6 Feb
1999
6 Feb
'99
3:16 a.m.
Computers of the future will have what appears to be a keyboard on them to
be comfortable for old farts like us. They will respond to voice
commands, AND to hand gestures. In addition to Chuck's ASL, they
will readily support using 8 fingers to input raw ASCII.
But, ... when anyone other than the primary user attempts to use them,
Windoze 1900 will fail, displaying the woooden screen of death. Actually
the whole thing will go wooden, not just the screen! (Based on
Microsoft's invention of multitudinous new ways for computers to go dead.)
There is some concern that their use of zero-point 3-phase power sources
may occasionally cause some of them to move through time, and possibly
even end up in pre y2K time periods! Fortunately the "go-wooden" security
failure system should be sufficient to prevent anyone finding one from
realizing what it really is. (unless they offer it up as a RARE PROTOTYPE
on e-bay).
Ever have a neighboring passenger on a plane be exceptionally annoying
about your laptop? Wooden ones are great for that situation.
BTW, " :) " is an extremely rude and nasty way to insult somebody by stating
that they are too stupid to know what is or isn't a joke :-)
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred
On Sat, 6 Feb 1999, Doug wrote:
On Sat, 6 Feb 1999 jpero(a)cgocable.net wrote:
One thing I could tell is that keyboard looks
like partly from zenith
guts but I kinda can tell it's not exactly wooden, it's more of
computer graphic generated?
The keyboard is just about the only "real" part. It probably looks
computer generated because of the jaggies I introduced when transforming
my messy workspace background into a blue screen.
It's a work of art. I've seen mock-ups before, but not this detailed.
Really the only way I could tell it was a fake was from a very small area
where the wood is exposed. It looks like somebody tried to pry it open
along one of the seams (only to find that it was a single block of wood
with fake seams).
The hinges really work, the screen is a sheet of dark reflective plastic,
the touchpad is another sheet of plastic, the mouse buttons and latches
are fixed position, there are fake connectors embedded in it, and
carved PCMCIA, port, and battery covers.
I've always wanted a wooden laptop to go with my metal GRiDs and acrylic
Headlands prototype. If I can find a glass subnote and a stone PDA, I'll
be all set....
-- Doug