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Hardware

DIY Ambient Light Keyboard Kit 230

Posted by CmdrTaco from the why-the-hell-not dept.
An anonymous reader writes " Do you envy new Apple 17" PowerBook keyboard? Here's keyboard light kits for all most any keyboard no matter which OS you are using. There's NINE choice of colors (Light Blue, Deep Blue, Hot Pink, Yellow, White, Purple, Neon Green, Lime Green, and Red) available but unfortunately not coming with light sensor. "
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DIY Ambient Light Keyboard Kit More

DIY Ambient Light Keyboard Kit

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  • neat (Score:2, Interesting)

    by loveandpeace ( 520766 )
    Cool! can we combine colors? and do neat little effects with them? This could be so much fun in the computer lab late at night.

  • Bah, manufacturers have no imagination (Score:5, Interesting)

    by vadim_t ( 324782 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @01:21PM (#5067048) Homepage
    I'd really like to see a keyboard with a few programmable LEDs, or even better, a LCD screen. It'd be cool to have the memory/CPU use or something like that there.

    But all I see instead is keyboards with annoying power buttons I tend to press in the least inconvenient moment. I just don't get it, what's the point of having it there? As if I needed to turn the computer on and off every 5 minutes.
    • Anyone remember Apricots from the 80's ? They had an alphanumeric lcd with programmable function keys under it, neat idea, no idea why it didn't catch on.
    • "As if I needed to turn the computer on and off every 5 minutes." I take it you are not a windows user.
    • http://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/act_apr icot-pc_1.jpg

    • Re:Bah, manufacturers have no imagination (Score:5, Informative)

      by Clover_Kicker ( 20761 ) <clover_kicker@yahoo.com> on Sunday January 12, 2003 @01:52PM (#5067243)
      >I'd really like to see a keyboard with a few programmable LEDs, or even
      >better, a LCD screen. It'd be cool to have the memory/CPU use or
      >something like that there.

      Are you good with a soldering iron + dremel?

      http://www.modelm.org/mboard/almost.JPG [modelm.org]

      http://www.modelm.org/mboard.html [modelm.org]

      Here's a list of utilites to use your keyboard LEDs as status indicators for various things: http://www.modelm.org/thing.htm [modelm.org]

      >But all I see instead is keyboards with annoying power buttons I tend
      >to press in the least inconvenient moment. I just don't get it,
      >what's the point of having it there? As if I needed to turn the
      >computer on and off every 5 minutes.

      Go to an electronics surplus store and buy an 80's IBM or Compaq keyboard. Nice feel, no superfluous keys. Real keyboards aren't made from plastic, any keyboards weighing less then 10 pounds is a toy.
    • To turn off that annoying Caps Lock and use it as a control key instead, I have this in my ~/.xmodmap:


      ! Change Caps Lock to be a control key
      ! keycode 66 = Caps_Lock
      clear Lock
      add control = Caps_Lock


      Try it out with xmodmap ~/.xmodmap


      If you really, really want to customize your keyboard, take a look at this
      xmodmap extravaganza [google.com]

    • As if I needed to turn the computer on and off every 5 minutes.

      (Instructions to slashdot user: Please insert obvious, misinformed, childish anti-microsoft joke in the space below.)

      Thank you.

      • Hey, I've got just the obvious, childish anti-Microsoft joke you're looking for, but actually Win2K does seem to crash much much less often than previous products of theirs :-)

        More seriously, though, another reason to put the power button on the keyboard is so you can put the computer under the desk or somewhere else that's not very accessible, and you only need to access the machine when you're feeding it CDs (or not even then, if you've got a USB CD drive.) This also lets you make the room quieter by hiding the PC in an accoustic-shielding box, or in a closet or in the next room with long cables.

        • More seriously, though, another reason to put the power button on the keyboard is so you can put the computer under the desk or somewhere else that's not very accessible, and you only need to access the machine when you're feeding it CDs (or not even then, if you've got a USB CD drive.)

          Actually, I virtually *never* use my PC's power button, because when you choose 'shut down', the machine turns itself off via the BIOS :-)
          • I have my power button set that if I hit it the machine will shut itself down, and to turn it on I just need to hit any key. Not the "any" though can't find it :)
          • I agree.

