Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A laptop stand made from a single sheet of recycled paper

core77.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 247 posts

Re: A laptop stand made from a single sheet of recycled paper

#131

Post by HPsquared »

croisillon wrote: post #91
radlad wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a bit of a random place to mention it, but while I very much like OXO goods, IKEA makes the best (in my opinion) potato peeler for $5 - cheaper than anything OXO makes: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/ikea-365-vaerdefull-potato-peel...

that's something i never understood: why do they sell peelers with a movable part? like we are meant to peel in curves and expect the knife to follow the curve beautifully? the fixed ones are easier to use and easier to clean!

I find the movable ones cut a thinner peel, probably the blade is held at a more optimal angle if it can find its own position, or maybe my particular movable one is just better-made than my fixed one.

Re: A laptop stand made from a single sheet of recycled paper

#132

Post by kbelder »

bko wrote: post #96
yoavm wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes it's a marketing stunt, but often recycling is more expensive. I mean, recycling a plastic bag is probably more expensive than making one. The unfortunate reality of our financial system is that it often rewards people for doing the wrong thing.

If recycling is more expensive, isn't recycling the wrong thing? The price isn't some random number attached to an activity. It captures the various costs associated with it and is helpful in directing behaviors for this very reason. Recycling is more expensive, it likely means that there are associated costs (e.g. transportation, sorting, cleaning, processing, etc) that make it less economical than just throwing it…

I can't stop my wife from cleaning everything we put in recycling. Not just a rinse-off, but completely and immaculately cleaning them. Sometimes in the dishwasher. I think the net environmental benefit of our recycling may be below zero.

Re: A laptop stand made from a single sheet of recycled paper

#133

Post by snowfarthing »

wy35 wrote: post #82
calmbonsai wrote: post #78

I'm reminded of similarly useless "sustainable cardboard furniture" that came out about a decade ago. On the positive side, kudos to whomever in marketing/pr at the design firm got this useless product so much press. This is just the sort of "win" that a design consulting shop loves to have for actual briefs that lead to real moving-the-needle revenue. One example would be SmartDesign's modular slip-on "S-Grips" that…

Didn't know about the SmartDesign/OXO vegetable peeler, very interesting rabbit hole to go down. https://www.fastcompany.com/90239156/the-untold-story-of-the...

Indeed, it's an interesting rabbit hole!

I liked the part where they were looking for someone to manufacture the handles, and the Japanese machinist said "If he could make it, I can make it!".

Indeed, having gone down the rabbit hole of machining (both to see if it would be a viable hobby and if it could even be a career), this was the attitude of the shop teacher: "if you can think it, you can probably make it". I am far more surprised that neither the American nor the Taiwanese manufacturers said this. Then again, perhaps it was because management didn't talk to the guys who made things!

(Now that I think of it, had they done that, perhaps they would have gotten the answer "We can do it, but the fins will wear down the tool too fast, at least until we can figure out a better material for the tools!" instead of "Nope, we can't do that!")

Re: A laptop stand made from a single sheet of recycled paper

#134

Post by latexr »

blharr wrote: post #102
latexr wrote: post #47

The article is seemingly outdated. The cheapest one I could find in the store was 29 USD. In Euros, it’s 36.37. And of course, you still have to pay for shipping. From Korea. This seems quite absurd. Whatever good you do the planet by using something out of recycled paper (thumbs up on the idea) will surely be offset by all the logistics of the shipping. This should have been a tutorial, not a product.

I mean, it's a good idea, I just wouldn't buy the one in Korea to get shipped over here. I don't get the cynicism, someone in Korea had this idea and made the product, probably intended for other people in Korea where the shipping isn't an issue?

> probably intended for other people in Korea

The seller is called “grape lab”, with a “g” as the logo, and “Sustainable Design Lab” as the tagline. Everything in English. How is that “intended for other people in Korea”?

Re: A laptop stand made from a single sheet of recycled paper

#135

Post by andrewflnr »

latexr wrote: post #47

The article is seemingly outdated. The cheapest one I could find in the store was 29 USD. In Euros, it’s 36.37. And of course, you still have to pay for shipping. From Korea. This seems quite absurd. Whatever good you do the planet by using something out of recycled paper (thumbs up on the idea) will surely be offset by all the logistics of the shipping. This should have been a tutorial, not a product.

> This should have been a tutorial, not a product.

I love this. More tutorials, fewer products.

