oh yes folks, just what you’ve always wanted. the foxblocker is a little piece of metal that screws into your coaxial cable on the back of your television (or cable box) and will block out the news channel, FOX News. this is a very interesting concept because in theory, you could start to daisy chain these together and filter out whichever stations you wanted. i think it’d be fun to see these made into “nickelodeon blockers” or something to that effect. whatever will make your little brother cry.
it’s available now for $8.95 from the official website. thanks to off the hook for informing me.
whoa nice hack if u hate fox… i love fox but hate fox news… how would that work…
I love hackaday and check it every morning. I don’t see how political comment adds to the site – all it will serve to do is alienate segments of your readership. Whether right-wing, left-wing or middle-of-the-road, I didn’t think the “f— bush” bike was appropriate but – it at least included and explained a decent hack. This entry is nothing more than an advertisement – no hacks or explanations involved. Stick with the geeky stuff – that’s what we all love and want from sites such as this. Keep up the good work.
April fools day?
Uh…isn’t this just a band pass filter? Where’s the hack?
There is no hack. Why is it on this website again?
I think you’re being a bit generous calling Fox News a news station…
It sounds like it’s just a bandpass filter, like the filters sold years ago to supposedly enable premium channels (that don’t work anymore.)
Problem is, Fox News will be on different channels in different systems. I don’t see how a single filter could work for all systems.
Only other thought is that there is some sort of signal component that is only present on Fox, that is filtered out. (Quick, tell Fox so they can remove it! :) I can’t imagine that though, not for $9.
It seems like, from the site, that you can buy a blocker for channels 2 through 72. So, in essence, it’s a whatever channel you want blocker.
I, personally, would block the weather channel. Those fricken up-wing jerks are going to ruin the country.
can it block some other kinds of foxes? such as the firefox browser, or those foxes that wail outside my house at 3 in the morning? or even that other wailing fox, jennifer lopez.
well, if you can buy blockers for any channel (2 – 72) i might look into this… but there’s no way in hell i’m buying it from that site, i’m a strong conservative and wouldn’t help this foxblocker thing. I agree though, where’s the hack to it, this is an object that hasn’t been modified from what it’s supposed to do, at the least it’s a conceptual hack.
It’s a hack in the way that it’s a clever way to go about doing something I suppose…
I think you’re a bit generous calling any “news’ station a news station. How many times is CNN going to show Michael Jackson showing up in court? I mean, who the hell cares?!?!?!
If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. Am I the only one who thinks this way?
or you could just tell your tv to delete the channel….for free. This makes two bad ‘hacks’ along with the dreamcast amp :( where’s the cool hacks?
Well, i agree with doug allen… I used to love to read this site. And if this was even some sort of hack, I could tolerate it. But this is piss-poor.
Deleting from my morning bookmarks now…
Thats awesome, however when I want to block a channel I use the parental control part of my television. My roommate still thinks that E! is still just not part of are cable programing.
Be sure and let us know when they come out with the CNN, MSNBC and CNBC versions. Those will sell like hotcakes here in the red states.
Theres goes a lot of the readership…2 days of bad stories, not even hacks.
This is as much of a hack as changing your desktop wallpaper. It gives stupid people the opportunity to feel like h4xx0rs W00t! I vote that this should be removed from the site. if not, then at least create a new section for people who have no clue how to hack (or change the channel on their tv for that matter) included with other “hacks” like; “how to get free AOL disks” and “Gator, essential computer software”.
isn’t this an old hack?
has to be april fools?
Why not just change the channel?
All media organizations have a bias, but Fox news is pointed out because it is in the minority by having a more conservative view point rather then a liberal one. If everyone is worried about bias in the news media they should also attack the BBC, CBC, MSNBC, NBC, and CNN. Oh, wait I think one of these filters is out for CNN as well but that would be as funny now would it? Nevertheless if I hated Fox that much I would save my $9 and change the channel with the remote.
April fools? Hack?
Great site, just think you need to let this
I guess that if I spend this time and space complaining about what a bad hack this is, something might change. Who care’s? One or two “bad” hacks and everything suddenly sucks on this site. Man that is sad. I guess the site manager should apologize for his mistake because you are upset about the worthiness of an entry. Next thing we will see is everyone will vote on what is posted on the sight. If you don’t like it, you can always suggest sites or different hacks. No reason I see to stop reading or visiting a site because of a “weak” entry.
lame. lame. lame.
this site *was* cool. drop this post and put up a real hack.
fox sucks…this is a perfect addition to my pvr.
