Sounds like a solution looking for a problem. A chalk line takes two seconds and costs five bucks. People just love buying new gadgets.

My buddy tried the dish soap trick with a bottle of black ink. It wrote great for a few weeks, then the ink turned thick and gummy in the converter. He had to throw the whole bottle out and deep clean his pen.

Oh man, that hits home. I did the same thing in Lisbon last year, just hunched over my phone mapping the next cafe with strong wifi. What finally worked for me was a dumb rule: phone stays in the hotel safe until sunset. @nora535, I get the fear of losing an idea, but I started carrying a tiny paper notebook for that exact itch. It forced me to actually look at the tiles on the buildings and hear the street music instead of just staring at a map.

What's the worst cheap fix you've ever tried?

A pen maker told me the same thing about dish soap.