Turning Off TV

jlotus · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:20 pm Post subject: Revenge Tech!

'Revenge Tech' Makes TVs, Phones Useless
By Mark Martin
CBN News
October 9, 2007

CBNNews.com - In the hustle-bustle of everyday life, companies are pushing bigger, flashier, and better products everyday.

And many people are more than happy to shell out the cash to buy them up.

But some innovations are being used to cancel the other ones out.

And that's why, some inventors are retaliating.

"They're a social statement saying, this device shouldn't exist. We should live in a world where this device shouldn't exist," said Phil Torrone of Make Magazine, a journal for inventors.

He says its part of a new genre called "Revenge Tech." Take "the wave bubble," for example.

It's a device designed to counter the one always talking on his cell phone in a restaurant or movie theater. The "wave bubble" is a transistor that jams a cell signal.

And then there's the TV B-Gone, which shuts off loud, annoying TVs.

"It's interesting, but you know, it seems almost like an act of war to just come in here and just start clicking off games willy-nilly."

If we're talking about acts of war, what about the battlefield taking place on the roads and highways.

Revenge Tech has you covered there, as well -- in England, there's a sign called "drive-mocion" -- which can tell people behind you what you think of their driving skills.

Motorists are also fighting back against the "eye in the sky" -- those pesky red light cameras -- using technology to beat the system and get out of a ticket.

Some have downloaded a $5 program to their GPS systems that issues a warning near intersections with cameras.

Others have tried to use a highly-reflective spray to coat their license plate, to prevent it from being photographed.

Still, many forms of "Revenge Tech" do work, and while they may not help you make any new friends, they're legal -- at least for now.