Comments on: Arduino device mutes uninteresting celebrities on TV

By: Charles Parsons

Charles Parsons — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 01:14:00 +0000

Remember the TED Talk a while back about “information bubbles” and how sites like Google would edit your searches to remove things you weren’t interested in? Wouldn’t this be another (albeit, self-inflicted) example of an information bubble? Maybe we should just make Reddit-style Up/Down vote buttons for programming… At least then it would be an inclusive thing.

By: ocatagon

ocatagon — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:29:00 +0000

My remote has a button that fixes this problem. It’s called the on/off switch. I only turn it on when I’m ready to stream Netflix.

The only way to fix the problem is to stop watching TV altogether. Go live your life instead.

By: CognitiveDissident

CognitiveDissident — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 06:20:00 +0000

Interesting.
Could you use this technology to create a “video/audio” mute?
(When you press the mute button, not only does the audio mute, the video shrinks down to a user-definable size on the screen. You could adjust the size to be just big enough to allow you to recognize when the show has resumed, so that you don’t have to watch a full screen of obnoxious advertising.)

By: David Dasinger

David Dasinger — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 02:17:00 +0000

Seriously, unplug that shit. You’re still voting for it by being tuned in.

By: otikik

otikik — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 22:28:00 +0000

I use internet. I don’t watch any tv any more. I recommend you to do the same.

Stay informed, stay mentally fit.

By: vonskippy

vonskippy — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 22:27:00 +0000

Way simpler solution, just get rid of your tv, after the addiction wears off, whats left of your brain will thank you.

By: clover

clover — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 21:57:00 +0000

Great idea, but my remote has a button for that. It changes the channel.

By: UncaScrooge

UncaScrooge — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 21:33:00 +0000

As television commercials are broadcast with something called “color burst” and feature audio with all dynamic range hammered out, I’m sure someone can make an Arduino box that would auto-mute all commercials. Hell, I bet they could make your DVR auto-skip the commercials (instead of the appreciated, but inadequate, 30-second advance button allowed by the broadcasters now).

By: csforstall

csforstall — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 21:32:00 +0000

So, are you advocating censorship?

By: License Farm

License Farm — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 20:33:00 +0000

If you program in Oprah, the TV would just turn off, NEVER TO TURN ON AGAIN.

By: webmonkees

webmonkees — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:45:00 +0000

I picked up an old device for tvs that would read the closed captioning and mute the sound if naughty words were mentioned. Endorsed by Mary Lou Retton, she happily sits around the censored tv with her family. Bonus: The instruction manual, as, well.. you have to list the words. I wanted to hack it, but hey, this is easier.

By: nootropic design

nootropic design — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:26:00 +0000

Er, how about me? I invented the device…!

By: nootropic design

nootropic design — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:26:00 +0000

> Matt Richardson will go down as one of the major benefactors of humanity.

Er, how about me? I invented the device…!

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:23:00 +0000

Get it on the market by December and my xmas shopping is easy.

By: Lynda Gutierrez

Lynda Gutierrez — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:13:00 +0000

As has been said above, I don’t see it because I don’t watch anything on TV that would ever refer to a celebrity (unless tortured by it in places I can’t control, or leave (e.g., doctor, car repair place, jury duty — a half hour of morning TV is enough to turn the brain to silly putty!) Just say no!

By: lexpattison

lexpattison — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:09:00 +0000

Definitively would love to see this type of home-brew target commercials as well. Since there are no individual signatures for commercial CC, you would probably require some library of known commercial CC to reference quickly – but even if it was to lower the volume – fantastic.

By: kktkkr

kktkkr — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 18:21:00 +0000

I would add Google’s automatic-transcription service to the mix, since it’s
notorious on Youtube for messing up on perfectly normal speech. Supplement annoying speeches with ridiculous captions!

By: Eddie Perkins

Eddie Perkins — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:58:00 +0000

I wish we all had one of these and I wish every mute was reported (without personal identification information) to the networks. Maybe when they see so many people muting their crap they’d broadcast less crap to begin with.

By: John Poe

John Poe — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:45:00 +0000

It would be better if it could be hooked up to a PVR and do on the fly assembly edits; i.e. stop when a celebrity story is mentioned and then restart the recording when a new story has begun, using the cache feature of the pvr to go back 10 seconds into the new story so you don’t miss the start. Like a voice-activated recorder but reversed.
I wonder how his honey badger is doing.

By: Hopeful_Greis

Hopeful_Greis — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:29:00 +0000

Apart from Al-Jazeera, I know of no news outlet that does not routinely babble about insanely irrelevant morons, be they the Hollywood, political, religious or the increasingly typical hybrid type. This is genius and should be standard issue on all new TVs and any streaming media devices that send the same info.

By: martin shannon

martin shannon — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:22:00 +0000

I’m sure you could tweek that to bring drinking games into the 21st century.

By: scifijazznik

scifijazznik — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:15:00 +0000

As a closed captioner for the hearing impaired (though my work is mostly consumed by gym rats and bar flies) I approve of this. There are few things more annoying to caption than celebrity news.

By: Nick Bensema

Nick Bensema — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:03:00 +0000

I generally don’t watch entertainment news anymore, so I’m not inundated with celebrity crap. And I suspect the people who claim to be “sick of” hearing about a certain celebrity, actually secretly crave that very gossip. So nobody will use it.

Still, pretty good idea.

By: semiotix

semiotix — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:00:00 +0000

2010: “Who’s Khloe Kardashian? See, I wouldn’t know, because I don’t even OWN a TV.”
2011: this
2012: the Arduino revolution begins
2019: “You’re mad that your sentient toaster is using your credit card number to order pornographic comic books from eBay? See, I wouldn’t know, because I don’t even OWN an Arduino.”

By: Ric Johnson

Ric Johnson — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:51:00 +0000

TV-B-Silent?

By: hassenpfeffer

hassenpfeffer — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:48:00 +0000

I assume the blacklist can include politicians as well as celebrities? If so, I agree with Toffer99.

By: Toffer99

Toffer99 — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:39:00 +0000

Matt Richardson will go down as one of the major benefactors of humanity.

By: Marco Dahms

Marco Dahms — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:33:00 +0000

Adblock Plus… rofl

By: sisyphus321

sisyphus321 — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:28:00 +0000

Awesome! Now how do we hack these into public TVs?