[drewprops]

A few days ago I ran across some funny video of a prank that somebody did at this year's CES..... they took a universal remote control and went around shutting down vendors' monitors during presentations. I mean, they shut down a shitload of monitors!! It was funny, and it was a totally legitimate hack, from a hacker's point of view. It's a vulnerability that the vendors should have considered from the beginning... I mean, I'VE taken my fun little keychain remote with ME to bars and changed channels when I want to watch something different. It's up to YOU to safeguard your devices.... or so goes the logic when you have one of these things in your hand.

Anyway, until this morning I didn't realize who was responsible for this funny video. It was a staffer with Gizmodo who was at CES as a representative blogger for that techgear website. The CES has banned him from future shows and may take punitive measures against Gizmodo. They're calling this thing "Gizmodogate" and it's a tempest in a teapot and will soon enough pass safely into the land of "tech industry legend".

It's still damned funny.

[jdcfsu]

It's funny but it's stupid at the same time. While it probably won't affect anything, CES and other conventions will think twice before issuing credentials to bloggers from now on.

[torifile]

That's ridiculous and child-like. Gizmodo could (should) be facing some monetary penalties from the companies who were trying to show off their wares. It's not like putting up a CES booth is cheap. Talk about unprofessional.

[turtle]

I think it was funny in a high school prank kind of way. Should the vendors have taken safeguards against this, maybe not since they shouldn't expect something like this to happen.

Sad news for bloggers though.

I still see the humor in the event.

[kieran]

I thought it was funny as well.

I mean, all of these TVs there? It was a golden opportunity for something like this.

I guess they'll try and disable the IR for all of the TVs that they bring in next year.

It does stink that it came from a major online news site. Vendors will probably treat this a lot differently than if it was just a random person.

[Banana]

One wonder if it was a *cough* journalist *cough from a major news outlet doing the same thing as a blog staff did, would there be even an outcry?

[torifile]

Originally Posted by Banana One wonder if it was a *cough* journalist *cough from a major news outlet doing the same thing as a blog staff did, would there be even an outcry?

It wouldn't happen. I mean a journalist would probably realize that a prank like this is unprofessional. I have no inherent dislike for bloggers - I get much of my news through blogs - but someone who goes to school to become a journalist and gets to cover the premier event in consumer electronics would know better. And if they didn't, they'd be removed promptly.

[drewprops]

Well there's a note out there on one of the websites suggesting that Mac vendors at Macworld disable the IR port on their machines or "pair" the machine with a remote to circumvent copycats.

It's okay for it to be hysterical and wrong at the same time... gives your brain a workout.


.

[psmith2.0]

Yeah, that's not cool. This idiot will single-handedly make it tough for others like him to get in (even if they've got nothing silly planned). I appreciate a good joke and prank as much as anyone, but I don't know. You're kinda messing with people's professional presentations and "big moment" here, and it just struck me as juvenile and more out of the "Jackass"/"Punk'd" school of behavior (which I can't stand).

In any case, I think some sort of payback on the Gizmodo offices (if they even have any, and it's not someone's stepmom's basement) isn't out of the question...see how they like it.

If this guy's actions result in the attendance qualifications for CES* being tightened or altered in any real way, most folks will probably stop laughing and seek to throw a beating on this hammerhead.

I guess what I'm trying to say is "grow up"...we can't all be Ashton Kutcher.







* I'm not hip to all the CES jive...is this an "open to the public" type of expo, or is it more like the NAMM show in that you have to be in the music industry - retail, manufacturing, journalist, artist, publishing, etc. - to get in the door?

[Kickaha]

I'm pretty damned mad about it, actually. I mean come on guys... you're professionals, supposedly. You're supposed to be leading the pack! You're supposed to be... oh wait they did. Just not the pack folks expected.

Actually, I'm just pissed I didn't think of it first. *GEEEEEEEENIUS*!

Okay, so I wouldn't have punkd the guy on stage doing his demo during a specific timeslot. That was just mean... but the booth demos? Heh heh heh.

[Eugene]

Originally Posted by Kickaha I'm pretty damned mad about it, actually. I mean come on guys... you're professionals, supposedly. You're supposed to be leading the pack! You're supposed to be... oh wait they did. Just not the pack folks expected.

Gizmodo has never ever been professional...that's partially why Rojas left and created Engadget. Plus poster-boy Brian Lam is far more annoying than Ryan Block.

[Fahrenheit]

I think it was a stupid prank, since these stand holders are paying thousands of dollars to get a place, and then they are giving a presentation to potential markets, which could be worth big money, and the screen in the background turns off. How professional does that look? The people who are standing around are instantly going to have a bad impression of the product, especially if it is one that also sells TVs!

[Banana]

Originally Posted by torifile It wouldn't happen.

Considering that major news outlet has had news that were covered under false pretenses, from anonymous sources, undercover and whatnots, I don't think we can exactly guarantee that they're above such thing. The code of ethics for journalist is really a piece of toilet paper.

