BAD IDEA OF THE WEEK: Xbox One's ad campaign

Xbox One owners are complaining that a new TV advert is switching their consoles on without their permission. The ad - featuring Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul - has the actor say "Xbox On" near its start. The instruction appears to trigger the machine's Kinect voice/motion sensor, activating the console. A spokesman for the firm said it had no comment at this time, but noted that previous ads had also featured voice commands - for instance, in November Xbox One owner Tim Kimberl posted a video to YouTube showing that an internet ad that featured the command "Xbox go to Dead Rising 3" launched the game on his system. Many people have posted comments about the problem on social media sites. "Aaron Paul just turned my Xbox One via the Xbox advert. (Which triggered the IR [infrared] blaster to switch my TV off..)" tweeted Qassim Farid, a UK-based tech blogger. Chesterfield-based Tom Neal wrote: "@Xbox your new TV advert is annoying the hell outta me. Aaron Paul keeps turning my console on… #stooooop". The effect has also been noted on news discussion site Reddit's Xbox section, with one commentator writing: "Damn commercial keeps turning on my xbox! Lol". Affected users do have the ability to turn off the Kinect sensor, which prevents the console responding to voice commands, but Microsoft, if you're reading this, STOP IT. It's bad enough your computer operating system is nowhere near as good as Apple's, but your Xbox One ad campaigns are making life difficult for Xbox One owners. Remember the episode of 30 Rock where a voice-controlled television went haywire when on-screen characters mentioned its trigger words?