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Paper Phones
Fuzzy_Damnit! writes: "Whoa! Paper phone!" One of our shorter story write-ups... Anyway, since the reporter said he had a working prototype, it looks like the paper phone is not just paperware after all.
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... thinking that the expensive bits of a phone were:
1. DSP's
2. LCD
3. Batteries
I looked at the patents for this thing, and have yet to figure out, why making the case from corrugated cardboard makes the phone cheap. All the environmentally nasty bits, NiMH batteries, Nematic liquid crystals, Silicon chips are still the same as those you get in regular phones.
In fact this phone is probably environmentally worse, cos it means chopping down trees to make the damn things. That for me makes it an indisposable phone, unless I want to crap on the planet some more.
we have cheap pay per minute cell phones. They start at about £20 - $30. Its called subsidy, and I'll bet my bottom dollar (or should I say pound ;-) that is the only way these cardboard phones could ever be made cheap. As a previous poster says, the expensive bits are just the same as a regular phone.
It's flamebait because what is said is clearly stupid.
paper is a non-renewable resource
On what planet? On Earth the paper companies plant forests of trees which grow rapidly and produce wood pulp appropriate to the type of paper they want to manufacture. If that's not renewable, what is? Does Mr. McRotch actually believe that paper companies go around cutting down old-growth forests full of endangered species for the sake of being able to print the Sunday Edition?
Mindless ranting about consumerism doesn't help either. People buy whatever is cheap and/or convenient. Unlike a lot of the trash in landfills, these phones are paper, which is biodegradable. As opposed to plastics which will still be in those landfills a thousand years from now as plastic.
If all that doesn't make it flamebait, what does? Perhaps "Troll" would be a better label, but either one seems to describe the post reasonably well.
The batteries are made out of paper. The spring contact for the - terminal is made out of paper. The little bump on the + terminal? You got it -- paper.
Just think of all the paper cuts from dialing numbers. OUCH!
In retaliation i'm going to make a book of out rj-11 telephone cable
http://www.howstuffworks.com/disposable-cell-phone .htm?printable=1
Qoute:
The disposable cell phone is just the first of more than 30 disposable electronic devices that Altschul says her company is preparing. In 2002, we may see disposable laptops
Emphasis theirs.
Soon enough, from the looks of it..
Now a shoe phone... thats a useful thing that I've yet to be able to buy.
Shouldn't that be second most useful thing?
no problem--build it into the paper of the cigarette. When it goes out, the conversation is over.
:)
My GF has one of those pre-paid cell phone plans. It actually costs her -less- than a standard monthly plan would. Sure, the per-minute cost is higher, but she does not have to pay extra for license fees or 911 service, and she only pays for the minutes she uses.
It all depends on your usage patterns.
"Tomorrow's forecast: a few sprinkles of genius with a chance of doom!" - Stewie Griffin
<sarcasm> So what? It's not like the homeless matter to anybody. I mean, they're pathetic, mindless drunkards, right? </sarcasm>
Rev. Dr. Xenophon Fenderson, the Carbon(d)ated, KSC, DEATH, SubGenius, mhm21x16
I'm proud of my Northern Tibetian Heritage
--
A friend of mine used to work at a development place. These things use normal film. Also, they use two AA batteries which usually have plenty of charge left. She gave me a whole pile of good batteries out of these things. Better than throwing them away. Now, we need to find a use for the rest of these....(note...I dunno about these polaroid gadgets...)
Yup...she's also working on paper laptops. I have a feeling this will be a little more difficult....But I am sure Microsoft would love it!
Incredibly cheap e-books which will dissolve after the first reading. Hacking the book so it doesn't self destruct will be against the DMCA. Just what we need.
Chump. Everyone knows that 'Cracker' is a derogatory term for white people. And a 'Hacker' is someone who makes furniture with an axe.
Man, given the chance, I'd bean you with my cell phone at you right now. Hell, keep ranting, and I'll take a shot with my laptop. Do I get bonus points for throwing my pager and Pilot at you?
I forget what 8 was for.
-j
I forget what 8 was for.
I think I saw one of these somewhere, not sure where.. I thought it was ugly as hell, not realing it was made of paper! This is a really great concept.. I will have to get one :) it seems that they do have some dimension though.. there is a ICB connected to a paper face and then plastic that holds it together. Infact, it seems ONLY the face is what is made of paper, but the plastic is recycable too. Don't know how recycable that circuit board is, but oh well ;)
I heard about this on the radio about two weeks ago. So much for that ``Internet Time'' concept. Either that or the backlog of submissions at Slashdot must be monumental.
I first thought what a stupid idea. Paper phone. Who'd buy one? But then I thought: What a great idea for drug dealers and terrorists! Buy a paper phone at the corner 7-11, negotiate your deal over the paper phone, and toss it in the trash when you're done. ``Sir, we completed the trace on that phone call. It came from a trash can on the corner of 1st and Main.''
Nah, I guess I still think it's a stupid idea. (Which probably means it'll sell like hotcakes.) I wonder if the inventor has put any thought into the litter problem. It's bad enought seeing McDonald's wrapper blowing down the streets of the city. Now we'll see paper cell phones in the gutter. :-)
--
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
Now if we can just come up with a way to make cheap paper batteries, too...
(Yes, I know that paper can also be a problem. But it's not half as bad as the sorts of things you find on the average circuit board.)
Seriously, I didn't know that there were people who actually did thing like wipe off phones before they use them. It must be a pain feeling compelled to do things like that. What do you expect would be on the end of the phone? Its not like you actually put the phone in your mouth (I hope).
--
And I'd be a Libertarian, if they weren't all a bunch of tax-dodging professional whiners.
Berke Breathed
Claims that the majority of the public are stupid is foolish and elitist. Most people simply have been conditioned by society, their parents, and the government to be docile, cowardly, and sheep-like. They are rewarded for conformity and punished for extravagent behavior.