I really really hate the biased news that comes out of that crapwhole of a station.
Who would want ot block Faux News? It’s almost as funny as Jon Stewart.
Is this for people too stupid to know how to use the channel selector?
…. and what part of this device is a hack one can’t help but wonder. It is another betwetting liberal media ploy. Unless of course if one is so much of a dumbf**k not to be able to change channels on their own. Some liberals in my opinion fall into this category real well, especially the genius who thought this filter can sell is a prime example to these morons who definitely needs one or maybe two per tv set in his/her home.
I thought this site was about hacks. Today’s entry isn’t even a hack but a politically influenced advertisement on a site dedicated to a hobby shared by people of diverse political viewpoints. The owner of this site can do what he wishes with it but I hope he knows that a segment of his audience feels it is being marginalized and/or being fed propaganda.
Honestly, it would be better to post nothing than to waste our time with crap like this. Besides, this is old “news” and was eviscerated on Engadget last weekend.
You know, you could moan and whine and turn this into Slashdot’s comments recently, or you could just wait for a new hack. Whining is seldom helpful to anyone.
Wait, I have a better hack, its called the I wont press the buttons on the remote to change to fox news. Btw, if utilizing your obvious political affliation was your marketing strategy, you need a new one. Good Luck.
i agree… this is a gadget and belongs over at Engadget NOT HackADay… Let’s stick to hacks please!
Didnt Engadget have this on their site last week? The mans getting lazy, if you ask me. But this would be cool if you wanted to break into a cable box and block Fox News for a couple of blocks.
I don’t know if this is a “hack” or not, but it could make an interesting prank.
Think about it, what channel do T.V.’s use to connect with cable boxes, VCR/DVDs, etc? It’s usually either channel 2 through 5. Installing one of these on someone’s T.V. could be a good prank.
As far as the “Quit putting bad hacks up” and “You put something I don’t like, so I’m not coming back to your site” commments, you don’t like it, go to another site. The only person who will lose out will be you. Information is just information. Use it how you feel like.
Ha. My Cable company puts one of these rf signal filters on the main in to anyone who doesn’t pay for HBO, making channel 14 be all filtered. Remove it and free hbo. This is nothing new, you can buy these from some cable companies themselves.
I worked for Time Warner Cable.. we use these all the time at the request of the customers. We usually carried ones to block out MTV, VH1 and BET.
I only had one lady request a ton of them… i had to daisychain 9 of them together and zip-tie them to the line.
We called them traps… if you order just Roadrunner cable modem service and not tv, you will see a trap with a purple band on it.
It just allows the high band frequencies used for Roadrunner to pass… climb the pole and remove this purple trap and you get 90-something channels for tv.
You can request a trap to block any channel (say.. BET) from Time Warner and they will install it for free.. its required by the FCC.
My god people, so what if this is not what you consider a hack, get over it. “Hack is a slang term in technology culture which has a number of meanings depending on context, including a JOKE, a progamming exploit, or a commercial software break-in” -Wikipedia. So please if you dont like a post just keep it to yorself, and hope for a “better” hack tomorrow. Like #32 said, “The only person who will lose out will be you. Information is just information.”
Geeze, the man runs this site for free. You piss and moan, but I don’t see any of you (not everyone by the by) going off to start their own hackaday style site.
I heard this thing doesn’t even work. It is just there to get the message out.
i might not like fox news myself but this is gion g too far to promote one’s agenda, if you don’t want fox news, don’t watch it. this is low and i don’t want hack-a-day becoming a anti-war/bush/fox site, you can find one easily enough. now someone just build a trebuchet or something like the solar death ray.
This is a site that I’d hoped would avoid RELIGION and POLITICS. I don’t want to have the cashier at my grocery store lecturing me about how great P.E.T.A. is. He’s got a right but it’s just not an appropriate place. If I want political commentary, I’ll seek it out myself. That said, I love this site and appreciate the time that the webmasters and readers put into it.
A tv show in the US, Boston Legal, had an episode a few weeks back where the principal of a school was using a device like this to block a TV station because it bred contempt, hatred, yadda yadda yadda. The network in question? Fox News.
