"Smart Board" To Replace White Boards?

ZiZ writes "The BBC has released a story reporting a growing level of interest in Smart Board technology - particularly due to the efforts of Virtual-Ink's Mimio and variants thereof. Mimio gathers the information written on a whiteboard by virtue of "infared and ultrasonic receivers", stores it in a mobile base station, and allows for later downloading to a computer; it also has the ability to interface with a presentation, browser, or whatnot, in a mode they call mimioMouse, to allow cheap, interactive, real-time smartboards.This looks like it could be the high-tech breakthrough schools everywhere, not just in the UK, have been waiting for - or at least the beginning...and at a mere $400 or so, it's almost affordable enough to justify one in the home, too!"

Comments

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[Anonymous Coward]

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Neat, but not cost-effective

[Ali Jenab]

I am the president of a medium-sized dotcom that has been struggling to keep costs under control ever since the cash infusion of the 90s ended. Back in the day, we wasted millions of VC dollars on Aerun chairs, foosball tables, catered meals, and giving lots of stock to useless spokesmen who make fools of themselves in public.

Nowadays, the money doesn't flow quite as freely. Although we only occasionally remodel our office space (usually turning old kitchens and other "play areas" into rental space), we typically do things with an eye to the budget because cheap is in, and luxury is out. And that brings me to my point here: at $400 a crack, a "smart whiteboard" is a waste of money. Even back in 1999, we paid about $10 each for standard chalkboards. And they serve their purpose: chalk is cheap (much cheaper than those fancy whiteboard markers) and they don't require a special cleaning fluid to erase them after the ink has dried for a few days. We just can't justify paying 40 times the cost just because it's "cool."

Sometimes employees will complain about the chalk dust and threaten to sue us under the ADA because they think their chalk allergies are a "disability." Recent Supreme Court rulings are in the employer's favor over such fabricated disabilities, though, and we have never actually been sued. Typically we make a habit of ridding the organization of such squeaky wheels anyway, since they hinder productivity and lower morale amongst their right-thinking co-workers.

Just my 2c.

/ali