Disposable Cell Phones

davie writes " A patent has just been issued for what amounts to a disposable cell phone. No LCD, limited battery life, outgoing calls only. The inventor envisions these devices being sold with a limited block of air time, about 60 minutes, at a cost of about $20. Once you use up the air time, toss it. " And, hey, if it means it can be thrown in a bucket of water and you can just get a new one, that's even better!

Comments

If they hold a charge...

[Rombuu]

...this could be good for the "emergency cell phone to keep in the glove compartment so if stranded in the middle of Nebraska in a snow storm you don't have to pull a Donner party" scenario.

Already been done

[Brian Knotts]

I mean what are they gunna make disposible next....computers?

Packard Bell already thought of this, and for years sucessfully marketed computers which were ready to be tossed in the trash as soon as you took them out of the box.

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Analog Network

[ddpg]

I bet you this is the way the cell phone companies plan on continuing to rake the money in from their analog networks that are being replaced by digital ones. So instead of abandoning them, they offer cheap phones/airtime and with outgoing only, they can use their phone numbers for their digital networks. So basically it's an End of Life strategy.

I'm sure that they would try to recycle them kinda like bottle redemption... you buy a phone for $25, when you are done you buy another for $25 but you get $5 off for returning the other phone.

Not a bad idea.

Peter Gogas

Woohoo! I can start my own drug cartel!

[Randy Rathbun]

Just think, boys and girls - a phone that can never be traced to you! Granted, it would be hard to do a drug ring with this because it won't accept calls, but big deal!

Maybe I am just being stupid, but this is worse than divx. Who in their right mind, asside from criminals and kids who want to look cool (also known as wannabes) would want one of these things? PCS service from Sprint is dirt cheap and the phones from them are like $50, and if you are really stingy you can get one from one of the other companies for one cent.

It's pure idiocy, so they will probably make a fortune off of them - just not from me.

There's still the Grand Canyon

[gad_zuki!]

Has the cell-phone craze and consumerism reached the point where cell phones are just too blasé?

Who is this market? People with such crappy credit they can't get approved for or afford a cell phone contract. They'll probably make them in various crazy colors a la iMac to get kids into it.

Patents like these really make me wonder if the ecology movement is completely dead. Faster, cheaper, and better should eventually equal out to reliable equipment that lasts a long time. Instead faster, cheap, better = disposable crap. Eventually you'll be able to buy a disposable version of any electronics you like. Imagine the landfill nightmare of having thowaway TV's, CDplayers, fax machines, etc. If this is the first wave of disposable electronics, I'll be the first to boycott.

Heh, I got a kick out of her reasons why this throw away idea will work:

"An engineer's mentality is to make
something last, to make it durable. A toy's life span is about an hour, then the kid throws it away. You get it, you play with it and -- boom -- it's gone."

Why if kids do it, it must be the smart thing to do. Or she's admitting her target market is really dumb adults.


"It's the ultimate in-your-face advertising," Ms. Altschul said.

That just says it all doesn't it?

Garbage: People rarely examine facts!

[xtal]

I would like to point out that we're not being "buried in our own garbage". This is largely a view promoted by environmentalists that don't understand how big the planet is, and sometimes, "just throwing it away", is the best thing to do from a environmental perspective!

I don't want to start a flamewar, and I'll probably get moderated down by an eco-freak, but please concider that when you recycle something, it doesn't magically turn into another product. It requires a LOT of energy to recycle something, and contrary to what suburban SUV-drivin feel-good people thing, power doesn't come out of the wall for free. It needs to come from a coal, hydro (which ISN'T eco-friendly - flooded land produces methane, worse for the environment than coal!) or nuclear plant. Recycling is often worse than throwing it away!

Interestingly enough, a study done in England (Referenced in American Scientific, Sigma Xi Jorunal) indicates that recycling causes _more_ consumption, since people _feel good_ about using recycled products!

This doesn't mean a throw away culture is OK - but if you need the service or product, it might make sense. There is L O T S of room for L O T S of garbage on this planet - more than we will ever need, 'cause we'll do ourselves long in based on current population projections before this is an issue.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Recycling is last, because it doesn't work very well! Why does everyone forget about the first two, which work _Really_ well. Cut down, and reuse.

Just because it's disposable, doesn't mean it's bad. It might even be BETTER. It might not feel good, though. Consuming resources is something we should think about, and I think people think sucking energy is OK just because it's being recycled, which sometimes is really dumb.

Think about that when you're haulin those bottles back in your 4 ton Ford Extrusion, er, Excursion, wasting a resource we should conserve - gasoline.

Kudos!

Fun for Geeks With Attitude(tm)

[Chemical Serenity]

Heh... I remember doing things like that back in the day during electronics class. Ahh, the fun we used to have sticking 16v capacitors into the lab-bench sockets. Had the whole room go off like a string of firecrackers one time (BTW - Tantalum caps, although more expensive, make a much more satisfying *snap* than little bitty barrel caps, but cause shrapnel.)

Here's a particularly nasty toy you can make with some commonly available goodies, for all you Dr. Evil-in-training types (I wonderink if Mikhail makink these device when leetle boy, da?)

