Woah – TV-B-even-goner!
The TV-B-Gone Pro SHP (Super High Power) is a marvel to behold! TV-B-Gone Pro SHP works the same way the TV-B-Gone keychain works, but it is way more powerful because it has more emitters and uses a bigger battery. Instead of the batman-like keychain, it comes in a lightweight case that fits in the palm of your hand and looks like a small PDA. It is easy to trigger whenever you desire with the touch-switch on its front. A very dim visible light (that only you can see) lets you know when the TV-B-Gone Pro SHP is transmitting. Like the TV-B-Gone keychain, TV-B-Gone Pro SHP has Instant Reactivation Feature so that you can turn off many TVs in quick succession.
When you absolutely, positively must – “Shut that damn thing off!” – TV-B-Gone Pro
(Sorry, not compatible with incessant car alarms, endless dog-barking, or your neighbors interminable yelling.)
34 thoughts on “New in the Maker Shed – TV-B-Gone Pro”
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There’s no doubt TV is annoying, but it’s not your TV, and not your space. If it was you’d just use your remote to turn it off. You are doing something to someone else’s property, in their space, against their will. Not right an any ethical discussion. If you don’t like it, Leave. I guess this kind of though isn’t important here.
I agree with hojo, but the reason this is here is because it’s a product made by a business run by one of the “Approved Makezine Profiteers” and therefore the ethics and/or legality is irrelevant.
TVs are left running in countless public spaces for no good reason. The considerate thing to do is to ask the proprietor to turn off the television, but in modern commercial environments it can be impossible to find a person with the proper “authority” or lack of apathy to complete such a task.
Nobody has a right to foist TV programming into you any more than they do to scream expletives at you. TV-B-Gone is a simple and quick fix. If having the TV off causes a problem for somebody, they can turn it right back on. In many situations, nobody will even notice the TV has been turned off. Those are the situations where TV-B-Gone is the perfect solution.
This device is playful and purposely thought-provoking. I am “troubled” that somebody would be “troubled” by something so incredibly innocuous. Honestly, we’ve got far bigger problems in the world today than TVs shutting off.
I don’t want one that turns off the TV, I want one that mutes the sound and turns on closed captioning.
“Nobody has a right to foist TV programming into you any more than they do to scream expletives at you. ”
Right, and you are perfectly free to leave. It’s their TV, not yours. Or do you have the right to gag someone who wants to scream expletives at you?
Matt hit the nail on the head, the only reason this is hear is Makezine profitting. Besides that the thing is oversized, ugly, even in the picture looks like a cheap child’s toy iPhone, and with the possible exception of range, is inferior to the original. Even if they wanted to pretend it was a legit MAKE posting, they’ve done the semi-open kit from LadyAda and mods into various enclosures and adding LED arrays.
I’m so pleased to know that there are some people here who are able to process ethics. It’s such a neglected aspect of our society.
“Honestly, we’ve got far bigger problems in the world today than TVs shutting off.”
Yes, like people unable to understand the concept of property rights…
Or people who intentionally try to confuse the issue because, to acknowledge the real issue would mean they were acting in a wrong fashion, and they’d rather believe that they are good, and anything they want is good. So here’s a news flash alva. You and everyone else in this world, myself included, desire things that are unethical. Responsible people learn to recognize the difference and act accordingly.
I’d just like to thank everyone for maintaining a relatively calm and intelligent discourse on this topic.
fyi – I found and decided to post about the TV-b-gone pro of my own accord, there’s no furtive maneuvers at hand.
The concepts of ownership, control, and interference in regard to wireless communications is a deep and interesting topic. Being a resident of a heavily populated urban area myself has reminded me time and again that our most common form of ‘wireless’ communication is sound. I am consistently barraged with numerous intrusive forms of sound – without any prior notice or inquiry for permission to dramatically stimulate my eardrums. I’m often forced to use earplugs to block these unsolicited stimulations. From that perspective, I’d assume any major threat caused by tv-b-gone usage would prompt tv owners to physically mask their TV’s IR receivers. Alas, I don’t see this happening, nor have I witnessed firsthand complaints from those disrupted by this device. These circumstances lead me to believe that little or no unethical use of this product is being performed and perhaps some people enjoy powering off the electronic opiate from time to time.
@Colin:
“fyi – I found and decided to post about the TV-b-gone pro of my own accord, there’s no furtive maneuvers at hand.”
You just happened to find it in your very own webstore and posted it from there of your own accord. Wow, what an amazing coincidence.
It’s when you tell such blatent and obvious lies here that you destroy your credibility and since when you post here for MAKE, you destroy the credibility of MAKE.
@The Oracle – i can assure you that collin was not told or directed to post about the tv-b-gone pro, i didn’t realize it was in the store either. we had it maker faire, but not in the online store until now.
if we didn’t have this as a kit or an assembled device we’d write about it regardless, at least i know i would.
