Confessions: The Meanest Thing Gizmodo Did at CES

[curtymolloy]

that's my uncle on the motorola stage lol, still find gizmodo's antics funny 4 years on

[debbiedeneese]

hahahahaha I love this...

[JGKreations]

Oh jesus, this is a must! The POWER it give you!!! HAHA. No more sitting through boring work meetings while they show us boring crap on the TV!!! Thank you god for letting me find this today!

[ihelpers01]

so the remotes called TV B gone? interesting

[robinzhooded]

This is awesome fuck with the corporations haha.

[masonkim7]

I hate TVs in public but this is really douchey.

[johnnyfarnham]

Can you go past my house when the missus is watching Sex in the City? lol

[FraterAeternus93]

how do you hide it from not getting caught

[VRally1997]

You need one of those gizmo's that blocks IR signals getting to the TV, you can get them for £10 in gadget shops :)

[zimtower]

@VRally1997 Its called tape.

[VRally1997]

@zimtower -.- nice sarcasm, can you hear that roar of laughter?

[mewmaster151]

@VRally1997 yeah its called electrical tape, ir is LIGHT dumbass just put a square of tape overthe reciever

[BLANKNOTING]

You Go To Jail??

Serousy??

Don't Play That..

That Fine Pay $2000.00..

You Understood That!!

Yes/No

Say Sorry...

Clear??

[dsi24]

@BLANKNOTING No, not clear at all.

[bobbyperrault2]

some of those people probly lost there job lol

[chevezez]

@bobbyperrault2 now we know what caused the recession

[bobbyperrault2]

@chevezez haha yah probably

[wbootle]

GOING WACKO BACKO

[JonoScarbridge]

there are times to be funny a proffessional convention is not one of them :|

[smoothtimb]

@JonoScarbridge

This is not a professional convention, and these people are not professionals. This is a sales/marketing convention, and these people are salesmen. Time for engineers to get even with the business people.

[Risteman]

This is so terrible, but so funny!

[joyange1]

You do realize that there is a very easy countermeasure for this type of attack. All you have to do is take a piece of black electrical tape and put it over the IR sensor of the TV. Of course, That means you won't be able to use your remote to control the TV.

[beyondwithinitself]

@joyange1 A simpler solution would be to ban Gizmodo from future shows.

[uglysalmon]

they are gonna ramp up security in the following years and now to block all tv b gone devices they are probably going to block a lot of small electronics

[diomaiaal]

AWESOME!!!!!!

[Dizzyksmash]

Man...This screen is going wacko macko!

[Raluuf]

whahaha

[Ins0mnia365]

being mean is awesome :D

[mastercam]

wow so funny...NOT, really immature, wasting other people' s time and money, i hope you die,

[lkk81]

All you guys who are saying that GIZMODO should be banned are CRAZY!

Someone pointed out that IR sensors should be covered - of course they should!

I bet these are UK people over reacting about it, they take everything so serious which is ridiculous :D

[mastercam]

@lkk81 sometimes things are serious, like when people spend time and money to enjoy a certain event and there' s some douchebag nerd trying to sabotage everything like a rebelous kid in elementary school. Bravo!.

[vxbinaca]

@mastercam you mad

[smoothtimb]

@mastercam

looks like they should have spent some more time planning to cover their IR receivers.

[JRCrowley]

What, you mean computers crash sometimes?? Fuckin' stupid.

[DattuWarptera]

Wow, great journalism... Definitely real mature...

[papatooth1]

or disable it, go hackers!!!!!

[Yereviltwin2]

Griefing in a videogame is one thing, its another thing to do it to real life people. The asshole that did this should get a punch in the face.

[TheTreybrotherhood]

Gizmodo should be banned forever !!!

[frankensponge]

IMHO, Gizmodo is run by a bunch of ass-clowns, and deserves to be banned from all future tech events.

[UltraSirenPaul]

I have the same headset the guy did in the "Woah we just lost picture scene"

[zac856314]

0:28 look at the turned off tvs anti christ

[messos]

For the people who think this is crossed the line. FUCK OFF!!! You guys sound like ass

[srb8522]

@messos What does ass sound like?

[amoliski]

@messos This is a TECH demo at a TECH conference. There is a room full of people taking time to watch this presentation. Then, all of the TVs turn off. It looks like it's the presenter's fault. It makes the TV manufacturers look bad.

Have you ever given a presentation, even to a small group? If something goes even slightly wrong, you are filled with dread.

Grow up.

[smoothtimb]

@amoliski

TECH guy fails to make more money off of useless crap that nobody actually needs. Who is losing here?

[SuperBluehacker]

During the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, some individuals from Gizmodo brought a TV-B-Gone remote control and shut off many display monitors at booths and during demos affecting several companies. These actions caused the individual from Gizmodo to be banned for life from future CES events.