1. Yes. It was obviously nothing but a haven for piracy. Any legal use was negligible.
2. No, AOL is a general service, the majority of which is used for legal purposes. Additionally, allowing a child molester into a chat room is not illegal.
3. No, the phone company offers a general service, the majority of which is used for legal purposes.
4. No, Einstein's work advanced science in a completely ethical way.
This product, however, is a piece of junk designed to fill our planet with litter.
:You all have probably seen a Nokia 8850, 3310 or a 6110 (might have different names in the US). Now my question is, how small is usable? Or rather, how thin? As we all know there are people with bad eyesight, "fat" fingers and not to mention old people. I don't mean to troll now, so please don't flame me, I'm just trying to point out that we ought to stop for a minute, and think how small we should make them. Old people are bound to have problems if (cell) phones are going to be too thin/small. Some even say that the 3310 is too small for them.
Off topic, but I laughed the other day when I was watching Major League because of this. The team is on the tarmac waiting for their DC-3 to be fixed and Doran is talking on his cell phone. The thing was huge. Oh how far we have come.
I like Gates' later quote about not being able to multi-task in less the 1MB of memory while the Amiga was around doing quite well with half that.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
Well, in the case of disposable cameras, I understand much of the product is recycled, if not indefinitely. I would suppose that disposable phones could be recycled somewhat too... assuming the customer doesn't just throw it out.
The catch with cameras is that you _have_ to turn it in in order to get the film developed.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
1) Get cell phone
2) Request caller ID blocking for your cell number
3) Don't tell anyone the number
Problem solved.
"That's Tron. He fights for the Users."
A few problems with this,
Seen those CD soundtrack vending machines in cinemas?
Ever seen anyone using one?
I dont trust more that a £1 to a machine.
Personally I don't have a mobile because theres nothing I want to know about thats important enough to bother me when I'm out.
I dont even have an answer machine because I find them insulting to the caller.
If I'm not in, I expect them to use email.
What happened to the health issues with mobile phones, brain cancer anyone?
Buggrit.
-
Voxol
I heard that made it worse, acted like an aerial. Of course the person saying thought electrons had something to do with Florida, but still...
I was about to respond to this comment, but you took all of my points. Grrr! ;)
Yeah. I love that rationale too. She didn't care about the other drivers around her, just that her phone was too expensive. If it wasn't, she would've just simply chucked it out the window. Littering at the least, reckless endangerment at the worst. It's bad enough to have to deal with smokers tossing their damn cigarettes out the window. Now I should have to deal with cell phones too?
Oh, and you want a paper laptop too for the same reason. I'm not going to even start on that.
Then there's her other great quote:
"I can't change what society is. We are a disposable society. Life is what it is," she said. "I didn't wake up one day and say, 'What can I do to help destroy the planet?' "
I guess she's taking the phrase "if you aren't a part of the solution, you're part of the problem" just a little too far. If there's a problem in society that she recognizes, then she shouldn't be trying to make it worse. Of course, she's the type who would've thrown a normal phone out the window if it wouldn't have hurt her bottom line.
People like this make me sick. Invention without concern for the side-effects is just unethical. She acknowledges that she might be contributing to one of the crasser aspects of American society and then shrugs it off. I'm sure she just cares about the fact that Joe-on-the-Street will make her filthy rich. Who cares what it leads to as long as she gets rich.
Man, I don't need to read stuff like this. It gets me too angry. I hate being reminded what a selfish fucking world we live in.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Damn do I miss that show. ;)
----------------- Oink. Moo. rarr! -----------------
Yes, I wrote that post in haste, so I'll try to elaborate. I'm sorry I misunderstood your non-student status.
>Your eagerness to promote your egalitarian agenda
>is getting in the way of reading what was
>actually written.
You say "egalitarian agenda" as if it were a bad thing. Do you disagree with the second paragraph of the United States Declaration of Independence?
First of all, you're basing your argument about "average intelligence" on anecdotal evidence from your own life and your brother's life. Unless your brother teaches statistics, I don't see how his opinion is relevant. I also don't understand the importance of open-door Catholic schools to your point, since the average American isn't Catholic and doesn't want a Catholic education. You might also want to brush up on the First Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights if you do indeed believe that private schools are the answer to raising intelligence.
I am basing my argument on a social constructionist point of view. That is to say, people are mostly the product of their environment. Therefore, if the average student in your brother's classes aren't up to his standard of intelligence, then something about their surroundings is amiss. In my earlier post, I hypothesized that cynical teachers contribute to an anti-learning environment. In fact, a quick google search turned up this study, which confirms that teachers' expectations do affect student learning.
Of course there are stupid people in the world, and there always will be. However, it is elitist and undemocratic for people in power, (read: teachers and lawyers) to assume that the average person is hopelessly stupid.
Why not just steal somebody's phone? We are talking about criminals, after all...
Everyone will start to cheer when you put on your sailin' shoes.
for $10 I probably would buy one for cool value.
And while you're at it, run out and get one of those cool Yugos, too. It'll look great in the driveway of your mobile home, and you'll look hot scooting down the highway talking on your paper phone. Yeah, man, chicks really dig the cheap crap. You'll be the coolest cat in town! :-)
Duh, just glue the paper phone to your shoe.
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
Imagine throwaway pcmcia cards for wireless connectivity.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/cixel
"a very cleaver idea"
So you could say it's "cutting edge"?
"I'm an old-fashioned type of guy. I worship the Sun and Moon as gods. And fear them."
The catch with cameras is that you _have_ to turn it in in order to get the film developed.
It never occured to me to check, but I figured the film would be C41 process, just like most all other color negative film. If you want to keep the camera, just use a changing bag to spool the film into an empty can...
So now the question is, what kind of film DO they use in these disposable cameras? The cheap-ass 35mm movie film? Yuck.
