Slashdot Mirror
The Ultimate Geek Christmas Card
An anonymous reader writes "CNET reports on the world's most geeky Christmas card, and also the most expensive. The card is made out of a 1st gen iPhone, hacked into a Christmas card using cardboard, paper and glue. The card includes a virtual 'bauble' which uses the iPhone's accelerometer to recreate Christmas decorations that bounce and move with the card. The makers of the card say that because of the iPhone's battery life 'you probably don't want to post it anywhere it will take more than 3 days to arrive.'"
I remember a friend of mine signing a birthday card with a handwritten gnupgp signature ... thats geeky those fancy fanboy phones are not.
This article (and the cnet one to be fair) seems more like an advert for for a boring little iPhone app.
No, I didn't RTFA, so flame away. But wouldn't a 1st gen touch be cheaper, and do the job?
This actually seems like a great way to give someone an iphone or touch for Christmas - way cooler than just leaving it in the standard box. Plus since you'll have already charged it up it's ready to go right away.
Since when is the iPhone "geeky"? It's mainstream AND against any software developer who needs an open environment to create and run applications. So it's an anti-geek christmas card.
samzenpus's geek card, if you ask me.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Apparently glueing some paper around an iPhone is frontpage material these days :(
I'm getting a bit sick of this site being one big rolling advert for a certain fruity multinational company and occasional OS developer.
It'd be absolutely fantastic to have a day, no in fact maake it a WEEK where it gets not one mention.
IANBG (work it out)
Meh. I’d be satisfied with a series of LEDs and a shift register set to drive them.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
Someone tag this "slashvertisement" because that is all it is.
I have always wondered why having an iPhone makes you geeky? I know plenty of people who own them that can't even operate a standard desktop.
"The two most abundant elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity." -Harlan Ellison
Just because there's a battery powered object in it doesn't mean it's geeky. Hardware hacking involves a little bit more than just cardboard, paper and glue. The whole 'hack' here is "Cut a hole in the card, put your iPhone in the card, make her open the card".
A true hardware geek would be ashamed to own up to this kind of cheap hack. Leaving the whole thing running on battery power non-stop while it's in the mail is just painful. To do the job right you would have to remove the case, fit the LCD panel properly into the card frame, add a switch to keep the whole thing powered off until you pull it out of the envelope, and probably do a little firmware hacking to ensure that the display is up and running the moment it powers up. For bonus marks, source your hardware somewhere other than the Apple store and save yourself about a hundred bucks.
But then again it's a CNET article. You can't expect too much.
But, but, but ... it's an Iphone! It's on the Iphone! It's some trivial activity, but it was done with an Iphone, so it's front page news!
You see, it's not a slow news day, it's just that they couldn't find anything else for today's Daily Iphone Slashvertisement.
Anyhow, I approve - best use I've seen for an Iphone.