Slashdot Mirror


Real Wood iPod

An anonymous reader submits "People have tried modding their iPods using wood before, but it took the genius of ZapWizard to create the Real Wood iPod. Hand carved from a solid piece of African hardwood to a thickness of just 2mm, the end result has to be seen to be believed. Wood grain is the new Apple White!"

289 comments

  1. Real Voodoo Ipod? by Ray+Alloc · · Score: 4, Funny

    African wood...

    1. Re:Real Voodoo Ipod? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Is that a wood in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?

    2. Re:Real Voodoo Ipod? by commodoresloat · · Score: 2, Funny

      African wood is far too large for an iPod. They are going to be better off using European or Asian wood.

    3. Re:Real Voodoo Ipod? by piecewise · · Score: 1

      You define the word "nerd" in its truest form. :-)

      --
      The next comment I write will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
  2. Their website by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Must be made of wood too. Its very woody slow!

    1. Re:Their website by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

  3. Improved Audio As Well by nathanh · · Score: 5, Funny

    More importantly, the wood enclosure adds a depth and warmth to the music that simply isn't possible with man-made plastics. The resonant frequency of hardwood reduces jitter in the decoding circuit so the result is a higher fidelity experience.

    1. Re:Improved Audio As Well by teknokracy · · Score: 5, Funny

      Buy the $1200 Monster Cable with solid mahogany plated connectors and heavy guage bark wire shielding, and you've got yourself an incredible sounding device.

    2. Re:Improved Audio As Well by milkman_matt · · Score: 1

      I was having a hard time deciding where to post this being that it's serious and all (hate to break up the rythm you've got going!) but.. how does the scroll wheel work now? It looks like he made a completely new one out of wood... wood that still work? (ha ha) ...I thought it was the touch sensitive touchpad that made the scrollwheel work.. he says his iPod is a 4G, mine is 3G and has the scrollwheel as opposed to a click wheel... So does it just not matter what the click wheel is made out of?

    3. Re:Improved Audio As Well by ahecht · · Score: 3, Informative
      The wheel is not actually pressure sensitive (except when you push hard enough to make it click). The scrolling is detected using capacitance, which can probably be measured through the wood if the wood is thin enough.

      See http://www.synaptics.com/technology/cps.cfm or http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6450_7-5512416-1.html for more info.

    4. Re:Improved Audio As Well by milkman_matt · · Score: 1

      The wheel is not actually pressure sensitive (except when you push hard enough to make it click). The scrolling is detected using capacitance, which can probably be measured through the wood if the wood is thin enough.

      Yeah, the fact that it's not pressure sensitive is what had me wondering.. I figured the material had something to do with it until reading a link a bit further down the comments that pointed to the qwheel(?) site? which explained a lot. very cool stuff there!

    5. Re:Improved Audio As Well by splatterboy · · Score: 1

      You must be an audiophile! I bet your system is covered in mpingo wood disks! What an aid to the performance of a system, the warmth, soundstage...

      --
      "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." ~The Honorable Daniel Patrick Moynihan
    6. Re:Improved Audio As Well by mike518 · · Score: 0

      then how come the wheel doesnt work using cotton gloves? it has nothing to do with pressure. its something with the electrons in your hand that cotton doesnt conduct properly... or something.

      --
      Mike
      I heart the RIAA & MPAA, im sure its mutual...
  4. Floating iPod by ppolitop · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does it float? It would be very useful companion while swimming ;) the doc

    1. Re:Floating iPod by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Bedimere: And what else floats in water?

      King Arthur: an iPod!

      Bedimere: Right! So, if she weighs the same as an iPod, she'd float in water, and she must be made of wood, so.

      Villagers: A witch! Burn her!

    2. Re:Floating iPod by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Who are you, who are so wise in the ways of portable audio players?

    3. Re:Floating iPod by BlackMesaLabs · · Score: 5, Funny

      If it floats... then its made of duck... or something.
      Either way, it turns out that iPod is a witch. :)

    4. Re:Floating iPod by holy_robot · · Score: 1

      Witches sink and therefore weigh more than ducks IIRC.

      --
      Just cause you feel it doesn't mean it's there.
    5. Re:Floating iPod by kyrina · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You're recalling incorrectly.
      Witches float because they weigh the same as a duck (and also because they're made of wood)

      Drifting from Monty Python territory the float test was one used during witch trials. They assumed if people sunk they were pure but if they floated the devil was aiding them. So they either sunk and drowned or floated and were executed.

    6. Re:Floating iPod by rikkards · · Score: 1

      It was a damned if you do damned if you don't scenario. If the body sunk, a couple days later as it started to rot and get gassy, it would float up therefore a witch.

    7. Re:Floating iPod by Ulven · · Score: 1

      Although by this point I doubt that the person concerned was particularly bothered by the outcome.

    8. Re:Floating iPod by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you pay attention to the movie, you'll see that she really does end up weighing the same as a duck, and that she really is a witch ("it's a fair cop," she says). Those couple of seconds of film are what make the whole scene far too funny.

    9. Re:Floating iPod by amliebsch · · Score: 1
      If you pay attention to the movie, you'll see that she really does end up weighing the same as a duck, and that she really is a witch

      But if I recall correctly, when they remove the woman/duck, the scale drops lopsidedly on the side the duck was on, implying that the apparent sameness of weight was due to improper calibration and failure to tare the instrument prior to weighing.

      --
      If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
  5. well.. by Sv-Manowar · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How long until we can start getting, say... a mahongany powerbook?

    A pine iBook sounds appealing

    1. Re:well.. by _Shorty-dammit · · Score: 4, Informative

      You mean like this? Actually I think this may have been on slashdot, or perhaps it was hardocp, but I recall seeing it a while ago. http://www.zaverio.net/

    2. Re:well.. by niittyniemi · · Score: 4, Informative

      > How long until we can start getting, say... a mahongany powerbook?

      You can't get your hands on real big-leaf mahogany nowadays as it's very rare and there has been talk of protecting it under CITES. Most reputable timber yards won't handle it.

      The various replacements that are sold as "mahogany" are too soft and not dense enough.

      > A pine iBook sounds appealing.

      Again, too soft. What would be nice is one made out of African Blackwood. African blackwood is used for making woodwind instruments and is jet black and very hard wearing. Doesn't need any finish either and is fairly easy to shape with rasps etc.

      --
      The Machine stops.
    3. Re:well.. by st0rmshad0w · · Score: 1

      Use African Purpleheart, you'd get a case strong enough to beat dents in a car body. Stuff is amazingly hard.

    4. Re:well.. by dinz · · Score: 1

      I would definitely think something like ipe would be hard enough. Its a dense enough wood that even working with it can be difficult. Its [somewhat] readily available too. Its commonly used for decks.

    5. Re:well.. by hilaryduff · · Score: 1

      you can get OLD mahogany, just not new mahogany. it is expensive, obviously.

    6. Re:well.. by RapmasterT · · Score: 1
      You can't get your hands on real big-leaf mahogany nowadays as it's very rare and there has been talk of protecting it under CITES. Most reputable timber yards won't handle it.
      That is utter BS, Mahogany may be on the more expensive end of hardwoods, but it's not exactly rare or difficult to find. Try going to a real lumberyard, not Home Depot.

      It's not like I've been buying it on the black market, I go in to the lumberyard and say "hey, I want to dig through the mahogany", and they say "whatever..." (the same teenage punks work there that do at Home Depot".

      Lauan is a species that is sometimes passed off as mahogany, but usually only in plywood products. Any supplier that tried to pass off bogus hardwood wouldn't get very far, that would be like a Hyundai dealer selling his cars as Mercedes.

      The fact that an environmental organization is interested in "protecting" (read: banning) something is hardly interesting.

      The various replacements that are sold as "mahogany" are too soft and not dense enough
      mahogany is an extremely soft wood (as opposed to softwood, hah...wood joke), it's hard to imagine a "replacement" being softer.
    7. Re:well.. by niittyniemi · · Score: 1

      > That is utter BS, Mahogany may be on the more expensive end of
      > hardwoods, but it's not exactly rare or difficult to find. Try going
      > to a real lumberyard, not Home Depot.

      I'm not bullshitting you. I'm a cabinetmaker who lives a mile from one of the largest timber yards in Europe and they've got 1000s of feet of stuff thats marked-up as mahogany - African or Brazilian. No bigleaf or "real" mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) as it's endangered.

      Some high end cabinetmakers (ie. by Royal Appointment) hold private stocks of it but mere mortals like me can't get hold of it. Things might be different in the US.

      --
      The Machine stops.
    8. Re:well.. by RapmasterT · · Score: 1
      I'm not bullshitting you. I'm a cabinetmaker who lives a mile from one of the largest timber yards in Europe and they've got 1000s of feet of stuff thats marked-up as mahogany - African or Brazilian. No bigleaf or "real" mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) as it's endangered. [defenders.org]
      I'm not going to presume to know anything about the lumber industry in Europe, but I do know that in the US Bigleaf mahogany is not difficult to find, just expensive (like most hardwood these days).

      That link to defenders.org is typical of the half-truths you get from environmentalist websites. Most commercial mahogany is plantation grown from private resources. Logging of "wild" trees is illegal in several (not all) countries because individual countries have listed their "crop" as endangered. The species itself is not endangered, or even threatened. I read that the US is far and away the largest importer of mahogany in the world, so that may account for the differences in supply here versus Europe.

      Also, the species Swietenia macrophylla is native to Brazil, so you may be discounting "Brazilian Mahogany" unfairly.