A dingo ate my sig...
"Would you please hold? I have a call on my other shoe." - Maxwell Smart
or my favorite (also phone related):
"You'll have to speak up, I'm wearing a towel" - Homer Simpson
A disposable cellphone isn't any cheaper -- in fact, it's more expensive per unit, just as phonecards are more expensive per minute than good home long-distance plans. You're paying for the convenience.
and a can of coke is more expensive per unit, but I don't see soda vending machines going away. As you say you're paying for the convenience, and the convenience it seems (to a lot of people) pays for itself. I would never have bought my $199 phone and $40/mo service if I could have bought something as small as my Nokia 8290, with a good percentage of its features, and only pay for time I actually use.
I see this paper phone technology as just opening the door for a lot of other cool applications/improvements on existing tech. Add some flat, printable, cheap display technology, and you've got the smallest and lightest gameboy/cellphone/pda/laptop ever.
They don't mention in the article or in the how-stuff-works how the device is powered, so this may be a limiting factor.
Bottom-line, if this stuff is coming out in MAY it's going to be a hit. Just need some SMS capability, right?
"What thou shalt not, I shalt did!" -Bart Simpson
I might just have to get one of these!!!! This is too cool. The only snag I see is if the patents are licensed out at a very expensive rate. Then the technology will never catch on. Still I'd like to be able to say, "Do you like my paper phone?"
At the next eco-hypocrisy-meeting, count the private jets used to get to the meeting. Should be interesting to see that
Thanks for the idea. I just voted. :)
One of nature's greatest light shows happens when you throw a burning cig out the window going 80 mph down the expressway. It is utterly fantasitc.
Yeah, I just love the amazing pyrotechnics of flying cigarette butts on the highways at night. Never mind the danger that poses to gasoline-burning vehicles or drivers swerving to get out of the way. Even better is when assholes like you flick lit cigarettes down the rows of seats at concerts. Hooray for flying combustibles! Never mind you might actually harm someone. It looks cool, doesn't it?
Knock it off, or even better, just stop smoking entirely.
***
drug dealers can already buy phones at 7-11 for $100 and add air time to them with the 7-11 air time cards. all bought with cash, all as anonymous and untraceable as these are.
just not as disposable.
It's mentioned on the second page of the HowThingsWork article. Apparently the battery (chemistry unspecified) slips over the end of the phone after the primary assembly is complete.
--
--
I don't want to rule the world... I just want to be in charge of mayonnaise.
There are many people that don't have cell phones that would use these. Getting a cell phone, no matter how cheap, still requires having a credit card, which many low-income folks don't have. People that buy phone cards at the corner store understand that it is more expensive than other options, but what can you do when the phone company won't give you service due to bad credit? These phones will be a liberating tool for many that have no other access to portable communication.
I've tried very hard to curb my cigarette butt throw-out-the-window habit.
However, I have found that my ash tray fills out in O(n!) time! What do I do with this waste? I could pull it out my car during gas-ups, but then all of the ashes fly all over the place-- since I live in the ghetto and am I white cracker, I have reason to believe my life would be in jeopardy if I did that.
Other alternitives? I can think of none besides throwing them out the window. One of nature's greatest light shows happens when you throw a burning cig out the window going 80 mph down the expressway. It is utterly fantasitc.
> (note...I dunno about these polaroid gadgets...)
You mean, the disposable Polaroids? I took one apart, it takes a regular Polaroid film cartridge [I forget which type], but it seems that they don't sell _that_ type of cartridge anymore, they've obsoleted it.
I bet I could still find it somewhere, cheaply. Then, the disposable camera can easily be re-used.
Procrastination -- because good things come to those who wait.
--
Free Mac Mini
WONDERFUL
--
Free Mac Mini
This isn't a new problem; here in the UK, "pre-pay" cellphones have been available for quite a while now. Yes, they can be abused for criminal purposes (hoax emergency service calls, plotting drug deals, whatever) - but that's not really such a big deal. If someone uses one of these 'phones for a crank call, just cut the 'phone off. That's expensive enough to deter most people. Drug deals? If you're a big enough dealer for them to use wire-taps etc, they'll still be able to identify the 'phone and monitor it - just need a radio scanner and the decryption keys from the 'phone company. No big deal, really.
Also, for those of us not blessed with wireless internet access, having a payphone with a phone jack has allows me to get my email through my palm pilot - very useful in airports...
For the love of $DEITY, loose != not win!!!!!
Need I say more?
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
She can't control how her product is used.
True, but she could always not produce an abusable product. Or is that concept too alien for you?
"I've got a great idea for a product! It's cheap to build, easy to use, and in high demand! I'll be able to retire within 24 hours of bringing it to market! Of course, it has the potential to do great harm to our society and our environment - and people probably abuse it - but that's not my concern! Now, please excuse me while I go to the bank. Ha ha ha ha!"
Obviously each individual is responsible for their own applications of morally neutral objects, but I think it's pure bullshit to say that a) society is already fucked up, b) it's not my fault and it's not my responsibility, and therefore c) there's nothing wrong with exploiting and adding to the problem for personal profit.
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
Just one question. Anybody tell me how these babes are powered? Still thinkin this is vapor. Not to mention other problems this tech has, I don't get how they make a battery out of paper... TGI
The world doesn't need you.
I mean that sounds fine for marketing... Buy a phone that has 600 minutes. After you use up the 600 minutes you just throw it away and buy a new phone.
At least hat'll make it easier to make anonymous phone calls!
I forget which column, but Robert X. Cringely suggested this technology for PCs, as well. We could be seeing disposible computing coming soon. The interesting part of this to me is that MS products are too expensive for this sort of product. Linux is the obvious choice, as well as KDE or Gnome office programs.
Look at it another way: a massive reduction in consumed materials. Less plastic and circuits etched with toxic chemicals. This is good for the environment.
