The first “Anal Leakage” Award goes to Royal Philips Electronics
Since this is the first award we are giving out, a little explanation about the Anal Leakage Award is in order.
This award has been created for technologies that are sufficiently frustrating, obnoxious, or evil that we would all really prefer that the inventors had “puckered up” and kept it to themselves. It is named in honor of a certain undigestible fat used in many diet foods.
This particular award goes to Royal Philips Electronics. A recent New York Times article (May 7, 2006) entitled Someone Has to Pay for TV. But Who? And How? by Randall Stross describes a recent patent filing by RPE for a TV remote control which will lock the channel during commercials. And there is apparently a companion design concept for a video recorder which will not allow the user to fast forward through commercials.
This is a really brilliant use of technology and I am sure the engineers responsible for designing these devices are truly proud of their work. But, really, why stop there? Why not patent a device which locks the refrigerator during the commercials?… Or heck, how about the bathroom?
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