Re: A laptop stand made from a single sheet of recycled paper

#136

Post by gruez »

yathern wrote: post #112
bko wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If recycling is more expensive, isn't recycling the wrong thing? The price isn't some random number attached to an activity. It captures the various costs associated with it and is helpful in directing behaviors for this very reason. Recycling is more expensive, it likely means that there are associated costs (e.g. transportation, sorting, cleaning, processing, etc) that make it less economical than just throwing it…

Your way of thinking definitely isn't entirely incorrect, and I think a lot of times people forget that prices, while they can certainly have an arbitrary component, are largely driven by market forces, which at the very least will tell you something about the supply and demand of a product. However, I disagree with this: > And all these additional costs likely make it the "wrong" decision since they likely contribut…

>However there's another company that buys cheap land from farmers in the Amazon, with cheaper labor, ships it up via freight, and sells it for marginally cheaper. The costs in the latter example are largely driven by transportation - and while cheaper, has a significantly larger carbon impact.

How does this apply to recycling though? Landfills in developed countries have little, if any externalities, because they're engineered to contain waste.

https://practical.engineering/blog/2024/9/3/the-hidden-engin...

Re: A laptop stand made from a single sheet of recycled paper

#137

Post by kijalo »

snowfarthing wrote: post #118
dowager_dan99 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

good point, and countries that do this on a massive (clean) scale count it (probably correctly) in their efficiency and non-fossil fuel stats. We really under-report the cost ($$$ and energy) of the full recycling chain, both complicated parts like plastics that should probably be burned and capture/treat the results, and simple things like glass; other than reuse it should NOT be recycled.

I have concluded, as a general rule of thumb, that if something costs more to recycle than to produce naturally, it is probably more harmful to the environment to recycle it than to create it fresh and dispose of it properly. There are certain exceptions to this -- nickel cadmium batteries come to mind -- but for things like this, the question isn't "is it more economic to produce it new than to recycle it?" so much…

I think 'dispose of it properly' is doing a lot work there. I understand that for something like plastic, properly disposing it would be to chemically render it down to it's constituents rather than just landfilling it. If the thought was to burn it, well then how are you properly disposing the released greenhouse gases?

Re: A laptop stand made from a single sheet of recycled paper

#138

Post by gruez »

alias_neo wrote: post #121
scarface_74 wrote: post #101

On top of all of the other criticisms, this isn’t functionally what I want. I still would end up looking down to see the laptop. I guess it’s better for people who only work on laptops and don’t want to have separate keyboards and pointing devices. I travel a lot and I use a Roost laptop stand https://www.therooststand.com/ A standard Apple keyboard and mouse, and a portable USB powered monitor that gets power and vi…

I got a roost when they launched, still have it, practical and durable, I imagine I'll always have it. The problem with this paper one is that the paper will wear within a couple of years, and if you spill your coffee on it or anything like that or put it down on a coffee-ring stain, it's straight in the bin. I fail to see the value in something made from recyclable that is essentially disposable rather than a roost…

Why is it so expensive? It looks and functions exactly like a dozen other similar stands on aliexpress.

Re: A laptop stand made from a single sheet of recycled paper

#139

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

HPsquared wrote: post #131
croisillon wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's something i never understood: why do they sell peelers with a movable part? like we are meant to peel in curves and expect the knife to follow the curve beautifully? the fixed ones are easier to use and easier to clean!

I find the movable ones cut a thinner peel, probably the blade is held at a more optimal angle if it can find its own position, or maybe my particular movable one is just better-made than my fixed one.

For produce with a tougher skin than innards, the blade will deflect off the inside of the skin and steer itself along that interface.

Re: A laptop stand made from a single sheet of recycled paper

#140

Post by seb1204 »

dotBen wrote: post #63
pcblues wrote: post #59

A couple of points. It is not aesthetically pleasing at all, which is important to me, for whatever neurological reason. Also, I consider a laptop stand as just a device to raise the screen to a better ergonomic level on the understanding that an external keyboard and mouse will be used to operate the device. Otherwise, in a laptop stand, ergonomic keyboard use requirements pull the incline towards level, and ergonom…

Stands like this have to be paired with an external keyboard. Raising the monitor so that the top is as close to eye level as possible (while maintaining a straight back) is better orthopedicly. It's impossible to achieve this and a good keyboard posture, so you must introduce an external keyboard. Without an external keyboard, there is no value in using a stand, you might as well just keep the laptop in a neutral po…

I use my glasses case to raise the back of the computer. It adds a gap between table and computer. The rubber nobben on the underside of the laptop prevent the glasses case from slipping. This raises the notebook to a nice angle and the keyboard is still usable for me.
Post reply on HN