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.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 22 2009 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] 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.
I really like the Keyer link though.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 23 2009 advocacy: horizontal/vertical-- WcW, Apr 23 2009 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?-- loonquawl, Apr 23 2009 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.-- Aristotle, Apr 23 2009 //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?//
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.
Any chance of a link [Aristotle]?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 23 2009 It's become less abstract over the years but I think I've found it's modern day equivalent (see link).-- Aristotle, Apr 23 2009 Ah, thanks for the link [aristotle]. Not quite as original as my search led me to believe.
[21 Quest] That's what She said. <budum tsh!>-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 24 2009 Wasn't there something like this in the movie "Red Planet" (or was it "Mission to Mars"?)-- coprocephalous, Apr 24 2009 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...-- loonquawl, Apr 24 2009 These type of form factors are mused over endlessly. Once I was one of those professional musers that corporations keep in dark rooms ...-- Aristotle, Apr 24 2009 Was it as glamourous as I've always dreamed?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 24 2009 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).
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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 ...-- Aristotle, Apr 25 2009 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.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 25 2009 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I'd rather had had this chance, and suffered the subsequent fall, than to have forever sat dreaming in a cubicle.-- Aristotle, Apr 26 2009 random, halfbakery