    9. Re:well.. by jcsehak · · Score: 1

      Again, too soft. What would be nice is one made out of African Blackwood. African blackwood is used for making woodwind instruments and is jet black and very hard wearing. Doesn't need any finish either and is fairly easy to shape with rasps etc.

      You mean grenadilla wood?

      http://www.puchner.com/en/literatur/grenadill.php

      --

      c-hack.com |
    10. Re:well.. by mrchaotica · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm pretty sure I can beat dents in a car body with a plain old pine 2x4 too...

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    11. Re:well.. by niittyniemi · · Score: 1

      > You mean grenadilla wood?

      That's the stuff.

      --
      The Machine stops.
    12. Re:well.. by st0rmshad0w · · Score: 1

      Sadly yes now-a-days you can.

    13. Re:well.. by niittyniemi · · Score: 1

      > That link to defenders.org is typical of the half-truths you get from environmentalist websites.

      Agreed, it's shit.

      What I'm thinking of is S.mahogani not S.macrophylla. The latter I can buy down my woodyard (plantation grown). The former, I can't get for love nor money.

      Wikipedia has a more informative article.

      --
      The Machine stops.
    14. Re:well.. by pyrrhonist · · Score: 1

      I have a Chapman Stick made out of purpleheart. The stuff is amazingly beautiful.

      --
      Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
    15. Re:well.. by DarkYoshi · · Score: 1

      Smart Car anyone?

  6. Now we can sue Apple for ..... by amazeranand · · Score: 0

    Destruction of Rainforests!

  7. The real question by toddbu · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Could this open some eyes and increase interest in alternative (Linux, Mac) offerings?

    --
    If you don't want crime to pay, let the government run it.
    1. Re:The real question by rylin · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No.

    2. Re:The real question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wow that was a really bad off-topic post there buddy. Altough this isn't any better.

    3. Re:The real question by toddbu · · Score: 1

      Well obviously people can't spot a joke when they see it. Not even if you link to it. Had you been reading /. all day long (yeah, I nothin' better to do on the 4th), you'd have seen this question come up on nearly every post. I guess that it just must have been late at night and people didn't get it.

      --
      If you don't want crime to pay, let the government run it.
    4. Re:The real question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. It is just stupid. Try again. Or better yet, don't.

  8. dremel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Looks great, but 'carving by hand' does not include the use of a dremel rotary tool.

    1. Re:dremel by lowtek77 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      hmmm I don't see the difference between using an ole whittlin' knife and guiding a dremel by hand. Unless you like to carve with a finger?--Must not have stubby hands like myself.

    2. Re:dremel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Chisels and gouges!

    3. Re:dremel by klui · · Score: 1

      It is understood that "hand carved" doesn't imply the use of power tools. To the actual sculpture's credit, his website does not state that it's hand carved--the AC submitter did that. Hmm, maybe it was the author who submitted.

    4. Re:dremel by lisaparratt · · Score: 1

      One would imagine they were trying to convey the fact it wasn't done with a CNC machine, in which case, the feat of making it only 2mm thick wouldn't be quite so amazing.

    5. Re:dremel by Usquebaugh · · Score: 1

      Yes,

      but a CNC machine would require plans and that would mean others could do it.

      I hope that techs understand that if they produce CAD drawings for stuff others can then have the items made, can give feedback etc.

      If this guy had produced a CAD doc for this hack I could then get my cover made from titanium or whatever.

      The more people asking for CNC services mean reduced costs :-)

    6. Re:dremel by vikks · · Score: 3, Insightful

      ...but 'carving by hand' does not include the use of a dremel rotary tool.

      Which leaves us with only nails available for carving by hand. "By knife" is not by hand as well, right?

      --
      Digital is an exercise in precision, while analog was an exercise in controlled chaos.
      [ digitalFAQ.com ]
    7. Re:dremel by bmo · · Score: 1

      "The more people asking for CNC services mean reduced costs :-)"

      Er, no.

      Supply/Demand; Invisible hand, and all that. Now if you were discussing economies of scale (making 10,000 identical iPod cases rather than one-offs), then that would be a horse of a different color and you might be correct.

      But what y'all are discussing is custom one-off CNC machined iPod cases.

      Nope, not gonna be cheap.

      "I could then get my cover made from titanium or whatever"

      "Or Whatever"? Really? Do you know what you're even asking? Titanium is a *bitch* to machine. It's far easier to get a decent finish in some other metal. Titanium has a tendency to tear at the surface rather than leave a smooth cut behhind the cutter. Stick with aluminum, or some other metal, or if you want some color, maybe a bronze or brass or something else with a luster to it.

      Silver would be an improvement over Ti. (you know, that would look slick and it wouldn't be TERRIBLY expensive...)

      And just who are you going to ask to have it done? CNC mills don't grow on trees, you know. You'll just have to grovel at my feet before I even consider your request, supplicant.

      --
      BMO

    8. Re:dremel by Kombat · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Which leaves us with only nails available for carving by hand. "By knife" is not by hand as well, right?

      In woodworking parlance, "by hand" means without the use of powered tools. "Handmade furniture" is built using hand planes instead of jointers and planars, handdrills instead of a drillpress, routing planes instead of a router, hand saws instead of table saws, etc.

      --
      Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
    9. Re:dremel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      why do you think you're entitled to the plans for this? maybe he wants to sell these in small batches - why give away what you hope to profit from? stop whining about the lack of plans and go out and do it on your own...you'll find it's much more rewarding than standing on the shoulders of someone else.

      did you ever consider for even a second that maybe the average person can't a) afford a decent CAD program to prep for CNC b)can't afford CNC machining(which is never going to be "cheap" based on the costs of the machines) c)can't or don't want to hand tweak CNC command files to make sure the machining comes out perfectly.

      just because Linux is free doesn't mean everything else should be.

    10. Re:dremel by Usquebaugh · · Score: 1

      I'm looking at on demand machining rather like http://www.emachineshop.com/ I already have a number of shops in my area offering such service.

      For instance, I like to build boats. I tend to use stitch and glue construction. Rather than loft and cut designs I send a cad doc to the shop supply the marine plywood and voila back comes my ready to stich panels.

      I also like sculptures based on formula, weird I know. I have had a few 'small' scultures made in resin $$$

      At present the cost of this type of manufacturing is prohibitive i.e. material cost is a small portion of the cost. There are a few shops doing it and they have no incentive to drop prices. Now if a lot of people wanted stuff made this way the market would expand and more companies would enter. I'm hoping to many will enter and supply outstrips demand and prices they go down :-)

      If you have anything other than a desktop cnc mill then I'm insanely jealous :-) Stop wasting your time here and go and make stuff.

    11. Re:dremel by Skynyrd · · Score: 1

      In woodworking parlance, "by hand" means without the use of powered tools. "Handmade furniture" is built using hand planes instead of jointers and planars, handdrills instead of a drillpress, routing planes instead of a router, hand saws instead of table saws, etc.

      Hmmmmm. Not so sure I agree with you on that point. To me, "handcarved" has been with non-powered tools, but "handmade/handcrafted" furnature has been "made by hand, not a big factory".

      I'm a woodworker, although I do much more metal now, and the vast majority of the work I have done has been with powered tools (table saw, joiner, planer...) I still consider it to all be hand made, as I made it in one-off quantities, with my hands.

    12. Re:dremel by bmo · · Score: 1

      "At present the cost of this type of manufacturing is prohibitive i.e. material cost is a small portion of the cost."

      That was my point. *ALL* machining is expensive compared to the cost of the original block of material.

      An entry level "real" vertical machining center goes for around $100K. Add to that labor, heat, electricity, taxes, and the payments for the building, and you're looking at over $120/hr shop time. If it takes *half an hour* (totally reasonable time) to to set up a thin-wall 3D machined part, that's $60 right there, and that doesn't include making fixtures so you don't do something like tear out the sidewall from the inside because it's only .030 thick.

      As processes go, machining is the most expensive thing you can do. The process itself requires you to do things in specific ways because of physics. There's only so hard that you can push a cutter before it fails.

      So figure that when you go have emachineshop.com make you something.

      Also, consider that the boat panels that you have made are actually 2D parts, with no thin walls, and pretty much straightforward geometry.

      "If you have anything other than a desktop cnc mill then I'm insanely jealous :-)"

      I can go fiddle around with whatever I want with the Proto-Traks in the maintenence machine shop on my own time - the real CNC stuff is taken up doing real work. I actually have to be at work in...uh...5 hours. Bleh.

      --
      BMO

    13. Re:dremel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      1886 called. they want their techniques back

    14. Re:dremel by The+UberDork · · Score: 0

      1986 called, they want their joke back.

    15. Re:dremel by hobbit · · Score: 1

      1986 called, they want their joke back.

      --
      "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
  9. Touch wheel by derphilipp · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wonder how the touchsensitive selection wheel does work... Yes i read the article... (perhaps i missed something?)

    --
    Spelling mistakes: My is english spoken not tongue of mother.
    1. Re:Touch wheel by Volvogga · · Score: 1

      I had the same thought. At first glance, the plastic disk of the normal touchsensitive wheel looks like an ordinary piece of thin plastic. Does anyone know if it has some sort of electrostatic properties?

      If not, then I would think that any material would work, as long as it was not so heavy that a slight jerk would register as 'contact' on the iPod.

      Although, the origonal disk could have been stuck on the back of the wood wheel if it is needed, as well.

      --
      Vol~
    2. Re:Touch wheel by myukew · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yes, the touch-wheel still works. Touch-wheels are capacitance sensors, you can learn about them at www.qprox.com

    3. Re:Touch wheel by spot35 · · Score: 1

      I'm assuming this part is where the touch wheel was reattached

      "The iPod was the carefully fitted back together. Thankfully, it was still fully functional. Hot-glue was used to hold the LCD and Click-wheel PCB onto the wood."