            I have an ancient AT&T keyboard (For all practical purposes an IBM Model M - Heck, it might even be a rebranded M. It definately has click-clack-action keys. No power buttons on this keyboard. And my machine's front is aimed back towards the wall, making the power button quite difficult to reach.

            Is this a problem?

            Nope. BIOS for shutdown, Wake-On-Keyboard for turning back on. If I want my machine to boot, I just mash on the keyboard with my palm. :)
    • Hmm, that would be the old Atari ST keyboard which had a stand alone processor + RAM...
    • Agreed. We live in a world where people are pointing with $120 Kensington trackballs and typing on $8 "Internet-Enabled" (Aka hotkey) keyboards. Why not have little LCD screens in the Fkeys to display their current function? Or LED keys that change to reflect the status of modifiers like Shift, Ctrl, Alt, etc. Or, like apple has, keys that advertise their wares in the dark? Maybe a programmable, general use pad, similar to having a PDA mounted on your keyboard, that would be used by programs as additional feedback. For example, Photoshop could use such a device to display tools and layers, freeing up screen space for the image you are editing.

      It's high time we got a grossly overpriced, much deserved upgrade to the old keyboard. What gives?

  • Yikes... (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Bloody hell. The product looks good... but the overall design of that web site is horrid. And they have you send your credit card number unencrypted. Christ, they should use Pay Pal if they don't want to get a secure server of their own.
    • Er, you mean INSECURE server of their own right?
      We've heard of people getting stolen from paypal accounts, and paypal didn't do anything about it.
      They say it's secure, but don't back it up at all legally, so you might as well just send cash in the mail. I'm not trying to say they should keep sending info unencrypted, that's just stupid, but it's a lot cheaper/easier/safer to setup apache for SSL, and get a cheap php shopping cart script.

  • Hendrix Styleee (Score:5, Funny)

    by Brain$torm ( 639876 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @01:22PM (#5067055) Journal
    How long before we can have multicoloured ones? And then, how long before someone comes up with a cool hack to make the lights flash!

    Lucky its not microsoft made, or you'd see patches coming out from day one to prevent script kiddies from taking over the control of the lights and annoying you senseless.
    • Forgot to add - why not make the keys seethrough so you can really enjoy the light show! And, I wanna see one thats pressure sensitive - now that WOULD be very cool
    • Lucky its not microsoft made
      I know this is a joke (or at least a jab) and I would agree with you regarding Microsoft's software and it's reliablity (sp?) but I have to admit their hardware in general I find as being above norm in quality, especially their gaming hardware. From what I have heard too, their WAP is the only one that comes with Encryption set on by default!
      • Don't know about their networking equipment, but I've heard lots of good things about MS joysticks, and MS makes great mice.

        The scroll wheel - Microsoft's single true innovation that I can think of. I originally dismissed it as an M$ gimmick, now I go crazy with any mouse that doesn't have a scrollwheel.
        • I have the MS FF Joystick V2 and MS FF Steering wheel but it has the gameport connection (see below for one drawback) and the quality on them is outstanding. I too used to think the scrollwheel was silly but now couldn't live without it.

          The one thing I hate about my steering wheel is that they never made the software XP compliant, it only works in 9x. The driver support for the wheel is built into XP but there was a nice little app where you could set the Deadzone and hom much force was in the forcefeedback that I really miss. There is software for the USB version but it doesn't work with the gameport version

  • ironically, (Score:5, Interesting)

    by cosmo7 ( 325616 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @01:22PM (#5067056) Homepage
    this kit would work best with apple keyboards - they are translucent plastic and would let you discern the key legend in the dark. on a regular keyboard it just lights the gutters between the keys.

  • already out... (Score:1, Redundant)

    by Max von H. ( 19283 )
    Well, I sure hope their keyboard lights work better than their server, because my browser ain't seeing the light of it... Sheesh, after just ONE /. comment!

    Cheers,
    max
  • Well, their servers are slashdotted already.

    I hope they can sell some kits to help pay for their troubles.

  • google cache link (Score:3, Informative)

    by haedesch ( 247543 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @01:24PM (#5067068) Homepage
    http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:fzTelghCGyoC: www.neontrim.com/keyboard.html+Computer+Keyboard+L ight+Kits!&hl=nl&ie=UTF-8 [216.239.39.100]

    both the cache and the link in the article appear to be extremely slow
  • Does it use the same technology (I think they said it uses fiber optics of some sort) as the 17" powerbook does? or is just little LEDs behind the keys? Because I've seen the backlight of those, and it looks amazing.

