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tvbgonead.jpgThere's no such thing as bad press, right? Well, not if you're a relatively unknown tech company.

Gizmodo's little CES prank may have backfired on the gadget blog by getting at least one of its writers banned from future CEA events. But that's not going to stop the maker of TV-B-Gone, the device that enabled Gizmodo's shenanigans, from exploiting it--and why should it? In all honesty, it's hard to imagine too many applications for the product beyond prankery. It just turns TVs on and off.

The company dropped a press release for the product in my inbox this morning, with a letterhead, that reads in part:

Amid the stir Gizmodo bloggers caused by switching-off presentations at the Consumer Electronics Show last week, you may have heard of TV-B-Gone--the discreet device that controls the power setting of 90% of all TVs. While the prank was controversial, what is now indisputable is that the TV-B-Gone works effectively to empower users to manage TVs in their environment.

Largely negative though the whole event may be, this has proven a pretty good press week for a company with a name like Cornfield Electronics. Let's just hope that, for its sake, it don't hold any press conferences in the near future.

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Posted by: Caukin
January 16, 2008 3:46 PM

I'm surprised that this product is getting this much press. It's really not all that of a new product. I used to have a watch when I was in High School that could turn on and off the TV and change channels. I used to confuse the hell out of substitute teachers. Did I mention that it worked like a watch too. What other function does this have other than the on/off switch?


Posted by: alan h
January 16, 2008 9:10 PM

@Caukin: Not much I'm afraid. It's exactly the same as those devices we remember reading about in the backs of comic books and magazines when we were younger. Nothing more special about them, except as time has progressed, the gadget works on more frequencies, I think.


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