      One of the other replies seems to explain how it would still work.

      Spoton

    4. Re:Touch wheel by datafr0g · · Score: 5, Informative

      Cheers for the site!

      Here's the blurb for those too lazy to search the site :)

      QWheel(TM) touch wheel technology can be thought of as a 'capacitive potentiometer', where the wiper is a finger. The electrode consists of a simple resistive ring element placed behind the plastic panel; three capacitive QT sensing channels are connected to this ring, and the signals processed to 7-bits of absolute position. The result is output on an SPI serial interface. The device can be set to sense through panels up to 3mm thick, and even through gloves.

      The entire circuit with the electrode ring can be fabricated on a single-sided PCB for very low cost. In many cases the technology is less expensive than mechanical equivalents, and in all cases is more reliable.

      --
      "Who says nothing is impossible? Some people do it every day!" - Alfred E. Neuman
    5. Re:Touch wheel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      The touchwheel works just like a woman masterbating, which is why women just love guys that really know how to use their ipods...

    6. Re:Touch wheel by prockcore · · Score: 1

      The device can be set to sense through panels up to 3mm thick, and even through gloves.

      I can be set to that, but the ipod isn't. As everyone who's ever tried to use an ipod with gloves has found out.

  10. Firestarter by isnochys · · Score: 0

    Does it burn?
    --
    www.isnochys.com

  11. it really looks pretty good by trash+eighty · · Score: 0

    i was sceptical but it looks surprisingly good and somewhat retro

  12. Re:Not sure about this. by frostw · · Score: 2, Funny

    iSore???

    --
    http://www.sydney-webcam.com
  13. Wooden IPOD by rimberg · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I expect there is a mrket out there for all sorts of wooden covers. Just think of a phone with a wooden cover.

    1. Re:Wooden IPOD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just think of DROPPING a phone with a wood cover. We all do it.

      Not so cool now, eh?

  14. Steve Jobs iPod Collection by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Steve Jobs has a 10 x 10 iPod wallhanging in the hall by his office, there are about 25 made with various woods. (Hi gloss maple looks ..killer.. with white buttons.) This one would seemingly fit in but looks to be executed to lower quality than those in the display.

    My absolutely favorite were five iPods in a row done by Dale Chihuly in his Macchia glass patterns. Insane !! priceless is more like it.

    1. Re:Steve Jobs iPod Collection by obender · · Score: 1
      My absolutely favorite were five iPods in a row done by Dale Chihuly in his Macchia glass patterns.

      Could you post a link to the Macchia glass ipods?

    2. Re:Steve Jobs iPod Collection by SilentChris · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "This one would seemingly fit in but looks to be executed to lower quality than those in the display."

      Low quality? This mod is phenominal. If you had a team of designers and millions of dollars, you could have what Steve Jobs supposedly has. The rest of us will admire what one guy has done.

    3. Re:Steve Jobs iPod Collection by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      he might be speaking in an "absolute" sense as opposed to a "relative" sense.

      you CAN say "good job" and yet acknowledge that it doesn't compare to a "pro" job

  15. Wood Ipod (guilt) by putko · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It looks great. But isn't it bad to do this? Is this stuff sustainably harvested?

    I don't mean to sound like an eco-idiot here. Just when I hear the word "hardwood", I think of deforestation, erosion, and general guilt. There's a reason why the redwood trees are almost entirely gone: we converted them into money.

    That's why I like plastic.

    --
    http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_s tone_your_children/dt21_18a.html
    1. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by axonal · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Plastic isn't any better, its made using oil.

    2. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Stephen+Williams · · Score: 1

      That's why I like plastic.

      But what happens when we've converted all the oil into money?

      (Unless there's a way to make plastics without oil these days? IANAOC (I Am Not An Organic Chemist), and freely admit that this is not my area of expertise).

      -Stephen

    3. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Padauk is one of the woods that typically comes from managed growth. It's considered to be a relatively friendly substitute for cherry and rosewood.

    4. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by onion2k · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Wood is a lot easy to sustain than plastic. You can plant new trees and harvest them in 20 - 100 years. What's more, chopping down trees and planting new ones is actually better for the environment than simply leaving the trees there. As a tree grows it generates more oxygen and takes up more CO2 than an old tree.

      Plastic, which comes from oil, takes a bit longer. Recycled plastic is a possibility, but that doesn't generate new oxygen or decrease CO2 levels. It still takes energy to do the recycling process.

    5. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by bmo · · Score: 2, Informative


      Plastic: Made from Oil.

      Metal: Mined out of the ground, heated with electricity generated from Oil, or Polluting Coal, or *heavens* NuCuLar energy, or River Blocking Dams.

      Wood: Actually a non-perishable resource, if the right species are used. Maple is good.

      That said, you can obsess over whatever you want, that's your right, but be aware that there's no such thing as "clean" technology. Even if you go back to making plastic out of wood pulp, that is not guilt free.

      And forget about going tech-less. The Native Americans cleared land by burning, and many parts of the globe suffer from desertification and treelessness from cutting firewood and overgrazing.

      Hopeless, isn't it?

      --
      BMO

    6. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Ambiguous+Coward · · Score: 1

      The thing is, any wood you buy at the store was almost certainly cut *ages* ago. It would be an insult to the trees to *not* use it. It's the very least we can do to put their corpses to good use! :P

      --
      Their may be a grammatical error, misspeling, or evn a typo in this post.
    7. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by AstrumPreliator · · Score: 1

      First off, how many wood iPods do you see laying around? How many are being sold? Is Apple mass producing them? This is a very small bit of wood on a single iPod. Now that it's done other people may very well try this too. But I'd like you to keep in mind that this wouldn't be the main selling point of hardwoods. People use tons and tons of this stuff; a ~6.2 cubic inch piece of hardwood for a few iPods is very insignificant. Even if Apple decided it was a good idea to offer iPods with real, solid hardwood covers, which won't happen simply because it would cost way too much, this still wouldn't be enough to justify such guilt.

      Secondly, why are plastics so much better? They produce pollution as byproducts and use fossile fuels as a base, which as we all know is a very big concern right now. If hardwood were to magically be replaced over night by plastics then we would still be in trouble, just in a different form.

      I'm not saying deforestation is good, I'm just trying to point out that everything has a down side and you need to take those into consideration.

      As far as the mod goes, I think Zap did a very nice job. I would have liked to see some graphics on it however, such as the back, foward, play/pause, and menu buttons. Just to make it look more iPodish while looking refreshingly different at the same time.

    8. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Stauf · · Score: 1

      What's more, chopping down trees and planting new ones is actually better for the environment than simply leaving the trees there. As a tree grows it generates more oxygen and takes up more CO2 than an old tree.

      I had heard that a tree dying naturally released more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere then it had absorbed in its entire life. The closest I could come to confirming this with a quick google search was this page, which claims that old overcrowded forests tend to use more oxygen than they produce. So I would assume that planting and chopping down fast growing trees would result in a net oxygen increase.

      Rambling aside, I would think that chopping down an old hardwood tree would have less of an impact then producing the equivalent amount of plastics.

    9. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      It looks great. But isn't it bad to do this? Is this stuff sustainably harvested?

      This is why I covered my iPod with a renewable resource. Human-skin leather. That's why my iPod also has a tattoo.

    10. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by deimtee · · Score: 5, Informative

      Strangely enough, converting an entire tree into CO2 by either burning or decomposition will release exactly the net amount of CO2 that the tree absorbed over its life. Weird huh?

      --
      I'm guessing that wasn't on their radar screen...
    11. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Inda · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I used to use mahogany at work to make full size models of car parts. Lots and lots of mahogany. Lots and lot of waste (although a great deal of it found its way into my home).

      People used to say similar things to you about harming the Brazilian rain forests but it's simply not true. The mahogany from the rainforests was never good enough for making models; it was only good enough for making crap furniture. Our wood came from plantations and this was 15 years ago.

      I think its all been given a bad spin. Most of the time Pine is used and you can almost watch that grow. ...I also used plastic. Horrible nasty stuff full of carcinogens. Expanded polystyrene made flies go docile. Scarier than wood.

      --
      This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
    12. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Stauf · · Score: 1

      Hrm, that makes more sense to me then it releasing more I guess. But if a tree absorbs x units of CO2, releasing y units of O2 in its lifetime, then you would assume the tree would contain x - y units of carbon. So where does it get the x - y units of O2 to synthesise the CO2 it releases?

      Does it come from absorbed water, soil nutrients, etc.? I would assume there're 'running costs' associated with being a tree that would account for the use of things like that.

      I'm just curious as to the mechanics behind it.

    13. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by tez_h · · Score: 1
      Hrm, that makes more sense to me then it releasing more I guess. But if a tree absorbs x units of CO2, releasing y units of O2 in its lifetime, then you would assume the tree would contain x - y units of carbon. So where does it get the x - y units of O2 to synthesise the CO2 it releases?

      Does it come from absorbed water, soil nutrients, etc.? I would assume there're 'running costs' associated with being a tree that would account for the use of things like that.

      Look up photosynthesis and respiration. When alive, trees, like all living organisms, respire. This takes oxygen, even when the sun is out, and sugars are being produced from photosynthesis. In trees, oxygen is absorbed from the air. Look up leaf structure and stomata.

