A Father's Day Gift to Protect Dad's Genes from Hot Laptops: The LapWorks Laptop Desk.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. -- Designed to take the hassles and hazards out of using laptops, the $29.95 Laptop Desk from LapWorks Inc. could help protect the little swimmers of want-to-be fathers when they're without a desk and must use their laptop on their lap.

The folding portable desk creates a 21" protective workspace across the lap and addresses both culprits cited in the study "Increase in Scrotal Temperature in Laptop Computer Users" (http://www3.oup.co.uk/eshre/press-release/freepdf/laptop.pdf), published in the U.K. journal Human Reproduction in December 2004. Researchers said that the combination of 1) the heat generated by the laptop and 2) pressing the thighs together to balance one increases temperatures around men's privates and over time can result in decreased sperm production.

Dr. Yefim Sheynkin of the State University of New York at Stonybrook said, "The body needs to maintain a proper testicular temperature for normal sperm production and development. Portable computers in a laptop position produce scrotal hyperthermia by both the direct heating effect of the computer and the sitting position necessary to balance the computer."

The Laptop Desk cools laptops with heat-conducting polycarbonate plastic and recessed ventilation channels. A thermal study conducted by the California Polytechnic University at Pomona (http://www.laptopdesk.net/thermal/thermalstudy-introf.html) proved the Laptop Desk reduces the heat passed through to the lap by 8 - 10%.

Its 21" lap span also allows men to sit in a more natural posture with legs spread apart.

Sally Longyear, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based Certified Industrial Ergonomist and experienced leader in injury prevention, stresses correct laptop-using posture to avoid other computer-related injuries. "Users should choose a work platform that spans their entire lap so they can relax their knees instead of squeezing them together to balance a laptop. This minimizes strain on the shoulders, neck, back and arms." Ms. Longyear's website, http://www.working-well.org, answers ergonomic questions to help computer users live "pain-free."

"I designed the Laptop Desk to address the hazards of using a laptop -- to the user and the computer itself," said Jose Calero, LapWorks' president. "Constant overheating is the laptop's worst enemy, shortening its life and causing sluggish performance. Users may experience hot leg plus neck, back and shoulder strain from the poor ergonomic typing angles."

On a desk, the Laptop Desk folds into a five-position wedge, inclining the keyboard for more ergonomic typing to save men's wrists as well as their little swimmers. LapWorks' thermal study concluded that inclining a laptop cools it by 15% - 20% because more hot air escapes.

LapWorks offers two models -- the 22-ounce Version 2.0 and the 14.6-ounce UltraLite for notebooks of 5 pounds or less. Both fold in half for easy traveling in any computer bag.

"Depending on which analyst you talk to, there are about 100 million laptop users worldwide, with 60 million in the U.S. alone," continued Calero. "Presumably half of them are men. This isn't the first time laptops have been reported as hazardous to men. I donated Laptop Desks to the doctor who treated the Swedish patient who burned his privates on an overheated laptop in 2002. The doctor told me such a protective device would've helped."

LapWorks Inc. develops ergonomic portable computer accessories that ease mobile computing. LapWorks launched the industry's first dual-purpose lap desk that doubles as a desktop stand. LapWorks Inc., 7955 Layton Street, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730; 909-948-1828; 877-527-9675; [e-mail]; http://www.laptopdesk.net.

Notes to editors: Photos are available from LapWorks' online press kit. For more on the 2002 incident reported by BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2503291.stm.

"LapWorks," "Laptop Desk," and "Laptop Desk UltraLite" are trademarks of LapWorks(TM), Inc.