Most people get a new cell every year anyway. Better harmless paper getting thrown out then toxic chemicals and heavy metals.
Also, paper can be made from all sorts of products besides trees. You have to admit that paper is a much more renewable resource then plastic.
I'm not sure how Slashdot could have gotten the LA Times article any earlier...it was just printed yesterday.
An interesting anagram of "BANACH TARSKI" is "BANACH TARSKI BANACH TARSKI"
Dude! You're joint is ringing!
Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.
I hope it does mean the end of pay phones - and their replacement by phone vending machines :-)
Sod the shoe phone.. look at THESE!
Hubba Hubba!
(Yes, I know I'm sad!)
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
"Information wants to be paid"
No no no! It was the rest of the Golgafrinchams who died of a disease contracted from a dirty telephone. The Telephone Sanitisers made it to Fintlewoodlewix safe and sound!
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
"Information wants to be paid"
The thing that bothers me is how will they be able to provide all the new phone numbers? The article said they wanted to manufacture a hunderd million of them. Even spread across the 50 states and globably, as they produce more and more, how are they going to accomidate the need for all those numbers?
BigCat79
BigCat79
"The dead have risen and are voting Republican!" --Bart Simpson
Wow. It seems to me that this'd really be a huge boon to people whose phones are monitored (ie, drug lords, mafiosos, etc) -- they just have to buy one of these suckers, then toss it away in a few hours.
What happens to it when you are talking on it and you are cought in a sudden downpour? wouldn't it short out and catch fire or something? Just a thought, think of all the business people with their hands bandaged, tee hee!
As you slide down the bannisters of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way
Carousel is a lie!
[OT] I wonder what the Nokia people were thinking of when they named 3310, since 'p3310' is Finnish (you know where Nokia is from :-) script kiddie slang for 14m3, 1u53r or something
like that.
--
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
Whereis / What is acting as the antenna? The howstuffworks site, and the latimes.com site fail to mention. I think this is a pretty darn good question, the only probable harmful component of a cellular phone. Cheers, Tom
Reality does not happen until you analyze the dots. -Don DeLillo (Underworld)
They are quoting $10 each, using standard margins, it means they cost about $3.33 each to make... If the Chip and batery cost less than $3 I could believe it.
Or the flip side is they cost close to $10 to make, but plan on making the money back by selling addition minutes. Kinda like ink-jet printers and single use camera's.
The thing will fit nicely in my wallet next to my REX. A PCIMIA Sized PDA...
TastesLikeHerringFlavoredChicken
TastesLikeHerringFlavoredChicken
Look at this...
It's the original Get Smart phone. And why the heck is it on the CIA's site????
-----
"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad." - Salvador Dali (1904-1989)
Be careful, the Slashdot user base appears to be full of the liberal "granola hippies" you mention who think these "publicity stunts" are to die for... Just put the fad cause du jour (what color is your ribbon today?) somewhere on it and it'll be smash here!
The first version of the phones are outgoing only.. which means you won't be able to receive calls.
:P
:/ and I lost $30))
IIRC, I heard of at least two more versions of the phone that will eventually come out that allow incoming calls and even might have a display and memory (for speed dial..)
Ultimate application for one of these would be if they ever put something like a regular cellphone interface on the bottom.. so I could plug my palm3xe into it and check my email from work
(*much* cheaper than the bunk prepaid cellphone I was using (for voice only..) last year.. $25 for a 50 minute card.. ~55 cents/minute.. and then if I didn't use all my time or add any more time within 2 months then my cellphone was deactivated (which is exactly what happened
-since when did 'MTV' stand for Real World Television instead of MUSIC television?
woohoo, even more chances to annoy or embarrase telemarketers by saying weird stuff when they call.
-since when did 'MTV' stand for Real World Television instead of MUSIC television?
No that's not what I'm saying. Read the quote. I ascribe the same responsibility to society itself.
However, I think that what we have freely available should be controlled to some extent, and it already is. Cars, guns, drugs, houses... all controlled to some extent by some organisation.
I would just like to see those people responsible for bringing abusable products to market take some sort of responsibility for their use, and take reasonable steps to prevent their abuse. Is that so unreasonable and freedom-removing?
Henry
i don't do sigs. oops.
There's no LCD on the shots that I can see.
Therefore, no caller ID, no text messaging and most importantly, no Snake.
A phone's communicative capabilities are incidental to its game playing ones.
Henry
i don't do sigs. oops.
You miss the point.
She shouldn't seek to control how her invention is used - but she should perhaps be aware of possible misuses, and her part in allowing them to be perpetrated. I don't expect her to remove the product, or take other drastic measures to combat the litter issue. However, I do expect her to judge morally and ethically what she is bringing to the world, and not absolve herself of any involvement or responsibility by simply passing the buck to the bodyless abstract of society.
It is not a matter as simple, or as crude, as "whose fault is this". While of course, ultimate responsibility lies with the wilful misuser, should she not feel she has a duty to do as much as is reasonable to prevent the misuse?
This last question is not rhetoric, it is an interesting problem: should we allow society to govern itself (and give everybody guns), or should we limit its capabilities to harm itself by removing a litte freedom?
Answers on a postcard.
Henry
i don't do sigs. oops.
Well I guess this company is going to make a working model, and money. So.. how long now? and how cheep?
Its been reported that it will be $10, and include 60m of talk time. But is that still the case?
I suspect that disposable phones will be about as popular as disposable cameras.
Probably a neat idea, but not for everybody, I personally like my phone with things like built in caller id and phone book.
If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
What the article (& the manufacturers website) do not seem to mention, is where the battery is, or what kind of battery it uses. Anyone got any ideas?
HH
--
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
...fold neatly into paper airplanes. Give these to your kids and they will have fun for hours.
---- Don't worry about signing me up... I'm already on all the spam lists.
'nuff said.
