Pennytech: Laptop Workstation

During our recent ice storm trauma Jackie and I spent a good deal of our mornings soaking up coffee and wi-fi at the nearest Panera. This went on for the entire eight days our power was out.

Each morning we would pack up the Dell laptop I use at work. It’s a reliable, if not exactly light, Inspiron 5500 that has served us well. Jackie doesn’t use laptops very often and had trouble negotiating the glidepoint pad and found it difficult to type with the laptop flat on the table. I solved the glidepoint problem next time by bringing along a mouse. The solution to positioning the keyboard at an angle was her idea…

Most dollar stores sell rubber door stops in a package of 4 or 6 or more. Placing two of them under the laptop sets it up at an angle and makes it easier to type.

Now I keep a pair of doorstops in the laptop bag to use whenever I travel or need to use the Dell on a table top.

Pennytech: My Five Dollar Teleprompter

This article was originally posted June 2005 on the Red Dirt Roundup TV show website. Since then the original images have been lost. I will be improving the design and will be sure to post photos when I do.
— Rex

The need for a teleprompter becomes pretty obvious the minute you start doing any sort of video. After some research I discovered that there were two options:

a) spend a buttload of money

b) make one myself

After a little research I discovered several homemade examples of teleprompters and tons of advice on using a teleprompter. The most helpful articles I found were Brian Lawler’s Forget Cue Cards, Make a Teleprompter! and the Plasti-Prompter devised by video blogger Max Rottersman. The latter was especially helpful because I was under the impression that a one-way mirror was required. After seeing what Max had done with nothing more than a lid from a CD jewel case I realized this was not rocket science.

No Rockets, Some Science
Here’s the basic idea of my teleprompter made from a wine box, packing tape and a $5 piece of glass. A piece of glass held at a 45° angle to our laptop screen reflects the image toward our talented viewer. On the other side of the glass is a camera to take it all in. But for some magical reason the camera doesn’t see that reflected image on the glass. Maybe this is some rocket science after all? Continue reading Pennytech: My Five Dollar Teleprompter