We interrupt your programming rule

I used to have so much fun back when cell phones had IR blasters. Changing channels and messing with people before it was common knowledge that you could do that on a cell. I wish phones still had that.

Back in the day when they were actually focused on putting features into phones instead of stripping them out...
- RIP FM antennas, too.
- RIP headphone jack 🫡
Oh man my LG V20 was great for this
The Redmi line still has ir transmitters afaik
- I confirm. The kid in me made me buy it
There are still ways to do that. A friend of mine loves to mess woth Telas. He can open their charging door with a device.
Long before smartphones, Casio used to make an IR blaster watch. Nobody ever suspected the person checking the time was messing with the TV.
- When the teacher took your watch at the beginning of class it was either test time or tv cart time.
GS4 owner checking in. That was the best phone I've ever owned for the year it was...
RIP my note 4, back when the note line meant something

I loved it when my phone had IR. I really hate it when restaurants have tvs on in the dining room. I would turn the volume down or even turn it off. I really miss being able to do that.

My Galaxy S5 was great when people insisted on watching Fox or Nancy Grace at full volume on the lunch room TV.
- Could you age restrict Fox and OAN?
Most Chinese brand phones like oppo and Xiaomi still has it as standard.

I use it to control my air conditioning all the time.
- what is a good phone that has it?
I wonder if that's why phones no longer have IR blasters.
- Phones don't have IR blasters anymore for the same reason they don't have aux ports or SD card slots anymore. For one, they remove these features to make room for other things that take up the real estate of a thin slice of technology. And for two, cutting those things increases the profit margin of the phones they sell, even if only slightly.
Well that was the behavior of a jerk.
- 10/10, would turn screens off for a more enjoyable dining experience again.
I miss using my LG v20
i still have redmi note 4 with one
fully controllable with an api too
- I had that phone for like 4 months and loved it! Unfortunately the police stole it when the house I was living in was raided... it was a good phone, I spent quite lot of hours researching which to get and decided that would be the best.
I wonder if an IR dongle is a thing that's available and would function well...
- look irplus wave if you have a headphone jack
Did that in my high school. Turned on Thomas the Train.

I was a rebel. They unplugged the TV after that
- I just brought a universal remote to class, admittedly causing the TV to get unplugged as well.

I used to have a Samsung Galaxy S4, and its main gimmick was the IR blaster that also made the phone a universal remote. Great way to mess with people when I was in college at parties muting the TV or slowly making it louder over the course of a long time.

My roomie and I also had the same exact TV, which made it fun to point the remote in her room and turn it off from time to time.

S4 was peak Samsung. IR blaster, removable battery, SD card, water resistant, amoled screen that phone just had it all
- It was not water resistant, actually. I'd know. Mine was broken when I got pushed into a swimming pool. :(
I still use my s4 with LineageOS. It's on it's third battery but still going strong.
- All I want from my next phone is a headphone jack, an OLED screen, and expandable memory. User-replaceable battery would be nice.
  
  So anyway, this is a route I might seriously consider.
Great ROM support too, going to stock 4.4 KitKat when it was new was a great upgrade from TouchWiz. Can go to up Android 11 at least iirc as well.

It'd be crueler to open the VUDU app.

TV-B-Gone

Or build your own!
- Fucking, sick
- Why though, it costs the same and you don't have an ugly mess of electronics that you need to make an enclosure for.
  
  https://www.tvbgone.com/shop/tv-b-gone-keychain-remote/
Came here to post this. There's a great diy post I always wanted to make that integrated one into a hat

Such a brilliant product!

Wouldn’t this only work with a remote that’s already paired to the Roku, though?

The Roku TV remotes don't operate via Wi-Fi like remotes for the dedicated Roku boxes, instead they suck. The Roku TV ones are simple IR remotes.
- VIA WI-FI? LE Bluetooth would be much better.
- On my Roku box I believe the remote requires pairing

everyone who doesn't use roku: ???

spared from the ravages of an agent of an agent of chaos

When I was in high school in the 90s, someone started selling little keychain universal remotes and kids would occasionally bring them to school to fuck with the TV while the teacher was trying to show a video.

My parents have a rough powered device

This isn't how they work