      -Tez

      --
      Haskell, the static-typed, lazy, polymorphic, programming language.
    14. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by deimtee · · Score: 1

      If it absorbs x molecules of CO2 then it will contain x atoms of carbon in whatever chemical form. The O2 is released to, or comes from, the atmosphere. Trees rarely contain element transmutation equipment, so whatever atoms you start with, you finish up with as well. They are just chemically rearranged.
      CO2 = C + O2
      C + O2 = CO2
      or even,
      12CO2 + 6H20 = 2C6O6H6 + 9O2

      --
      I'm guessing that wasn't on their radar screen...
    15. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's a reason why the redwood trees are almost entirely gone: we converted them into money.

      I'm not an American. I have traveled there before though and I do however have some American currency. I am a bit of an expert on money. American banknotes are made from a compound fabric that contains cotton, linen, flax and other textile materials. This is an anti-counterfeiting measure. The world-leaders in anti-counterfeiting currency is Australia.

      Australia has no paper currency. The circulating Australian currency is entirely polymer, biaxially-oriented polypropylene to be precise. One would require such significant resources to counterfeit these that it hasn't happened (at least not that the public knows of).

    16. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Stauf · · Score: 1

      I did some checking, and I still can't find any reason for the CO2 released by a dying tree to be "exactly the net amount of CO2 that the tree absorbed over its life". If a tree lives 200 years, does this mean that 200 years worth of absorbed CO2 will flood back into the atmosphere as that tree dies?

    17. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Stauf · · Score: 1

      Well yes, but if a tree absorbs an amount of CO2, releasing O2 into the atmosphere in the process, how does it synthesise "exactly the net amount of CO2 that the tree absorbed over its life" to release when it dies?

    18. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by damsa · · Score: 2, Funny

      Aren't whales an renewable resource?

    19. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by deimtee · · Score: 1

      it's not "released when it dies" it's released when it either burns or decomposes. The carbon came out of the air as CO2 to make wood/leaves/roots and is released as CO2 when the wood/leaves/roots burns or rots. Its exact because the total amount of carbon doesn't change, it just gets moved around.

      --
      I'm guessing that wasn't on their radar screen...
    20. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Stauf · · Score: 1

      So something along the lines of it absorbs all the carbon to build itself up, then when it burns or rots, that carbon combines with oxygen in the air to form CO2 again?

      That results in no net change in the amount of oxygen and CO2 available in the air - and now I think I understand. I was under the impression (from somewhere) that it all resulted in a net CO2 increase.

    21. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Goth+Biker+Babe · · Score: 1

      Rambling aside, I would think that chopping down an old hardwood tree would have less of an impact then producing the equivalent amount of plastics.

      Except that hardwood trees on the whole are much slower growing and older than softwood trees. Chopping down hardwood trees is what is causing the deforestation of the rain forests.

    22. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by hcdejong · · Score: 1

      Wood is a lot easy to sustain than plastic. You can plant new trees ...

      But the question is, is that actually done? For tropical hardwoods, all too often this isn't the case (the land is used for farming instead, and quickly erodes to the point where it's useless).
      The Forest Stewardship Council tries to do something about this, e.g. by certifying wood that's produced in a sustainable way.

    23. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not flood back, but during the time that the tree decomposes it will all be released again.

      Nothing in this world is created out of nothing, and nothing turns into nothing.

    24. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Stauf · · Score: 1

      Except that hardwood trees on the whole are much slower growing and older than softwood trees. Chopping down hardwood trees is what is causing the deforestation of the rain forests.

      I'm not really speaking in support of chopping down old hardwood trees any more then I'm speaking in favour of producing that much plastic. I'm just saying it's probably has relatively less effect on the environment. Whether or not we should continue to do either is something I'm not really qualified to answer.

    25. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by tez_h · · Score: 2, Informative
      Oh, well I wasn't really addressing the arithmetic part, just the "where does it get the O2 from" part. But when I reread your GP post, I think I must have totally misread it.

      To clarify for clarifications sake, it can't really be true that *all* the CO2 is released, since the tree may become trapped in sedimentary rock, and become a deposit of fossil fuel over the next few millenia. Until it's dug up and burnt.

      In terms of conservation of matter (plus the fact that photosynthesis is essentially the reverse of respiration, especially in terms of waste products), if the tree is burnt, then the net amount of CO2 absorbed over its life will be equal to the CO2 released over its life plus burning.

      If the tree is entirely decomposed, then all the carbon will be recycled back into the environment. But not necessarily all as CO2, since some anaerobic bacteria metabolise sugars in low oxygen conditions, producing by-products like alcohol and methane. Eventually it may all be converted back to CO2, since that is the main waste-product of burning and respiration. But this is simply a further application of the conservation of matter.

      And do note that all instances of the word 'burnt' refer to some sort of perfect combustion of all fuel, leaving no soot or charcoal behind.

      In other words, the post you originally replied to was a vast over-simplification.

      -Tez

      --
      Haskell, the static-typed, lazy, polymorphic, programming language.
    26. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by mog007 · · Score: 1

      One of the disadvantages to having no natural protections aside from our intelligence is that we can't throw away our technology. Without our technology, we'd no longer be at the top of the food chain.

    27. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by rah1420 · · Score: 4, Informative

      There's not a way to make plastics without oil, but there's a way to make oil out of organic wastes which can, of course, be used to make more plastics.

      This was some pretty cool stuff.

      --
      Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens.
    28. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Goth+Biker+Babe · · Score: 1

      You can plant new trees and harvest them in 20 - 100 years.

      Softwood yes. Hardwood takes a lot longer to grow. Using Pine etc is no problem. Using mahogany is destroying the rain forests.

    29. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by KeensMustard · · Score: 3, Insightful
      That's why I like plastic.


      Because it's made from oil?

    30. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by WonderSnatch · · Score: 1

      Wood: Actually a non-perishable resource, if the right species are used. Maple is good.

      Then shaped by machines power with electricity generated from Oil, or Polluting Coal, or *heavens* NuCuLar energy, or River Blocking Dams and stained/finished with checmicals Made from Oil.

      Brett

    31. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by bmo · · Score: 1

      Point taken, heh.

      But you don't have to shape with machines..you could do it all by hand, with stone knives and bear skins.

      --
      BMO

    32. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by jimi+the+hippie · · Score: 1

      Except, when it burns much of the carbon is left behind as charcoal. Thus, there is a net O2 gain in the atmosphere.

    33. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by wisdom_brewing · · Score: 1

      in a forest fire, maybe :)

    34. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by patio11 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      OK, basic conservation of energy: unless you're feeding the process with juice from a nuclear plant or some other semi-renewable energy source you're just transferring the energy expenditure from the non-rewewable fossil fuel you used to make the plastic to the non-renewable fossil fuel you used to provide the energy to make the oil to make the plastic. Except you lose efficiency on the intermediate steps.

    35. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by duffahtolla · · Score: 1

      Thus, there is a net O2 gain in the atmosphere.

      No, Burning wood consumes O2. Lots of it. As far as the atmosphere is concerned its a total loss.

      This guys formula says it all:
      12CO2 + 6H20 = 2C6O6H6 + 9O2

    36. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Stauf · · Score: 1

      Hmm... I propose we build a giant bubble around an old growth forest, gas all the cute woodland creatures, measure the CO2 inside, then burn it to the ground. We can measure the levels of CO2 again afterward and speculate wildly that the difference represents the same amount of CO2 as the trees absorbed in their lifetime.

      It's the only way to be sure.

    37. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Fear+the+Clam · · Score: 1

      I don't mean to sound like an porno-idiot here. Just when I hear the word "hardwood", I think of depression, disappointment, and general guilt.

    38. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Lovesquid · · Score: 1

      Coming soon: iBabySeal

    39. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We can sacrifice a lot of our technology and remain at the top of the food chain. Computers certainly don't give us added dominance over other species that wasn't there prior to their invention, nor do things like air conditioning, cars, etc.

    40. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by nuggetman · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's the same problem that plagues Batman

      --
      ...and that's all there is to it.
    41. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by swv3752 · · Score: 1

      There is a new hardwood being grown in South America called Lyptus. It is a hybrid of two different types of eucalytpus. You harvest it in 20 years.

      --
      Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
    42. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by mako1138 · · Score: 1

      Yep. Look up "carbon cycle."

    43. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by m50d · · Score: 1

      What about that which was in its leaves when they fell off anualy? Seems to me they'd drop to the floor, and become part of the floor, and be compressed into solid carbon deposits (coal) over millions of years, hmm? So even if you burn the tree as it was when you cut it down, as long as you didn't collect up all the leaves every year it's still locked some CO2 away?

      --
      I am trolling
    44. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Just when I hear the word "hardwood", I think of deforestation, erosion, and general guilt.

      For most /.'ers something else probably comes to mind -- something that's probably sufficient to generate a similar feeling of guilt amongst our respected Born-Again® readers.

    45. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      I think the theory is that this is how we'll be able to make plastics after we run out of oil. And anyway, after we do run out we'll still (unfortunately) be using fossil fuels -- coal is really, really plentiful.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    46. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      Just out of curiosity, why'd you use mahogany? Were the models for show, or was there some unique property of the wood that was important?

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    47. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      Exactly!

      Incidentally, this is why biodiesel and methanol don't add to global warming: even though they get burned in car engines and release CO2 just like normal gasoline (and diesel), because they're made from plants instead of fossil fuel they produce zero net CO2 gain.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    48. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by hcdejong · · Score: 1

      Most leaves would rot away long before being compressed.

    49. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Random832 · · Score: 1

      He means it's a net gain if you include all the CO2 converted to O2 during the tree's lifetime.

      --
      We've secretly replaced Slashdot with new Folgers Crystals - let's see if it notices.
    50. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by cyberfunk2 · · Score: 1

      And the organic wastes... come from... suprise.. oil.