Having a rough time, aren’t you Vince? Man, I know I’d hate to see 30+ negative comments like that. Okay, so you haven’t had the best debut, but I *do* like your writing style. You’ll probably have better luck soon, so don’t get discouraged or anything.
In response to concerns that this post is politically biased–I don’t think that’s true. I’m guessing that Vince hadn’t heard of these cable traps before (I hadn’t), and thought that it was a cool idea. To me, those sorts of allegations are kinda dumb. I mean, even though I’m not a liberal I still like Doonesbury because Trudeau writes funny… Now, if the hack a day post said, “YEAH! Screw those conservative assholes!”, then I could see it. :P
just to second what the other time warner tech said – these are traps. ever since the Janet Jackson half-time overblown nonsense, the FCC has required that cable providers have the ability to block all channels individually if the customer requests it. I have never had it come up in any of my jobs. They have to be specially req’ed out from the warehouse, and last time I was in there had a thickening layer of dust on them.
If anyone wants to really make a point about Fox, start requesting the trap from the cable company. Buying them from the guy selling them doesn’t send much of a message, but if your cable provider has to start rolling trucks for requests for the trap from customers, that’s something else entirely.
Allright, I think there are some misunderstandings here and I’d like to clear them up:
#1. This is not by any means political related, at least to me. I did this because I thought it was pretty cool that somebody had came up with the idea of this, and on top of it, it was getting some good attention. If this were for CNN, The Food Network, or for MTV, I would have done the same review. So please, no politics involved people. Thanks Joshua, Paul, JimmyS and others for understanding and I hope you can see that I was doing this purely for it’s hacking purposes. The work “hack” can be attributed to this in many ways, but if you guys prefer more technical stuff, then I’ll try some more of that. However I do appreciate everyones comments and feedback and I’d like you to know that.
#2. I’m sorry you guys aren’t so big on this. I’m new and working as best I can with Jason. You guys liked the Linux/Zipit howto a lot, so I’m going to go for things more like that…and I’m sure that tomorrow’s post will be one that will please you.
So I hope that clears things up. One should know that this site is not about politics nor religion nor PETA or even Carrots. Especially the carrots. I’m glad you all can understand and hope you look forward to even more hackaday content now that it’s 2 of us working on articles.
Thank you.
-Vince Veneziani
did someone say “The Food Network”!
It’s april 1st !! and all i can think of
is http://www.turnofftheinternet.com
only works with ie tho
any one got any good ideas ?
Vince-
Just saw your site in the logs and looked in.
Wow, what a lot of strong feelings!
All those folks grousing about your mention of the foxblocker… to repeat a question we hear a lot: “why don’t they just not look at it?”
Well, to grouse is human, that’s why, and as humans we seek to change our environment, rather than let our environment change us.
“Beware our crooked thumbs!”
You’ve weathered the storm well, Vince, and avoided the angy mob.
Congrats, and thanks for noticing our site.
Now NEVER MENTION IT AGAIN, it isn’t funny!
For those of you who don’t think it’s hacking check out this link:
http://foxblocker.com/CMS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=46
So, this things blocks fox, yes?
But will it block Fox?
does it block Socks?
how about Box?
or maybe Knox?
Knox in box.
Fox in socks.
Knox on fox in socks in box.
Socks on Knox and Knox in box.
Fox in socks on box on Knox.
Chicks with bricks come.
Chicks with blocks come.
Chicks with bricks and blocks and clocks come.
Look, sir. Look, sir. Mr. Knox, sir.
Let’s do tricks with bricks and blocks, sir.
Let’s do tricks with chicks and clocks, sir.
First, I’ll make a quick trick brick stack.
Then I’ll make a quick trick block stack.
You can make a quick trick chick stack.
You can make a quick trick clock stack.
And here’s a new trick, Mr. Knox….
Socks on chicks and chicks on fox.
Fox on clocks on bricks and blocks.
Bricks and blocks on Knox on box.
Now we come to ticks and tocks, sir.
Try to say this Mr. Knox, sir….
Clocks on fox tick.
Clocks on Knox tock.
Six sick bricks tick.
Six sick chicks tock.
Please, sir. I don’t like this trick, sir.
My tongue isn’t quick or slick, sir.
