technabob » environment friendly

origaudio foldable speakers: lean and green lightweight sounds

lambert v. — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:17:56 +0000

OrigAudio (as in “origami + audio”) speakers are perfect for trips to the beach, or for whenever you just want to share music without much hassle. Let’s face it, a couple of 3.15″ 1-watt speakers won’t satisfy audiophiles and they’re definitely not good enough for parties, but the fact that they’re foldable and don’t need a power source – not a single battery or USB cable needed – means that they’re perfectly portable. Just don’t get them wet.

OrigAudio rides on the “green” bandwagon because they’re made of recycled craft paper, but you can have ones made of cardboard or coated plastic as well. You can choose from several neat stock designs, or you can send custom designs to be printed on the speakers. OrigAudio also comes in a triangular shape if you really want to have a unique set of speakers.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can order a set of two speakers at OrigAudio’s online store for only $20 (USD), or you can get a 6-pack – a total of 12 speakers for $80. As I said, OrigAudios don’t need a power source; just plug them into any device that has a headphone jack and you’re good to go. Check out a review of the OrigAudio on YouTube, and skip to about four minutes in to hear them at work. More pics of the speakers are available at OrigAudio’s Flickr page.

[via Cool Material]

white goat eats paper, poops toilet paper

lambert v. — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:44:15 +0000

Spotted at the Eco-Products 2009 trade show, Oriental Co. Ltd.’s White Goat is a paper shredder that turns the shredded bits of paper into toilet paper. It is named after the famous Japanese White Goat, which eats paper and then shits out toilet paper. Yeah that’s not true. I wish it was though.

The White Goat can make one roll of toilet paper from 40 sheets of A4 paper, saving up to 60 trees a year.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Sure, the toilet paper it produces isn’t exactly top-notch – it actually looks coarse – but wouldn’t it be awesome if you could shred your phone bill/failed exam/your office mate’s documents, turn it into toilet paper and then wipe your ass with it? Seriously though I can’t wait for this thing to be miniaturized. Every house should have a White Goat.

[via Popular Science]

this cellphone is a coke addict

lambert v. — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:08:32 +0000

…but not the coke that Scarface likes; this cellphone runs on Coca-Cola. Actually it doesn’t just do Coke, it also gets pumped up on other sugary fluids.

Designed by Daizi Zheng, the cellphone’s fuel cells generate electricity from sugar, which isn’t exactly groundbreaking tech, but it’s not widely used either.

In the end, Zheng’s concept is merely promoting an already existing – albeit relatively new – technology, and what better way to promote an environment-friendly battery than by putting it on a cellphone?

Hundreds of millions of cellphones have been sold, all of them equipped with batteries that are not easy to dispose of. If our phones used these “bio batteries” instead, then it would be a huge step towards a cleaner environment. But I do hope that the future environment-friendly cellphones will look much better than this. Much, much, much better. I mean the only way this thing would look cool is if it was a Coke-powered lightsaber.

[via likecool]

flexiblelove furniture has room for the whole family, just make sure it doesn’t get wet

lambert v. — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:17:06 +0000

Made by Taiwanese furniture designer Chishen Chiu, the Flexiblelove line of recycled wood and cardboard furniture stretches and bends so that you can use it to seat one person…

…or a whole group. In fact the flexiblelove 8, as its name implies, can fit up to 8 people, while the flexiblelove 16 can accommodate up to 16 people! A 20-seater will be released next year. Then next next year they’ll release the flexblelove moviehouse, a 300-seater, then next next next year the flexiblelove stadia, a 22,000-seater. The previous sentence is of course filled with lies.

Don’t believe it? Watch this:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Flexiblelove’s honeycomb design is the key to its stretching and bending abilities.

Since it’s made out of cardboard, not even the unique design can prevent it from turning into Soggylove if it gets wet.

If you live in Taiwan, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain or Portugal, you can purchase the Flexiblelove 16 and Flexiblelove 8 online; just hit up the respective websites listed here. The smaller, 8-seater Flexiblelove 8 sells for £220 (appx. $350 USD) while Flexiblelove 16 sells for £390 ($620 USD) at the Flexiblelove UK online store. If you’re not in any of the places listed above, send a message to intl@flexiblelove.com for help on purchasing.

I think it looks neat and all, but I don’t think I would ever drop $350 for a cardboard chair.

[via Neatorama]

looftlighter: flame on without a flame on

lambert v. — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:49:20 +0000

Instead of fire, or even sparks, the Looftlighter uses hot air – hot as in more than 1000°F – to light things up. The Looftlighter is named after its inventor, Richard Lighter. No wait: his real name is Richard Looft, a (former?) theater director who got tired of having his barbecued chicken taste like lighter fluid. So Looft did what any Swedish theater director in his right mind would do: “He poured coal into a toaster”. No-brainer right? Even a third grader can guess what Looft did next: “he turned the flow around in a vacuum cleaner and discovered that the coal got ready to use in just a few minutes!” I mean come on. I could’ve thought of that.

It’s not the quickest way to start a fire, and when you first fire it up it may seems like it’s not doing anything, but because it doesn’t use lighter fluid you’ll save a lot in the long run. That and your chicken barbecue won’t taste like lighter fluid anymore. Unless you actually put lighter fluid on it.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can order the Looftlighter at ThinkGeek for $80 (USD). I’d buy a low-powered version of this so I can use it for pranks.