    51. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or, how did we make plastic before we made it out of oil.

    52. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by rsynnott · · Score: 1

      Nothing wrong with nuclear :) (At least, not compared to the competition).

      --
      Me (Blog)
    53. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by rah1420 · · Score: 1

      Not for a minute did I think that anyone would think this was a perpetual motion machine.

      However, the efficiencies involved are pretty compelling if you click through the Kantor site onto the research.

      --
      Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens.
    54. Re:Wood Ipod (guilt) by duffahtolla · · Score: 1

      Ahh, My mistake. Thank you.

  16. Re:Not sure about this. by sathia · · Score: 1, Funny

    iWood?

    --
    one bug, one crash
  17. This is awesome... by Mister+Impressive · · Score: 1, Funny

    ... it looks absolutely great. However, now that its a WOODEN iPod, there is more fuel to burn, so just don't give it to this kid.

    --
    Let the commencement BEGINULATE!
  18. Lotsa Pictures by nmb3000 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There's enough pictures on there that this could easily go down.

    Here's a Coral Cache of it to help ease some of the disappearing server Slashdot magic.

    --
    "What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
    /)
  19. Termites by axonal · · Score: 5, Funny

    Great, now I need a termite protection plan for my iPod.

    1. Re:Termites by antdude · · Score: 1

      and carpenter ants protection plan. Note: Carpenter ants don't eat wood. They live in them though (still damaging).

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  20. Touchpad? by teknokracy · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Can someone tell me how he got the touch wheel part to be sensitive? I was under the impression that you needed a bare finger or at least something electrostatic-ey to be able to use the scroll function... the buttons i see working, but the scroll is NEEDED to use the iPod!

    1. Re:Touchpad? by smellystudent · · Score: 2, Informative

      I think he's using a click wheel rather than the newer touchpad kind.

      --
      Predictive text is shiv!
    2. Re:Touchpad? by HAKdragon · · Score: 1

      The clickwheel iPods still need a touchpad for scrolling through menus and whatnot. The clickwheel is used for buttons (previous/next/play/menu).

      --
      "Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs. We have a protractor."
    3. Re:Touchpad? by jayzee · · Score: 3, Informative

      Nope its a 4th gen. This is from the creator in the article discussion:

      As many have mis-read. This is not a old generation iPod with a scroll wheel. This is a 4th generation iPod with touch click wheel. It is held together by little tabs.

      --

      Mole? 4? Cars?
  21. "No War for Hardwood!" by billstewart · · Score: 5, Informative
    Actually, deforestation really is a serious problem, and decorative hardwoods are often from much more environmentally sensitive areas than pine and some of the other softwoods that grow efficiently in tree-farms. People who like fancy guitars and other musical instruments have to deal with this issue also.

    Some softwood types are also sensitive - old-growth redwoods forests and high mountain areas. Forest Service roadbuilding typically costs about 10 times as much as the value of the wood that gets logged using those roads, so it's essentially subsidizing the destruction of old-growth forests; the Clinton administration belatedly got around to banning it in many areas, and the Bush Administration rapidly re-authorized it.

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
    1. Re:"No War for Hardwood!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not sure if the 10X number is true or not.... but let's say it is.
      How much of that 10X cost is the cost of fighting lawsuits and jumping through environmentalist hoops?

      I bet it's not insignificant.

  22. Re:Not sure about this. by jawtheshark · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I'm sorry, but I find this lack of respect. I have some carpenters amongs my wifes family, and what they make is very much different than the IKEA stuff you can get. (Of course, it is way out of my monetary league). I think that they'd love this. I'll probably show them this next time I see them. One of them was even interested when I opened his computer and showed how easy it was to assemble. He immediately thought of a wooden custom made case... go figure, you have geeks in every segment ;-)

    Carpenters can make magnificent things out of wood. Okay, wooden objects (like this) are for everyone, but some people want wooden inlays in their cars too. I think that would be comparable.

    I think it's a great mod. Still, I wonder how the wheel works. (As others have already posted) I don't have an iPod myself (yeah, a Shuffle, but that doesn't count), so I don't really know how they work.

    --
    Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
  23. Beauty. by earthbound+kid · · Score: 1

    Excellent. I've been saying for years that I want a cellphone with a woodgrain case and real metal buttons. The more people look at this iPod case mod, the closer my dream comes to being true.

    1. Re:Beauty. by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1
      Excellent. I've been saying for years that I want a cellphone with a woodgrain case and real metal buttons.
      Then get some good close-grained wood, some sharp knifes, a Dremel, and start whittling! It really is not as hard as most people think, and you'd probably be able to create an acceptable cover with some practice. Plus, you'll have the satisfaction of having made it yourself.
      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    2. Re:Beauty. by earthbound+kid · · Score: 1

      For a flip phone?

  24. Sounds great and all but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wooden have done it. Wood you?

  25. Just great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    First we had to worry about replacing the batteries, and now we have to worry about replacing the wood finish from termite damage.

    I wonder if terminix could help 0.o

  26. Apple wood by sita · · Score: 4, Funny

    I guess apple wood isn't hard enough, but it seems like a natural choice for this particular application.

    1. Re:Apple wood by Zebedeu · · Score: 1

      I guess apple wood isn't hard enough

      Really? I was thinking of getting an Apple computer, but now I'm not sure anymore...

  27. Re:Not sure about this. by Fussen · · Score: 3, Funny

    iWoodn't..

  28. Already exists ! by Arthur+B. · · Score: 4, Funny

    woody ipod is nothing new, I'm not impressed. But if the guy showed a sarge ipod...

    --
    \u262D = \u5350
    1. Re:Already exists ! by rob123 · · Score: 0

      Maybe we'll see 'etch'ed iPods soon?!

      Oh wait.. that won't be soon...

  29. Photoshopped...? by Khyber · · Score: 1

    First two informative photos appear real, but then the next two showing the face and underside of the front plate just seem.... computer generated. It doesn't even come close to looking realistic. Sorry. Mod me as you will...

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    1. Re:Photoshopped...? by dangitman · · Score: 1
      WTF? What indications do you see that this has been Photoshopped and does not "look real"? Have you spent so long around plastic and cheap wood that you don't know what real woodcraft looks like?

      I'm so sick of people who have no substantial knowledge or experience with digital manipulation, saying something "looks photoshopped" just because they are not familiar with what they are seeing. If you want to make that claim, then analyze the image scientifically, or at least tell us WHY it looks Photoshopped, and what characteristics of the digital image you are describing.

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    2. Re:Photoshopped...? by Khyber · · Score: 1

      Okay, let me give you ten years of carpentry work to tell you why it looks photoshopped.

      First off, unless you're using some acrylic or high-urethane clear-coat or stain, that "wood" shouldn't have such a plastic gloss, nor should it look perfecly reflecting. That stuff looks just like the crap installed in "wood-grained" Cadillacs, when it's a thin wood veneer coated with plastic, not actual burnished and polished wood.

      Regardless of how good you've got that wood coated with clearcoats, it's not going to reflect light that well, either, thanks to how rough wood is.

      Oh, and one final note. Shadows are TOTALLY off given the suggested angles of light.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    3. Re:Photoshopped...? by dangitman · · Score: 1
      First off, unless you're using some acrylic or high-urethane clear-coat or stain, that "wood" shouldn't have such a plastic gloss, nor should it look perfecly reflecting.

      Well, perhaps he used an acrylic or high-urethane clear-coat? Surely that's a lot more plausible than it being Photoshopped.

      That stuff looks just like the crap installed in "wood-grained" Cadillacs, when it's a thin wood veneer coated with plastic, not actual burnished and polished wood.

      So, you think it looks crap. How does that indicate that it is Photoshopped. Why don't you tell me what makes it look Photoshopped rather than how crappy you think the carpentry is?

      Furthermore, the lighting used for the photography can create lots of reflection and glare. Use the right light, and you can make just about anything with a slight gloss reflect. Do you have any actual details about why you think the shadows don't match?

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    4. Re:Photoshopped...? by Khyber · · Score: 1

      As I stated first, even then, the wood will not look that glossy and smooth even after sanding and coating with urethane. Just because of how rough wood is, even waxing it isn't going to really acheive that kind of gloss effect. It's either plastic or photoshopped. Maybe it is a real thin piece of wood, like veneer, covered with plastic, but it's not just flat out real wood, stained and standardly varnished.

      So, you think it looks crap.

      No, I said it *LOOKS* like the crap put in Cadillacs. I called what was put in the Cadillac crap, not this wood mod. Don't put words in where they were not.

      Now, look at the light. Look at the shadows, or lack thereof. Something with all the other given light details and hints just isnt right about that. I've got about two thousands watts of lighting in my room, in various forms. No matter what, you're going to get shadows, you can't eliminate them, as some area is not going to have as much light exposure. Visual clues suggest lighting all around, and maybe a couple directly above. The lack of shadow is astounding, especially since you should be getting a very slight shadow from every light.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    5. Re:Photoshopped...? by RockClimbingFool · · Score: 1

      I am not sure how to address all the points you bring up, but he doesn't appear to be using clearcoats to get the glossy finish. He links to http://www.eti-usa.com/consum/envtex/envlite.htm. It appears to be some type of polymer coating, aka plastic.

  30. Re:Not sure about this. by KrunZ · · Score: 1

    I respect carpenters a lot, and I admire that the handwork looks like this is done excellent. But it still look like something the for the 60+ segment.

    The are so many cool sorts of wood that designers use today and glossy coated redwood is not one of them. That is something for Laura Bush or your Grandma.

  31. Mmmmm by maharg · · Score: 3, Funny

    you've got wood, haven't you !