What You'll Need

• A brain. (You'd be amazed at how many people don't get past this point)

• A capacitor. The best types are the big old barrel caps from circa 1960-1970 TV sets... you know, the ones that look and feel about the weight of a relay baton. Polarized or non doesn't matter. Axial (one lead on each side) or radial (both leads on one side) are both fine, but radials take just a bit more work.

• Tin/Aluminum Foil. Not a whole bunch, just raid your mom's kitchen cabinents, or order some chinese food and use the tin from thier plates. As long as it's conductive, can be easily wrapped a cylindrical object, and cheap, it'll do.

• Electrical Tape. You MIGHT be able to substitute duct tape, but apparently some substrates can become conductive under certain circumstances. Best to play safe and get the genuine article (the black rubbery stuff).

• Some wire, soldering iron and solder. Not much solder is needed, nor wire. In fact, if you have an axial (one lead on each end) capacitor with long enough leads, you may not need these at all.

• A continuity meter. The best in the world are made by Fluke Industries. No self-respecting electronic/electrical engineer would be caught dead without one. Of course, deletantes may use whatever cheesy little analogue meters they find in thier gran-pappy's toolkit.

• A power source. The best are ones are bench supplies which can generate a specific voltage, but even a cheap-ass wall-plugged model will do in a pinch. Try to get it as close to the rating of the capacitor as possible. I've found that a couple car batteries in series makes a good 24v or +/-12v supply in a pinch, so long as they're kept charged and outdoors when not in use. Oh, and try not to spill their contents on your Nikes.

What You Do

1. Read the Fine Print. I absolve myself of all issues that may arise from you assembling and using this little beast. Don't blame me if you use this on the head jock of your school and end up getting a boot up your ass. You're a big boy and/or grrl and you know what you're getting yourself into. CAVEAT ENGINEO.

Discharge the Capacitor. Just bridge the leads of the capacitor with some wire, a screwdriver, or any other ol' peice of metal you got on hand. Better safe than sorry... at least for the time being. >B)

(optional) Extend your Leads. Depending on the size of your capacitor and the length of the leads, you may need to add a little more metal on to the end of 'em. If you have a radial style cap (two leads at the bottom), you'll probably need to extend one lead so that it'll reach up to the top of the cap.

Tape Up the Cap. Lay down a layer of tape across the length of the capacitor. Don't leave any metal exposed except for the leads themselves. If you have a radial cap, run the long lead along the length of your cap and tape down two-thirds of it overtop of the base layer to electrically isolate it until it gets past mid-way up your cap.

Make Your Contacts. Tinfoil time! Cut out 2 strips. Make them wide enough so that they're just a bit less wide than half the length of the capacitor, and long enough so you can wrap it around a few times.

Attach the Contacts to the Cap. Tape the short end of one of your strips to the barrel at one end. Wrap it around once, then put the lead for that end on the foil and continue wrapping (with that lead embedded in the foil) until you run out of strip. Tape down the short end and long ends of the exposed foil, then repeat for the other end. Make sure the foil contacts don't touch in the middle, and only make contact with one capacitor lead each. The intent here is to make two really big foil-based leads to the capacitor.

Test the Contacts. Pull out your continuity tester and put one probe on each of the two contacts. If you did it right, the resistance should start close to 0, then steadily increase to infinity. This is because testers use a little current to see if there's a connection, and you're slightly charging the cap when you test. If the resistance stays at or near zero, you either have a dead cap, or you have a short between the two contacts.

Charge 'er Up. Set your voltage to the rating on the cap (or as close as you can get) and let it sit for a minute. Right now you're sucking billions of fun-filled electrons from one plate and depositing them on another inside the cap. Can't you just feel the tension?

Choose Your Victim Carefully. Young, relatively healthy individuals of whom you know you can run faster are best. People you really dislike are also good. Try to avoid old people, people with pacemakers, epilepsy or similar physiological/neurological disorders, people holding hot drinks (cold drinks can add to the fun ;), sharp or heavy objects. People who own lots of guns are probably not very good targets, but YYOJ. Remember the fine print.

Special Delivery! Hold your device with a glove, or carefully by only ONE contact. Approach your victim, and when about 10 feet away or so, shout "Hey , catch!" and gently toss the thing to 'em. Human nature is such that it makes us believe that small, slow moving objects should be caught in those situations, typically with both hands.

*POP!*

Laugh Your Ass Off and/or Run Like Hell. Self explanatory. Hope you had fun. Besides, you have to run home and build some more, unless your victim forgets about the thing and leaves it on the ground for some other Geek to take home and play with. Ah, the joys of simple electronics. The idea can be scaled down to smaller caps too (for little bitty jolts) if you want. Axials work MUCH better in those situations, as trying to line up the wires on one inch wide caps is a major PITA. For small caps, discard the tinfoil and just wrap the leads around the barrel as long as you can without them touching. Some hot-glue might be useful to hold things down. Make sure they're at least large enough to be easily visible to the naked eye while in the air, as they have to be seen to be caught. Have fun, and play safe!

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