Fiber Optic Table Illuminates Your Dining

Deepa writes "We highly doubt LumiGram's Luminous Fiber Optic Tablecloth was designed with power outages in mind, but why hook up a boring string of lamps or fiddle with half melted candles when you can plug this bad boy into the generator? The cloth, which has fiber optics woven throughout, cotton borders, and a Europlug mains adapter, proves most useful when the lights are dimmed, and should prove quite the centerpiece at your next get-together. The illuminating device is available in a trio of sizes, comes in a variety of color schemes."

Way too tacky

[Timesprout]

Think I'll stick with candles thank you very much.

Re:

[Aranykai]

Agreed. Just because you can make something doesn't mean you should.

Re:

[arivanov]

Yep. The 900+ quid they are asking for it will make for lots of decent wine (if it is not French) and decent grub instead.

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[aembleton]

Its 950 euros, that's about £640. Still, a lot of good food and drink could be bought for that sort of money that in the end is a gimmick and would likely make it harder to see your food. If you look at the table with the lights dimmed so that you can be wowed by the illuminating table-cloth then the food will be silhouetted. You'll just get to see black shapes; or at least darker shapes.

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[arivanov]

The company is French so think of it combined with French stained glass plates (Luminarch and the like). The overall effect if the colours are well matched can be stunning. Once. It is not something that will have an effect again and again. And as I said, personally, if I have that amount of money to splash around I would rather go and spend it on good wine and food.

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[g0dsp33d]

You think its bad for you? Just imagine what it does to Microsoft Surface.

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[Elad Alon]

People suffering from recognized medical disabilities aren't labelled as kooks.

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[Anomalyst]

People suffering from recognized medical disabilities aren't labelled as kooks.

They are probably using the wrong kind of adhesive backing and the labels keep falling off. Try some Cyanoacrylate.

very cool, prolly not a lot of power...

[jpellino]

it's like nothing else, and probably not the power hog the post implied, for this distance you don't need repeaters - and TFA mentions battery power.

Special Upgrade

[Seiruu]

And for a special price: we will upgrade the table cloth into a professional tool that "electronically" teaches your kids NOT to spill drinks nor bang their hands, arms or even heads on the table.

A win win for everyone!

Re:

[Bruitist]

Straitjackets?

Is the article text stolen?

[the_unknown_soldier]

Read this [engadget.com]. that's an amazing coincidence!

Re:Is the article text stolen?

[figleaf]

Engadget did credit the source. Using this logic Slashdot also stole the text.

Re:

[the_unknown_soldier]

No. Read the source engadget quotes, it is completely different text. The article summary is stolen directly from text written by an engadget editor.

Trio of sizes?

[LiquidCoooled]

Metric conversions seem a bit 'odd' on both the article and the proper page:

Dimensions:

        * Small: 150x400 cm (59x157 inches).
        * Medium: 150x400 cm (59x197 inches).
        * Large: 150x400 cm (59x236 inches).

Re:

[orangesquid]

Only in the imperial-size US. Here, tables are 59" wide and have a variety of lengths. In the rest of the world, it's sort of a "one-size-fits-all" mentality, leading to S/M/L tables that are not only all 150cm wide, but all 400cm long as well. ;)

Re:Trio of sizes?

[mangu]

* Small: 150x400 cm (59x157 inches).
* Medium: 150x400 cm (59x197 inches).
* Large: 150x400 cm (59x236 inches).

I guess inches come in three sizes:
*small inches are 2.54 cm
*medium inches are 2.03 cm
*large inches are 1.69 cm

You see, small is large and large is small. This makes sense, well, at least as much sense as anyting else related to medieval measurement systems.

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[Bibz]

Actually the real sizes are :

        * Small: 150x400 cm.
        * Medium: 150x500 cm.
        * Large: 150x600 cm.

By the way the price for the small one is 949.00 Euro. Add 200 EUR for medium and 400 for the large one.

Small...

[gidds]

...Is The New Big.

Skip the blogspam and go to the source

[fotbr]

http://www.lumigram.com/catalog/product_info.php?c Path=1&products_id=86 [lumigram.com]

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[ElGanzoLoco]

Ghhaaaahhh!!! MY EYES!! MY EYES!!

