Cell Phones Blamed for Fatal Lightning Strikes

Throughout the month of July alone, lightning has killed and injured more than a dozen people according to Russian officials. Three sunbathers and one woman talking on her cell phone while walking along a river were killed, and a representative from local weather observation FOBOS says he believes that the accidents might be connected to increased use of portable electronic devices.  Cell phones and mp3 players are said to be electromagnetic field carriers, therefore making them conductors that would attract lightning.

Shit.  Now in addition to going sterile and getting brain cancer, we have to worry about lightning hitting our cell phones.

Link [InventorSpot]
Photo credit: Flickr user DDFic

The Green Cell Battery Vending Machine is an Awesome Model

I went to the Greener Gadgets Conference a few weeks ago and caught the green design competition at the end of the day. One of the entries that was presented made absolutely no sense to me- the Green Cell battery network.

The idea is to standardize cell phone and gadget batteries and sell them in a vending machine. People would switch out batteries via the Green Cell machine when they run down, getting a fully charged one in return. The designers of Green Cell think this is better than charging up your battery at home because you wouldn’t have to buy a ton of different adapters for all your hand held gadgets.

Really?

Am I missing something here? Do they really think people will buy into a system where they need to run out to a vending machine every time their cell phone or iPod batteries die? Wouldn’t the extra gas to make the trip offset any savings from not having to make the extra adapters in the first place? I plug in my cell year old cell phone once every day or two, I’ll be damned if I had to run down to the store to get a new one 3 times a week.

I think model is flawed. I doubt many people change out their gadget batteries in the first place- they just get a new one when they buy their new phone or MP3 player. Standard battery sizes are something the tech industry needs to embrace, but does it make sense to sell/lease batteries in a vending machine? No, I don’t think so.

I’m a dumbass. See Jill’s comment below.

Link [Inhabitat]

Atlas Kinetic Cell Phone Charges Up While You’re On the Go

I love green design that just makes sense. The Atlas Kinetic Phone captures the daily motions of a typical in-the-pocket cell phone and translates it into power. It’s also built with an all aluminum casing for a longer life cycle.

I hope someone at RIM sees this. I would LOVE to have a Blackberry with something like this. Coat it in a solar wrap and give me a phone that I never have to plug in. Free me from wires entirely!
Link [designer ID] via Yanko Design

The Eco Button Offers Easy Greenwashed Sleep Mode

Check out this piece of greenwashed crap —>
That is the Eco Button, a self-proclaimed “green” product that you plug into your computer to allow you to put your computer into sleep mode with a touch of the big ugly button.

Problem is, you already can now put your computer to sleep with a touch of a button, your mouse button. How hard is to put your comptuer to sleep? If you have a Mac you can even make one of the corners of your screen a hotspot to auto drop it into sleep, making a snoozing computer a flick of the wrist away.

How much energy and materials were burned through to make the Eco Button? How much plastic, how much paper used in packaging and logistics, how much gas burned to ship it around from factory to store? This thing is a green washed turd of a product. Two thumbs and a toe down.

Link [EcoGeek] & [BoingBoing Gadgets]