[sonicfreakkiller97]

@SuperBluehacker Sadly, no. They were allowed back in every year.

[king0685]

you should use this in an airport...

[yiiwahxj]

0:27 OH NOES! IT'S SATAN!

[chukchee]

Cool!

[chalkies]

is funny haha. so mean

[QuaA]

kinda mean really

[pickelou]

nerds putting themselves to use. butieful

[callshadow3]

@pickelou so true

[melis256]

test comment

can anybody see this?

[amoliski]

@melis256 Nope.

[melis256]

@amoliski

rofl...

-_- Youtube comments always act stupid and do not show up in some places...

[Princess02Pink]

ahh my brother has that:D

i almost died from laughing when he turned off all tv's in mall:D

[cave13]

i did this all around town at 1 bar i was at shut off all the tvs and the next hr. they had some from comcast come in and try to fig it out it to funny but wat i like about a universal remote is change the channels on the tv box

[Gage5137]

yes it does i tryed it allready it was epic my hole class got out of takeing notes i trunded it off like 8 times befor the teacher gave up xD

[billstrom456]

no.

[cragster101]

oh well, still be able to stir enough trouble with tv's alone ;)

[lumabi25]

What an absolute crack up! I think I'd like to build one of those kits and go into my local electrical stores and give them the shits! Only occasionally of course.

I do think using it might get you caught however if you were in view of a security camera. We mightn't be able to see the IR beam but cameras can, so you could get found out. Therefore, using it sparingly might be wise.

But it's still very funny!

[maclover201]

I just built one today. It can turn off any TV from 150 feet lol.

[discomaster56]

yo thats fucking great i deff need me one of them shits

[bestSVMS]

teaches them to use electrical tape and cover up the sensors

[Roisey33]

that is ownage. 28 screens in like 4 seconds.

[amerist]

So the moral of the story is... if you are running a demo booth with TV sets, cover up the IR receiver!

[virus058910]

very embarrassing... i would really enjoy doing that to a company/booth i felt ripped me off or had bad products.

[rakgitarmen]

Funny but I feel bad for the Motorola guys :(

[killgiant1]

ur totally right!

[bjmmaas]

It's funny, until someone gets caught.

then its hilarious

[Stalin111]

go get the TV-B-Gone Pro SHP, it works almost 100 meters. Annoys the hell outta my neighbor. *brrzip* and the important soccer-game is GONE hahahahaha

[Jellyfish60]

Which is better? TV-B-Gone or the Ninja Remote?

[L14MJH]

only one thing that's better!!

using it at betting shops so people miss the race

EXTREMELY FUNNY

[nearadyn]

why admit what you did there? I own a tv-b-gone and prefer that nobody knows why TVs near me never work. If too many people demonstrate this device publicly, TV companies will begin making TVs with encrypted radio frequency remotes instead of IR so that we can't use such devices as these. My closest friends don't know I have one of these. Its wise to always keep a few tricks firmly lodged up your sleeve.

[Chonch51]

True Indeed.

[oppenheimer12]

great laugh

[that1techGamerKid]

lol

[DATGATORBOI]

how are you gettin it to shut off a bunch of tvs at once?

[TylerMansmith1229]

its a tv be gone. its a tiny device that lets you turn off any tv within a 50 yard radius

[DubiousDrewski]

I'm guessing the prankster was walking around with a universal remote and using its auto scan feature to sync with the LCDs, then shut them off.

Hilarious, but he's a jerk and deserves the banning.

[StyIesOfBeyond]

Um no, it was a TV-B-GONE, lol, read the description next time.

[dnlslm9]

how did the guy turn of ALL the tvs??

[LOST22FATE]

Can you not read? it says in the description. "MAKE offered us some TV-B-Gone clickers to bring to the show,"

[billz11oz]

my dad's friend invented it. Mitch.

[jodex96]

Does anybody know is that working with digibox just like with TVs?? ANSWEEER!!! Stupid question anyway.. But answer

[austiy12345]

what kind of tv b gone did they use keychain or pro shp

[johnsmith441]

holy cow this is freaking hilarious

[Monso]

Companies put money into these displays, and some guy walked around fucking them up for fun.

It was hilarious, but the guy was a prick.

[BlackManWithAnime]

He didn't really "fuck them up" he just turned them off. Same amount of damage done as pressing the power button.

[ForbeZ4]

this is awosme

[TotoroTime]

can a tv b gone turn on an off tv? that it hasnt turned off before?because im deciding weather i should buy one and cause havoc at school...please respond! :]

[phocjame]

Twats.

[itsthatguywithtwotoe]

It's funny, but not haha funny.