Seriously, who the hell designed this website? Or haven't they updated it since 1995?

Re:

[Firehed]

Looks like they had someone with some sort of colorblindness hit up an osCommerce stylesheet.

News for nerds, indeed

[ghoti]

Martha Stewart would be proud!

WTF is this doing on Slashdot?

[6Yankee]

Tacky. No digg.

Re:

[tsa]

I felt the same. As with all the lists that appear on /. more and more these days. Please editors, try to stay a news site, not a 'Wow look at this, this is sooooo cooooool' site! We have Digg for that.

Re:

[vakuumkatten]

I have to second this. Don't turn /. into a gadget blog please. This stuff is far from befitting /.

Re:

[cool_arrow]

I agree. We need a ./ BS filter. Oh yeah, that's the moderators job.

Enough with the fucking Slashvertising

[Sunburnt]

How in hell does a marketing press release from luxurylaunches.com count as "News for Nerds?" When this thing makes some sort of actual news ("SCO outfits conference rooms with ridiculous table coverings, raging inferno ensues"), then perhaps a spot on the front page is merited.

Just what I want...

[Wireless Joe]

...to eat dinner with everyone up-lit like Citizen Kane. The tech is cool, but I could think of better uses. Sheets, anyone?

Re:

[LBt1st]

This is a tad bit better. I'd suggest they find a better model though! http://www.lumigram.com/catalog/product_info.php?c Path=1&products_id=39&osCsid=08d3d66e56374b840d972 f7fa9a42647 [lumigram.com]

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[HTH NE1]

How about this shot [lumigram.com]? (NSFW)

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[rHBa]

How the hell are you supposed to see what you are eating if the main source of light comes from beneath your plate?

Other uses

[$RANDOMLUSER]

I'm not so excited by the tablecloth, but I wouldn't mind trying some case mods with this stuff.

949EUR

[Oligonicella]

Over a grand for a table cloth? Adding five or nine hundred for larger sizes? Please.

Re:

[smoker2]

Did you RTFA ?
Stupid question obviously...
http://www.lumigram.com/catalog/product_info.php? c Path=1&products_id=80 [lumigram.com]
* Small: 150x100 cm (59x39.4 inches). 349 euro
* Medium: 150x200 cm (59x78.7 inches). +200 euro
* Large: 150x300 cm (59x118 inches). +400 euro
http://www.lumigram.com/catalog/product_info.php?c Path=1&products_id=86 [lumigram.com]
* Small: 150x400 cm (59x157 inches). 949 euro
* Medium: 150x500 cm (59x197 inches). +200 euro
* Large: 150x600 cm (59x236 inches). +400 euro
And

Handy if you burn the dinner

[aembleton]

If you look at the table with the lights dimmed so that you can be wowed by the illuminating table-cloth then the food will be silhouetted. You'll just get to see black shapes; or at least darker shapes. Then your guests won't know what they're about to eat. Mwuhahaha

meh...

[cosmocain]

from TFA:

Small: 150x400 cm (59x157 inches). Medium: 150x400 cm (59x197 inches).

meh, i was just about to order, but now i just can't decide. these choices! hate'em!

The inventor was never a kid?

[niceone]

This seems like a bad idea to me. People's faces look bad when illuminated from below (I guess because we're used to seeing them illuminated from above). That's why kids put a torches under their chins - it looks funny.

Re:

[Barryke]

What about the sun?

Same. If the sun would be lighting from below it would look ugly too.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Not really. Torch (British English) = Flashlight (U.S. English)

You need to get the latest English to English Across the Pond translator.

Re:

[gardyloo]

Not really. You might want to get someone to explain humor (or humour) to you.

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[Trogre]

Yeah, and to any more Americans out there:

'fanny' does not mean what you think it means.

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[slidersv]

lol. no mod points left though.

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[porcupine8]

Then why is candlelight considered so romantic? A flashlight to the chin is very directed light. More diffuse illumination from below can help hide a lot of flaws.

Beauty is just a light switch away.

[HornWumpus]

Total darkness hides even more flaws.

dress for halloween

[jedie]

it works in batteries, and I bet it's waterproof to some extent (as you can wash it by hand)... I bet we'll bee seeing a lot of applications for this kind of "cloth".

