of any remote control, since this will put televisions in their most beneficial state: OFF."
In practical use, TV B-Gone works well and seems to turn off the set in a soft almost organic way. Every set does not respond instantly and some may take as much as 30 seconds to turn off. Most of the TVs I've tried it on turn off within three to ten seconds. TV B-Gone does not seem to work real well at sharp angles and I had trouble getting ceiling-mounted corner sets to switch off.
There is a strange sense of finality when using TV B-Gone: once the TV set is switched off, you really don't want to turn it back on. It's hard to explain, but it feels a lot like . . . freedom.
Technically, this control has the ability to turn sets on as well as off, however, that is not its purpose. As TV sets proliferate around our world this is a must-have weapon against noisy, unwanted, mindless intrusions. TV B-Gone has found a permanent place on my key chain.
TV B-Gone is groovy and should be standard equipment for anyone looking to kill a television.
