Technabob » dirt

Junk Mobile Phones Give Way to Flowers

Technabob — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 12:45:27 +0000

Ever wonder what to do with your old cell phone when you’re ready to upgrade to the latest and greatest? Why not bury it in the ground? That’s what a group of scientists will have us doing if they have their way.

Researchers in the UK have devised a new mobile phone body which can simply be tossed into the compost heap, and will disintegrate within weeks. Once the phone’s shell has broken down, an embedded sunflower seed is released into the earth, sprouting life anew from your wayward technological garbage.

A team at the University of Warwick’s Warwick Manufacturing Group, in conjunction with PVAXX Research & Development Ltd. and Motorola used a special biodegradable polymer which is completely functional under normal working conditions, yet starts to rapidly decompose when placed in compost. Now they haven’t solved the problem of what to do with all those nasty toxins in your phone’s electronic components and battery pack, but at least they’ve got a solution for all those cheap plastic cases.

For those of us with iPhones, we’ll just have to melt down our aluminum and glass beauties using conventional recycling techniques when that iPhone 2.0 eventually comes along.

[via Baby Ruthless via Roadside Scholar]

IPhone Smudge Simulator

Technabob — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 20:34:39 +0000

Whether you’re holding off on that new iPhone purchase until version 2.0, or you’re already camping out, this fun online plaything should keep you occupied while you’re waiting.

The wonderfully-named iSmudginator is a bit of interactive Flash that lets you simulate what will happen to your shiny new iPhone after you’ve put it through it’s paces. Not only does it do a glorious job of emulating smudges, but you can even enable a scratching option to do some real virtual damage. Heck, you can even “answer phone” and leave your nasty ear grease on the screen.

Now from what I’ve heard already, the real iPhone isn’t that much of a smudge-magnet. I suppose the author could always swap out the image and rename it the PSPsmudginator.

[via DownloadSquad]

Electronic Dust Bin Makes Dustpans Obsolete

Technabob — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:41:18 +0000

If you’re like me and live in a house with hardwood floors, keeping the place dust and dirt free can be a pain in the butt. That’s why I’m excited by this seemingly boring “why didn’t I think of that” invention.

The $59 Westinghouse SweepEZE is an automated dust bin. Just place it against a wall or in a corner, then sweep whatever junk you have on your (uncarpeted) floor in front of it, and it’ll suck it in and dispose of it automatically.

An infrared beam activates a vacuum that takes care of all the dirty work. And it’s able to pull in all sorts of things, ranging from pet hair to broken glass, thanks to its strong 600-watt suction engine. Bye, bye Swiffers!

Order the Westinghouse SweepEZE From Amazon

[via GadgetGrid]