Pogue's cheap, unexpected tech gifts #3: Score Block
The pitch came by email from the inventor himself:
David: Our new product is designed to block the TV score ticker.
It’s a strip of black, opaque static cling film (no adhesive or Velcro) that clings to your TV or computer screen. It’s handy, reusable, and can be cut to fit any size screen.
We tried the elastic strip that you reviewed last year, but it was too small for our TV, and was clunky to use. So we developed a better solution! Thanks for checking it out! We just put it on the market, and are hoping there are others, like us, who want to avoid the dreaded score ticker!
And sure enough: That is exactly what Score Block is. You get a roll of shiny, thick film that sticks to your TV when you press it. It perfectly blocks the ticker at the bottom.
Why?
Those stupid news tickers are distracting. They’re unnecessary. They presume to know your reading speed. (In Europe, they don’t actually scroll. Each headline appears, in full, at the bottom of the screen, and lingers for a few moments. That’s less annoying, and you can read at your own speed.)
When you’re watching sports that you’ve recorded on a DVR, seeing the results of other games (that you’ve also recorded) ruins the suspense of watching them later.
When you’re watching anything else, the ticker is just distracting.
The Score Block is the answer. Looks really nice—flat and black and shiny. (And no, it doesn’t fall off, as it did in my live demo above. That was my own stupidity: I didn’t detach it from the cardboard roll, whose weight dragged the whole thing down!)
So there you go: a $15 roll of cling film that does just what it says.
David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes non-toxic comments in the Comments below. On the Web, he’s davidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s @pogue. On email, he’s poguester@yahoo.com. Here’s how to get his columns by email.
