Laptop covered in chalkboard paint
Russell Davies has customized his MacBook Pro by giving it a coat of chalkboard paint; he keeps his to-do list on the lid. I'm guessing he gets a lot of chalk dust on his coat-sleeves when he carries the machine between his arm and his body, but really, isn't that a small price to pay for enjoying such a sweet, low-tech hack? Link (Thanks, Matt!)
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sweet, but dust=bad. I guess you can get the interns to beat the erasers out back on the playground.
Why not use WhiteBoard markers? I would think they'd work without any modifications to a white macbook, a black macbook may need some changes though..
Good luck trying to get the AppleCare warranty honored when all that dust decides to completely destroy the innards. You now have a $1900 paperweight. Bravo!
Why not keep your to-do list INSIDE the computer using some COMPUTER SOFTWARE. Probably less likely to be brushed away by some windbreaker, and ultimately better.
It always perplexes me when people who own and use great computers find ways to avoid using their more prominent features.
Not that this chalkboard thing isn't neat, it reminds me of slateboard projects in fifth grade, it just doesn't seem very practical.
That's just about the most moronic thing I've seen lately.
And if what is shown in the photo is an example of your to-do list, in the future, #1 should be "stop being an attention-starved idiot."
Jess painted the whole side of her truck in purple chalkboard paint!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gyesika/2497734921/in/photostream/
Wow, the ire.
Yeah, sure, a macbook wrecked by the chalk dust and possibly by people pressing down too hard as they write, or using a sponge with too much water to wipe it down is a small price to pay for...hm. For something that makes no sense and is useless. Oi.
And what, every time he wants to check or update his to-do list, he puts the computer in sleep mode?
Not practical at all...if you must, make yourself a table out of a blackboard. You'll get just as much chalk dust on your computer and everything you use, but at least you'll be writing your to-do list on a surface that is meant to stay flat and visible. And, um, doesn't have a a couple thousand dollars' worth of electronics in it.
If only somebody would invent little paper sheets with a glue strip on one edge that he could just stick to the case.
What's that old saying? You can teach a pig to dance, but then you'd just have a dancing pig.
You can lead a horse to prune juice, but you can't make him drink it.
Nor would you want to.
like jess in the comment above, i also painted my car, a 96 geo tracker, with chalkboard paint. i keep a bag of chalk on the back and encourage people to chalk it up. then i snap photos and upload them to my website www.geochalker.com
we're just getting out of our mn winter freeze so the chalkings have been quiet, but i'll be applying a fresh coat of chalkboard paint this weekend and adding a few nicer features than what it currently has.
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Uh, no, it's an incredibly high price to pay for potentially ruining one's computer and getting chalk dust all over everything. Sometimes, merging high- and low-tech is art. Sometimes it's just stupid and weird.
This is just stupid. I remember a teacher of mine that refused even to remove his laptop in presence of a blackboard because of chalkdust. This could have been done just as easily with a regular paper sheet, duct tape and a pencil. Which is the basic idea behind my mousepad.
#11: that's an awesome idea.
But this idea is a bad one, as everybody pointed out. I for one hate the scratching sound of chalk on a chalkboard. I can only imagine accidentally raking your fingernails across the the laptop when you pick it up.
It's not only stupid, it's ugly. Butt ugly, even.
#14, just reading about that sound sends shivers down my back.
#14
Noooo, don't say that. That's a really horrible thought.
#16: Heh, imagine how I felt when I was typing it. Ugh.
But Cory wouldn't it have been even more cool if he somehow incorporated a *shelf* into his low tech hack?
;P
#16: Heh, if it's bad reading it, imagine how I felt when I was typing it. Ugh.
This would work as some kind of Surrealism statement - Ceci n'est pas une MacBook Pro.
Otherwise, it is an excellent way to make your laptop irrelevant and clogged with dust. If you can't wait the three seconds it takes to open the laptop and jot something down... nevermind.
Gainclone
Why not keep your to-do list INSIDE the computer
Because that wouldn't be practicable. Clearly the intent is to have a reminder before you open it. I don't think chalk dust would really pose much of a problem. PCs aren't that fragile ya know. And I don't think the chalk would rub off that much since he probably carries it in a bag. Post-it notes fall off too.
I think the whole idea is cool.
The only compelling reason to spend the big bucks on a MacBook is because it is super cool-looking. As far as the OS goes, I'm fine with Ubuntu. Dousing such a beautiful and expensive bauble with chalkboard paint is the work of a tasteless moron.
