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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."
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.
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
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
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.
Indeed!
:-)
In fact, rather than Norm Abrams, he may want to contact www.taunton.com -- Fine Woodworking might be interested. A couple of comments from a woodworker:
1) I'm not sure whether this is a translation issue or not, but cocobolo is not usually considered rosewood. An equally wonderful and exotic wood -- just different.
2) Some have questioned the additional weight: Perhaps tropical hardwoods are more dense than plastic, but the thinness required probably makes any additional weight unnoticable. I doubt, therefore, that this is a problem. (Hint: I"m willing to field-test this!
3) And to expand further on the 'thinness': this is a tour de force. Wood has a grain and a mind of its own, and does not submit easily to suggestions from humans to drape itself seductively around small objects. Well done! (But, yes, another commenter's suggestion is true: maple buttons would be better than plastic.)
4) But I'm not entirely satisfied -- I have to quibble: the battery door was obviously cut from a different piece: the grain doesn't match.
Despite the last (minor) complaint, I'm in awe -- I wouldn't want to tackle this project myself, and I think that it was masterfully carried out. Bravo!
Oh, but before I quit:
5) Despite other comments, I'm not sure "retro" fits, since the shape of the Palm is so closely duplicated. Style encompasses materials, to be sure, but also line. I agree with many of the previous comments about the desirability of a myriad of textures: aluminum, wood, powder painting, stainless, plastic, copper... even stone? Design ingenuity will eternally encompass (I think) both the natural materials at our feet and the new creations from our labs.
Greg
He used his time to make something beautiful.
In my book that qualifies as time well spent.