I change the channel in public places

[Patiod]

At the gym, at hotel gyms, in the concierge lounge at the hotel, I've noticed Faux News is the new default - used to be CNN.

I ask politely if anyone else is watching, and then change the channel. Not that CNN or MSNBC are much better, and the networks have been spouting the blastfax lines as well, but ANYTHING is better than Faux News. If someone else got there first and is actually watching, they get "dibs".

But if it's just playing to a dis-interested audience, why let this crap propagate any further? Why poison one more voter with this dis-information?

(note: can't do in a lot of places, like airports -- can't reach, and probably not allowed, although I'd love one of those little gadgets that allowed me to do it surreptitiously)

[woodsprite]

1. I thought you were going to say you change it to CSPAN. n/t

[Patiod]

3. Noticed that most hotel cable systems don't have CSPAN

(or even Comedy Central).

[immoderate]

19. Yeah, I try to stay at Best Western, because they have C-SPAN

--IMM

[seabeyond]

2. called a big small business in town

told owner that having it on fox is offensive to many. and seeing how most all are republican and bush supporters, they know ful well how offensive it is to others. in chosing that channel was like giving me the finger. and with a business owner doing that to me the customer, i didnt feel they have earned my money, so i wouldnt be using their business anymore

[Patiod]

4. I wrote the same to the mgmt of my township-operated gym

Saying that fully 50% of the township voted Dem, and having Faux as the default news channel was causing blood pressure difficulties among this 50%.

Never heard anything back.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. Good for you. I think I saw an ad for a gizmo that allows you to change

channels unobtrusively in situations like that...sort of a tiny universal remote. It might have been in the tech section of the NYTimes. The article was about the guy who developed it. He did it for the exact reason you mentioned. It is keychain sized so he could carry it in his pocket. He was tired of having to sit in doctors' offices and laundromats and have to sit and watch the crap on the TV.

[Xithras]

8. IIRC, it turned it off

Remote controls use all kinds of infrared codes to signal changing channels, volume, and other data transmissions between the handset and the TV, so a universal remote that controlled all the TV's equally would be very difficult to build (note that even the "universal" remotes that you buy in the stores require that you enter a code to ID the type of TV you're using it on). On/Off, however, is much simpler, and you can disable 90+% of the TV's in the US by cycling through less than 15 simple codes.

If I remember correctly, the inventor built a remote capable of turning TV's in public spaces off, not to change their channels.

Of course, if the TV is running Faux News, even "off" is an improvement :)

[Hugin]

21. I never had a problem with my personal remote...

It has a mode where it autoscans through the codes.

The list is ordered based on the number of units
out there... So, I've never waited more than 4 or
5 seconds.

I push the button and... *blip*, it goes off.

[jdj]

23. I love to learn stuff.

I knew it was just a turner-offer, but didn't know why the guy didn't make a channel changer and now I do. I wish everyone on DU would take time to explain stuff.

Of course, he may have just built the turner-offer because he's anti-tv.

I remember when it was just magazines everywhere. I used to love to go to the doctor and wait because of the magazines I get to read for free. Now every freaking waiting room has a tv, which is torture.

[CornField]

6. TV-B-GONE

http://www.tvbgone.com/product.php

Gotta love it. We can finally go out and have a conversation during dinner.

[BrklynLiberal]

9. Is that your company? Cornfield Electronics is the name of the

company selling the gizmo.

[CornField]

13. I wish. :-) The fellow who designed it has made quite a bundle.

[BrklynLiberal]

16. I just ordered one....Sorry it is not going to you.

[Hugin]

10. *chuckle*

It's nice to see they've finally formalized
eliminating public TeeVee addiction.

I've been doing it for over 15 years... I bought
a watch with a universal IR remote control built
into it.

In all that time... No one and I repeat NO ONE
has ever complained.

I usually tune it to the Cartoon Network if
I can't turn it off.

It's strange watching the reactions of people.
Like they're in a trance and a hypnotist has
snapped their fingers.

Amazing... Well if more people take up the
cause. Maybe I can retire. :)

[Hugin]

12. Similar watch link here...

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/watches/5a7b/

Another one... (More range)

http://www.extremecomputing.com/wrwawiunreco.html

[BrklynLiberal]

18. Soooooooo coooooooooooool!!!!!!!

Maybe a good birthday present for my son.

and that first site has so many other cool things. Thanks for the link

[CornField]

15. You can also use your Palm to change channels, turn TVs off.

It does take some messing, but it will work (as will some laptops). The little remote control gizmo is much more discrete and efficient.

