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Solar-powered Handbag
karvind writes "BBC reports that a student, Rosanna Kilfedder, from Brunel University has designed solar-powered handbag to make finding keys and other items at the bottom of a bag easier. The handbag, dubbed Sun Trap, uses a solar cell attached to the outside of the bag to trap energy from sunlight. The energy is stored in an internal battery which lights up the lining. The lining is made from an electroluminescent material and is lit up by the bag's zip which acts as a switch. The bag goes dark when the zip is closed or after 15 seconds if it is accidentally left open. A secondary use of the portable battery is as an emergency charger for mobile phones and other wireless devices."
Somehow I just don't see how adding a battery to a purse is going to make things easier to find. You know that women are just going to have one more thing in the purse to move around, and there's going to be too much in there for the light to actually penetrate... I mean seriously, most women I know have a double decker bus worth of stuff in there. It's a wonder they all don't lean when they walk. ;)
I'd like a rucksack like that
Cue Lady Bracknell imitations throughout offices the world over.
Weirdly Lady Bracknell is still alive and has her own blog!
Bus error in your favour. Collect 200kB
Sounds useful. This is an example of why it's good to have women in engineering/CS programs. Would a guy ever have thought of this?
Carry a proximity transponder in your pocket, so if your bag is nicked it screams "help me, I'm being blagged!"
Argh.
Rummage in the handbag for the blinged-up cellphone with flashing keypad and Fiddy-Cent ringtones, all up in the club with the glowing bag...yeah this'll fly I imagine. Shiny stuff sells.
Just don't open it on a dark subway because Homeland Security might gun you down first and check for the stolen enriched uranium later.
Aaargh!
On one hand, it's a gadget, so I have to get one.
On the other, it's a handbag, and I'll not be seen dead with one.
What's a geek to do?
Paul "Say no to feeping creaturism"
I would love this for my backpack, so I could find the stray pencils or my long lost stapler that I know is lurking near the bottom.
Also I had a vision of the breifcase from pulp fiction.
I used to have a cool sig, back when I cared
- in the windows of cars parked in the sun, powering anti-theft alarms
- in the fabric of sun shades for the beach, powering a beer cooler
- on the backs of notebooks, adding to their pathetic battery life
- on rucksacks, powering the old ipod
- in the garden, keeping the gnomes warm
But for the handbag, why not simply make a material that is opaque from the outside and transparent from the inside, which lets light in but not out...?
My blog
Additionally, I though light was supposed to be unable to escape from a black hole...
Argh.
Women buy handbags because they look cool (see: Birkin bag phenomenon, Kate Spade, etc). The trick with this is getting it licensed by these players for their future fashions ... Is it even possible? I could see this being sold as a "premium" feature, for a "special solar edition" version of the bags in their line, or something like that ...
If a true slashdotting hasn't yet occured you can see in the pic that the pattern of the light source is stars or something similar.
It won't sell well amongst American woman unless they replace the stars with Louis Vitton/Gucci/Burberry/Prada symbols. And to be more accurate they need to be fake Louis Vitton/Gucci/Burbery/Prada symbols.
...when will this tech translate over to our wallets? :)
:(
As a man you should know that it will effect your wallet the moment it becomes the hit status symbol. she buys one and your wallet is lighter
I used to have a cool sig, back when I cared
This will be great for all those female slashdo...
I mean, it'll be a great gift for some slashdotter's girlfr...
Why is this article here, again?
they're a fasion accessory. Putting solar pannels on it won't make it anymore attractive to women, unless you get some Italian/French/NYC designer to plaster his name all over it.
If the goal was comfort and ease of finding things, women would buy cargo pants.
I want one of these for my jeans, so when I unzip them, the light of god will be cast unto all.
If this is for a woman's handbag, I think it would be much more sensible to attach something to her jaw and get mechanical energy from there as she talks. Because the sun eventually burns out, you know.
Target offers, now, a lady's handbag with a battery powered bright white LED that lights up when the magnetic clasp is opened. Maybe it is not as "sexy" as the bag in the article but it is simpler, cheaper, more practicle and more environmentally friendly (no solar cells and special linings). It is also more practicle in the sense that it will last just long enough until the owner drops it in favor of the latest fashion.
First, they went on camping gear. Then they went on radios. Now they're in purses.
This isn't so valuable so much for the money some people will save, or even the added convenience women will have. It's just that the more solar power and solar energy is in the mainstream, the better off more widespread adoption will be.
-Rob
Biblical fiscal responsibility
Her idea is good and well-intentioned, but a more couture-embracing design would be required to invoke a broader appeal. Put the idea in a beautiful handbag, and she may have something that sells well. But I'm beginning to think -- and see -- that many women are becoming very selective about which handbag they carry. The design of this bag doesn't look like one that could carry her idea well. Good thinking, though.
For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
I work at Brunel, and designs from the students in our Design Department hit the BBC webpages every year around this time. And each year, we get a flood of email to our 'webmaster' email address, cursing the design for not curing cancer or ending poverty.
You have to realise, these designs are developed as an exercise in the skills taught by the course. Some of them are interesting, but they're not finished products. You might as well criticise engineering students for wasting their time building balsa bridges and devices to allow an egg to be dropped off a roof without breaking.
Yeesh!
Environmentalism is the new Victorianism. Everyone ties on a green corset and pretends we're virtuous.
1) How many women want to show everyone ALL the contents of her purse? Women will wan to carry medications, condoms and hygene products discretely. I wouldn't want to have my ID & credit cards in a tranparent bag in plastic.
2) how does a transparent purse help in the dark? (the solar cells charge batteries that run the light whenever the purse is opened. It helps just like all the little lights in your car that help you find the ignition switch, etc. when you open the car door.
To be fair, these concerns might be addressed with a translucent material.
Think global, act loco
It's kind of scary to know that purses well known for their quality of absorbing (and keeping) all kind of stuff, such as candy wrappers, loose change, lipsticks of all kinds etc.etc. have now achieved the ultimate power and can trap the Sun itself!
when inattentive, overly permissive, or just adventurous DMs allowed Continual Light to be cast on a Bag of Holding, and they held about as much as most women in my family manage to hold in theirs. I think my mother-in-law has an entire convenience store in hers.
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
...would be so much more useful.
Back in mid-2000 I helpd a friend of mine add a light to her purse. The lights activated via a small switch mounted on the strap. The lights themselves consisted of two led arrays, mounted on either side of the purse, about a quarter inch below the zipper (stitched into the lining, only the ligths were visible -- poking through "button holes" also stitched into the lining). The whole business was powered by a 9v battery located in a smaller inside pocket.
She seemed happy with it -- it did what she needed it to do, and only when she asked. The solution presented in the article doesn't seem all that great.
Required reading for internet skeptics
When wearing this bag, adds darkvision and the quickdraw feat when taking items from the bag.