January 11, 2008

Gizmodo shuts down LCDs and TVs at CES and this is not a great idea

Posted at 03:29 | | 13 Comments | View blog reactions

Honestly, imagine you are either in the middle of a product presentation or on your booth at CES, you are exhausted, you have spent weeks preparing CES, you have invested tons of money to be a sponsor to have Gizmodo bloggers constantly turn off your LCDs, TVS or other projecting devices... I don't think this is a very cool idea and I do not think this gives a really good image of bloggers in general. I have been at CES for two days and the way bloggers were treated was excellent: free access like press with devoted welcome desks and personnel, two blogger rooms, free lunch... We bloggers should celebrate the way these expensive conferences treat us rather than put a mess which is not even funny. Here is my video of the CES.

update: we even agree with Loren on this one:


Gizmodo Dopes
Uploaded by 1938media

update: I am sorry but I really don't feel like having a sense of humor on this one Larry and as the conference organizer of LeWeb3 I can even imagine what would have been the reactions of our partners if somebody had behaved like this. What's next ? Squirting the exibitors booths because it is funny ?

Personnally, it gave me a good laugh. It's not kind at all for the folks working behind the "stage" but it was fun.

I think that next year, brands reps gonna protect IR-receivers on their TVs

gonzague, January 11, 2008 at 03:50

I totally agree with you Loic.

Dave Winer, January 11, 2008 at 04:40

Totally sophomoric. But I guess they thought it was cool or something.

patricia, January 11, 2008 at 06:36

thanks for your comments. Glad you agree, Dave, Gonzague and Patricia. Oops I forgot to put comments "none" so that it uses Disqus.

Loic, January 11, 2008 at 07:52

This kind of juvenile behavior serves no purpose and only hurts innocent bystanders. You captured it well.

Michael Krigsman, January 11, 2008 at 19:52

Honestly, I think everyone is way overreacting to this. No one is losing business or losing their jobs as a result. It was a simple prank and could have been perpetrated by anyone, blogger or not. These devices have been around for years and TV manufactures have left their IR remote signaling open and unencrypted this whole time. It's a one-off thing that won't be able to be replicated next year because we're all smarter as a result. That's not a bad thing.

Eddie Codel, January 11, 2008 at 19:57

Loic,
Being focused on China market, I never heard of Gizmodo until your post. We are organizing a China New Media conference in October geared at building a bridge between Silicon Valley and China. Thanks to your post, I will definitely make sure Gizmodo isn't invited. Simply put, it might be funny for their readers but I'm not interested in having a company who finds humor at the expense of others' hard work.

Christine, January 11, 2008 at 20:01

Eddie,
I don't know about how forgiving US business culture, but if they had pulled this kind of stunt at the conference we're planning in China (where we are inviting US companies specifically to introduce them to the China market) -- Example, if Gizmodo had pulled this during a presentation by Baidu's CEO. It would cause a major loss of face for him. Once word got out that a company we invited from the U.S. was behind it, our reputation with them would be ruined permanently as well. In China business, your reputation is the only thing you have. On the flip side, glad this happened at CES so everyone else knows better.

Christine, January 11, 2008 at 20:08

Totally agree Loic. I'm actually a huge fan of pranks in general but pranks tend to be funny, creative, imaginative, clever etc. this gizmodo stunt was none of the above. "Oh, hai look I can turn off ur tv" big f'ing whoop.

Karl Long, January 11, 2008 at 20:09

Loic, ok, I have a high tech fix.... It's called masking tape.... Upscale fix, put a small company logo sticker over the IR receiver. I think this is a good example of how vulnerable we are on many levels. At least cell and wifi blocking is illegal here in US.

TedC, January 11, 2008 at 20:22

Love the stuff about the raccoon. By the way, unless you're going out of business, I would title your video window about at "Latest Video" not Last Video. Comes from ze French, n'est pas? Have fun.

Jonathan Marks, January 11, 2008 at 20:29

It all looks like a mise en scene for me. Maybe I'm watching too much conspirancy teories on TV :) but I cannot believe that it "has just happened".
Mmmmmmmm.... They weren't unknown bloggers, with unknown gadgets in an unknown show in South America, were they?

Marina, January 11, 2008 at 20:51

For once I can listen to Loren and actually smile in admiration of how I agree with him, this time, on the Gizmodo saga. Looks like someone from Gizmodo won't be collecting a New Year bonus this month.

Ahmed Ibrahim, January 11, 2008 at 20:57

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Welcome to my blog. Based in San Francisco, I am an entrepreneur and a blogger. I just started my fifth startup, Seesmic, a community driven video social software. Here is what TechCrunch says about it.

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