  • Bad HTML (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by Scutter ( 18425 )
    I refuse to buy anything from someone who doesn't respect my browser. Take a look at the obnoxious javascript he uses. Disabling right-click with javascript, indeed!
    • To get past that, simply right-click, and while still holding down the right-mouse button, press space to get past the alert and the context menu will appear.

      There are a few sites that this doesn't work on, and due to the current status of their server I can't test it on their page.

      Still, I'd have to refuse to buy from them--using JavaScript for anything other than unobtrusive rollovers is, quite simply, evil.

  • Ask Permission Before Submitting Story? (Score:5, Informative)

    by EllF ( 205050 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @01:28PM (#5067100) Homepage

    There are 5 comments up as I post this, and the site is already being slashdotted -- it's horridly slow. Last night I noticed on the Guerilla News Network story that the poster had gone out and asked the site admins if he/she could link to them prior to submitting it to the editors.

    It is relatively well-understood that /. cannot mirror sites, for a large number of reasons. Moreover, the admins here are taxed (well, maybe...) as is, and aren't willing to fire off emails asking permission to post a link to someone's site every time they get a story that ends up on the frontpage. Nor should they have to.

    Perhaps, though, we as posters could be mature and responsible? Asking for permission before DOS'ing someone's site via a link here would at the least be polite.

    • Re:Ask Permission Before Submitting Story? (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The Ethics of Linkage [kuro5hin.org]

    • Re:Ask Permission Before Submitting Story? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by bahwi ( 43111 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @03:09PM (#5067679)
      I agree with what you say. But if you give it a few minutes, and let the link show up, you'll see it's a business and they're trying to make a profit. Free advertising like Slashdot, even when the site goes down many people come back to it, must be almost priceless. I hope they have enough stocked up.
    • --been thinking about this. You know how some places when they are under a drought water restriction, they have odd/even days for watering? People with odd numbered addresses on one day, even the next, and so on. Keeps the water supply from getting slashdotted.

      What would be nice is an honor system "when to click over to a hot new link" regimen.

      Something like this, open for review and tweaking. You look at when the story was posted, note the time. Wait to the next full quarter hour before the onslaught begins. That's your start point. Here's how it gets divvied up. Now you take your real name-you only have to do this once, then remember the number-you do a normal letter/number substitution, first letter of first name, first letter of last name, transpose to the correct numbers, add them together, add again if double digits, until you have a single digit. Just a normal numerology deal there with the alphabet, 1 -26 numbers. That final added together digit is your permanent static name number, that you use with the "time" number to click over. Every 5 minute increment from the article post time start point full quarter hour, counts as a digit starting with 1, etc. When your static name number matches your honor system time-digit number for the article, then it's cool for you to click over.

      This way it gets spread out better, instead of all at once when the article is posted. Voluntary non-anarchy, being polite to the server, and maybe everyone can actually get to the link without it crashing the server.

  • here is a mirror (Score:5, Informative)

    by xombo ( 628858 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @01:28PM (#5067103)
    The server seems dead, but here is a mirror, be nice to it. http://www.moderngeek.com/keyboardlights/ [moderngeek.com] This does not compare the the powerbook lighting at ALL, it looks cheap :p The powerbook lights up the lettes on the keys, and this just lights up behind the keys.

  • Image mirrors (Score:3, Informative)

    by Isbiten ( 597220 ) <isbiten@ g m a i l . com> on Sunday January 12, 2003 @01:29PM (#5067107) Homepage
    Close up [mac.com]

    Neon [mac.com]

    Keyboard [mac.com]

  • pic mirror (Score:5, Informative)

    by carpe_noctem ( 457178 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @01:30PM (#5067111) Homepage Journal
    Ok, take it easy on me here...

    pic1 [aboleo.net]
    pic2 [aboleo.net]
  • If you were using the lights, the screen would be bad for your eyes because of the contrast.

