Mike
Mike
Jeremiah
I imagine Richard Blakeley's new blog Boinkology has a large number of hits today! It's too bad Gizmodo had to trash their own reputation amongst their professional peers just to drive hits to their buddies website.
Ode
Whoops, didn't see this one down here.
cookiecups
Nah, their rep is probably still intact -- it is funny stuff. They're just reporting on it, really ;) They didn't DO it.
Jeremiah
According to the title of the article and all of the information within the article, they are claiming responsibility and they they did "do" it.
I agree, it is funny, but that doesn't necessarily excuse it.
cookiecups
Ah, sure it does. Whatever. They turned off a couple of TVs. I was much more entertained by that than anything I saw them actually turning off...
Jeremiah
Which is all fine and good for you and I as outside observers, however if we had invested a significant amount of time and money into showing our product there and someone disrupted our presentation, potentially causing us to lose investor interest, I think you would probably have a slightly different perspective.
So yeah, as someone completely unaffected by it, I agree with you that it is funny stuff.
cookiecups
Nah, I think if someone was gonna invest, but then OMG the tv turned off for 10 seconds? Eff that. I really do hope that isn't how actual money gets spent.
TheAngryHeretic
I find it hillarius. People take some things way too seriously. Now, if they went around crashing people's computers, then we would have a problem. But if it is just turning displays off for a few seconds, it's funny.
michel
Obviously, a lot of people are talking about this around the web... First link is Seth Godin's blog. His take on it:
"Sorry, guys, but this is just like shoplifting or spam or breaking windows. It's not 'no big deal', it's a very big deal. Here's why:
First, in a society where we make concepts, services and ideas as opposed to stuff, breaking that process is identical to breaking the stuff was back then. In other words, it's vandalism."
This is Ethan Kaplan's take on it (I think I'm one of the 7 people who read his blog... I really like that guy).
"grow up people. honestly. CES is a big old circle jerk wankfest in the need of some fine insurrection tactical media artwork. which this was. well played. The only thing more fun would have been if somehow one could make a really tiny HDMI signal generator and slip that into the ports on screens. Now that’d be funny. What this does remind me of too is my young days (about 11 or 10) when I would uh, alter the IBM PS1’s and Packard Bell’s at Sears. fdisk? anyone? In all seriousness though, fucking with presentations while funny probably sucked for those people. But come on, who at CES never wanted to fuck with the dancers and pitchmen?"
Vidguy
I don't have a problem with turning off a video wall for a few seconds or shutting down some background TV during Fatal1ty's game. No big deal, no real disruption.
Hell, even for a few seconds during a big presentation on stage....but do do it repeatedly and really disrupting a presentation that may have potential investors in the crowd is really unscrupulous and makes me lean more toward Seth Godin's take than Ethan Kaplan's.
It's especially bad since the guys who did this work for a site that makes a living off of getting scoops from these very same techy companies that they publicly mocked and ridiculed. If I were Gawker media, I'd be upset. If I were Motorola, I don't think I'd be giving Gizmodo any products or scoops for quite some time.
michel
The part that I find sad is that it's not true that everyone who has to speak at CES or other trade shows feels comfortable with public speaking. In fact, quite often, it's the part of their job that they hate the most but they realize that they have to do it anyways because they're in a competitive job landscape and they don't want to be seen as weak or be seen as not able/willing to do it all.
So it takes them a lot of will, strength and energy to prepare and perhaps even a couple pills to take the steps necessary to get in front of the crowd, get going, get into a groove and start feeling a bit more comfortable.
And then some asshole turns off the TVs.
That's when the joke is not on the event (CES) anymore, or the product but really on the person who was in the middle of doing their thing, as best as they can. They're now sweating and hoping someone with a sniper rifle on their head is going to pull the trigger to take them out of their misery.
cookiecups
Granted, maybe turning off the TV more than once was a bit rude to any particular presentation, but when a prank like this is elevated to the point that it is called vandalism? Hardly -- there are things those cats could've done that were actually damaging. I'm actually impressed that tech has given us ways to do this sort of "rubber bullet" damage. Overreacting to it just makes everyone involved into bigger wimps than they already are.
Jeremiah
Du2andal
Wow, that looks like the most fun you can have this side of a cell phone jammer. Seriously though, why bust it out at CES when people's jobs are quite possibly riding on these presentations? Could they have filmed themselves turning everything off at a Best Buy?
michel
The first "sanctions" is rolling in... Banning the guy is risible. We'll see if they throw a lawsuit in the mix...
"We have been informed of inappropriate behavior on the show floor by a credentialed media attendee from the Web site Gizmodo, owned by Gawker Media. Specifically, the Gizmodo staffer interfered with the exhibitor booth operations of numerous companies, including disrupting at least one press event. The Gizmodo staffer violated the terms of CES media credentials and caused harm to CES exhibitors. This Gizmodo staffer has been identified and will be barred from attending any future CES events. Additional sanctions against Gizmodo and Gawker Media are under discussion."
cookiecups
Oh man, well, I still say worth it. QQ CES! Cry more n00b!
Vidguy
While Brian does pose some very interesting arguments about independent reporting, I don't think it should be used as justification for what his editor did.
Well thought out though.
Jeremiah
michel
Fake Steve Jobs on blasting TVs at MacWorld:
"I will address Brian's essay below but before I do I just want to send out this warning to Gizmodo and anyone else who might be thinking about blasting out TV screens at Macworld: Think twice, losers. Because we will not be banning you from our show. We'll be fucking tasering you right there on the floor. Then, when you're lying there on the floor in shock, we'll carry you off the floor and put you on a plane and rendition your ass to someplace so awful you'll be praying for death. I mean it."
cookiecups
Hahaha - that's hilarious. Go Fake Steve Jobs!
PaT2090
reverendericd
Luigi8922
Awesome prank. Now i'm gonna have to try this out.
