Gizmodo Goes Too Far With CES Prank

Gizmodo thought they’d be clever in that old hacker prankster way at CES. They took the TV-B-Gone clicker that will allow you to turn off a TV screen and basically shut down any screen they could find at CES. I think the laughs lasted about 10 seconds before the word got out. Can you imagine the folks responsible for those displays and the folks who supervise them trying to deal with the issue? This was decidedly not a cool thing to do, I don’t care who thought of the idea. Wonder what the Gizmodo folks would say if someone had figured out how to pull the plug on their coverage of the event?

The ramifications could ripple far beyond the prank. There are calls to ban Gizmodo from CES, and at the least I imagine they’ll get a chiller reception at a few booths next year if they are allowed in. Here’s hoping this won’t blow back on other bloggers as well, although I fear it might. The lame apology that was issued is just that lame, as they wish they could have shut down the largest screen display on the floor. Classless. Stupid. Not cool.