Critics have said that our society lives in a media echo chamber. That, more and more, people are tuning out what they don’t want to hear and listening only to things they like or agree with. The Enough Already, from Make’s Matt Richardson, challenges this notion since, how can there be echoes in blissful silence? Using open-source code and hardware, Ricahrdson crafted a device that automatically mutes the television whenever it detects pre-defined phrases
Once plugged into your cable box, the Enough Already sifts through the embedded closed-captioning data. Once it hits on names, or phrases, that you don’t care to hear, it mutes the television for 30 seconds. While muted, it continues to monitor the stream of words and will reset the 30 second counter each time it detects an offending phrase, ensuring that your delicate ears remain unmolested. If you’re curious, the code is available online.
As cool as this is, I have an alternative solution: Blow up your TV. Video of the Enough Already in action, and an enlightening explanation on how it works, below.
(via Laughing Squid)