    --

    $ strings FTP.EXE | grep Copyright
    @(#) Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
  32. Too much time.... by Eminence · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Some people have clearly too much time on their hands. Some of those put it to good use and we call them "artists". :)

  33. Wood? It's worse than you already think. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is this environmentally sustainable?

    Immediately, as a result of this rather provocative article, there will be a rush of people going to go buy rare wood. I cannot even estimate how many. This article will then permanently remain published, drawing huge crowds of people and serving to forge a constant stream of people buying rare woods.

    I've hesitated to say it, but here it is, without any window dressing:

    These people and their iPods are killing millions of people and destroying the Earth.

    The Earth is simply too small to sustain or ever hope to recover from an onslaught of this nature. Can you imagine how many people will actually build these things? It's staggering to think about isn't it?

    Post 9/11, I'd imagined I'd see this article published eventually. It's a sign of the times.

    1. Re:Wood? It's worse than you already think. by bmo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "Immediately, as a result of this rather provocative article, there will be a rush of people going to go buy rare wood."

      "These people and their iPods are killing millions of people and destroying the Earth."

      Oh spare me, troll.

      And how much wood do you need to make an iPod faceplate? A few cubic inches?

      You deserve to be tweaked, but good.

      I want one of these. I haven't justified the price for the 92XL...yet.

      http://www.gerstnerusa.com/Exotic.htm

      But look at the prices!

      The following 3 chests are available to order in your choice of exotic woods.
      92XL Pro Series I Chest $2560.00
      41D Classic Chest $1340.00
      212 Treasure Chest $1180.00

      Mmm...lovely.

      --
      BMO

  34. Debian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, but does it run Woody?

  35. w00t by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    w00t, euh, wood. Euh, damn, I'm confused!

  36. Full SFF Case by gometro33 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You can check out some of this other work here: ProjectRedwood 3.0. I've been following it for a while and he says he has to finish by August so expect big updates.

  37. Native (North/South) Americans by hummassa · · Score: 1

    Don't forget that a lot of tree species *need* the fire to reproduce correctly. So, there is an amount of "clearing land by burning" that is actually sustainable.

    --
    It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
    1. Re:Native (North/South) Americans by bmo · · Score: 1

      "Don't forget that a lot of tree species *need* the fire to reproduce correctly. So, there is an amount of "clearing land by burning" that is actually sustainable."

      But this should not be interpreted as "Native Americans Were Good For Trees", especially here in the Northeast, where there are no trees that need periodic fires (like some lodgepole pines do in the West). They basically burned to clear land around these parts so they could grow their corn.

      How do you think that the English were able to have their farms once they landed in the Massachussetts Bay Colony with few draft animals? The land was _already_ cleared.

      Low tech destruction of the environment goes on to this day. All it takes is a farmer with a torch to set a few hundred acres of Brazilian rain forest on fire. Some gold panners use mercury to separate gold by the side of the river, too.

      Low tech isn't the paradise that _some_ groups would have us believe.

      --
      BMO

  38. Exactly ! by deathcow · · Score: 5, Funny

    You're not kidding. I am still working with my CNC machinist on a solid granite back for my limited series U2 iPod. The granite reduces the vibrations from the iPods on board digital clock and from any CMOS gate switching during operation. I've seen some online studies that the granite dampens the vibrations and makes the iPods last a LOT longer (besides the obvious quality difference at the ear..). Are you doing any iPod overclocking or extra cooling? Have you thought about replacing your wall receptacle outlets to feed your iPod the cleanest power?

    regards
    iJack Simpson
    owner, Yahoo iPod Overclockers Forum
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/iPodOverclockers/

    1. Re:Exactly ! by Scarblac · · Score: 3, Informative

      +10 nerd props for actually starting the Yahoo group you mention in a /. joke :-)

      --
      I believe posters are recognized by their sig. So I made one.
  39. technology by Blaaguuu · · Score: 3, Funny

    Im just waiting for technology to increase enough so we can build these things out of plastic... that will be the day. Now dont get me wrong... wood electronics are great... but wouldnt plastic be awesome?

    --
    My hand touched her hand. Her hand touched her boob. By the transitive property, I got some boob! Algebra is awesome!
    1. Re:technology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      My hand touched her hand. Her hand touched her boob. By the transitive property, I got some boob! Algebra is awesome!
      If you can get that with algebra, just imagine what you could get with calculus!
    2. Re:technology by postgrep · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      I derived her cola which in turn integrated the function of her skirt which levitated perpendicular to the tangent of her legs thus electromagically charging her radical.

  40. Re:Not sure about this. by Blaaguuu · · Score: 1

    I find it perfectly interesting. but at the same time, can you really deny how silly it is? if you like wood, you may think it looks good... but the contrast of the organic wood style with the ipods geometric, minimalist design doesnt work too well for me. cool in a gimicky way ;)

    --
    My hand touched her hand. Her hand touched her boob. By the transitive property, I got some boob! Algebra is awesome!
  41. Grow your own iPod by CaptainFork · · Score: 2, Funny

    Of course, a genetically modified tree could grow iPods in place of branches.

  42. Just Tree by williamhooligan · · Score: 2, Funny
    Unfortunately, due to the loss of the magnetic field reflections when you move to wood from plastic, your storage capacity is reduced to tree gig.

    Ahaha...

  43. wrong! by hummassa · · Score: 1

    A lot of hardwood you buy at a store is smuggled out of Brasil or some country in Africa. Wood-smuggling gang lords of the Amazonic rain forest are more violent than their recreational drug counterparts (one of them was known to chop his enemies in pieces with a chainsaw... personally)

    --
    It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
    1. Re:wrong! by Ambiguous+Coward · · Score: 1

      Umm...whether or not that's true, it has no bearing on what I said, regardless of the fact that what I said was almost purely sarcasm.

      --
      Their may be a grammatical error, misspeling, or evn a typo in this post.
  44. I call BS by green+pizza · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I call BS until someone posts a photo of this wallhanging. Seriously. If it's really that cool, someone would have taken a snapshot with their cameraphone by now.

    It's not like Steve Jobs invented the iPod or the MP3 player concept himself anyway. The Diamond Rio was one of the originals and AFAIK, Apple outsourced the iPod development to a freelance EE.

    1. Re:I call BS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      According to the official rules of calling BS, you can't do any such thing.
      The rules clearly state that A, you have to be certain of your call, and B, we're allowed to mock you endlessly when you're wrong.

    2. Re:I call BS by sharrestom · · Score: 1

      Most likely they are mockups by the industrial designers, ie, Jonathan Ive and his minions. Its very common during the design process to use wood as it is very easy to modify and finish.

    3. Re:I call BS by 2nd+Post! · · Score: 1

      Two points:

      The freelance EE that invented the iPod did invent the current form factor: Handheld, small, light, hard drive based, and usable with one hand (with the help of Apple, as all the other manufacturers turned this guy down). Diamond had a good thing going, but lacked a hard drive. Creative had the hard drive, but modeled their device after a CD player with 11 buttons.

      Give props where props are due; Apple recognized that the market could stand an improved mousetrap, funded it, developed it, and now rule the market. We're just waiting for someone else (or Apple) to create something even better now, and unfortunately that has to include the software too.

    4. Re:I call BS by argent · · Score: 1

      Personally, I really dislike the user interface of the iPod. The wheel is too sensitive, you can't just shove it in your pocket like you can the iPod Shuffle's more conventional "nintendo-style" button pad. But none of the other companies have really done a better job... at least I haven't found one that I like well enough to buy. They either ape the iPod badly, or they have little joysticks that snag on everything, or they have randomly shaped buttons stuck randomly anywhere they fit.

    5. Re:I call BS by Rude+Turnip · · Score: 1

      Slide the "hold button" on and then nothing will get activated while it's in your pocket. That's been a feature on portable CD players for years and the iPod has the same feature.

    6. Re:I call BS by argent · · Score: 1

      Slide the "hold button" on and then nothing will get activated while it's in your pocket.

      Which means that every time I put it in my pocket, I have to remember to hit the hold button, and every time I want to do something, I have to find the hold button and hit it, THEN hit volume-up or whatever. It's a kludge to make up for a bad control design (and it's the same kludge if it's on a portable CD player, though it's clearly not universal because I didn't need nor notice on on my last CD player).

      I actually bought the remote control for the thing, and while it has a more reasonable set of controls it's another damn bit of kit I have to keep track of, more cables ... the shuffle was definitely an upgrade for me, simply because it's easier to use.

    7. Re:I call BS by Kirby-meister · · Score: 1
      It's not like remembering where a button is located requires 100% of your concentration...

      Such an inane nitpick...first you complain about the controls working while in your pocket...someone tells you how to solve that problem...and instead of saying "thanks, I'll try that out" you complain about having to remember a button's location...would you rather it magically learn whenever it is inside your pockets?

      It seems that you're looking for a reason to complain about the iPod...

    8. Re:I call BS by rhizome · · Score: 1

      Which means that every time I put it in my pocket, I have to remember to hit the hold button, and every time I want to do something, I have to find the hold button and hit it, THEN hit volume-up or whatever. It's a kludge to make up for a bad control design (and it's the same kludge if it's on a portable CD player, though it's clearly not universal because I didn't need nor notice on on my last CD player).

      Your last CD player didn't fit in your pocket. You complain of something tantamount to not wanting to touch a button to insert a CD into your player. Think of the hold switch as a mode selector and it can become second-nature.

      --
      When I was a kid, we only had one Darth.
    9. Re:I call BS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Which means that every time I put it in my pocket, I have to remember to hit the hold button, and every time I want to do something, I have to find the hold button and hit it,


      do you also have difficulty remembering to stick your key in to start the engine when you try to drive, and end up sitting there for a couple of minutes until you remember it?