@Phil – When the article title is “New in the Maker Shed – TV-B-Gone Pro” and then Colin, writing on behalf of Make says “I found and decided to post about the TV-b-gone pro of my own accord, there’s no furtive maneuvers at hand.” There is no need to even argue the point, it is blatently obvious.
Don’t obfuscate it with would haves or should haves. The facts of what was said very clearly speak for themselves.
Instead you further tangle the dishonesty. You say “i didn’t realize it was in the store either.” “either”…so you imply it was just a coincidence and Colin didn’t know it was in the store. Yet the headline Colin wrote is that it is in the store.
@The Oracle – i’m not sure how i can make this more clear – our authors can write about anything they want, there isn’t any mandate about posting things from our store, but that being said – we stock stuff we like and enjoy, it’s one of the many reasons the maker shed store is awesome *we* are building it together with our makers and authors so of course we’re going to write about it – but again to be super-crystal-clear, collin can write about anything, he wasn’t told to write about the tv-b-gone pro. collin doesn’t make more or less money if we sell 1 tv-g-gone or 1 million.
keep in mind that this is the MAKE site, with MAKE events and MAKE kits/store, it shouldn’t be surprising to see us write about this stuff, we live eat and breath it. i think we have less than 1% of total posts devoted to our own stuff, not bad i think.
i’m pretty sure collin was clicking around the maker shed for something else and saw that we now have them, this how i find some of the new things too – so instead accusing someone of lying, why don’t you just ask collin how he came across it, or email us directly – try and keep the comments here on topic, thanks!
I have no problem with Make selling their products on their website. I also have no problem with a property owner running their TV on their property. I do have a problem with someone going to another persons place of business and doing unapproved things with their TV. If you had a right to do it, you’d have the proper remote. It’s ethically irresponsible to sell this product. It doesn’t have any legitimate use. If you don’t like the TV, request it be turned off, or leave. This isn’t even a difficult debate. It’s amazing how far people are willing to bend over backward to rationalize their behavior.
@phil – I’m not saying he can’t write about anything he wants, and I’m not saying he was told to write about that.
There is nothing at all wrong about that kind of self-promotion. And for what it’s worth, I love the maker shed, I’m happy to read about new items here in the blog. And I agree with you the maker shed is awsome and so is linking to it here. 1% total posts sounds about right and perfect reasonable.
But when he does post a direct link to the maker store and then says the only reason he posted it is he just happened to find it on the internet, it’s pretty obvious he’s lying. And that lie discredits him and the organization he’s posting on behalf of. It doesn’t even logically make sense to find it on his own on a website he’s paid to be affiliated with. By that logic any salesman can say they discovered all their products on their own — when their manager told them about it, they discovered it. It’s no different than finding it on a website their paid for.
And if there is nothing at all wrong with that kind of self-promotion, why does he feel the need to cover it up with such a thin lie? It makes no sense at all. Why couldn’t Colin has simply said he saw it in the maker store and thought the community would be interested. That’s probably what really happened, and there’s nothing wrong with that — in fact it’s his job to do that and that’s what you say readers want. Instead he chose to embaress himself and Make with a lie.
@The Oracle – if you look at what collin “fyi – I found and decided to post about the TV-b-gone pro of my own accord, there’s no furtive maneuvers at hand.”
it’s pretty clear to me that he saw it poking around on the maker shed store, like we all do and posted it up, i’ve done that tons of times. there isn’t a “lie” being covered up. he didn’t say he found it on the”internet”. maybe it’s because i know collin, see him in person all the time and know he’s a good person… i assure you there’s no conspiracy going on.
again, please stick to the topic, if you’d like, feel free to email myself and/or collin directly if you have issues with something we posted.
@Oracle – In fact I’ve known Collin for a very long time now – he’s not the type to tell fibs at all.
a bad joke from time to time? – yes. Seriously, I’d even admit it if somehow I did lie, I’m not the type to try to save face, I’ve got plenty. I’m the guy hoola hooping with my neck in the recent night@maker faire post – get to know me!
(if you really want to chat more – email me direct please)
Now, as much as I like to talk about myself I’m more interested in talking about the concepts/ issues involved with tv-b-gone and similar devices – as i spoke of at length in my earlier comment.
Just seen a video review of the TV BE GONE PRO and i am dissapointed. It says that it looks like a small PDA when infact it looks like a HOUSE BRICK if you pull this out of your pocket (if you could pull it out) in the UK you would
A) Be laughed to death for owning a brick type mobile
B) Attract so much attention from the size and laughter that everybody would know what you were doing
I would stick with the key ring version until a really sleek looking replacement came out. Or better yet build your own custom case for your keyring version as dummy mobiles are dirt cheap on Ebay :o)