  • check thing-geek's (Score:5, Informative)

    by DrSkwid ( 118965 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @01:36PM (#5067152) Journal
    fully illuminated keyboard, $99

    Auravision EluminX Illuminated Keyboard [thinkgeek.com]
    • That's really nice gear, but I'm not sure I could live with the whole keyboard lighting up like that.

      What would be really cool is having the backlit, opaque key keyboard with the letter/symbol markings that are currenly printed in black on the keyface cut out of the keys instead, and then filled with clear plastic of some sort so they lit up too. Glowing gutters and letters is the effect I'm after.

      That would be much easier on the eyes while still being fully darkness compatible.

      Soko

    • Re:check thing-geek's (Score:4, Informative)

      by Neck_of_the_Woods ( 305788 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @02:24PM (#5067402) Journal

      I have 3 of these and for quite some time now, well before they made it to thinkgeek.

      Here is the stinky.

      They are very low profile. They have no "pop" legs in the back to increase the angle, and the keys are very short. I would say have as tall as a normal keyboard.

      With all that said, it has one of the best a really good fell to the keystroke. It is about 1/2 as load keystroke wise as a normal keyboard and durring the day or in a well lit room you can't even tell that it is "glowing". As soon as you start to dim the lights you get the glow effect and in a very dark room it is very sweet. We use them as server room keyboards which we keep the room dark 90% of the time and it helps with finding keys and general light/ "wow" factor for the execs.

      I use one at home and love it.

      I would recommend them to anyone that enjoys a standard keyboard layout and is looking for something that does not have the "shitty" keyboard feel to it. It will take you about a day to ajust to the different angle on the thing, but after that I also found the low profile helps with keeping me from getting tired around my wrist which was a bonus I did not expect.

      Enjoy.

  • Ambient light? (Score:2, Informative)

    by nochops ( 522181 )
    OK. Excuse my if I wrong, but wouldnt ambient light be well, ambient light?

    This is NOT ambient light. This is backlighting. Hell, my keyboard is being lit by ambient light right now, and it has been since I bought it. And so has every keyboard I've ever owned.

    In fact, everything in my house is lit by ambient light. Well, you get the idea.

    For a website that touts itself as "News for nerds", maybe a little lexical verification would be in order, since fact-checking is apparently out of the question.

    arrrgghhh...[struggles with demon hand]....must....change....urls....argggghhh
    • I agree with what you say.
      However if you want to get technical, as far as I can see it there is no such thing as ambient light in the real world. it was made up for games so there could be light that "just exists", as opposed to trying to model the real world with a sun and stars and a full global illumination model.
  • another one bites the dust :D
  • Scare any stoner friends of yours with this.

    Light goes off- keyboard starts to glow and your tripping pal will be like "AAAAHHHH!!! The aliens have landed dude!"

  • Why I envy the powerbook. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by prichardson ( 603676 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @01:39PM (#5067172) Journal
    I think that the real rwason to envy anything that apple sells is the graphics support. If you look at ANY other laptops on the market, do they have decent graphics? NO. The powerbook has a slightly dulled GeForce 4 w/ 64MB VRAM. That's better than the card on any desktop from a major PC retailer for under $1000. Also, if you ever look at the specs for a cheap ($700 or less) brand name PC, they have their graphics built into the motherboard. Yet they still claim that their P4 will make games dreamy and your downloads go faster. It's disgusting.
    • Actually, my Inspiron has the exact same graphics card, and it came out months ago. And even that has already been surpassed by the Radeon 9000.
    • Dell Inspiron 8200.

      Came with a GeForce4 Go (The "slightly dulled" GeForce 4) back in August. The GF4 Go has been available in Inspiron 8x00 series laptops for quite some time before that.

      In fact, the upgradablity of 8000 and 8100 units to the GF4 Go made Slashdot in early summer.

      And as another poster mentioned, the Inspirons have a Radeon 9000 available, for those who are into the V8-in-a-Yugo thing. (Referring to ATi's great hardware accompanied by crap drivers, not to the rest of the system.)

      Also, your oh-so-wonderful 17" PowerBook only has a 1440x900something screen. The Inspiron 8000 had a 1600x1200 display available at least a year and a half ago - Probably two or more years. While the wide screen of the PBs is nice for watching movies, that 900 pixels vertical resolution is crap for anything else. (Viewing PDFs, web pages, word processing. Most games aren't catered to widescreen either.)

