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With the advent of flexible displays it should be possible to curl up an entire spring loaded moniter which is slightly curved to maintain rigidity like a tape measure and would lock in shape when fully unscrolled. Much of the electronics and the keyboard itself will fit within the two hand holders
on either side of the display with the standard qwerty keyboard split so that half of the split finger keys are on the backside of the hand holds while thumb buttons as well as numeric and command keys would remain on the front surface. (touch typing skills a must). adjustable straps on either side double as handrests when resting the device on your lap and free the hands from having to grip in order to steady the whole thing.
Look ma. No more carpal tunnel syndrome.
Flexible display
http://www.geekolog...d_water_display.php [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 22 2009]
The closest I could find to what I mean but much larger than this.
http://www.instablo...ept-device_7548.jpg [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 22 2009]
Phillips READUS
http://www.slashgea...aper-reader-291269/ This is a later version of the device I saw eight years ago. [Aristotle, Apr 23 2009]
[link]
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The difference between the linked design and this one would be a full size monitor that isn't limited to size of the width of the closed grips. The straps for your hands would let you use all of your fingers simultaneously without having to grip the edges. |
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I really like the Keyer link though. |
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advocacy: horizontal/vertical |
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I thought i had understood it, but then //isn't limited to size of the width of the closed grips// came along - how does it work, then? i thought it was about a display rolled up like a scroll in one or two handles, but that would imply that the diametre of the handle determines the width of the monitor (more width = more diametre rolled up) and the length of the handles determines the heigth of the monitor (monitor heighth could not exceed rod length). Is Origami involved? |
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I think I saw a prototype of this nature in just after the turn of the century. I think Phillips were the people proposing such devices. |
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//I thought i had understood it, but then //isn't limited to size of the width of the closed grips// came along... Is Origami involved?// |
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If you look at the device in the second link [loonquawl] you'll see that its fixed screen is exactly the same width as the two hand holds when closed. The height of the screen on the proposed version is still limited to the length of the holders, but the width of the screen is only limited by the diameter of the cylinders it scrolls up in, and so can be several times as wide as the size of the width of the two hand rests when closed. |
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Any chance of a link [Aristotle]? |
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It's become less abstract over the years but I think I've found it's modern day equivalent (see link). |
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Ah, thanks for the link [aristotle]. Not quite as original as my search led me to believe. |
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[21 Quest] That's what She said. <budum tsh!> |
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Wasn't there something like this in the movie "Red Planet" (or was it "Mission to Mars"?) |
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Why is the second link named "scroll-concept-device" if, as you quite rightly observed, the infelxible screen could simply slide into the grips like a drawer? But even without the title i would have sworn the screen was much too wide for this - i just measured it, it's even smaller than it could maximally be with the sliding-arrangement. That's perception for you... |
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These type of form factors are mused over
endlessly. Once I was one of those professional
musers that corporations keep in dark rooms ... |
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Was it as glamourous as I've always dreamed? |
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Bearing in mind that I was working in the cubicle
space of a corporation that was mainly expecting
people on that site to work on either software or
administration, it probably wasn't. Phillips or
Dyson would have probably allowed me to have
built things (with the help of others). |
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Mind you I was based in Paris, and the global
director of R&D did get to know me by my name,
so there were some perks. I also would get to be
sent places where people would ask "Why is
someone from Kodak here?" Being asked to study
everything was also a perk. |
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I go there by being head and shoulders above
most employees in terms of lateral thinking,
playing corporate team building games and having
absorbed reservoirs of inspiration from Science
Fiction, worldwide comics and classic (pen-and-
paper) role-playing games. It helped that I could
do that public speaking thing too. |
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However we in the end of the day asked to
present innovative ideas to a conservative
assessment panel. Advocating ideas (that
generally require more work from a business and
specialist technical perspective) is a risky and
tiring task - how far do you push? |
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Searching for prior art for patents is a thankless
task too. Find examples of what you are looking
for and you've failed. Fail to find examples and
your search may have been negligent. |
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Apart from my patents, which tend to be used in
stacks, all I saw emerge from my work with Kodak
was an advert about a white virtual space that
used the core idea from one of my patents. |
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The work destabilised me, and with a collapsing
marriage in the background, I had little hope of
being able to work on my return. I was placed into
an office formerly occupied by a UK director when
I returned that had a secretary outside, from this
my Icarus-style fall was to start. |
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Me? I'm just happy to be working again as a part-
time office junior (and programmer) in a small
computer consulting by a wildlife park. At
lunchtime I get to see the meerkats ... |
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Wow. Thank you for your honesty. That can't have been easy to write. It is kind of nice to know that there are niches for lateral thinkers though. I've yet to find a use for all of the sci fi, comic reading, and role playing that I used to do besides letting my mind wander while my hands do their thing. The other side of that blue/white collar fence always seemed so damned green you know? It's easy to forget that no matter what your position in life, Murphy is always watching over your shoulder. |
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Dyson is good example of an innovator who made
good. He started with wheelbarrows that worked
on a ball instead of a wheel and grew his business
onto one of patented vacuum cleaners. |
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It wasn't easy because you generally have to
defend every patent to your last unit of currency
if it is of any practical value. You also have to
market, raise capital (without loosing control),
reduce production costs and manage. |
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He did all this within the framework of capitalism
and in the UK, where unpublished patents must
be kept secret if they are to become published. |
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My "ascent" was from the well-paid workforce of a
corporation, doing conventional software
development things, into the most creative role
available at the time. Yes, I burnt out but I left
many patents in my wake. After I returned from
Paris my UK department produced the highest
number of patents per head worldwide in the
corporation. I had learnt, and taught others how
to, use Kodak's way of patent production. |
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To tell this story, it's no great pain. Why I have a
blog, http://phineas.multiply.com, that charts my
recovery and tales of former glory. My fall was due
in part to a being a near universally bullied child,
something that doesn't do much for your self-
image or mental robustness. |
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I'd rather had had this chance, and suffered the
subsequent fall, than to have forever sat dreaming
in a cubicle. |
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