Tag: gadgets
Hoarding old mobile phones slows EU recycle drive
The EU wants to recycle 45% of old mobiles — a tough target, because people tend to throw their old mobiles in the back of drawers and leave them there. Even the president of the the European Battery Recycling Association admitted he still has his first mobile phone. “It is in a drawer, and every three years I change, I put it in and I keep the old accumulators,” EBRA President Bertrand Schutz said. “Forty-five percent is challenging.” Oxfam notes that fewer than 5% of retired mobiles in the UK will be recycled — but if you’ve got one (or several) that you want to get rid of, you can either send them via freepost to the Oxfam Bring Bring Scheme or drop them off at any Oxfam store. [GT]
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DIY: Green Lantern ring — it even glows!
“In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight! Let those who worship evil’s might, beware my power: Green Lantern’s light!” Make your own GL beams complete with healthful green glow courtesy of Instructables’ How to make a Green Lantern ring. The original GL DIY was sterling silver, but this one is transparent green resin, since most people don’t have access to silver casting, and since making a resin-made ring glow is much easier. [GT]
How to make a Green Lantern ring- including a glowing version! (via MAKE)
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Five essential gadgets for Glastonbury 2007
Have you seen the weather forecast for Glastonbury this weekend? If you missed out on tickets, you really should check it out – you’ll be riding the schadenfreude wave for weeks. Which, co-incidentally, is the same amount of time Glasto-goers will be washing Pilton mud out of random orifices.
'Fish on a chip' could save your life
New technology called ‘fluorescent in situ hybridization‘, or FISH, automates testing for chromosome mutations in a bunch of different types of cancer. This cuts test costs by 90% and speeds up the test process by a similar factor. It also means patients in rural areas don’t need to travel so much, because test kits can be administered under simpler settings. Finally, since it tests for a variety of cancers, it means quicker notice of the disease jumping from one organ to another, like a stealth evil Tarzan in the jungle of your intestines. “I believe that this might be the most important thing that any of us ever do,” said the University of Alberta professor Dr. Linda Pilarski. [GT]
‘Fish on a chip’ technology may speed cancer diagnosis
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Veteran Hollywood director recuts 'Success', re-releases on Google Video
Until now, only about four copies of William Richert’s dark 80s fairy tale, ‘American Success Company’, were known to exist (one owned by a television network, one by Steven Spielberg, and two VHS dubs, one owned by me). Richert has remastered the 1983 release of his picture, retitled ‘Success’, starring Jeff Bridges, Ned Beatty and Bianca Jagger. Not only is Richert selling DVDs of it directly, but has also put the entire movie on his website, in chunks hosted at Google Video. This movie was so obscure that it was never even released on VHS. Richert has also placed complete Google Video of his movies Aren’t You Even Going To Kiss Me Goodbye, The Man in the Iron Mask and Winter Kills (also starring Jeff Bridges). Richert is currently involved with The Vindicator, a mobster drama that will be released on the internet. Dailies of The Vindicator after the jump. [GT]
Juice Bag solar beach tote
The usual problem for the gadget geek is what to do when you’re in the middle of nowhere with nowhere to plug your stuff in — a problem I encounter downtown here all the time. Juice Bag’s solar beach tote solves that dilemma by being equipped with a solar panel and a universal CLA/Car Charger Female Socket so you can just plug your gadget into the bag. $249.99, which would be worth it if there were sun where I live. [GT]
Juice Bag-Solar Beach Tote [via Chip Chick]
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'Microsoft security worker' ranked 6th worst job in science
The latest issue of Popular Science ranks the ten worst science jobs and ‘Microsoft security worker’ is number six, since — and if you’ve ever done tech support you know this — nobody ever calls security because they’re happy. Other jobs include Olympic drug tester (watching people pee gets boring after a while), elephant vasectomist, and, depressingly, oceanographer, because the oceans are in such lousy shape. Eep. [GT]
Scientists get down and dirty on job
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Chinese Internet users rail against the Great Firewall
In response to images of the Tiananmen Square massacre being posted on Flickr, China has banned Flickr access. “I just want to look at some photos! What’s wrong with that?” said 24-year-old accountant Yang Zhou, who discovered the ban when he went to Flickr to browse his friend’s holiday snaps. “Of course, [privacy is] the first thing people seek when they have the economic resources,” said Nicholas Bequelin from Hong Kong-based Human Rights Watch. “We see this growing in China in the wake of ideas of ownership and property.” Reuters has video coverage of global privacy issues. [GT]
China Web users rage against Great Firewall
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RedPost/Kit: DIY digital photo frame
RedPost/Kit is a DIY photo frame which comes with a 19″ LCD monitor, a USB flash drive running Damn Small Linux, built-in 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, and a 200MHz fanless x86 CPU with 128MB on board memory. You can either load pictures to it over your network via Samba, or point it at a photo web site. Comes in six colours (if “unpainted” is a colour; they felt some would want to customize the frame personally) and is VESA mount compatible. $549. I want. [GT]
RedPost/Kit’s birth announcement (via Engadget)
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Shape Memory Alloys to change future of clothing?
Shape Memory Alloys expand or contract depending on whether you superheat or supercool them, and when they return to normal temperature, they retain the changes. Philips has the hot (or cool) idea of using SMAs as the base in clothing, meaning that instead of your having to wear a shirt that bags at the underarms or is too tight around the neck, one zap would make it fit you perfectly in both places, no tailoring required. The alloys would also be recyclable in more sophisticated ways than the typical hand-me-down method, not to mention that the clothes would simply last a lot longer. Fashionistas could get a discount for swapping in their old Manolos against a spiffy new pair, and know last season’s goods would be broken down into good-cause goo. [GT]
Controllable surface area fabric (via Wired)
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