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LightScribe is a neat piece of technology that allows you to create custom labels for specially-coated CDs or DVDs without ink. It does this using a laser to etch a silkscreen-quality image on the surface. My desktop PC has a LightScribe-equipped CD burner in the tower.
My idea is to design a PDA
with a built-in LightScribe labeler. This labeler, however, doesn't function as a labeler so much as it does a printer, using small sheets of paper which have the same coating as LightScribe discs. If you need to print out a message, like a shopping list or some driving directions, but don't have access to a printer, simply print it by inserting Post-It size LightScribe-coated paper*, which comes in thin, hard-case pocket packs of about 20 sheets.
*the LightScribe paper and pocket packs are part of the idea, too. As far as I could tell by Googling, they don't exist yet.
Version without need for special surfaces
http://www.rnpalm.com/printdreams.htm
[loonquawl, Apr 09 2009]
Thermal PDA Printer
Thermal_20PDA_20Printer
What you really want [phoenix, Apr 09 2009]
[link]
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My LightScribe takes about 20 minutes to print a disk.
I could've got to the shops and back by then, albeit without the benefit of a shopping list or directions how to get there.
However, for sheer impracticality, [ ]. |
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BTW, the DVD drive has the advantage of already having a scanning system built-in - you don't mention how this power-hungry mechanism gets into the PDA. |
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Also, LightScribe doesn't "etch". |
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Otherwise, great idea, well-deserving of buns. |
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// Also, LightScribe doesn't "etch".// |
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My apologies, that's what Wikipedia and the label on my tower say. |
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//that's what Wikipedia //
But they also spell "colour" without a "u", so they're obviously not native English speakers, and can't be expected to understand the implications of "etch". |
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As to your mention of a scanning system: Many PDAs today have the ability to use the integrated 3.2 megapixel camera to scan anything from barcodes to credit cards. Look up some of the applications available for the G1 at android.com/market. A simple text entered into the phone itself would be fine. |
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//As to your mention of a scanning system//
"Scanning" as in the sense of physically moving a print head over the printable surface. I've yet to see that on a PDA. |
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See [link] for version that leaves scanning to the user. |
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[loonquawl] Oh! I take it back. |
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Still got a power-hungry laser to light up, though. |
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People still use PDAs? Or are you talking about smart phones? |
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//Or are you talking about smart phones?//
Good point - perhaps you could route some of the heat from the RF power amplifier to a thermal printer stylus. |
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