Along with such devices as TV Allowance ($99) and TV Manager ($50), which were launched last year and also restrict TV viewing but without the personalized card system, TimeSlot is among the cheapest things in child care since illegal babysitters. For $129.95, you get four “kid cards” and one parent card. Swipe the parent card through TimeSlot to activate it. Then swipe a child card through; push one button to add time to that card, another to subtract (if Junior crayons the walls). You can allot up to 90 hours, to teach the kids to budget their allotted TV watching. Only after a card has its allowance can it turn on the set. You can also program cards so they’ll activate the TV only between, say 4 and 9 p.m. It’s a snap to use, says Stewart: “None of this techno-weenie approach.”
For now, the parent card allows unlimited TV viewing. But once football Sundays roll around, Stewart expects some plaintive calls from pigskin widows asking for programmable parent cards, too. Now if only he could also program TimeSlot to ration beer from the fridge …
