If you have to pose naked behind a whiteboard, at least you can retain your dignity. Click for a larger picture. Click picture for a larger image.

For some reason, those promoting and selling Palm devices have turned to using pretty-darn-near naked women to hawk their devices. The most recent ad campaign, entitled "Simply Palm", has sparked the ire of many of our readers, men and women alike. In response, we decided to run "Simply whiteboard". In this article, Meggan Durst, our editorial assistant and a whiteboard fanatic, compares her favorite portable organizer (the whiteboard) to everyone else's favorite portable organizer, the Palm computer

Ah, the whiteboard, so perfect in its simplicity. So quiet, yet so bold. I love my whiteboard. I can't live without it, really. No one here really understands it, with his or her own attachments to Palm devices and PCs. They all claim their devices to be superior to my preference. Of course they're all very understanding about it, the ZATZ team. However, I think that, to them, my carrying the whiteboard from room to room, as shown in Figure A, is akin to a child with a favorite blankie or teddy bear. I really think it's about time to set the record straight about the whiteboard and to give it the respect it deserves. Thus follows my tribute to the beauty that is…the whiteboard.

FIGURE A


Larger whiteboards are quite simple to carry and have fine aerodynamic properties. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Whiteboards, like that shown in Figure B, have great versatility. They can pretty much be taken anywhere.

FIGURE B


Smaller whiteboards are quite convenient as well, and they can serve to hide your face if you're ever in the witness protection program. Roll over picture for a larger image.

It pains me to see how many people in their quest for simplicity, for quick and easy efficiency, completely overlook the whiteboard as a tool. Personally, I don't see the point, especially in an office, to have to pull an electronic device out of a case, turn it on, take out the special pen, and then try to get it to understand your handwriting well enough to translate it into print so that you, the person who wrote the stuff down in the first place, can read it. Huh? What's the point? If I have to remember that something needs to be done, I'd forget what it was before I finished all those steps!