Gizmodo prank earns lifetime ban from CES
Mikey 12 comments
During last weeks annual CES events, popular tech site Gizmodo naturally sent someone along to do some reporting. While there however, someone thought it would be funny to play a prank on the people who were giving presentations aided by LCD screens.
A Gismodo staffer took along a TV-B Gone clicker (a device that enables you to switch off any screen that has an infra-red receiver), and went around shutting off monitors while some very important presentations were taking place, leaving the red faced presenter at a loss to explain why they were experiencing such technical difficulties.
I have to say when I read the Gizmodo past last week I was disgusted to learn they were actually bragging about the disruptions they caused. They were even dumb enough to video the incident and post it on their web site. For the record I reckon it did come across as juvenile.
Well now it seems those loose lips have got them in hot water, and the Gizmodo staff member has now been banned from all future CES events.
Jason
Sunday 13th January 2008 | 04:34 PMJackasses. The difference between sites like Cnet (professionals) and Gizmodo (immature juveniles) has been clearly demonstrated now. Hey Gizmodo - would you be laughing if it was your presentation interrupted by some pranksters from Sony or whoever? There's a time and place for pranking and the most important technical event of the year is not one of them.
Golly
Sunday 13th January 2008 | 06:56 PMNot really, its Gilly
What! You cant see the funny side to that.
I can.
If it was the Chasers, it'd be gold. Some people are way to serious?
Jason
Sunday 13th January 2008 | 08:57 PMCES is an annual opportunity for businesses to pimp their new wares - software, hardware, consoles, phones, just about any tech device you can think of, and LCD screens of course. Panasonic's 150" was awesome. Investors base a lot of what they see in the presentations, so when some jackass starts interrupting the presentations of people who are trying to impress potential multimillion dollar investors etc then they need to grow up. In business a bad presentation can be a turning point in your company future, even something as trivial as a technical glitch.
Betcha left nut if I went and hacked Gizmodo's site and took it offline the people who pay thousands to advertise on their site would be pissed at loosing the exposure. And if I bought the site back online later and told them it was a prank, ya reckon they would be laughing?
Gilly
Sunday 13th January 2008 | 09:24 PMBetcha they have never gotten as much exposure as they have now,
and everybody will remember it.
Mark
Monday 14th January 2008 | 12:10 AMAll good points, incl Gilly. Gizmodo? Oh yea they pranked CES. A suicide pranker. Him/her and Giz will both get publicity. Not cred, but traffic nonetheless.
Franken
Monday 14th January 2008 | 07:45 PMThis guy says it nicely
"A lot of people view bloggers as amateurish and unprofessional when compared to real journalists and its garbage like this that gives them that impression."
http://www.ripten.com/2008/01/13/gizmoron-runs-amok-at-ces/
andrew
Monday 14th January 2008 | 11:12 PMwhy do idiots video tape themselves when they know they are likely to get caught?
Ben
Tuesday 15th January 2008 | 03:04 AMOnce or twice is funny, but they are screwing with potentially millions of dollars of equipment and sales. They deserved the ban.
Gong
Tuesday 15th January 2008 | 10:27 PMIts like what you see Americans do on tv. But this time its some adult working for a known company. You'd think they'd be a little more professional.
Johnson
Wednesday 16th January 2008 | 08:32 AMThis years CES was the first that bloggers were actually allowed in. Previously it has been professional journalists only. Gizmodo abused that privilege and deserve the punishment.
Gizmodo stil reckon they did nothing wrong
http://gizmodo.com/344447/giz-banned-for-life-and-loving-it-on-pranks-and-civil-disobedience-at-ces
Klinger
Sunday 13th January 2008 | 12:37 PMThey earned that ban fair and square I say. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. Reporting on shows like CES are bread and butter for companies like Gizmodo because they provide endless material for them to write about so they shouldn't have pranked them. Dumbasses.