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
Instead of "maybe you'd drive better if you shoved that phone up your ass", we'll start seeing ones to the effect of "maybe you'd drive better if we wiped our asses with your phone" or something nice like that...
"Titanic was 3hr and 17min long. They could have lost 3hr and 17min from that."
IBM had PL/1, with syntax worse than JOSS,
And everywhere the language went, it was a total loss...
Rumor has it Woody Harrelson is bankrolling a company that licensed the technology from Altshul to do just that. ;-)
Great! Now all we'll need to make our own Beowolf cluster is a stack of paper and a xerox machine! Maybe the next big cluster we read about will be ASCI-Kinko's?
I'll buy one of these for my wife, mom, and kids. Hell, I'll even keep one in my wallet. Great for emergency use. It will give me some comfort knowing that if someone needs me they're just a phone call away - what if the wife gets a flat tire? MUCH better than getting "regular" cell phones for everyone and paying monthly fees. Plus, these things will fit easily in my wallet.
Driving down the highway one day five years ago, Altschul, talking on her cell phone, lost her connection and became so angry that she wanted to heave the device out the window. She didn't because the phone was too expensive.
Technology brought on by a desire to litter. That's perfect.
I guess from now on, wildflowers won't be the only thing coloring the medians of our highways.f our highways.
yeah, but for my purposes (emergencies), this would be a hell of a lot cheaper...
terradot, growing awareness
dang it, I was gonna post that :-p
terradot, growing awareness
Just imagine the 'Happy Meal' treat possibilities for this one. Nothing like getting the 6 year olds using their '1 of 256 collectible Pokemon phones' too early in life
Would you like plastic or paper?
ANother issue is that there are a whole lot of people out there who simply don't have the disposible income to throw ten-spots around. The homeless need to use the phone sometimes too and it's a lot easier to come up with 35 cents.
It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries
I'd like to know what classifies this as flamebait. Manufacturing things that are disposable but not biodegradable is irresponsible. WHoever moderated this apparently believes that flamebait is any opinion they don't agree with.
It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries
I'm probably repeating something someone already said but: if you check out the web site for the paper cell phone, yes tey do have plans for the paper lap top as well... :0
.sig under construction
I think what the 'end of pay phones' is talking about is the inherrent price drops that this technology will eventually incur, thereby allowing 'pay-phones' to dispense cheap paper-phones for $.50 and a couple minutes of talk time, just like today's pay phones. No more actual phone on the corner, just a paper phone dispensor.
> Who wants a paper phone anyway?
"You've made me so mad, fool, that I'm not going to hang up on you, I'm going to tear the phone in half. Goodby"
I hereby claim to be the first to introduce the preceeding "dis" of other people.
I am for the complete Trantorization of Earth.
"Sorry boss, couldn't get back to you, my phone was stuck to the bottom of my shoe"
"Oh, yeah, your phone... thanks for letting me borrow it, but I ran out of TP the other day and used it to wipe my ass... those buttons feel kinda good"
Umm, sorry.. my phone melted in the rain.
*sigh* sorry. This story just kinda hit my funnybone.
Brant
Brant
Argle. Bargle.
Call me dumb, but where do the batteries go? How is this bad boy powered?
Brant
Brant
Argle. Bargle.
What kind of crack are you smoking? I know all kinds of people who can't afford a cellphone due to bad credit and $750.00 deposits required to get one. The prepayed phones out now cost a minimum of 33c a minute and like $80.00 for the phone. This is a tremendous improvement for those people. And I know of phonecards that are much cheaper than any long distance plan if your average call is over 20 minutes.
"If there is nothing you are willing to die for, then you are not really alive." Myself
This isn't the first time /. has written about these phones. This is just the first time where it appears to be more than vaporware.
"If there is nothing you are willing to die for, then you are not really alive." Myself
And there are people in the poorer parts of cities that don't have a phone and rely on pay phones for all their calls.
Since we all know hemp paper is more enviromentally sound than wood pulp paper, hemp phones can't be too far off.
Except for the most part these things will make it as easy to lay your hands on a phone as it currently is to lay your hands on a quarter.
You could stash one in your wallet, one above the visor in your car, one in the drawer at work, and use those in the case that you forget your regular cell phone.
With phones and the associated minutes that cheap, it'll also be a lot easier to find a complete stranger who will loan you a phone for a necessary call, much as you might find someone to loan you a quarter now.
While paper phones are definitely a cool idea, the whole concept seems a bit wasteful. America's landfills are already brimming with trash, and the problem is not getting any better. It seems that most of you Americans would rather spend $10 on a cheap throwaway phone than spend $100 on a more durable model that will last for years. This type of irresponsible, wasteful consumerism disgusts me. It is highly irresponsible to the environment to purchase disposable products such as these, as paper is a non-renewable resource. Imagine how many millions of acres of forests are destroyed each year so the you Americans can have disposable paper plates and Dixie cups. Now even your electronics are disposable. What ever happened to buying something that you were planning on keeping for a while?
So, now that we've got paper electronics, when do we get silicon Cotonelle?
"The problem with internet quotations is that many are not genuine" -Abraham Lincoln
Might I refer the author to definitions # 4 and 5 in the American Heritage Dictionary (College Edition):
irony n. 4. Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs. 5. An occurance, result, or circumstance notable for such incongruity.
The message of saving trees was incongruous with the advocation of mass consumption of paper technology, thus irony, or as you call it, 'iriny'.
What happened to the health issues with mobile phones?
See "silicone gel related connective tissue diseases", "spicy food causes ulcers", and "demon posession causes epileptic seizures".
Worried about global warming[1]? Then don't recycle paper. Mature forests let off as much CO2 as they absorb; young growing forests and tree farms absorb more CO2 than they release.