I get all those ticks and clocks, sir,
mixed up with the chicks and tocks, sir.
I can’t do it, Mr. Fox, sir.
I’m so sorry, Mr. Knox, sir.
Here’s an easy game to play.
Here’s an easy thing to say….
New socks.
Two socks.
Whose socks?
Sue’s socks.
Who sews whose socks?
Sue sews Sue’s socks.
Who sees who sew whose new socks, sir?
You see Sue sew Sue’s new socks, sir.
That’s not easy, Mr. Fox, sir.
Who comes? …
Crow comes.
Slow Joe Crow comes.
Who sews crow’s clothes?
Sue sews crow’s clothes.
Slow Joe Crow sews whose clothes?
Sue’s clothes.
Sue sews socks of fox in socks now.
Slow Joe Crow sews Knox in box now.
Sue sews rose on Slow Joe Crow’s clothes.
Fox sews hose on Slow Joe Crow’s nose.
Hose goes.
Rose grows.
Nose hose goes some.
Crow’s rose grows some.
Mr. Fox!
I hate this game, sir.
This game makes my tongue quite lame, sir.
Mr. Knox, sir, what a shame, sir.
We’ll find something new to do now.
Here is lots of new blue goo now.
New goo. Blue goo.
Gooey. Gooey.
Blue goo. New goo.
Gluey. Gluey.
Gooey goo for chewy chewing!
That’s what that Goo-Goose is doing.
Do you choose to chew goo, too, sir?
If, sir, you, sir, choose to chew, sir,
with the Goo-Goose, chew, sir.
Do, sir.
Mr. Fox, sir,
I won’t do it.
I can’t say.
I won’t chew it.
Very well, sir.
Step this way.
We’ll find another game to play.
Bim comes.
Ben comes.
Bim brings Ben broom.
Ben brings Bim broom.
Ben bends Bim’s broom.
Bim bends Ben’s broom.
Bim’s bends.
Ben’s bends.
Ben’s bent broom breaks.
Bim’s bent broom breaks.
Ben’s band. Bim’s band.
Big bands. Pig bands.
Bim and Ben lead bands with brooms.
Ben’s band bangs and Bim’s band booms.
Pig band! Boom band!
Big band! Broom band!
My poor mouth can’t say that. No, sir.
My poor mouth is much too slow, sir.
Well then… bring your mouth this way.
I’ll find it something it can say.
Luke Luck likes lakes.
Luke’s duck likes lakes.
Luke Luck licks lakes.
Luck’s duck licks lakes.
Duck takes licks in lakes Luke Luck likes.
Luke Luck takes licks in lakes duck likes.
I can’t blab such blibber blubber!
My tongue isn’t make of rubber.
Mr. Knox. Now come now. Come now.
You don’t have to be so dumb now….
Try to say this, Mr. Knox, please….
Through three cheese trees three free fleas flew.
While these fleas flew, freezy breeze blew.
Freezy breeze made these three trees freeze.
Freezy trees made these trees’ cheese freeze.
That’s what made these three free fleas sneeze.
Stop it! Stop it!
That’s enough, sir.
I can’t say such silly stuff, sir.
Very well, then, Mr. Knox, sir.
Let’s have a little talk about tweetle beetles….
What do you know about tweetle beetles? Well…
When tweetle beetles fight,
it’s called a tweetle beetle battle.
And when they battle in a puddle,
it’s a tweetle beetle puddle battle.
AND when tweetle beetles battle with paddles in a puddle,
they call it a tweetle beetle puddle paddle battle.
AND…
When beetles battle beetles in a puddle paddle battle
and the beetle battle puddle is a puddle in a bottle…
…they call this a tweetle beetle bottle puddle paddle battle muddle.
AND…
When beetles fight these battles in a bottle with their paddles
and the bottle’s on a poodle and the poodle’s eating noodles…
…they call this a muddle puddle tweetle poodle beetle noodle
bottle paddle battle.
AND…
Now wait a minute, Mr. Socks Fox!
When a fox is in the bottle where the tweetle beetles battle
with their paddles in a puddle on a noodle-eating poodle,
THIS is what they call…
…a tweetle beetle noodle poodle bottled paddled
muddled duddled fuddled wuddled fox in socks, sir!
Fox in socks, our game is done, sir.
Thank you for a lot of fun, sir.