Hasta La Gadget!

In England, as the decades crossed from the velvety Quaalude-soaked 70s to the cocaine and shoulder-pad addicted 80s, Brits enjoyed a comedy show called Not the Nine O’Clock News. The sketch show spawned books, one of which carried a spoof ad for a black box, a functionless stereo component covered with knobs and flashing lights whose main purpose was to add a couple of inches to the height of your stacking system.

In the lean 00s, we practice a kind of minimalism never seen in those excessive days, and this can be the only explanation for the MacTable, from SmartDesks, a table which will lower the height of your Mac by several inches. It does this by putting a Mac sized hole in the desktop, with a small shelf below. This puts the screen at below the recommended eye-level and ends up looking like a giant laptop. With legs.

Some contradictory features: “the iMac is protected against being knocked off of the desktop by the casual passer-by” while at the same time, the angled “MacTable’s legs provide a stable base, just like the iMac stand, itself.”

It will work with PCs too, apparently, although unless you have an all-in-one it seems pointless. And if you want to know how much it costs, you first need to go to the “price quote” page, then select the product line, then the model. Now, copy that model number and find the form. Yes, a form. Fill in far too many of your personal and work details, and add the company to your e-mail whitelist. Congratulations! You have now applied for an “iQuote”, and can expect a response either tomorrow, in three days or a time period of your choice.

There is an irony here, that a product and its buying process both use the Apple iName, and both adhere to a strict credo of complication.

Product page [SmartDesk via Oh Gizmo]

Not the Nine O’Clock News [Wikipedia]