[TurboPlatypus]

This is probably the funniest shit i've ever seen. hahahahahahaha (Second to remi gaillard of course)

[Mark72188]

I got one a week ago, I had security go after me because I was standing outside their bar around 1230a, turning off all their plasma's every 5 min for an hour rofl.

[tubemaster2701]

Nice.

[NTComputer86]

that is awseome, i am gonna buy one and take it to restauraunts lol

[austiy12345]

Did you use the TV-B-Gone pro shp or regular one.

[ekriirke]

Love it.

[mku17ra]

Beautiful

[ytgentry]

This is why we can't have nice things.

[Stinkeyfeet678]

i loled my pants from this comment

[dummy1977]

I can see this wreaking havoc at sports bars during "the big game" but that's kinda low. I would've loved messing with this as a kid.. but what happens when Criminals start using it to disable low end security systems (fed through mini tvs instead of monitors)?

[dummy1977]

They wouldn't technically be disabled I realize, but i could still see them trying to use it to get in and out.

[dav1dh0ff]

I bet next year they cover up the ir sensors on their displays. Nice trick!

[eric2mrng]

that was pretty sweet =oD

[PurpleSteelman]

it can also turn the tvs back on

[afkaz]

I lol'd.

[frozenfrogz]

me2 x-)

[smokegfx]

They so deserved that, it was just a matter of time.

[Atomic101Heli]

I GOT SUPSEED FROM SCHOOL WITH THIS XD

[343GuiltySparkO4]

We live in a world with Public TVs that are annoying and tedious in airports, supermarkets, etc., but imagine this.

Imagine if someone brought this to E3 (Entertainment Electronic Expo) About half of the users on the internet are gamers, you do something like this, post it on Youtube, and chances are, someone's gonna hunt you down and kick your ass.

[LumiLicious]

they r all geeks, what they gon do.. throw mouses after u? haha

[BHSPitMonkey]

Or ban you from CES and discredit you as a journalist.

[Basharnl]

the screens go wacko nacko xD

[harryxballsack]

it's already done, get over it it can't be changed so stop goin o n about it and just watch and laugh

[dyau270]

Gizmodo, I love your blogs and everything, and most things you do are really funny, this absolutely crosses the line. Especially with Motorola. 

This wasn't funny, you need to know when to draw the line.

[acidie]

"This wasn't funny, you need to know when to draw the line."

Cry much?

[shadowlurk72]

It's a completely awesome and cool prank! Being an adult doesn't mean you are hypnotized by tvs.

[AdrianDV]

LMAO XD

[elguso69]

all hail gizmodo lol

[stonebag]

Seriously? The techs didn't realize that they could of just turned the TV right back on?

.... que

[Watcher3223]

Well, to be fair, they don't expect members of the press and bloggers to act like unprofessional jagoffs by turning off displays, disrupting CES booths and press conferences as a result. When displays go out like this, it's usually due to a malfunction and not because someone turned them off.

The TV-B-Gone is supposed to help you eliminate TV from being an intrusive nuisance, not to make the user an intrusive nuisance him or herself.

As fun as the TV-B-Gone is, this incident crosses the line.

[AlexFruen]

Tv-b-gone isn't for turing off irritating tvs, regardless of what it says on the box. everyone knows that its purely to be annoying and piss people off.

[Watcher3223]

Fair enough.

The inventor's idea of the TV-B-Gone seems to be a more diplomatic assertion that it's meant to enable one to be an jagoff.

But, if the true reason was to eliminate TV from being an intrusion the whole time, the idea reeks of a "holier than thou" attitude, so it's still indicative of a person who is an jagoff.

Either way, it's an jagoff's tool.

[crazyforfood]

wow thats awsome

[clydezulujohnson]

hahahaha

i would of done it too

[stanistani]

Now, blogger=vandal.

Thanks a whole bunch, gizmodo.

[ahauptfleisch]

did she say "This screen is going wacko macko"? that some form of cracker slang?

[Itsmy6]

LMAO not around these parts.

[techdawg667]

see how sophisticated tech people are? LOL XD

[v3N26]

Some of the things like shutting down the dozens of display screens was a bit funny. But doing so while someone's trying to run a demo is completely immature.

[StudioBakabakashii]

That was the most effective product advertisement I have ever seen.

[TheScrapperman]

Thank you Gizmodo! Now all the freeloader bloggers are aout of this important expo! Hurray!

[jthmguitarist]

LOL at the huge crowd watching guitar hero..

It sucked when the TVs went off during the speeches though.

Tape over the receivers is a good tip for next year.

[threshish]

seems like harmless fun to me. it just makes those company EXEcs work a little harder.