In fact, tree farms combined with landfills makes a great carbon sink. Coal is dug out of the ground, burned, and the carbon winds up in atmospheric CO2. A growing tree farm absorbs the CO2, then is cut down, the trees turned to paper, and the paper is ultimately buried in the ground in landfills, returning the carbon to the Earth from whence it was removed. And on the tree farm, new trees have been planted, sucking up carbon again during their rapid growth...
The problem is so much of the modern environmentalist movement is purely aesthetic, so biodegrading and recycling are promoted to eliminate ugliness, despite the fact that they merely reduce localized environmental landfill ugliness while increasing atmospheric CO2.
[1] I personally am waiting for the satellities to show evidence of atmospheric warming, given the number of factors that can distort surface measurements.
I make paper phones all the time. Basically what I do is write the message on a piece of foolscap paper and fold it into a paper airplane. I then send the message by throwing the paper plane towards the reciever. Works great.
"Disposable" sounds nifty, but why not implement a "recharging" system/infrastructure that allows the phones to be used indefinitely? Put recharging stations alongside ATM's in malls, 7-11's, grocery stores, etc. and let people use them indefinitely.
Instead of cutting down trees to make these things, they could make them at bargain-basement prices out of loads of worthless VA Linux stock.
I can see it now. Eventually these will be cheap enough to insert into magazines or into junk mail. Then, just as you're about to yank it out and throw it away, the phone autodials a telemarketer to sell you something. Ugh.
That "consumer culture" is what drives our economy and most of the readers' paychecks. If Americans didn't consume, our economy would implode by 60%. The logic you endorse could be applied to discourage use of any products (TV's, PCs, Cell Phones, Handhelds, VCRs, Cars). Unless you intend to meditate on a log in some backwater part of the globe, you really don't have a basis for complaining about the glut of consumer products.
Payphones and disposable phonecards are already ubiquitous. A disposable cellphone might add something in convenience, but why would you bother?
Everyone who wants a cellphone pretty much already has one. A disposable cellphone isn't any cheaper -- in fact, it's more expensive per unit, just as phonecards are more expensive per minute than good home long-distance plans. You're paying for the convenience.
So anyone who doesn't already own a cellphone because of the expense isn't going to be able to afford this any better. So, they'll have to be selling to people based on its convenience. That means tourists and criminals, and I'm not sure which one is worse.
"he's not answering. Send another phone out his printer!"
A dead person would not lose a battle of wits with a small plastic soap dish. Ergo, those who would, are dumnber than dead . . .
many prisons already use paper slippers . . . :)
Paper doesn't degrade in landfills. The breakdown is an aerobic process, and the landfills generally don't have the aeriation needed to do this (in fact, I doubt it's possbile). So exposed paper will rot, but buried paper will generally stay paper.
WHile I'm at it, I've lost the reference, but if you compare the production of a paper cup and a comparable styrofoam cup, it takes/uses 2-20 times as much resources/pollutant to produce the paper cup. Nonetheless, the luddites run around screaming about biodegradability, and get McDonalds and the like to irresponsibly switch from foam to paper . . .
hawk
doesn't mean you *have* to write phone numbers on it :)
This woman came up with a very cleaver Idea and is bringing it to market. The perverbial better mousetrap. And even though I have a cell phone for $10 I probably would buy one for cool value.
I wish her well its a very cleaver idea that will probably get used in a lot of ways that no one ever figured on.
Erlang Developer and podcaster
Only really an issue when the antenna is beaming energy directly next to your brain. In this case, this isn't held up to your ear, like a typical cancer phone.. :-)
One of the biggest reason I use one of those little bud earphone/mics on mine whenever I can..
-- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
And I have trouble finding a 35 cents when I reall yneed to use a pay phone. Now I'm supposed to fork out 10$? :-)
Provide cheap access to wireless? Yes.. Replace pay phones? *BBWAHHAHA*
-- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
Paper can be recycled. I'd say using paper probrably saved more trees then using plastic..
:-)
As long as they're replanted, etc..
-- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
As for the DSP, the Lucent DSP1609 was specifically designed for cell phone applications.
For the RF front-end for cell phones, fujitsu makes one for $2...
You can even put in the RF discretes in a
package...
Cell phone batteries are made to be rechargable which isn't necessarily the case here...
A cell phone draws about 200 milliwatts when running which isn't very much. The watt density
of a watch battery is good enough to power a disposable cell phone for quite a while...
If you do the research, it's amazing how little presumably expensive things cost in volume.
Retail and wholesale finished goods carry substantial markups from unfinished goods...
I know it's pretty depressing to see that you paid really good money for your plastic cell phone made by erikson, nokia, qualcomm, motorola, samsung, etc., but really, that stuff doesn't cost much at all...
You are just buying the name!
Then what's with the LA Times? Guess no one there listens to NPR.
I guess I really can't slam 'em too hard, though. I've heard things on the radio or seen them on the 'net before they made it into the Chicago Tribune. I've gotten so used to getting most of my news on the internet that it's getting harder to understand the delays in seeing something in print. And the newpapers' web sites are usually nothing more than electronic versions of the same stories appearing in the daily print edition. I suppose if CNN was available in hard copy form it'd be last week's news too.
--
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
Trees could be a renewable resource, but as the industry currently functions, they aren't.
Switching to hemp would be even better for lots of reasons, but given the hysterical War On (Some) Drugs, that probably won't happen real soon.
Even without the paper cellphone, the regular cellpone has been biting into pay phones' revenues. With the advent of this new disposable, which will put cell calling within reach of even those people who don't want to spend all that money on a calling plan . . . well, you do the math.
--
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
so how many Slashdotters have voted for 'Binary tree', or 'B-tree' so far?
** RANT WARNING **
*sigh* As americans about the last thing we need is more disposable cheap devices to feed our pointless consumer culture. Since the whole post-war lack of shortages, we have been trying our absolute hardest to bury ourselves in garbage. So you say they could be made recycleable? Well, look around you. NOBODY except a couple of granola hippies EVER buys things made with a significant amount of post-consumer recycled content, unless it's a novelty like those unsightly "indestructible" park benches that the bloody fucking new york state highway department put in a couple of their rest areas as a publicity stunt.
