The LapDome: tent-shaped sunscreen for your laptop

Friends, are you sick and tired of the constant struggle to use your laptop while sunbathing? Do you find yourself battling the life-giving rays of our closest star, desperately trying to finish that presentation... pool side? Well toil in vain no more -- the LapDome is here. That's right, instead of going inside like a normal person, now you can cover up your laptop with the most ludicrous and embarrassing product since the Pocket Fisherman. You'll get the idea real quick -- it's a mini-tent used to shield your computer from the sun, and the glare which it causes. The company's ad campaign asks "Does this look familiar?" next to the depiction of a woman covering her laptop with a beach towel, then suggests covering your laptop with a small tent might look better. We suggest stopping the madness, ASAP.

[Via Pocket-lint]

[Bevon Findley @ Jan 16th 2008 9:11PM]

i thought when u are on a beach sunbathing you suppose to be relaxing and not giving your laptop a tan instead?

[justin @ Jan 16th 2008 11:25PM]

well it protects your lappy from getting a tan...and apparently 2/3 of your legs plus your arms below the elbows. But hey if your into super tan ankles and shoulders this is a can't miss product.

[blinkcowz182 @ Jan 16th 2008 11:26PM]

Actually when I was camping out all day for an iPhone in June (yeah huge geek I know), there was business man with his MacBook Pro. While we were all struggling to see our screen in the afternoon sun, he had one of those copier paper boxes that he put his MBP. Worked great and he watched movies all day in line. This would have been extremely helpful then!

[aguiluz @ Jan 16th 2008 11:27PM]

I did this back a few years ago. I was cruising via wifi and I stayed so long I got sunburned. Aaargh!

[Evan @ Jan 16th 2008 9:12PM]

So thats what those little tents are for!

[phrozunsun @ Jan 16th 2008 10:40PM]

I can pitch my own tents on my lap, without the aid of external devices....

[rv @ Jan 16th 2008 9:14PM]

This may be the dumbest idea ever.

[Mike Klein @ Jan 16th 2008 9:22PM]

Not necessarily dumb...but using black and gray as colors certainly seems to be...you can bake a croissant in there perhaps on a hot day...points subtracted.

If this doubles as a bag for your laptop...points there. If not it should be much smaller so you could easily put it in your existing bag.

Bag as carry for laptop is near twice the height it really needs to be...points subtracted.

The little external pouch for your probablyWontFit cellphone? Points.

This could be quite handy given the above were met.

[david @ Jan 17th 2008 1:09AM]

Not that dumb of an idea, just badly implemented.

i have a hoodman for my laptop, does a great job in the field shading the screen from the sun and from prying eyes if you know what i mean ;)

here s a link that shows what a hoodman is - which is better and more portable then the tent :

http://www.enggadgets.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.2169/.f

gotta love the name of that site !!!

[Sauerkraut @ Jan 16th 2008 9:20PM]

lmao if you click the link the ad says about to woman with the beach towel, " It doesn't look pretty does it?" LOL

[NoK610 @ Jan 16th 2008 9:21PM]

Ghey.

[Jeremy K. @ Jan 16th 2008 9:43PM]

Grey

[ivan @ Jan 16th 2008 9:21PM]

I always thought those were for small pets to help em keep cool at eh beach and such

[Amy @ Jan 16th 2008 9:22PM]

Is this talking about the tent for the laptop or the tent in that guy's swim trunks?

[Reader @ Jan 16th 2008 10:15PM]

Wow I had to scroll up to look, and yeah, looks like he is pitching.

[SteveMB @ Jan 17th 2008 4:51PM]

I bet you would notice that...

[vuduboy @ Jan 16th 2008 9:30PM]

mmmm, could be pretty handy for photographers who have to see their shots on location....

[Ronald McD @ Jan 16th 2008 9:34PM]

Great for looking at porn! Day one!

[vuduboy @ Jan 16th 2008 9:41PM]

mmmm, could be pretty handy for photographers who have to see their shots on lacation....

[White Steve @ Jan 16th 2008 10:16PM]

A chimp tent for milk photographers.

[Tom @ Jan 16th 2008 9:42PM]

Also works as a good way to masturbate in public...

[Jeremy K. @ Jan 16th 2008 9:44PM]

-What's that under the little tent?

-Oh, it's my "laptop"

[John @ Jan 16th 2008 9:58PM]

Don't design a product only nerds would wear that's only useful where nerds don't go -- outside.

[John @ Jan 16th 2008 9:59PM]

wear -> use

[Rafer @ Jan 16th 2008 10:03PM]

OMG the song they play on that website...

"I can see clearly now the rain has gone."

[Shane @ Jan 16th 2008 10:03PM]

This really is nothing new. Professionals using laptops and other equipment with LCDs outdoors have been doing similar things for years.

If you need to use a laptop (or other equipment with LCD) outside in bright sunlight this really is the way to go.

http://www.tyi.ca/SalesOrdersDSS.htm

[Nik Shah @ Jan 16th 2008 10:06PM]

This isn't a terrible idea but it is horrible executed. If they had a collapsible sun blocking plastic thing that was attached around the screen that folded in with the laptop like one of those folding laundry baskets.