Throughput?

[ewg]

I disapprove of any use of fiber optics that doesn't involve massive data throughput.

Re:

[NeuroManson]

Hack it, attach an IR sync receiver to it (a few fibers should do), then you can do all the data fiddling you want.

Fiber optic = Glass

[dcrockerjr]

While fiber optics may have various decorative purposes such a product that encourages direct physical contact with them is worrisome. Even if measures were taken in production to prevent glass dust, spikes, etc. from making it into the product consider that something like a tablecloth would become worn with use, breaking fibers and causing bits of glass to become embedded in the skin or, when shaken out, glass dust to become inhaled. Consider the sort of problems fiberglass insulation workers run into. The

RTFA ? It's already made out of plastic.

[freaker_TuC]

Made out of fiber optics fabric with assorted cotton borders, its cool luminous effect is simply stunning and brilliantly innovative. LumiGram is a French site that sells this tablecloth that is equipped with plastic optical fibers woven alongside the regular threads. They're powered by discreet batteries and are hand-washable.

No glass involved in this fabric; it's already plastic.

My Apologies

[dcrockerjr]

My apologies, I hadn't heard of plastic fiber optics before. Please mod down or delete my original comment.

Re:

[wasted time]

I bet you've seen plastic "fiber optics" but maybe didn't realize it. Think monofilament fishing line. Think over-priced, cheaply made, battery operated souvenirs hawked at almost any theme park, beginning at sunset. A quick google search for fiber optic toys returns over a million results, but I find this link slightly more interesting.
http://www.lumigram.com/catalog/product_info.php?c Path=1&products_id=39&osCsid=cf68985ddf6950a6751c1 2a74172c970 [lumigram.com]

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[JonyEpsilon]

While fiber optics may have various decorative purposes such a product that encourages direct physical contact with them is worrisome. Even if measures were taken in production to prevent glass dust, spikes, etc. from making it into the product consider that something like a tablecloth would become worn with use, breaking fibers and causing bits of glass to become embedded in the skin or, when shaken out, glass dust to become inhaled. Consider the sort of problems fiberglass insulation workers run into. The safest way to display one would probably be with a sealed frame, allowing you to visually enjoy it while maintaining a protective layer of plastic between the glass and your family.

Won't somebody think of the children!!!

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[Idbar]

Well, I bet if you put it on the washer for a couple of times, little fibers will be safely polished.

By the way, is it washer safe?

Fiber optic does not nessacerally imply Glass

[petermgreen]

Afaict fibers used for this kind of purpose are generally plastic because its cheaper and easier to work with (communication fibers are glass because they need to be very low dispersion and low loss).

Re:

[stefanlasiewski]

Fiber optic wires are often made of plastic, like these toys [google.com]. I remember playing with similar fiber optic lights back in 1980.

Fiber-optics for communication & data are made of glass, because glass provides better transmission.

Behold the power of Cheeze

[popo]

... maybe for the Vegas crowd...

not news

[DiniZuli]

This [luminex.it] Italian firm has sold stuff like that for years.

Re:

[Anomalyst]

Too bad they have a useless, stupid-ass, flash interface. They can run their insecure code on their own flipping machine if they want me to see their products.

big ass table

[pohl]

Meh, that's not nearly as cool as Microsoft's Big Ass Table [youtube.com]

Re:

[theJML]

I know, I mean, why use one of todays small hand-held devices when you can use something the size of a small car? It's Brilliant!

Fiber Vs. EL wire

[sokoban]

I personally would rather have something like this done with electroluminescent wire instead of Fiber Optic. EL wire throws better light usually and I think it is a hell of a lot easier to work with.

Just imagine...

[pwizard2]

...the sheer bandwidth that can go through that tablecloth!

Oops, I spilled the ketchup

[seniorcoder]

Seems like a very poor idea considering how many spills occur on a tablecloth.
Imagine spilling a beer and getting an electric shock?

Everyone Missed the Point

[socz]

As always, if it's on the net it's probably best suited for porn. Just think about it, no longer will you have those hard to get shots with poor lighting with this new source of light!