Rofl

[DarkNessBear]

stupid idiots

[Ryguy1450]

HHAHAHAHHHAHAHADHAHAHAHA

[penguin44ca]

Terrible. Grow up gizmodo. Be an adult like everyone else. When you learn to be a professional, you can come back to CES.

[maothedongzedong]

Fuck Gawker Media.

[Kari166]

and i know this, because people who think this is funny are getting a thumbs-down.

[Kari166]

lol this is funny! some people have no sense of humor....

[FragtheSnack]

how the hell they found that guy?

[basinglag]

The biggest problem now is that other bloggers will not be able to attend to press conference anymore. We will have lot of difficulties to get press card now. Anyway next time they should put some tape in front of the ir receiver...

[pdalko]

I'm suprise nobody got their ass kicked over that.. funny though .. :-)

[xecto06]

wtf are you thinking... Really a bad joke...

[HaloSpartan1234]

Fuck gizmodo that cost those companies money because they were in actual presentations WTF gizmodo honestly too childish

[realPrice]

funny for a second but thats all.

The people working there...

[Zakrion]

Kid joke made by "adults"... pathetic Gizmondo.

[blanenship2]

That's funny but very mean.

[dbarbush]

And those who said that most bloggers are not smart enough to get real jobs are sorry now. Once they see your company sued off the planet, sales of TV B gone skyrocket and that blank space on your resume, you'll still have the last laugh because of that hard-hitting Bill Gates interview. How did you come up with the idea to ask him about Vista?

[frozenantman]

When I was a kid a friend of mine used to have one them universal remotes.

We always went to the stores and changed channels, max out volumes, or like you turn them all of..

But I remind you, that I only did it when I was a kid.

[jfasaldarriaga]

hahahaha awesome!

[BridgeTheGapClothing]

Funny but over the top. You should be banned. I could see my 12-year-old cousin doing this. Not a grown adult.

[Mortisfacio3]

I was at CES watching the intel presentation about the extended internet to control remote control cars from about a mile away and laughed hard when the T.V. went off. saw it a few more times around the pioneer section (can't remember what the big one next to it was, pretty sure it was panasonic). Getting home and hearing about why that happened makes it that much more awesome.

[hughesth]

So pissing people off is awesome to you?

[jmcatrow]

Yes, its deserving of awe

[hughesth]

I can see common courtesy and respect mean nothing to you, to say nothing of ethics or journalistic ethics. But then you live in a backwards ass socialist state of mind, so you can just hang out with your hooligans.

[jmcatrow]

Things that are important mean something to me... like family, friends, and music. Presentations at a consumer electronics show do not fall under "important".

And P-LEASE...journalistic ethics is an oxymoron if Ive ever heard one!!!

[hughesth]

I see you rolled up common courtesy and respect in that statement about ethics, so are you lacking that too? There's actually a code of journalistic ethics you can find online that's been around a very long time. Sorry you don't show common courtesy and respect outside your household, someone will obviously show you the same one day. If they haven't already.

[jmcatrow]

Fuck the uptight, and fuck ya if ya cant take a joke.

[hughesth]

And stay in the fucking slime puddles of the earth to inbred UK cunt infections like you. :-)

[HaloSpartan1234]

yeah thats not that funny enjoy your pancake

[jmcatrow]

Get a life you uppity morons. It was a fuckin prank... big fuckin deal... and not even an original one, I used to do it in middle school with a universal remote oooooooohhhh so clever! Probably only Americans that are dumb enough to actually get pissed over something so stupid. I only wish Id live long enough to see the breakdown of society and law so that we could finally be rid of pansy-ass morons like the ones that think THIS is a big deal.

[hughesth]

It's called common courtesy and respect for other people and what they're doing. So it's expected from a child to do something this stupid but not from an adult. I mean, would you like it if I drove past you and hit a puddle of water and got you soaked on the sidewalk. I mean come on, it's just a prank.

[fadecy]

haha funny, but you went over the top doing it on the presentations. The tvs on the wall was good though and not too mean.

[ag1002]

you're a jerk. they go through all the planning, and you go in there and break that all down and embarrass them.

[reconrob06]

this is how revolutions get started people rather you like it or not! it was childish yes, but so is most news that is reported anyway so most people that are angry are hipocrites.

[Kaleb34]

i really don't think its that bad...and i can't understand why everyone is going crazy about it.

[hughesth]

It's called common courtesy and respect for others, and so gizmodo has earned very well all the contempt aimed at them. Children pull pranks like this not adults. That's pretty straight forward.

[xmickox]

Gizmodo should yes be banned for life

[Levinor]

LOL!!!

U Rules!! xD

[gbollen]

haha, it is kinda childish, but I still find it funny

[cito35th]

haha

[yaimamdo]

ha ha ha.