If this was an art project, I would total dig the appeal of this 'hack', but pragmatically speaking, every price would be too high for this celebration of stupidity.
Why not use WhiteBoard markers?
They're just wet dust on a stick. The dust problem would be the same.
LAFFMAKR...you are, and i did...thanx
@25, but the dust problem is not as bad as using chalk.
coming from a chick who regularly wrote on her iBook with pencil, pen and dry erase markers, and they didn't erase THAT easily unless my fingers were sweaty. :P Then I got a black macbook and couldn't read anything I wrote on it, so I had to stop. But I did get the macbook laser engraved, which looks kickass.
Would the dust really be much of a problem? The HD is sealed so... the lens in the CD Rom? You can clean that, or replace it if you must. I'm not seeing what the problem would be.
I bet if I ruin something expensive in an ironic way, I can get it on Boing Boing!
By the way, I found that I can write in pencil on the back on my iPhone! It's so convenient my head explodes every time I do it, and I don't even need to carry around any chalk! I just scrub it with soap and water when I want to clean it off, and four or five days later, it's usually as good as new.
Maybe I should take some pictures!
I can scratch secret messages onto the body of my Rebel Xt.
Wait, what was the point of all this again?
I'm trying to see it from the other side and, no, it doesn't work. Even if I pretend that there's nothing sick about turning a macbook into a blackboard, blackboards are just about the least portable of all note-taking surfaces. Chalk won't smear so bad? No dust? Come on, people, have you never touched a dirty blackboard in school? That crap gets everywhere, and you can't always just brush it off...
Glue a paper notepad to the top of you must. I'd rather keep it beside the computer.
This is cool, but doesn't go near far enough.
Sure, it's replaced the Stickies app on his Macbook, but what about everything else?
What this guy REALLY needs is 1) his chalkboard (check), 2) a calendar whiteboard for appointments, 3) a clock, 4) a bunch of blank spreadsheets to replace excel, 5) a set of envelopes and letters, 6) a telephone, 7) a VCR...
Hmmmm... replacing his browser has stumped me...
But that would be soooo cool and such an, um, low-tech "hack", which would HAVE to get features on BB... ;P
The second you slide this into a bag or backpack, the chalk will be erased.
I guess that's one way to "take care" of your todo list...
The real irony is that he has a notebook in the upper right of the picture...
Urban golf?! Sounds dangerous.
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@11, -that- is an awesome idea. Way to be awesome!
I'm sorry but that is so dumb. Defeats the point of having a computer in the first place.
Hey, maybe someone can knit a little blackboard eraser for that MacBook. With little knit tentacles hanging off of it. That would be sweeeeet.
I had this exact idea before I realized it was a bad one. Still, he's not the only one who ever thought of this.
Noen:
I don't get why having a digital to-do list is impracticable. I have one. It... works. I open my Powerbook; I read my to-do list; there is a thing in my to-do list; I do that thing.
If the physical act of opening a computer that was designed to be opened is to great a task, then perhaps one should put "rethink computing strategy" at the top of one's to-do list.
Does anyone else think that carrying around annoyingly-easy-to-break chalk and a duster would also be a major pain?
Now an etch-a-sketch or one a magnadoodle (as seen here: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/13/fun-analog-plotbot-h.html) on the surface...
Agreed, dust=bad. But ease of jotting down something fast (before forgetting, or getting interrupted) without booting up (in a rush? conserving yer battery? whatever) still appeals. Maybe write on the white plastic case with black wax pencil (or crayon)? The smudge and debris factors are lower, but not perfect. How about semi-attaching one of those cheap "magic slate" wax-and-plastic-sheet writing tablets to the top? You could write on that with your fingernail!
With all that paint on a laptop, I'd be concerned about heat buildup inside the top half of shell. Heat+hardware=bad. And do the solvents in the chalkboard paint somehow compromise the strength of the plastic substrate?
Instead of white board markers, what about markers for writing on overhead projector slides, like the Vis-a-Vis brand? These don't wipe off nearly as easily as white board markers. It usually needs to be wiped off with a damp cloth.
I would be concerned about staining if writing was left on too long, though.
Have you tried liquid chalk markers? I think that would lessen the dust. The blackboard paint that would be sold in artist supply stores is developed for those rather than or in addition to chalk.
http://www.dickblick.com/zz010/31/