Gizmodo Prank at CES – low class act

And i thought these guys at Gizmodo were professionals.

Its being talked about in the Tech world, Gizmodo pulls a prank at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).  They turned off TV’s using a device called TV-B-Gone.

This is what Gizmodo has to say:

CES has no shortage of displays. And when MAKE offered us some TV-B-Gone clickers to bring to the show, we pretty much couldn’t help ourselves. We shut off a TV. And then another. And then a wall of TVs. And we just couldn’t stop. (And Panasonic, you’re so lucky that 150-incher didn’t have an active IR port.) It was too much fun, but watching this video, we realize it probably made some people’s jobs harder, and I don’t agree with that (Especially Motorola). We’re sorry.

This is what I commented on Gizmodo:

That was funny…

but after laughing, now lets think about the effects:

1. the exhibitors looked like fools not knowing what caused the “black-out”.
2. Stopped some presentations being done.
3. As i read in other blogs, bloggers were prevented from going to some areas after this prank.

For sure, if gizmodo was one of the exhibitors who were affected by this prank, they’d have a HATE post here by now.

for sure someone out there is planning their own prank at gizmodo, that would be bigger news than this one. They might use a tool called “Gizmodo-gone”.

Will you still laugh at it?

From the video, you’ll see that its was a sort of deliberate attempt to sabotage some presentations like the one being done by Motorola. You will also notice the timing when they would turn off the screen. This is what Gizmodo editor Brian Lam has to say (comment #7) via Valleywag:

Motorola, well that was a mistake, as my explicit orders to my video person were to not interrupt press conferences. But that is for me and Moto to sort out tomorrow.

Ok, so lets say that its just for fun and to prove that the TV-B-Gone device works. But why do you have to repeatedly use it and turn of the TV screens which you will see on the video with the lady and two gamers (i think)

And it seems that they are sad cause they weren’t able to turn off the Panasonic TV “And Panasonic, you’re so lucky that 150-incher didn’t have an active IR port”

For Gizmodo, i think they will be prevented from joining CES next year. Or they will have a hard time joining. Or they’ll be limitted to the areas that they can have access to. Check out the statement from CES via webware.com

We have been informed of inappropriate behavior on the show floor by a credentialed media attendee from the Web site Gizmodo, owned by Gawker Media. Specifically, the Gizmodo staffer interfered with the exhibitor booth operations of numerous companies, including disrupting at least one press event. The Gizmodo staffer violated the terms of CES media credentials and caused harm to CES exhibitors. This Gizmodo staffer has been identified and will be barred from attending any future CES events. Additional sanctions against Gizmodo and Gawker Media are under discussion.

Gizmodo is getting all the attention now.. but wait till the prank’s on them.