And, BTW, I've never had anyone complain about the television going off either. Hubby and I have often heard great sighs of relief.

[BrklynLiberal]

7. Xithras, UR right. here it is...check out this little gadget

http://forums.mohandis.org/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=19

Key chain remote control turns on/off most TVs

Attachment: vert.tvgone.ap.jpg

SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- Ticked off by the TV? Turn it off -- anywhere.

A new key chain gadget that lets people turn off most TVs -- anywhere from airports to restaurants -- is selling at a faster clip than expected.

"I thought there would just be a trickle, but we are swamped," the inventor, Mitch Altman of San Francisco, said. "I didn't know there were so many people who were into turning TV off."

Hundreds of orders for Altman's $14.99 TV-B-Gone gadget poured in Monday after the tiny remote control was announced in Wired magazine and other online media outlets. At times, the unexpected attention overloaded and crashed the Web site of his company, Cornfield Electronics.

The key chain fob works like a universal remote control -- but one that only turns TVs on or off. With a zap of a button, the gizmo goes through a string of about 200 infrared codes that controls the power of about 1,000 television models. Altman said the majority of TVs should react within 17 seconds, though it takes a little more than a minute for the gizmo to emit all the trigger codes.

Altman, 47, first got the idea for TV-B-Gone a decade ago when he was out with friends at a restaurant and they found themselves all glued to the perched TV instead of talking to each other. No one was around to turn the TV off.

The self-described geek with a masters in electrical engineering started tinkering full-time on the project a few years ago with help from money he had earned from a company he co-founded, data-storage maker 3ware Inc.

Altman remembers spending most of his childhood unwittingly captivated by TV, watching shows like "Gilligan's Island" and others, regardless of whether they were entertaining.

He quit as an adult and hasn't owned a television in 24 years.

He has tested the TV-B-Gone remote discreetly in many places, including in other countries, and says he usually gets little to no reaction from others after the background TV noise and glare disappears.

But he said he would never dare silently kill the machines in places like sports bars, where patrons expect TVs to be on.

"I can be mischievous, but I'm not going to do anything malicious, and I don't want to make anyone's life more difficult," Altman said. "I just don't like TV, and I'd like people to think more about this powerful medium in their lives."

[Butterflies]

11. The waiting room of my son's previous doctor

only had FOX News. I sat there during one appointment trying to ignore it, but the next time I was there room was empty so I asked the receptionist if I could change it. She said the doctor won't allow the channel to be changed in the waiting room - he wants it to be FOX News all the time. I told her that's enough to make me want to change doctors. I DID change doctors right after that, and I hope that receptionist told the doctor what I had said.

[BrklynLiberal]

17. Wow! Can't believe the doctor actually had those rules. I would change

doctors too if that was how he felt!!!!!

[LizW]

22. Okay, that's weird

I went to a new doctor back in December and there was a big, flat screen tv on the wall playing Fox News.

Could they be getting paid to keep it on Fox? :tinfoilhat:

[Butterflies]

25. You might be right

The one I'm talking about was a big flat-screen one on the wall too. I didn't see any dials or buttons on it to change the channel, so either it needs a remote to change the channel . . . . or it doesn't have any other channel. Hmmmmm :tinfoilhat:?

[LizW]

26. Now that I think of it, the baby formula companies used to do it

Back in the days when I was having babies and spent a lot of time in the OB/Gyn's office, they had a big tv set that played these women's health infomercials over and over. Joan Lunden was the narrator for a lot of them. There was one in my doctor's office and also in the clinic where I went to have ultrasounds.

I don't remember there being specific propaganda, but there was definitely advertising for baby formula.

[Catherine Vincent]

28. Good for you. I would have changed also after learning that tidbit.

That's just silly.

[quaoar]

14. When I'm sitting at the bar of my favorite restaurant

And the TV is tuned to Fox, I say, "Isn't there a game on?"

That usually does the trick.

I'd rather watch Australian rules football than Fox.

[Toucano]

20. Good for you.

I was stranded at the Houston airport in January during the Rice hearings.

It was UNBEARABLE! and it was CNN!

I finally found a spot - way far from the gate - where the audio couldn't reach me.

[JNelson6563]

24. haha I always do that too!

:toast:

[Catherine Vincent]

27. Freeps probably set it to Fox News and hope it sticks.

It usually does because most people don't pay attention. Here on our floor, there are three televisions, one is always set to Fox News and that group are majority right wingers.