    10. Re:I call BS by argent · · Score: 1

      and instead of saying "thanks, I'll try that out"

      How you got the idea that I hadn't "tried it out" I have no idea, perhaps you're just looking for a reason to dismiss my perfectly reasonable objection to the ridiculously sensitive controls on the iPod (and on many other poorly designed music players). Not only did I "try it out", I tried it and found it wanting, even after I bought Apple's wired remote so I could leave the "hold" button on all the time.

      It's not even the iPod. I replaced my iPod Mini with... an iPod Shuffle. Which has much better controls, showing that Apple isn't wedded to the iPod's funky clickwheel.

    11. Re:I call BS by argent · · Score: 1

      Your last CD player didn't fit in your pocket.

      Cargo pants.

      Think of the hold switch as a mode selector and it can become second-nature.

      All kinds of stupid extra steps can be learned: pushing a button on your LED watch to see the time, toggling in the IPL sequence for your mainframe computer, I don't do that kind of thing any more, why should I put up with it from an MP3 player when Apple makes a perfectly good MP3 player that doesn't have the same design flaw?

    12. Re:I call BS by argent · · Score: 1

      do you also have difficulty remembering to stick your key in to start the engine when you try to drive

      If you had to switch the engine off and pull the key out every time you came to a stop, even at a traffic light, or else you might accidentally brush a control and the car would start driving again... I think you'd find yourself forgetting now and then.

      I suppose I should be thankful I couldn't accidentally run over and kill people with my old iPod, right?

    13. Re:I call BS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      actually no, you'd have to press on the breaks, which *gasp* is similar to "hold."

    14. Re:I call BS by eboot · · Score: 1

      Do you ever forget to put the handbrake on? Seems a better analogy. I mean cars are so badly designed because every time you stop you have to put the handbrake on. And who can be bothered fidling around looking for a handbrake? I mean surely it would be sooo easy to have the car detect when you would like the handbrake on, using some sort of thought detection system...Do you see how stupid your complaint is yet?

      --
      Two tears in a bucket. Motherfuck it.
    15. Re:I call BS by argent · · Score: 1

      Do you ever forget to put the handbrake on?

      Not when I park on a slope, because the car lets me know right away I need the handbrake on. When you park on a slope you put the handbrake on, you turn the wheels into the curb, and you leave the car in gear. At least I do, don't you?

      In Houston? I might need the handbrake once in six months. At most. I don't have earthquake insurance either. Stupid me.

      I mean surely it would be sooo easy to have the car detect when you would like the handbrake on

      I dont know about that, but obviously it's easy enough to build an iPod that doesn't need a hold switch because it doesn't have a ridiculously sensitive user interface. Apple managed it, and so I bought one.

    16. Re:I call BS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like some cheese with that whine?

  45. Real IPOD fans.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    dont make their ipods woody, rather make their rooms *curvy* and creamy.

  46. Ugly! by FahdK · · Score: 1

    Ewww...am I the only one that finds it ugly looking?

    1. Re:Ugly! by tmckay87 · · Score: 1

      yes

  47. Bonsai iPod? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    First there was Bonsai Kitten and now this? Its all getting pretty silly I say :)

  48. His next project by Willeh · · Score: 1

    Carving the front of another iPod from the bones of the starved musicians that died after the massive proliferation of music piracy. Available in bone and regular white!

    --
    Will wank off Linus Torvalds for fame.
  49. truly by pintomp3 · · Score: 2, Funny

    stuff that matters. i guess this time the matter is wood.

  50. Would you do something like this? by Reverant · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because I know iWood!

    1. Re:Would you do something like this? by Overzeetop · · Score: 1

      I thought iWood was what fanboys got when they walked into an apple store.

      --
      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
  51. Love it... by Patchw0rk+F0g · · Score: 1

    Looks like the original link is just fine, but try the modder's personal home-page... it's been /.'ed. First I've seen of a 2nd tier /.ing...

    --
    When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. ~~ Hunter S. Thompson
  52. Yes, but... by allanj · · Score: 1

    does it run Debian Woody?

    *ducks*

    --
    Black holes are where God divided by zero
  53. durability by real_smiff · · Score: 2, Informative

    nice, but isn't the long term problem that the wood is likely to crack or split, either just naturally or from impact. he said it already split four times when making it. 2mm thick wood, i'm not sure how tough that "would" (ahem) be. i guess there are ways of treating wood to make it stand up but how reliable it would be to mass produce i don't know... looks nice now though :)

    --

    This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.

  54. Re:Hum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Offtopic, I know.

    I thought your sig was an exageration, but found the source. I'm stunned.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/18744 71.stm

  55. Simple by The+Creator · · Score: 1
    Like a real nerd he installed Linux on it and simply whistles in his command by morse code.


    *whistling* *actual morse code for "volume 11" removed by lameness filter goes here*

    --

    FRA: STFU GTFO
  56. no back? by krunk4ever · · Score: 1

    besides taking more time and wood, was there any other reason why he only made the front wood and not the back? it didn't seem that any hardware was stuck to it.

  57. Re:Not sure about this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What do you think, purpleheart? I think a purpleheart would look good for a little mp3 device. Or Macassar ebony.

  58. Re:Not sure about this. by supersocialist · · Score: 1

    Mod parent up! This is obviously not a troll, but a very clever pun. I actually chuckled out loud.

  59. Well :) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The downgrade is complete!

  60. Re:Hum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Re your sig. Good thing they're not the friends against terrorism and oppression aroun the world. And the same for Pakistan...

    As for me, I would go the other way. To wear as little as possible.

  61. a fatal misread by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Wood grain is the new Apple White!
    Not to be confused with Applewhite
  62. Is it just me or... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    does this new wooden iPod remind anyone else of a nipple? It looks so succulent and seductive, it's begging me to... Err, sorry that was just the hardwood effect on me...

  63. Burn it! by gandell · · Score: 3, Funny

    Who are you who are so wise in the ways of science?

    --
    Mercy was given to me by Christ...I must give the same to others.
  64. Scratching? by ChrisF79 · · Score: 1

    That truly is amazingly well done. But doesn't it seem like the wood would take to scratching a lot quicker than the usual white surface? My ipod gets put in and out of the dock quite a bit so I think the wood would show a lot more wear and tear.

    Still, it is very well done!

    --
    Finance tutorials and more! Understandfinance
  65. That's just great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now we can destroy rainforests just so spoiled brats in the US can look cool with their iPods. Nice going, Steve Jobs.

  66. Looks great But? by NetNinja · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Show me a picture of it after 6 months of normal use and let's see if it looks as great as the crummy white plastic finish would.

    1. Re:Looks great But? by m50d · · Score: 1

      The crummy white plastic looks horrible once it's got scratched a bit (which it will have done after 6 months). You'd have to go some to look uglier than that.

      --
      I am trolling
  67. That looks like a big nipple by beest · · Score: 1

    Peculiar, the user keeps scrolling through songs as if it were more fun than listening to music...

  68. durable or fragile? by tomlouie · · Score: 1

    If you look at the wood between the lcd screen and the scroll wheel, that thin segment of wood is running across the grain. That is a potential weak point.

    Plus, he's using hot glue to hold the iPod components to the wood. Wouldn't the iPod get hot enough during playback and recharging to cause the hot glue to loosen? Yikes!

    Tom

    1. Re:durable or fragile? by 486Hawk · · Score: 1

      FYI: Hot glue melts well starts to melt at about 130F. Well this was the inside case temperature next to a video card that had a fan attached with hot glue..
      I would doubt that an I-pod would get hot enough to melt it. Now if the battery exploded that would be a different story.

  69. mm... the 70's by eegad · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I always suspected Apple's smooth, white finish would ring true with those still trapped in the 70's... Maybe the next generation ipods will feature avocado green and harvest gold cases! Kill me now.

    1. Re:mm... the 70's by taskforce · · Score: 2, Informative
      http://www.apple.com/ipodmini/

      Well they removed the harvest gold when they added the 6GB HDs... but Green is most certainly there.

      --
      My 3D Texturing Skinning work (under construction)
    2. Re:mm... the 70's by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The beauty of the 70's is that it didn't have to be made of wood in order to have the beauty of wood.

      The Atari 2600, station wagons, build it yourself shelving, and all had the beauty of wood...

    3. Re:mm... the 70's by Koiu+Lpoi · · Score: 1

      It also rings true for those born after the 70s died. You do know the 80s are coming back, right? That whole era thing?

  70. MOD UP!! by duffahtolla · · Score: 1
    This is why I covered my iPod with a renewable resource. Human-skin leather. That's why my iPod also has a tattoo.

    :)

    There are more people alive right now than have ever lived in the entire history of man kind. We are the ultimate renewable resource.

    1. Re:MOD UP!! by The+Infamous+Grimace · · Score: 1

      There are more people alive right now than have ever lived in the entire history of man kind.

      Actually, that statement has been refuted.
      link
      link
      lots o' links

      (tig)
      --
      Ignorance and prejudice and fear
      Walk hand in hand
  71. BoingBoing anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seems like I no longer need to read /. as it mostly trails BoingBoing by a day. Jeez... can't they find ORIGINAL articles?!?

  72. Rear Panel by nurb432 · · Score: 1

    Personally, i think the rear chrome panel is the first thing that needs to be dealt with.

    While it looks great out of the box, if you so much as breathe on it you scratch the hell out of it..

