Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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The Table of Obfuscated Writings

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When working, I often find that my notes are useful, but they are in the same book. This makes things difficult, as I have to keep flicking through my book, finding the right notes, and then flicking back to write the answer, all the while my train of thought slows down, stops, ends up in Charing Cross and then needs the engine to be warmed up again to get going.

What would be much easier is a type of table, where in advance the notes are scanned by use of the scanning function of the table, and the pages are brought up upon a screen infront of me. There wouldn't be many other uses for this, as it can be rather distracting to have other uses, although I suspect that if a student were ill and a teacher had use of a digital whiteboard, the teacher could send the information written upon the whiteboard to the student via the internet. Perhaps the screen could be touch sensitive - to pull up images, and to play noughts and crosses against somebody from school.

froglet, May 21 2007

OS X Rocks http://www.apple.co...sx/features/expose/
[bleh, May 23 2007]

kinda like this? http://hackedgadget...-surface-computing/
Microsoft table computing [bleh, Jun 01 2007]

[link]






       + for freaky coincidence that I invented something like this just yesterday whilst waiting too long at a restaurant and staring at the table!
xandram, May 21 2007
  

       A number of sci fi stories feature desks like this, where the surface is essentially a computer display, showing the required documents. I personally think it's a great idea for anyone who is desk-bound.
DrCurry, May 22 2007
  

       I used to have this problem. Then we stopped being given excersise books and started keeping all our notes in A4 ringbinders. Simply remove the required sheet and commence work. Sadly this idea remains far, far cooler.
Mr Phase, May 22 2007
  

       Wouldn't a tablet PC solve this problem? I know several people who swear by the devices for taking notes. Of course, knowing nothing of the British education system, I'm not really sure what you want in the first place.
discontinuuity, May 22 2007
  

       (I've now entered the Australian education system :-P )   

       I was thinking about a sort of desk where you scan the documents via a scanning sort of device built into the table, and then a screen infront of you presents you with the things you scanned, thus making it easier to glance between, say, the chemistry book you happened to leave in your locker that particular night and happened to scan the questions you were meant to do and the book you're writing the answers down in.   

       Yes, I could use a ringbinder, but I prefer books, as having a series of ringbinders takes up a lot of space in my bag when I have to take everything home for the weekend. I have a small folder to keep all the handouts I recieve in class inside and so I can haul the small folder home and put away.   

       From what I've seen, PC tablets are very expensive, and it's not as if I'm going to have one beside me in the exams now, is it?
froglet, May 23 2007
  

       If you get a mac running OS X, there is an application called Expose which tiles all the open windows on screen for ease of selection. You could have as many notes or scanned pages open as you wish and when you need to see a particular one, just press F9. It tiles them across. Then you just click the window you want and it comes to the front.   

       I love Macs.
bleh, May 23 2007
  

       Who wouldn't?
MaxwellBuchanan, May 23 2007
  

       <linky> looks baked by, of all people, microsoft, sorry.
bleh, Jun 01 2007
  

       Not really - the microsoft coffee table was announced *after* I posted this idea up, and my idea is quite significantly different.
froglet, Jun 01 2007
  

       [bleh] You can also rig your Mac to show all open windows when you put the cursor in a corner of the screen. That way, you use only two buttons instead of three.
nomocrow, Jun 01 2007
  
      
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