#627 – Peeled

A lot of small electronic devices have a precision cut piece of clear plastic stuck to their displays. It cracks me up how 2 or 3 times now I have had a device for over a year before I realized. I think the first one was a fancy “indiglo” watch. I accidentally bumped it up against a cement wall and I looked down to see the damage. Happily instead of a big scratch I found a secret plastic film that started to peel up. Kind of like putting on a winter coat and finding money in the pocket that you had forgotten about.

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43 thoughts on “#627 – Peeled”

  1. Micah says:

    I think you might be on to something, Chris!

  2. Danomite says:

    I require this. Someone get on this invention, stat!

    1. Becca says:

      You’ve never heard of contact paper?

  3. Amy says:

    O.O

    Whoa. I need to try that.

  4. Chris says:

    They love to put that precision cut plastic saran wrap stuff on everything in China, and they never remove it. Bikes are wrapped in it, any kind of display, kitchen appliances, everything.

  5. SEA says:

    Well, there are plastic sheets avaliable now for tables…

    But biff’s design is GENIUS! =D

  6. speearr says:

    What an incredible idea! I Googled it and it actually exists! (http://www.boingboing.net/2007/03/21/table-topped-with-gi.html)
    Love the idea…

  7. RG says:

    Dang, that has got to be one of his most brilliant ideas since the Breader!

  8. Metal Matt says:

    BOOK THREE! WOO!

    Now I have Christmas presents for at least 1 or 2 of my friends worked out.

  9. Kurast says:

    So many idiots buy stuff like TV monitors or Digital Frames at my work and then return them because the screen is messed up. I ‘enthusiastically’ peel the plastic cover off and deny their returns.

  10. benjiroo says:

    @Kurast: ya know, i can’t believe i actually have these problems with my Lexus customers. there are various shiny parts on the dash and console areas that are protected during assembly by that plastic film. invariably i’ve got people coming in complaining that their touch screen navigation screen is ‘falling off’ or is ‘out of focus’

    yep, $6000 navigation screen is out of focus.

  11. Chris says:

    @Metal Matt – I approve this excitement. 🙂

  12. artoxic says:

    Dude that is an awsome idea

  13. MaskedMan says:

    speearr beat me to it, but yeah, this is actually an existing concept. The first place it was used, that I personally know of, was on the goggles of motocross racers – they have a clear film stacked up on their goggles, and when they get too much mud on their goggles, they just peel off the top layer – Voila! – Instantly clear vision!

  14. Jackson says:

    Nobody Scores! has also thought of this idea:

    http://nobodyscores.loosenutstudio.com/index.php?id=268

    Great minds think alike?

  15. Bakelite says:

    I have a hi-fi system from 1975 which is still covered in that plastic film! It’s turned a bit brown over time, though.

  16. The Dustin says:

    Oh GREAT! You just had to mention Winter… now it’s snowing!

  17. Reg says:

    What the heck?! Biff made some smart decisions 2/3 times this week!
    And when I put on my winter jackets, I don’t find money, but old tissues…

  18. no name says:

    Chris, you’re a genius. Patent that now!

  19. Trevor says:

    I don’t know, that’d create a lot of garbage, but hey, at lleast you can draw on it.

  20. Jake says:

    definitely a really good idea.

  21. mac says:

    yup i love those plastic films, if i get anything with that plastic coating on it, i leave it for as long as i can, i even take exacto blades and cut off the peeling bis, just to protect my screens

    if i didnt di that, my thing old be a huge scuffed mess like everyone around me, they ask my secret, but i wont tell

    they’ll think im obsessive compulsive

  22. Gato says:

    I want that so bad.

  23. TheMusicGuy says:

    They sell post-it easels (sp?) at Wal-Mart that could work like peel-away TV trays with a little ingenuity. I’ve been tempted to buy a pad…or two.

  24. RPal says:

    BRILLIANT!!!

  25. Colin says:

    that is the best idea i have heard in ages!

  26. To me, pulling that film off the watch is like getting a brand-new watch!

  27. Araxiel says:

    I always felt that the little plastic screen was like a one-shot damage shield- ie, this way your watch, little screen, whatever, can take something that would normally scratch it and survive to another day. Sort of like ‘the first scratch doesn’t count’.
    Oh, and I’ve been reading this comic through the archives all week, and just now caught up. Great work on this!

  28. rlbell says:

    Stuff left in a winter coat’s pocket. . .

    I did that with a scientific calculator that cost, at the time, nearly a week’s pay (Hewlett Packard HP-28S, back in late 1988). It disappeared just as winter turned to spring and I cursed myself for leaving where a theif could grab it, as I was sure that it had been stolen; however, is decided not to bother making a fuss. Fast forward to December, as I put on my winter coat I feel a hard rectangular object in one of the pocket, and there it was. I still have it now, somewhere, but prefer to use my even older HP-15C (used sporadically for the last 22 years, but only on its third set of batteries)

    Must .. climb .. out .. of ..fogeydom

  29. Bazza says:

    I borrowed my boyfriends PSP the other day, and when I put it down on the car seat, then picked it up, I realised there was a massive jumble of scratches on it. I didn’t know how they happened and I freaked, I was so doomed! Then realised there was a plastic layer. I relaxed.

  30. miss amy says:

    i always thought they should do that clear plastic thing on windshields so if you happen to park under a bird filled tree instead of using all the fluid and wearing out your wipers you could just peel off a sheet and be on your way.

  31. I’ll take two of those tables.

  32. Ichfrei says:

    Chris- Pure genius.

  33. Vera12 says:

    They do do that clear plastic thing on windshields, unfortunately its only on the windshields of racecars. All the cars that run in the sprint cup have them and some drivers even have tinted plastic things that do that for when they race from daylight into night. As soon as the sun goes down they pull the plastic off and instantly have a clear visor to look through.

  34. Zach Light says:

    The negative side, you have to buy a new one when you have ran out of sticky table.

  35. mrmeval says:

    DON’T GIVE 3M any MORE billion dollar ideas for FREE!

  36. D Jenky says:

    I want one!

  37. Graff says:

    Whoa, is it just me, or is Biff a really messy eater?

  38. Capshot says:

    Been browsing through the archives, this is my first time posting.
    Oh, and I’ll take two.

  39. YukiSnowflake says:

    HEY!
    how dare you steal my idea (*lol, jokes*)

  40. DaemonThanatos says:

    That is GENIUS!

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