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  73. I'd buy one of these in a heartbeat by paulsomm · · Score: 1

    Much hotter than the white. Excellent craftsmanship too. Doubt I'd have the patience to do this

  74. Oh wow. by Winterblink · · Score: 1

    That's really neat. Normally I balk at a lot of the madness that is case modding, but this one is pretty impressive. One question I have would be about climate issues. It's no doubt a very VERY snug fit to get it attached to the rest of the iPod hardware, how would expansion due to moisture in the air (or would it even be a factor)?

    --
    "I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
    -Hoban Washburn
  75. More iPod mods? by ElNotto · · Score: 1
    I can't find the post, but previously ask slashdot had a thread about DIY stuff and someone posted a link to http://www.emachineshop.com/ . They give you CAD software to design parts and the software will tell you the cost of producing the part before ordering.

    It would be great to see DIYers make some more cool iPod mods and post them online to share (someone with more time than me could set up a wiki or a blog for this). I would love to see something like a brushed stainless steel casing that would be resistant to scratching, maybe using that same material they use in grocery store checkout scanners (manufactured emerald or something) as a scratch-resistant display cover.

    1. Re:More iPod mods? by (PA)Storm+Shadow · · Score: 1

      Here is an iPod Mod that I performed on my girlfriend's mini... I stripped the clearcoat and paint from it and polished the aluminum underneath... (There are extra pics on the 4th page!) http://www.ipodwizard.net/showthread.php?t=152/

      --
      Storm Shadow "The Hook Up" http://www.pe
  76. And what else floats? by switcha · · Score: 1

    Apples!

    --
    You know what? ... A little club soda *did* get that out!
    1. Re:And what else floats? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Very small rocks...

    2. Re:And what else floats? by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      Lead! Lead!

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    3. Re:And what else floats? by healy · · Score: 1

      Gr...Gravy!

      --
      "Jesus saves sinners...and redeems them for valuable coupons"
  77. Re:Not sure about this. by Secrity · · Score: 2, Informative

    "Okay, wooden objects (like this) are for everyone, but some people want wooden inlays in their cars too. I think that would be comparable."

    Wood inlays consist of thin slices of wood covering a substrate. Wood inlays are generally used for decorating a flat object and it is possible to have curved wood inlays. This iPod case is a three dimensional carving made from one piece of wood, not an inlay.

    Wood carving and wood inlays are both techniques that can be used to create beautiful works of art, and both techniques can be combined in the same piece.

  78. Forget the iPods sold with those VW Bugs... by lpangelrob · · Score: 1

    A wooden iPod should be sold with one of these!

  79. I'm still waiting... by suitepotato · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...for someone to rebuild an iPod with vacuum tubes and a bakelite case.

    --
    If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
  80. Re:Not sure about this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I suspect very clever puns usually fly right over your head, otherwise you wouldn't have mistaken the GP with one. It's a pun, yes, but I've seen cleverer puns on pea soup can labels...

  81. Full Circle by hanshotfirst · · Score: 1

    The Apple I was built in a wooden case.

    --
    Why, oh why, didn't I take the Blue Pill?
  82. Obligatory Short Circuit Quote: by KnarfO · · Score: 0, Redundant

    [indian geek apple fan boy voice]"I am sporting a serious woody right now..."

    --


    "Creativity is allowing ones self to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep" - Scott Adams
  83. How Does The Volume Work by adias_angel · · Score: 0

    A co-worker of mine brought up this point...How does the volume still work since you slide your finger about the center ring to increase/decrease the volume?

  84. accessories by djwu · · Score: 1

    Does he have real wood earphones to go with it??

  85. Great. More rainforest destruction for fetishistic by evodas · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Great. More rainforest destruction for fetishistic, shallow consumers.

    We're dead.

  86. +4 informative?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    this informed me of precious little.

  87. Woody in your pocket? by Graabein · · Score: 1

    - Is that a woody in your pocket?

    - You know what, as a matter of fact, it is!

    --
    And remember kids: Never trust a computer you can actually lift.
  88. Re:Not sure about this. by TekMonkey · · Score: 1

    He's creating an entire Wooden PC, his mouse, keyboard, monitor, etc. are all wood. :)

  89. Re:Not sure about this. by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

    The click wheel is kind of an inlay...

    --

    "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  90. A wood question.. by willy_me · · Score: 1

    I'm living in northern Canada and have access to a portable mill. I also have access to limitless pine, spruce, poplar, and birch. My question is about the birch. What is it best suited for? The wood might be free, but the time and saw blades are not. In addition, drying wood takes a lot of time and space. Would products made of birch be worth the time and effort required to produce the lumber?

    Willy

    1. Re:A wood question.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      guitars...

  91. opinions by chasingporsches · · Score: 2, Insightful

    since posting this on /. just begs for opinions, here's my critical opinion of this clever, creative work: the wood with gloss looks very nice. the snaps on the back and smoothness of the finish makes it look very classy. however, the click wheel and button look VERY cheesy, too rounded. if it wereless glossy and rounded, and probably with engraved control labels, it would be much more professional and easy on the eyes. the screen was not cut out professionally at all. you did such an excellent job on the rest, why skimp on the screen?! the cutout is wavy, not smooth, and it looks very last-minute. but all in all, great stuff. and i like the black dock.

  92. wood apple by SebNukem · · Score: 0, Redundant

    and there goes the rain forest...

  93. Re:Great. More rainforest destruction for fetishis by Koiu+Lpoi · · Score: 2, Funny

    But at least we're rich. And have lots of THINGS! And STUFF! That's where real happiness comes from.

    Right?

  94. Yawn! Yet another case mod... by flipper9 · · Score: 1

    Who give a rat's ass who changes their case? Nothing interesting here but some minor modification to the outside of an ipod. Big deal.

    Now modding a computer, retro-fitted into the back of your car, that automatically synchronized cool sound-tracks from your desktop computer would be something to post on Slashdot. Not just another mod of a case. Get real people.

  95. Re:Not sure about this. by billsoxs · · Score: 1

    I can see the ads now for Tigger's iWood

    --
    This message was brought to you by "Lack of Sleep."
  96. Re:Much better than... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    MOD PARENT UP! IT'S TRUE!

  97. Re:Not sure about this. by billsoxs · · Score: 1
    But it still look like something the for the 60+ segment.

    Why only over 60? I am 45 and I'd love to have one. I could care less about the iPOD part. It is beautiful and the workmanship is wonderful. (Ok I admit I like fine wood work and I replaced my kitchen with custom cabinets etc so I have some clue as to how hard it was to build that gem.)

    --
    This message was brought to you by "Lack of Sleep."
  98. Got nothing on me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've hand crafted my IPod case out of ivory. And its protective carrying case is made of baby seal skin. I don't know, but something about this combination makes me feel really good inside, and everyone who sees it loves it !!!

  99. now a new ipod by MozillaMike · · Score: 0

    now when you get mad at your ipod because it doesn't work.... you can burn it!

    get a Creative Zen Micro (prettier colors!)

    --
    GCS/MU d- s: a--- C++ W+++ w+ M-- PS--- PE++ t+ R+ tv b+ DI++ G e- h! !y
  100. Heh! The Pod... by mtec · · Score: 1

    prolly feels like it's in a little casket...

    Huh! Now there's a mod - a tiny little casket for a dead iPod. We could sell 'em by the dozens for proper iPod burial.

    --
    Cake or Death? Cake Please!
  101. More Moding Guides for Portable Media Players by wehe · · Score: 1
  102. Wooden Ipod Muggings by mex666 · · Score: 0

    Wooden Ipod? Look out for a rise in environmentalist ipod muggings. I mean rainforest timber, what was he thinking?

  103. in soviet russia.... by mex666 · · Score: 0

    ...ipods turn YOU into wood?

    bah, I can't believe I just posted one of those.

  104. Analyzing... by hummassa · · Score: 1

    "whether or not that's true"... take my word for it, it's true;

    "it has no bearing on what I said"... you said originally, and I quote, "any wood you buy at the store was almost certainly cut *ages* ago": unless your "ages" are shorter than mine (and it seems that they are, see below), this is wrong, and if you buy hardwood you are most certainly collaborating to the destruction of rainforests here and in Africa, because you are generating demand for those illegal products.

    "what I said was almost purely sarcasm"... which part? about *ages*? in this case, you would be partially correct; I did not see the sarcasm.

    My point? Don't buy hardwood unless you know for *sure* that it was grown and harvested sustainably.

    --
    It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
  105. You, sir, are correct. by hummassa · · Score: 1

    Low tech isn't the paradise... but some high-techs are way worse.

    --
    It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
  106. Einstein covered this by MegaHyster · · Score: 0

    Does energy = mass times the speed of light (squared) apply?

    --
    All good things...
  107. It works! by Steve+Cowan · · Score: 1

    I just installed the wood case mod to my iPod and now I find that it just feels snappier overall. Good work.

  108. shame the wheel wont work by mike518 · · Score: 0

    im guessing since the wheel doesnt work with cotton gloves the thing works though some kind of marnetic/electron transfer... and last i checked wood isnt exactly the most conductive material -- oh well he can always sell it for a grand on ebay ^.^

    --
    Mike
    I heart the RIAA & MPAA, im sure its mutual...
  109. Wood grain is the new Apple White! by roofingfelt · · Score: 1
    Wood grain is the new Apple White!"

    You are the new asshole.

  110. Fuck Dave Chihuly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think I talk for everyone here in the NorthWest when I say "Fuck Dave Chihuly, half blind motherfucker."

    I really have had an ass full of him and his glass. Don't we have any other artists up here?

    5 years ago I was OK with him. Now I just never want to hear about him ever again.

  111. Wood Design Genius... by dwightk · · Score: 1

    Web Design Idiot...

    --
    Like anyone can even know that