      BTW, the GF4 Go, which is just a 4MX, cannot be considered a true GeForce 4. All it really is is a GeForce 2 running at much higher clockrates.
  • My roommate has had one of these for the longest time and let me tell you, it looks pretty lame. There's really no need for this light behind keys, especially since it's on all the time and doesn't go through the keys. That's what's great about the PowerBook. It senses low light and actually illuminates the symbol on the key, not just the space between. Now that, my friends, is hot.

  • Is it just me? (Score:1, Redundant)

    by Afrosheen ( 42464 )
    ...or has nearly every interesting link to anything been instantly /.'ed within minutes of the article getting posted?

    Jesus, people, get some real servers for crying out loud.

  • Cool, but... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by FosterSJC ( 466265 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @01:45PM (#5067218)
    First, the site is already slashdotted...

    However, there were a few convenient mirror images and a similar product from thinkgeek.

    Honestly though, isn't this just something to take to a LAN party or something; that is, just another way to mod your PC. The light from the monitor (at least CRTs) is enought to illuminate the keys for the most part. And if you are spending enough time with the computer that you are typing in the dark, you shouldn't have to look at the keyboard much anyway, right? This is cool-looking, but useless aside from wow-factor. Especially if you don't already have translucent keys, in which case only the between-keys area is lit anyway.
    • The light from the monitor (at least CRTs) is enought to illuminate the keys for the most part. And if you are spending enough time with the computer that you are typing in the dark, you shouldn't have to look at the keyboard much anyway, right? This is cool-looking, but useless aside from wow-factor.

      There are situations where low light infrequent interactions with computer keyboards are required. For instance, working in low light environments such as air traffic control towers, situation rooms for command and control, astronomical viewing, patch clamp recording of retinal tissue, etc... All of these situations and more require interactions with a computer where the display brightness is either turned all the way down or turned down in combination with a red filter over it to prevent the eyes from losing their low light sensitivity. Finding keys on a keyboard in these situations can be troublesome and a low red backlight of keyboards is pretty sweet.

    • Re:Cool, but... (Score:4, Funny)

      by Snuffub ( 173401 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @02:42PM (#5067516) Homepage
      youve obviously never had a midterm project due in 8 hours with a sleeping roommate within 10 feet of you. :)
    • . . .

      just something to take to a LAN party or something

      probably redundant (sorry if so) but the Military seem to want such things as well :

      http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2652079.stm [bbc.co.uk] halfway down the page . .

      and the relevant product link : http://www.eluminx.com/product.asp [eluminx.com]

      and I think I'll probably pass on any "LAN party" the Army might be offering . . .

  • Nope (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 12, 2003 @01:48PM (#5067232)
    Real Geeks can type in the dark anyway, this is just another add on for your thirty one thousand one hundred and thirty seven machine.

  • I was planning a similar, modulo the ambiant light sensor, inspried by this article [virtual-hideout.net]. But instead of using an EL cable powered by battery, I want to use a few LED powered by tapping the keyboard controller. The PS/2 specification call for 300 mW on the port. Depending on how much is unused by the KB controller, somebody could probably wire 4 or 5 more LED and place them strategically for the best effect.

  • From the article:

    > Light Up Your Keyboard!
    >
    > This is how the finished product looks!
    >
    > [Big Black Square (y'know, graphic that didn't
    > load) that looks like someone snapped a photo in
    > the dark.]
    >
    > This one done by Wolfman at Virtual-Hideout.net
    > with one of our Kits, with our 5V inverter chip
    > that ties right into the keyboard and just 4' of
    > Neon Trim. Check out his review!
    >
    > [Another Big Black Square that looks like
    > someone snapped a photo in the dark.]
    >
    > This Dell was done with one of our Kits, with
    > our 5V inverter chip that ties right into the
    > keyboard and just 4' of Neon Trim.
    > (Courtesy of Eric Smith, Carrollton, Texas)

    Hmm, first page I've seen that shows you how their product *doesn't* work!

    Solomon

  • Stop the madness now! (Score:5, Funny)

    by yomegaman ( 516565 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @02:00PM (#5067282)
    Pretty soon we'll have a story about some guy who put a VTEC sticker on his keyboard and replaced the cable with a thicker one, and claims it increased his typing speed by 30 wpm...
    • Although I admit the extra five words probably came from the Pepsi can I glued to my tower's exhaust port.