Not to get off topic or anything, but it's just depressing to see how people are encouraging this sort of thing. I think the whole thing is a tremendous waste of time.
---
Play Six Pack Man. I
If you go to staples or any other similar place, you can sign up for prepaid cell service under any sort of false name. If you use a different phone than your normal phone, or if you just buy a really cheap phone for each time you sign up, you're golden.
Why do i know this? 'cause an old friend of mine worked at staples for a couple years, and he said that more than 25% of the people who came in for prepaid cell-phones were _really_ sketchy characters. Many paid in cash and even went so far as to wear dark glasses!
---
Play Six Pack Man. I
Just ban filter-tips. Real cigarettes (e.g. Gauloises, St. Michel) taste better sans filter anyway. And all they leave behind is a bit of paper and a bit of leaf. Much nicer to the environment.
As someone above already pointed out, it's PAPER. So, when you're done with it, you use it to start a fire. Security hole closed. :)
Hmm.... I wonder if that works for Windows.... Time to go find my old CD-ROMs, and some lighter fluid.
Sorry. That does suck losing a phone like that. However, from the experience of my friends and family (I'm the only guy I know who doesn't have a cell phone) I'd say that the average cell phone user would produce less waste with a normal cell phone than with the disposables.
It also doesn't change the fact that it is an idea created by a woman who apparently doesn't give a damn about the consequences of her actions to other. She was driving with a cell phone, was willing to throw it out the window if it didn't cost to much, and has shrugged off complaints about the idea by essentially saying that that is how society works so she might as well take advantage of it.
That's an unethical inventor.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Why are you throwing away the regular cell phone every 2 years? They last for much longer than that.
I'm pretty sure that the paper ones will generate far more trash. They, by default, only last 60 minutes. I don't know if they are rechargeable or if they have a replaceable battery, but it doesn't look like it does from the picture. They suggest that you'll be able to push a button to get more time, but I somehow doubt that the battery will be good enough for 3 months.
3 months isn't the intent of the design. It's intended, really, to be used for the 60 minutes and tossed away. For some people, that might be 3 months, but from what I've observed of most cell phone users, I suspect it will be far less time than that -- maybe a week or so.
When they become entirely ink on paper, maybe they'll be recycleable, but I somehow doubt it. That's not the intention. Remember, this is the invention of a woman who would've thrown her cell phone out the window and forgotten about it if it wasn't so expensive. When the average person hears about these things, they're excited by the idea of being able to use and dispose of it so easily. The ramifications of this don't really dent that enthusiasm. The average person, which this woman is in many ways, doesn't really understand nor care about the impact of garbage on the future.
I'm sure this will generate far more garbage, and I don't really think that it will be less damaging in the long run. Maybe I'm just cynical. I prefer to call it experienced.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
I was reading comments about the paper phone, and the ad banner at the top of /. was the following:
Vote for America's National Tree: arborday.org
Isn't it a bit ironic that a technology using paper would have a "save a tree" ad at the top of the page?
LOAD "SIG",8,1
LOADING...
READY.
RUN
If paper phones like this start to become more and more popular, I would think that talking on the phone while smoking would become less and less common. I mean, how much would it suck to have your phone burst into flames whilst you were talking on it? =)
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CitizenC
I think they expect you'll just buy one at the Kwik-E-Mart.
I can't say I'm a fan of disposability, but this is a huge boon for frequent travellers. God, to think of the amount of different country's calling cards I had to use while travelling through Europe to get in touch with friends and family -- to be able to buy a disposable cell would have been great.
just my blog and pix
Should Einstein be held responsible for the development of the A-bomb?
I assume that you are referring to E=MC^2. No, Einstein should not be held responsible for the development of the A-bomb because he showed the equivalence of matter and energy.
HOWEVER, Einstein did write a letter to FDR, urging that the US engage on an A-Bomb program to get it before the Nazis did. Therefore, yes he should held responsible for the development of the A-bomb.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Getting in a bit late, but...
True, but she could always not produce an abusable product.
Ain't no such thing. Anything can be used as a weapon, for example. Any non-biodegradable product can be smashed and turned into so much litter that lasts until it's cleaned up - and biodegradable products are necessarily disposable products. Et cetera.
When I was a student in the UK, I used to temp for summer jobs. One of those jobs was to walk down the side of a motorway, picking up litter (we don't get our crims to do it for us). I was getting paid next to nothing but I calculated that at the rate I was picking them up, discarded cigarette butts (they don't biodegrade, they contain glass you know) was costing 1-2p (1.5-3c) per butt in my wages and since I was being paid through an agency, that's 2-4p (3-6c). I would imagine that when you get your crims to do it, they get paid even more than I was. And there were a *lot* of cigarette butts.
Think of that next time you complain about paying taxes.
Oh, not to mention making the countryside look fucking disgusting and ugly.
(Assholes)
Rich
What do you expect would be on the end of the phone? Its not like you actually put the phone in your mouth (I hope).
I don't know, some people are seriously sick (kinda like the same mentality that keep posting the goatse pic) when they vandalize those phones (bodily fluids/excretions/vomit). I mean it can get pretty bad.
"I'm not a procrastinator, I'm temporally challenged"
I prefer to think that some rudimentary intelligence will kick in on her part. If the cost of producing the phone is more than the cost of a prepaid address label, she should be making it easy for people to send them back for refurbishing when they're used up. If she's working with companies using these for promotional items, returning it can be good for a free something or other (and the company providing the something or other gets an address.) There's good economic reason to re-use things, with the added bonus of not being part of the problem.
