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Retro Palm Pilot Case
PsyMaster writes "I found this article over at PalmStation. There's a dude who made a Palm case out of rosewood. There are some great pics and the person even changed his stylus to be wood-covered. I wondered if it was a simulated wood initially, but you can definitely see the real wood scratches. Very cool."
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Nicotine free Amish .sig.
And to think. With but a line in a contract, this is the kind of individual creativity that the software industry would seek to suppress.
Yes, this is hardware, so yes, this guy can do whatever he pleases with it once he owns it. I think the world's a better place because of it--the ingenious and polished nature of this design will hopefully inspire new and fascinating ideas from case designers.
Once you accept the value from such individual achievement in hardware, it is impossible to claim it disappears in software, in music, or even in a DVD video.
And once you allow the right to modify and create anew to slip to a simple stroke of seven point text, you doom everyone to nothing more than derivative boredom.
There's more to the DVD case than technicalities. The sheer beauty of this Palm Pilot is but a whisper of the possibilities.
Yours Truly,
Dan Kaminsky
DoxPara Research
http://www.doxpara.com
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Nicotine free Amish .sig.
Don't get me wrong, I admire the construction...I just have no idea why someone would want to do this. It's like those cars in the '50s that were plastered with wood....**shudder**....
did he name his Pilot Rosy Palmer?
;-)
"I got wood for my palm!"
Changes like this could inspire others. I'm sure there are a FEW people out there who would like other designs. I can just imagine some more retro looks:
The fake leopard skin case
The pewter palm (a bit heavy)
The lego palm (can attach lego pieces to it on top & bottom)
The lucite palm (just like those phones you can see inside)
The rubber palm (adds another inch of drop survivability)
The palm float (take it in the pool)
The sandstone palm (look like Fred Flinstone)
Fishtank palm (from the soles of your shoes to the palm of your hand, sure as hell beats a tamaguchi)
The Neon palm.
call now, supplies are limited.
any others?
"You saved 1968." - Ms. Valerie Pringle to the crew of Apollo 8
VERY impressive woodworking ability. He would do Norm Abrams proud. :-)
A wealthy eccentric who marches to the beat of a different drum. But you may call me "Noodle Noggin."
Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
I must commend this industrious gentleman for pioneering the first pda that can double as a bar of soap. Now there's no reason to be without your palm wherever you go, although some have been known to use their palms in the shower before, wink wink, nudge nudge, if you know what I mean.
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
The Mushroom top story: fake wood panels making a comeback in the console market.
Check out the home of the cardboard PC. As I recall, someone was asking about cheap rack mount cases, but Martin's Cardboard PC is in a class of it's own.
"I'll be your huckleberry" - Doc Holliday - Tombstone
Where are all the other people that like to take their stuff apart and make it look the way that THEY want it to. Like I just started running windowblinds, which seems to end up running either WinAqua or BeOS skins (I really want to use BeOS, but I can't network). There's even a program for palm pilots that allow you to change the look of the OS, it's called Silver.... something or the other, a quick search on palmgear and you'll find it. I truly wish that palm would create an easy way for users to "skin" their pilots. The color cases are just out, but lacking personality. Custom palm cases, there's an idea, that would be quite fun actually, give you some "extra" personality. If Apple gets their palm device out, you Palm could have an Apple skin :) And this one would have a much better OS inside.
He's got too much time on his hands.
But while he's at it, I'd like to see some other old fashions come back in a new tech life:
Tie dyed monitors
Velcro wrist rests
'Pet Rock' Mice
Ergonomic bean bags
Olive Green and Almond colored cases
And lava lamps for the hell of it.
Lisa
[grrl.org]
When I saw that subject heading, I thought
that someone had figured out how to squeeze
one of the new goofy looking streamlined
palms back into the good old rectangular
plastic boxes.
Does bring up the question though of why technology seems limited by certain forms. Why do PCs all have to be oatmeal boxes? Why do stereo components all come in black boxes?
Anybody remember Sandbenders in Gibson's Idoru? Computers cased in sandcast silver and turquoise.
Or the decadent medievalism of Herbert's Dune?
Or the pizza-box Linux server?
As long as it can hold the circuitry, there's no reason for it to be a beige box. So, yeah, Apple's little gumdrops are rather too cute to stand near without an insulin shot, but at least they tried. After all, you're going to be staring at that thing sitting on the desk long enough, might as well enjoy it.
Of course it was worth the time! The value of time spent on something is in what the person doing it gets out of it. It doesn't matter if it is useful to him or anybody else unless that was part of the goal.
If I gave up reading books that weren't useful, I'd have to throw out most of my fiction. Of course, I wouldn't miss some of the non-fiction that should be thrown out as useless.
As for getting paid for your time, as we become wealthier, time quickly becomes the most valuable commodity we have. An hour spent can never be reclaimed. I spent the last hour reading to my son. I had a good day today. I gave my employer good value for my salary. But that last hour, for which I wasn't paid a penny, is the one I will remember longest and treasure most.
Wouldn't it be a bit cooler to spend this time doing something remotely useful, and getting paid for it? Perhaps this is just my way of thinking...
What he did may not be valuable to you. Enjoy the diversity of the world. It is part of the reason that the world needs you as well as him. I could try to say something deep and profound here, but the point is too obvious.
Chorus of thousands of massed followers under a window: "We are all individuals!"
The net will not be what we demand, but what we make it. Build it well.