      When I finally save up enough box tops to get a "Type-R" monitor sticker and a genuine copy of a fake Recaro executive chair I'll be the fastest damned typist in the world.

      You'll probably waste your time doing shit like *practicing.*

      Hoser.

      KFG

      • 58 WPM...I 0wnz j00! (Score:3, Interesting)

        by MsGeek ( 162936 )
        If you really want to improve your typing speed, spend a lot of time in IRC. I used to think IRC was a timesink. Wrong. It improved my typing speed to the point where I now have my first decent job since the end of the Dot-Bomb era.

        Now, if I could just fit that spoiler on my Model MII I might just crack the 60wpm barrier. Oh yeah...gotta paint it bright yellow and put those Kanji stickers all over them. Heh heh heh...
  • I've put the illuminated keyboard on my wishlist on amazon.com. I'll probably buy one for my desktop as I'm revamping the video card and monitor already later this year, so why not get a new keyboard, too, while I'm at it?

    But I have a Powerbook G4 already, and I've been waiting for backlighting for a LONG time. And when they finally come out with it, it won't fit my computer!

    So where, I say, are the upgrade kits? I've been looking for a long time. Seems like something like this should be a shoo-in for an upgrade product...

  • Can we have a separate subject group for mods? (Score:5, Funny)

    by kobotronic ( 240246 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @02:06PM (#5067314)

    There are so many new Slashdot stories featuring case mod kits and the like. These are filed under the 'hardware' subject which sometimes contains actual legitimate, interesting stories about hardware, as opposed to stories about glowing things which crack babies attach to their hardware in order to make it glow.

    Apple introduces a somewhat practical keyboard which illuminates when dark, so that the symbols on the keys are readily visible. This is nice, and seems like a useful feature.

    The case mod subject/response here is a type of glow strands to be routed between the keyboard keys so that the spaces between them light up, which is useful if you have no tactile sensation of touch in your fingers and therefore don't know where the keys are. If you do know where the keys are, but are just looking for the key symbols, you're out of luck because PC keyboard keys are opague and don't benefit in any practical, functional manner from this mode of illumination.

    Therefore, IT IS A WASTE OF TIME, equivalent in absurdity to cargo cults fabricating mock stick and canvas airplanes. "Almost like a Macintosh!" - when you were a kid, did you also fasten cardboard cards with clothespins to the spokes of your bicycle in order to make it sound like a moped?

    Couldn't there be a separate subject for case mods? That way I could filter this stuff right out. I propose the icon representing the subject should be a baboon's bright red arse, the color of which also serves no functional purpose but nevertheless appears to attract other baboons.

  • backlight the gunk (Score:3, Funny)

    by kisrael ( 134664 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @02:30PM (#5067438) Homepage
    yeesh, why would I want to backlight all the gunk that gets trapped in my keybord over all the years? Why don't we just make it a blacklight so any mystery stains (like, you know, coffee) can glow?

    And why manufacture a mod kit, why not just build a keyboard?

  • the good-bad-and ugly (Score:4, Informative)

    by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @02:39PM (#5067496) Homepage
    first off these look the best on a black keyboard..

    BUT, if you are the type to leave your computer on all the time I would paas on it.. these "light wires" have a very VERY short lifespan. they will start to get dark-spots and even lose sections of the "wire" to darkness..

    I have used lots of this stuff, and seen even more of it in poser cars that after only 100 hours of on time they start looking like crap. In this use as indirect lighting I would gather that the darkspots and other "failure" modes of the wire will not be as bothersome.. but when a customer comes back 3 weeks later with their trick case bitching that the light wires you routed a nice slot around the edges for and looked Schweet when they pickked it up look like hell.... you stop reccomending a product..

    I personally reccomend staying away from this light wires based products until someone starts manufacturing something that has a much better lifespan.

  • White Glove Test (Score:3, Funny)

    by Foresto ( 127767 ) on Sunday January 12, 2003 @02:47PM (#5067553) Homepage
    Oh, hooray! Now that I can illuminate the gutters between my keys, I (as well as my friends and family) can see with perfect clarity all the dust and hair that builds up in there. How delightful!

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