A few issues back at m|ph, I noted how infrared devices, such as universal remote controllers, should technically be regulated because they are, after all, capable of interfering with somebody else’s device (i.e. television set).

Well, now comes proof positive that this otherwise whimsical matter should really be a cause for alarm (at least as far as my warped priorities are concerned). A company named Cornfield Electronics, Inc. has come up with a keychain device that does just one thing and one thing alone, namely turn off practically any television set that you point it at.

The aptly named TV-B-Gone universal remote does this by rapidly cycling through all the known OFF commands in its infrared database at the press of a button. Bothered by the soap opera that’s blaring at your favorite diner? Point and click and TV-be-gone! Feel like annoying the bunch of people who have stopped on their tracks to watch an ongoing basketball game at an appliance store window? Point and click and TV-be-gone! Oh, and you better be gone as well, before the crowd turns into an angry mob that lunges after you.

The TV-B-Gone comes in Asian/American and European flavors, to account for differences in regional remotes. And, according to their tongue-in-cheek website, their units have turned out to be so popular that their entire stock vanished in just two days.

Hmmm. Expect a lot of bar fights to erupt because of this.