And I do think that if it was a reporter from Fox News who did it, Fox News would be trumpeting over vendors' gross negligence and decadence and therefore are not worth your money then later issue an meek apology as a footnote to the ensuing uproar.

Or maybe I'm just too cynical.

[psmith2.0]

Exactly. You're truly monkeying with people's business and livelihood. Not cool, when you step back and look at it from that angle. I know I'd be a little pissed if I'm the one in the middle of a big demo or presentation and everything goes to hell, and then I find out it was some pisspot blogger dork "pulling a prank" (and not a legitimate electrical/power glitch).

I'm big on the whole "there's a time and a place for everything" deal, I guess. I'm not so hard-up for yuk-yuks or entertainment that I feel the need to submarine others at the worst possible time.

[ghoti]

I agree that as a prank it's annoying, but entire walls of TVs going dark was quite impressive. This would have made a neat art project, to protest the omnipresence of TV and how it makes us all into consumer whores. But as a prank for an annoying website, it's rather lame.

[tomoe]

Would one expect anything less from an outfit under Nick Denton's Gawker Media empire (Gizmodo's parent)? Probably not if you look at their other blogs.

As a presenter, I would have been frustrated. Were I in the audience, I would have found it funny.

[Bryson]

The crux of the matter was that they were doing it during presentations, (Motorolas, for example) not just to the booths on the show floor. That's what makes it such a problem.

[Robo]

Has anyone read Gizmodo's defense article? The headline is "Giz banned for life and loving it: On pranks and civil disobedience at CES." The article picture is of Big Brother from 1984. Ooh, wow. So everybody who disagrees with their "civil disobedience" is siding with Big Brother?

Originally Posted by the article A Gizmodo writer has been banned from CES for a prank. But when I see some fellow press damning us for the joke, I feel sorry for them: When did journalists become the protectors of corporations? When did this industry, defined by pranksters like Woz, get so serious and in-the-pocket of big business? This is totally pathetic.

Again, everyone who objected to the prank are now "protectors of corporations" "in-the-pocket of big business." Wow.

Giz, this industry got serious and in-the-pocket of big business when it became big business. CES isn't just a bunch of geeks getting together to show off their computers and have a good laugh. Companies spend a lot of real money preparing for the show, and they do so to try and sell a product. Like, say, the TVs that you're turning off.

I thought the original video clip was vaguely humorous (although the part with the Moto rep was way over the line), even though it's something a high schooler who snuck into CES would do, not a member of the online media who's vying for credibility. But their "defense" of it somehow pisses me off even more. "If you don't like our immature pranks, you're in the pocket of big business!" With bias like that, why should I read Gizmodo?

[curiousuburb]

<obligatory>

We Get Signal.

Main Screen Turn On! Off! On! Off!

All your monitors are belong to us!

Hahaha. You have no chance.

</obligatory>

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by Roboman Has anyone read Gizmodo's defense article? The headline is "Giz banned for life and loving it: On pranks and civil disobedience at CES." The article picture is of Big Brother from 1984. Ooh, wow. So everybody who disagrees with their "civil disobedience" is siding with Big Brother? ... Again, everyone who objected to the prank are now "protectors of corporations" "in-the-pocket of big business." Wow. Giz, this industry got serious and in-the-pocket of big business when it became big business. CES isn't just a bunch of geeks getting together to show off their computers and have a good laugh. Companies spend a lot of real money preparing for the show, and they do so to try and sell a product. Like, say, the TVs that you're turning off. I thought the original video clip was vaguely humorous (although the part with the Moto rep was way over the line), even though it's something a high schooler who snuck into CES would do, not a member of the online media who's vying for credibility. But their "defense" of it somehow pisses me off even more. "If you don't like our immature pranks, you're in the pocket of big business!" With bias like that, why should I read Gizmodo?

Exactly. They're puds. Immature, nothing-better-to-do-with-their-time ones, at that.

Again, let's see them display the same sort of free-wheeling, "everyone's too serious!" attitude if someone got in - as a prank - and monkeyed up their website or servers, or otherwise caused them some hassle and downtime. I seriously doubt they'd be so "up with pranksters!" about it all.



They'd be bitching and whining as much as anyone would.

[Kickaha]

Originally Posted by Bryson The crux of the matter was that they were doing it during presentations, (Motorolas, for example) not just to the booths on the show floor. That's what makes it such a problem.

Agreed. I thought the bank-blanking (tm me!) was genius, and a hoot. If they had left it at that, I would have just laughed myself silly and doffed a hat to them.

But pranking a guy doing a live presentation? Lame. Really, really lame.

[thegelding]

ha, the next virus that kills their site for a day won't seem like a prank...

i agree that the display booths is a nice little prank, but if i spent 3 weeks getting a perfect keynote presentation going and they fucked with my show i would take their remote and place it some place "uncomfortable"

civil disobedience?? that comment is just insulting to the people who have been jailed and beaten and even killed to actually fight against oppression....yeah, everyone is sooooo oppressed at freakin CES conventions....

gah

g

[Taskiss]

If you go around turning off the displays people will think you don't want to see what they're presenting...

...so you won't get invited back.

Duh.