[via Chip Chick]

enfren free style led lamp is also fun to play with

lambert v. — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:42:37 +0000

Enfren’s new environment-frenly friendly lamp isn’t called a “free style lamp” for nothing. The lamp not only has a bendy neck that allows users to adjust the height or angle of the light, the LEDs are separated into five disks that resemble contact lens cases. This arrangement allows for further customization: you can bunch the disks together to focus the light on a spot, or you can spread them out, presumably so you can share the light.

The lamp has three brightness settings and is supposedly 90% efficient, i.e. 90% of the electricity it consumes is converted into light.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Enfren’s free style lamp is currently available only in Korea, and is priced at ₩78,000 KRW (appx. $67 USD). It would be awesome if we had a lamp that could serve as a general-purpose ceiling lamp, but could also be directed or focused on one area, and also plucked out to be used as a flashlight. It should also be solar-powered, so you could still use it in houses without wiring. And it should also have a built-in PS3 and an HDTV. That lamp would be awesome indeed.

[via AVING]

gaon street light/wastebasket turns trash into flash

lambert v. — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:54:55 +0000

Designed by Haneum Lee, the Gaon street light/wastebasket concept composts biodegradable waste and uses the methane by-product to power its light, saving energy and eliminating waste while lighting the streets. It’s a bright idea – or is it?

I like how one simple gadget can help solve a couple of environmental issues, but I’m not too sure if the Gaon can be turned into a real product. For starters, how much trash is needed to produce a decent amount of methane, and how long will it take before the trash produces the gas? And remember, only biodegradable waste will produce the methane, but in urban areas a large part of the waste comes in the form of plastic, glass and other non-biodegradable materials.

Still, Lee is onto something here. You think a version of the Gaon could work in real life?

[via Yanko Design via DVICE]

solar powered bluetooth headset: for eco-friendly douchebags

lambert v. — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:15:16 +0000

Nah I’m sure most headset wearing folks aren’t jerks. It’s just that we’ve yet to meet them. Kidding. The solar powered Bluetooth headset is one of the new merch over at Brando, aka the technabob of gadget vendors. It’s not a Brando-ish gadget in the sense that we can actually understand the idea behind it, but the write-up on its product page still does its best to confuse us, proclaiming, “An Eco & Evolution Bluetooth Solar Power Charging Headset – The Power is Never End!!”

To ensure that the Power is really Never End, the headset comes with a USB charging cable so you can also recharge it via your computer. The headset is also equipped with noise reduction technology, and it can be paired to 2 devices at a time. Wear one on each ear and you can talk to 4 people at a time! Yeah I don’t think it works that way.

The guy in the pic is obviously not a douchebag; he didn’t pop his collar. As long as you don’t do that or any of these things, you can buy a solar powered Bluetooth headset at Brando’s online shop for $67 (USD).

[via ubergizmo]

usb cell turns your computer into a charger

lambert v. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:50:19 +0000

Although they’re nearly twice as expensive as traditional rechargeable batteries, the USBCell from Moixa Energy can be recharged via USB, so if you keep your computer on most of the day, might as well use those extra USB ports to charge the batteries instead of spending extra for a battery charger.

Currently, the only USBCell available is the AA size, but Moixa also plans to sell AAA, 9-volt, and phone/PDA battery versions in the near future. You can buy a pair of AA USBCells at Amazon for about $19 (USD).

[via Devicepedia]

refreshing news: washing machine with nylon beads uses 90% less water

lambert v. — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:00:52 +0000

This is undoubtedly one of the most environment-friendly appliances that I have ever seen: using technology developed by professor Stephen Burkinshaw of Leeds University, the Xeros washing machine is so efficient it only needs a cup of water to clean an adult-sized shirt. That translates to 90% less water used compared to ordinary washing machines. The special ingredient: nylon beads. Nylon’s unique property is that it becomes very absorbent under humid conditions. A small amount of water is enough to humidify the interior of the Xeros washing machine, and the nylon beads and detergent will do the rest.

Aside from the significant water savings, the revolutionary cleaning system also uses 30% less energy; the efficiency of the nylon beads also translates to less detergent used. Clothes that are washed in this manner will dry faster because of the small amount of water used in cleaning them. It gets even better: the first Xeros washing machines are set to be on sale next year. They’ll be sold to commercial establishments at first, but hopefully us residential peeps will be able to own one soon after.

Check out Xeros’ website for more details, including a video demonstration.

[via GreenBang via Inventor Spot]

shake control: environment-friendly wiimote for your tv

lambert v. — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:00:29 +0000

Winner of the 2008 red dot design award, the Shake Control presents a unique and environment-friendly way of controlling television sets. It may also be frustrating enough that people won’t want to watch TV anymore. Instead of using batteries, the Shake Control is indirectly powered by the user; a magnet generates current whenever you give the controller a shake.

Users just press and hold the corresponding buttons located at the side of the remote while shaking the controller. The power button is located on one side of the remote, and miscellaneous controls are on the other side.

To make it blatantly obvious that it was inspired by the Wii-mote, channel and volume changing is gesture based, i.e. by shaking the remote in a specific direction.

No doubt, the Shake Control is aesthetically pleasing, and the fact that it doesn’t need batteries is a big plus. But shaking the thing every time you want to change the channel? I think I’ll just wait for Flick Control.

[via Gadget Grid]