[jbcaro @ Jan 16th 2008 10:06PM]

The Keebler Elves want their camping gear back, now!

[lmsam @ Jan 16th 2008 10:07PM]

This is MADNESS!
THIS IS SPARTA!!!

[Richard Lai @ Jan 16th 2008 10:13PM]

No more boner.

[JCA @ Jan 16th 2008 10:15PM]

Normally I'd flame the inventor of this thing but ok....it may have some legit use for people who HAVE TO work outside.

1) Don't use your woman, sunbathing by the pool as your primary marketing tool. Rethink your strategy.

2) Get rid of all the LOGO patches sewn on it. If someone wants to know more about that monstrosity, they'll ask.

3) Get someone who knows what they're doing to clean up your website. Those pictures are mostly awful.


How bout just make a "briefcase-style" laptop bag that has collapsable sides and roof when it is opened 90 degrees. That would look waay better than this thing.

[Shane @ Jan 17th 2008 11:02AM]

I'd have to agree on the website comment...Did anyone actually go to the web designer's site? Yikes!

1994 called...They want their website back...

[Eric F @ Jan 16th 2008 11:19PM]

hehe "lap dome"

[Michael LaFramboise @ Jan 16th 2008 11:24PM]

Hey! they also have a LapDome Junior! For those smaller "laptops"... size of an eeepc for instance ;)

[Joe @ Jan 16th 2008 11:34PM]

This looks like the beginning of a bad porno.

[Charles @ Jan 16th 2008 11:37PM]

I work as a digital photo tech, and I live in Miami Beach. I have a tent, and I'm proud of it!
There's no way I could do my job without one.
I need to judge exposure and sharpness on the spot and the photographers and art directors I work with need to make selections as we go.
There's a few snapshots of my rig on location in the Dominican Republic last December: http://www.chuxpix.com/rig01.png and rig02.png

[Genyus @ Jan 16th 2008 11:45PM]

What a rip-off. Here in the UK, we spent millions of pounds of public money building a jumbo-sized, yet equally useless, version of this LapDome contraption - except we called ours the "Millenium Dome"...

[emjoi @ Jan 17th 2008 12:30AM]

The bald guy should wear a cap.
He's gonna get a sunburned cranium.

[Sam @ Jan 17th 2008 12:39AM]

Dang, I saw that picture and it leapt out at me (figuratively speaking, of course) that either:

1) The guy is a superstar in porn flicks (or ought to be), or
2) He popped about a dozen of those E.D. pills just prior to the shoot, and should have been seeking medical attention instead of peering at a laptop, or
3) He is the world's biggest geek and gets really, REALLY turned on by geek gear, or
4) Someone did some photoshopping to TRY to create a subliminal effect, but doesn't quite understand the concept of doing it subtly so that viewers don't notice what was done (it isn't subliminal if you actually notice it)!

Of course, it's always possible that the fabric and the light just coincidentally converged to create that effect, and nobody noticed until the ad was published... yeah, sure, that's what it is (wink, nudge). The headline on this piece should have been, "Does that LapDome turn you on, or are you just glad to see me?" (With apologies to the late Mae West)

[midiwall @ Jan 17th 2008 1:49AM]

(from the site) "Name the four letter place where you saw the LapDome® 'Outdoor Office' and receive a 15% discount off your purchase price!".

Anyone know which they're referring to?

[ZeroCorpse @ Jan 17th 2008 3:50PM]

P
O
O
L

Clever riddle. Now it's my turn...

A dome without stone, pillars, or engineers. Designed by fools, sold to fools. What am I?

[Galilieo @ Jan 17th 2008 2:30AM]

What about the cell phone on the side? Does cell phones like the sun??? C'mon!

[Niels R. @ Jan 17th 2008 3:16AM]

I'm using a carton box for years when I use my laptop on my balcony. How deeper the box, how "darker" it gets... Sometimes neck pain is the result :s

[merkuree @ Jan 17th 2008 3:28AM]

Yeah, I did a doubletake when I came across this at macworld. I am not sure we are tackling the real issue here.....although, it would be hilarious to actually see somebody trying to set this thing up and use it by a pool.....

[Phrenetic @ Jan 17th 2008 4:38AM]

I have a tent like this... for my cat.
It came for free with a pack of dry catfood, but the cat doesn't like it so much. At least they gave me a new use for it!

[Atanas Boev @ Jan 17th 2008 5:42AM]

Hahahaha, the website is actually CUTE! It reminds me the times of Geocities :)

[qwert @ Jan 17th 2008 6:04AM]

sad thing is that such a tent would be very practical even not in direct sunlight, with all those stupid glare displays, if you want to see something else apart from your face and the lights behind you.

[poulan @ Jan 17th 2008 6:43AM]

Yey...now I can take my dog camping :)

[poulan @ Jan 17th 2008 7:49AM]

I too thought it was ridiculous until when you notice that the guy in the pic is holding one which doubles as a laptop carry bag. So it's not that bad is it...it's obvious that Engadget missed that.

[Xultar @ Jan 17th 2008 8:07AM]

Hey lady what happened to your tan? A big white square on your legs. You must have beeen using a geeky ass tent for your laptop.

Can I buy one...better make that three.