And in terms of the long term good/bad of these, I don't think thats really relevant to the fact that the woman's additude sucks. She didn't respond to the criticisms by finding out what the costs were and weren't, she just said "who cares?". That additude, as much as the reality of long term damage possiblities is what turned me off to her - that she doesn't even care enough to look for a good answer to the question.
Kahuna Burger
...will work for Chick tracts...
There are times when I need a phone and I don't want to use the pay phones at hand. One, it may be in an unsafe location. It could be poorly lit at night in a rough part of town. Two, the pay phone may have questionable cleanliness. How many times have you talked on a pay phone with a tissue in your hand and the phone away from your ear?
Doug Alcorn
WE ARE FACED WITH A CARD GAP!!!
__________________
I'm not throwing it away - I'm losing it! I'm on my third phone - the previous one was lost in a cab, and the previous to that was analog and is now a useless brick in a cardboard box. Average lifetime (Of course I want to keep it longer than that! Hopefully the current one will last a few more years.)
sulli
RTFJ.
I know which one pisses off those angry about our Disposable Society (tm), but that's not the relevant question.
sulli
RTFJ.
As the sole person responsible for bringing this product to society (and only that - it seems a team of engineers were responsible for design and implementation), she has a responsibility (as clearly society does) to make sure her invention is used in a proper manner.
So what you're saying is, you want someone else to control what you can and cannot do; what you can and cannot have?
Besides, as George Carlin once said:
"If it's true, that plastic does not break down, then the earth will just create a new paradigm: The Earth + Plastic."
(paraphrased)
"And like that
This is exactly what I need. I don't want a cell phone, because I don't want people calling me when I'm not by a phone (hell, I rarely answer the phone when I am by it), but I want to have a phone for emergency use. Can't wait 'till I can get my hands on one of these puppies.
terradot, growing awareness
She can't control how her product is used.
Should Napster be responsible for whether or not its clients use the service to trade copyrighted material?
Better yet, should AOL be responsible for allowing a child molester in a kiddy chat room?
Should the phone company be responsible for carrying your insider trading calls?
Should Einstein be held responsible for the development of the A-bomb?
As with any technology, the respsonsibility for its misuse lies solely with the person who misuses it. Of course, this includes the inventor, but only in relation to him- or herself.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
Call the vending machine restocker.
Oh wait...
(Hack available at sourceforge :P )
People shape laws. Not the other way around.
"Hold on just a second. I have to get something from my pocket."
*flick* *flick*
*crackle*
"Burn baby burn!"
Hey, is it recyclable?
__________________
One quote disturbs me philosphically:
"I can't change what society is. We are a disposable society. Life is what it is."
I was reading one of Feynamann's "Meaning of It All" Lectures last night (specifically Uncertainty in Science). There, he talks about what, if any, the responsibility of the scientist (engineer, whatever) is to society in bringing to bear the applications of an idea. He said that each scientific idea presented the "keys to the gates of heaven, and of hell" (paraphrasing). While it would be foolish to pass up the opportunites of a key to heaven, it would be unwise to not consider the possibility of hell.
While of course, heaven and hell are exaggerations here, the principle holds. I sincerely hope this woman has not passed the buck of responsibility for potential wastefulness to society as a whole. As the sole person responsible for bringing this product to society (and only that - it seems a team of engineers were responsible for design and implementation), she has a responsibility (as clearly society does) to make sure her invention is used in a proper manner.
Henry
i don't do sigs. oops.
What a fantastic way to combine two of Americans' favorite driving activities: talking on cellphones, and littering.
It's about time we gave morons something besides their cigarette butts to throw out the window.
crib
Please don't read my journal
You all have probably seen a Nokia 8850, 3310 or a 6110 (might have different names in the US). Now my question is, how small is usable? Or rather, how thin? As we all know there are people with bad eyesight, "fat" fingers and not to mention old people. I don't mean to troll now, so please don't flame me, I'm just trying to point out that we ought to stop for a minute, and think how small we should make them. Old people are bound to have problems if (cell) phones are going to be too thin/small. Some even say that the 3310 is too small for them.
:)
Not to mention that they are easy to missplace...
But on the other hand, small can be good also
Just my 2 cents
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
Secret Service officials have asked to see this phone recently, I think the article was on Cryptome.org or something similar. Odd that such high ranking government officials would want to see this. See way I figure, if its used in the commission of a crime, there's no trace back to the cellular, nor is there a way for them to monitor a conversation. So expect some sort of fallout between government and the inventor. It is a nifty idea by all means, but again law enforcement will see this as a problem as they may not be able to use ECHELON based programs to monitor whats going on, thereby leaving another means of circumvention of laws by criminals. ? I disagree with this, how is taking a cellular phone for granted, its not a neccessity in life, and although we use it in every day life, we've been fine without it in the past, so I see this statement as overkill. So a binary reader may be able to gain information on the innards of this phone, giving people the ability to tinker with it some. Well leave it up to the next Defcon, or other Con where someone will figure out the workings on this, then we can guess government won't like this idea too much. I think she has more to worry about than the FCC when its concerning this type of product, again I wish I could find that article, so people can see what I mean. Well there's small mention of law enforcement here, but again I will search for the prior article on the Secret Service's concern over these phones, and its not like its the FBI or something, these guys (Secret Service) don't normally get involved with these issues, which made me think about, what exactly is going to happen when these phones (if these phones) are released.
Patent Pending
360 degrees of Karma
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Who wants a paper phone anyway?
Now a shoe phone... thats a useful thing that I've yet to be able to buy.
Please some slashdot user point me to where I can buy a shoe phone, I really want one. Just so I can do this one:
"Would you please hold? I have a call on my other shoe." - Maxwell Smart
Can we have paper laptops for the same, um, killer app?
sulli
RTFJ.
There's an interesting (and simple) explanation of the technology behind this at HowStuffWorks.com:e .htm
http://www.howstuffworks.com/disposable-cell-phon
.sig this!