
Rethinking the Whiteboard  - pavs
http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/rethinking-the-whiteboard/
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njharman
I thought everyone knew $10 4x8' sheets of shower board from home depot was
the shoestring budget whiteboard solution. $250 framed whiteboards are for the
"Enterprise".

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dugmartin
It also makes a great desk cover - you can write quick notes all over your
desk using a fine tipped Sharpie.

The best way to clean them I've found is 90% isopropyl alcohol. The bad side
effect is your office will smell like a doctor's office for a while.

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bmelton
You might also consider whiteboard paint. Paint a wall surface and voila,
instant whiteboard. That said, the one guy I know who did it ended up covering
it with glass panels, so YMMV.

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mtsmith85
I have "Bertha" (4x6) and love it. I'm patiently waiting for 2x3's to get back
in stock to buy another smaller one. Oddly, though the process to buy was
problematic. I never received an emailed receipt or shipping information, it
just showed up one day. No receipt in the box. Also, at one point the SSL on
the site was bad.

All of this to say that the product is amazing, but they are still working out
the kinks... the kinks mainly (to me, at least) being customer service
related. I'm sure that is just a growth issue, though, and will be taken care
of in time.

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mattw
Did you put it on textured walls? From their video, it looked like the
material was very thin, so I wonder how well it works on any but the smoothest
walls.

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mahipal
I have my "Bertha" on a textured wall. It works fine, although you can still
feel a bit of the texture through it. (The texture is "damped," if you will.)

I don't think it would be a problem for anyone except the most OCD of users.

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MotorMouths
Does anyone else think that "WhiteyBoard" is a problematic name? I initially
thought it was a Chris-Rock-style joke.

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patrickgzill
It doesn't bother me for the same reason that reading a kid a storybook about
the dread pirate Blackhearted Bart doesn't.

An open source package I am aware of, once had a request from a government or
non-profit agency, to remove any references to the software's use of "master /
slave" in both the code and documentation, as it was found offensive.

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zmmz
Reminds me of <http://www.ideapaint.com>

Different solution to the same problem: special paint that acts as a
whiteboard when dry. Has the advantage that you can paint over it if you get
the "ghosting" effect and it comes in a variety of colors. Downside seems to
be that its probably harder to get it off and that it has to be on a wall,
unlike the stickers that you can just put anywhere.

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kgrin
This isn't deeply relevant to the profiled product, but I found the following
characterization of YC rather odd:

"Y Combinator is the early stage investment fund that uses a biannual,
weekend-long pitch and demonstration competition to find investment-worthy
companies."

Isn't it more or less the other way around? (Demo Day is a "result", not the
source, of YC companies)

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mustpax
The reporter is clearly confused about what Y Combinator is.

On the other hand, that YC is described as a bi-annual award program speaks to
a growing problem that I'm sure PG and Co have to face: admission into YC
becomes something to covet for its own sake. I can imagine that people who are
in it for the resume padding wouldn't be motivated enough to see their startup
through.

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awad
We tried using a stick-on whiteboard and had dismal results. The writing
surface was not smooth, since the thin material was going over our (bumpy)
painted wall. Also, the adhesive would come off after a while, making us tape
the whole thing down. Replaced it with a more traditional whiteboard.

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lotharbot
A question I asked when these first came out:

how hard would it be to print a faint graphic on one of these? I glued a metal
whiteboard to a utility table for gaming; the 1" grid dots are pretty
important for the games we play. If I could get a Bertha with pre-printed grid
dots I'd be all over it.

Alternatively, how opaque/translucent are these? If I drew grid dots directly
onto the table surface and then placed Bertha over the top, how much would the
dots show?

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whimsy
They're fairly opaque. If they showed at all, they would be very faint. If you
had a lightbox underneath, that would be a different story.

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paylesworth
Has anyone tried this? I've been thinking of getting one but am curious to how
well it erases or if it succumbs to a "ghosting" effect over time.

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mtsmith85
Mine has not really had any issues with erasing, though I just purchased it.
Thus far a quick rub down with an eraser and everything disappears. Not sure
about long term (like leaving something on the board over a couple
days/weeks.)

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tszming
It is cheaper to buy a real white broad than whiteyboard in China.

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ahoyhere
OK, not exactly the same thing, but for my money you can't beat the giant 3M
sticky flip charts. Unlike a whiteboard or whiteboard-like thing, you can
write on it, then stick it somewhere else… forever. You never have to
experience the pain of erasing! They are very hardy, too; I rolled some up and
took them on a transatlantic flight and stuck em up again at my new location.

Pic: <http://www.flickr.com/photos/spiffariffic/4738936107/>

I'm thinking at the new office, we'll go with the glass. I like cheap but I
hate the fact that all cheap whiteboard alternatives (and cheap whiteboards)
look filthy after a few months. At the Truphone office in London, practically
every surface is glass or melamine, it's just one giant whiteboard - that's
what I want.

