A computer in the kitchen?

Sorry about missing monday's post.

My friend Courtney has a "million dollar idea."

From http://danceswithcorgis.com/2009/11/21/my-million-dollar-idea-someone-invent-this/:

Basically, I think it would be a great idea for someone to make a LARGE LCD screen which could mount on the wall in your kitchen, connect to the internet and display recipes which you can follow along while you cook. That way, you could pull up any recipe online (where there are zillions) and never have to deal with printing it out or the printed recipe getting covered in water, flour, oil, what have you as you toggle back between checking it and your cooking.

I had already done something like this a couple of years ago, and told her that I'd post pictures of it here. Hi Ceej!

Two years ago, I had an extra 17" LCD monitor, long-since replaced by 22" monitors. It was collecting dust under my desk. I didn't want to throw it away, so I picked up a $30 mounting bracket at MicroCenter and implemented the idea courtney would have two years later.



The bracket bends horizontally in three places so I had plenty of freedom to position it however I needed it, and it folded away neatly when not in use.



I had an extra laptop connected to it, and, as courtney suggested, typically used it to display recipes while cooking something. It worked ok. I also used it to play music in the kitchen using itunes or pandora.



The biggest problem with this setup was - where do I put the keyboard? It had been sitting on the counter most of the time, but I never liked it there. I sometimes thought about getting a mounting bracket and keyboard tray to put underneath the monitor, but never did it. After about a year, the novelty wore off and I "repurposed" that old computer - but the monitor stays where it is, usually folded back behind that wall, out of sight, disconnected.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com