Honea Express

The good folks at Hopscotch Technology contacted me about testing out a new product called Bob. As you know, I am a whore for free stuff, so I said Sure!

They sent it quickly via UPS, who in turn delivered it quickly to the front porch of my neighbor- my neighbor that had moved. The box sat there for a week before I went to scavenge investigate.

I have it now, so let me tell you about it.

Bob is a little device that you can plug a television or computer or video game into that will then regulate the time that item is in use. You can set up 6 different users and tell Bob when they can watch TV or play the video game and so on. When that time is up, the game is over. Bob turns it off.

You can set up times that the TV can’t be watched. You can assign a set amount of time per day or week that something can be used. It’s pretty cool. In fact it was voted the ‘Invention of the Year’ by the Davinci Institute, it says so right on the box.

Each user gets a PIN number to access their time on the alloted whatever. This allows the kids to feel like they have some say in the matter, which as we all know, they don’t. When the time is about to elapse a countdown appears to alert the viewer. This then causes screams from said viewer about not wanting the TV to turn off. Unfortunately there is not a volume control on Bob or the soon to be ex-viewer.

Bob’s motto is Less TV = More Childhood. I can get behind that.

The downside, for me anyway, is that I need my kids to watch an unhealthy amount of television so I can get my work done. When Bob turns it off I am then forced to improvise and interact with them. This means I have to work late into the night and can’t watch Heroes until midnight on the DVR. I make sacrifices.

Bob claims to work on any electronic device, which for me means hours of mischief and fun. I have big plans to regulate the use of the toaster and set my wife’s hairdryer to be blocked before 8am. I like to think outside the box, or Bob as the case may be.

Would you like a Bob of your very own? Hopscotch has agreed to provide one (that’s a $90 retail value!) to the reader of my choice. Since there are two of you I must admit I’m torn. This is where the contest comes into play. Leave a comment with the reason you should be the proud owner of Bob, and the best one, as judged by me, (send bribes directly to email) will win! Easy-peasy!

*Contest ends Friday!