MagicSHELF Update 2

image The saga of the magicSHELF continues. I received my own magicSHELF in the mail yesterday, courtesy of linkydinky, and put it up today. Here I am posing with it. I placed it across from my desk. It's definitely odd to look over and see some books floating there. But I like it. It's kind of cool.

I added a short review of the magicSHELF to my original post about it. While I don't reveal how it works in the review, I do try to strike a balanced tone, pointing out that you could make one of these yourself with enough effort (and time spent searching around hardware stores). I also add a disclaimer, noting that in return for letting linkydinky quote me as saying that the magicSHELF is real, he links back to this site and mentions my book. So hopefully that steers clear of any ethical pitfalls.

Miscellaneous

Posted on Thu Feb 02, 2006



Comments

For some reason, they've changed the name to MagicalSHELF as opposed to MagicSHELF all of a sudden...
Posted by Collaborator  on  Thu Feb 02, 2006  at  08:05 PM
We had to change the name because a trademark search had "magicshelf" already registered, but expired in 1998. Rather than deal with any potential legal issues in the future, we changed the name to something unique.

Thanks for noticing! (And thanks to Alex for the great pictures!)

Uncle Url
http://www.magicalshelf.com
Posted by Uncle Url  on  Thu Feb 02, 2006  at  09:18 PM
Uncle Url, I sent u an email to the address from yr site about how i can get a MagicalSHELF if i live in Athens Greece however no one bothers to reply to me....
Posted by merve  on  Fri Feb 03, 2006  at  01:03 AM
ooooo, very snazzy looking. I want one. Maybe someday when I'm not lazy and broke.
Posted by Razela  on  Fri Feb 03, 2006  at  01:27 AM
For some reason, I always thought Alex was a girl.
Posted by raoulduke  on  Sat Feb 04, 2006  at  03:32 PM
raoulduke said:

"For some reason, I always thought Alex was a girl."

Two answers (pick your favorite):

1: That's an urban legend.
2: She IS a girl.
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Sun Feb 05, 2006  at  05:39 AM
was magicSHELF now MagicalSHELF
I would not mind so much if they didn't lie about the shelf

Video of MagicSHELF box contents
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzngqCWOQYM&search=newsletter

http://www.linkydinky.com/haunting.txt
and many other text like this
did a belive no did i wonder yes.

This is the orignal post from museumofhoaxes.com

magicSHELF Mystery Solved

{summary!!!!!}

Status: The magicSHELVES are real

Greg Cason broke down and ordered one of those LinkyDinky magicSHELVES that I posted about last week (I was tempted to do the same), thereby learning the secret of how they work. It turns out it's not a photoshop trick, nor are the books glued to the wall. Actually, they work almost exactly as I theorized. A shelf is anchored into the dry wall, and then the shelf itself is concealed by covering it with a book and gluing the book shut. Greg notes: "It's nothing but an L bracket with some sticky stuff. Cute idea, but not worth ~$18. You should be able buy the parts yourself for about 3 or 4 dollars at any hardware store."

Update: Uncle Url himself (of Linky Dinky) sent me an email in response to the Museum of Hoaxes's ongoing magicSHELF investigation. Here's how it begins:

Alex -- You spilled my beans!

Well, all I've got to say is that I'm glad you concluded the story by allowing that our MagicShelf is, in fact, a "real" product and that it does exactly what it says it does. However... don't think so fast that the parts can be had at any local hardware store for 3 or 4 dollars.

For the full email click here. (It was a bit too long to post in its entirety on the front page.) Well, I hope Uncle Url doesn't harbor any bad feelings towards me for revealing the secret of the magicSHELF. It would kind of suck to get on Linky Dinky's blacklist. (There are many people whose blacklist I would be proud to be on, but I actually like Linky Dinky. They did come up with the Lovenstein Institute, after all.) But what can I say? The mystery of the magicSHELF was too tempting a puzzle not to try and solve. Anyway, I'm sure there are many products that can be constructed by do-it-yourselfers for a fraction of the cost, but since most of us aren't do-it-yourselfers, I doubt the market for the magicSHELF will be threatened by people buying the parts at the hardware store and making their own. Actually, I'm still tempted to buy one, since it would be an interesting conversation piece to have in my office.
Posted by Hello again  on  Tue May 09, 2006  at  12:01 PM
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