TV-B-Gone would save millions of tons of greenhouse gases

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002068723_turnoff21.html

I doubt if the company thought of this angle to promote the product, but we E/E/S types could appreciate it.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Ticked off by the TV? Turn it off — anywhere.
A new keychain 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," said inventor Mitch Altman of San Francisco. "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 keychain 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 control 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.
.....snip......

Their website has been overwhelmed by traffic. Check back
www.tv-b-gone.com/

Here's what the website says:

The TV-B-Gone website is undergoing reconstruction due to the high volume of viewers.

We apologize for the interruption of service - we are taking care of the problem.

Please check back later today.

Good on 'em!

--bkl
Not from Australia.

From the site:

"We will not be taking orders until we have heard that the new TV-B-GoneTM remote controls are on their way to us."

This is a golden opportunity for them to make millions on a massive number of impulse buys. In a couple weeks, the ferver will most likely have died down. Too bad for them.

A better move on their part would have been to go ahead and accept orders but to then notify the customers that delivery would take a few weeks.

... and no doubt will reduce the frequency of epileptic seizures.