Slashdot Mirror
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.
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.