Flowering phone is environmental wake-up call
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A rose is a rose is a phone? British scientists seeking to protect the environment have designed a biodegradable mobile phone cover that breaks down in soil when discarded and sprouts
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By Anna Marie Kukec Daily Herald Business Writer  Making a telephone call through the Internet is a lot like the Wild West.  The technology is still in its infancy.
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I've been getting early wake-up calls lately. Waking up before the sun has cleared the line of trees east of my house may be the result of age, but I prefer to think of it as a creative surge, or a greater degree of alertness.
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Researchers at the Warwick Manufacturing Group at the University of Warwick, UK, along with PVAXX Research &amp; Development, have devised a way to recycle discarded mobile telephones.
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A small booth at the back of the show floor is attracting a lot of attention.While I stood around, two people exchanged business cards with the man working the stand, promising to place orders for the product. It was nothing related to the iPhone or the latest mobile social-networking service -- topics that are consuming this year&#39;s CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment conference in San Francisco.Instead, the booth was stocked with a relatively simple device: the Solio, a small solar-powered charger that can power up any mobile phone as well as MP3 players, GPS devices, and digital cameras.A key feature of the Solio is the battery. The solar cells charge the battery, which in turn charges the device. That means you can leave it outside during the day, when you might be using your phone, and bring it in to power the phone overnight. One charge of the Solio can power two mobile phone batteries.The Solio also can be plugged into an electrical outlet so that&#160;people can use whatever power source is available and think of it as their universal charger, said Mike Levin, vice president of business development for Better Energy Systems, the company based in Berkeley, Calif., that makes the Solio.Various models cost from $79 to $199, depending on durability and the speed that the solar panels can charge the batteries. They&#39;re available currently in the United States at outdoor goods store REI and will also soon be available in T-Mobile USA stores, Levin said. The company is working on getting them stocked in the big-box electronics retailers.Solios have been on the market already for a couple of years and a few hundred thousand have sold, Levin said.The most expensive model is made of magnesium oxide and can withstand very hot temperatures. The company is targeting government users and other people who might travel to locations with extreme temperatures for that one.According to research commissioned by Better Energy Systems, an average person who uses the solar capability of the Solio to charge their phone 60 percent of the time would pay off the $100 unit in about 10 years, in terms of electricity savings.While Solios might be a neat gadget for many people, Better Energy Systems has some interesting prospects in the developing world. The company&#39;s sustainability officer is exploring several potential applications, Levin said. One is using the capability of the Solio to power a one- or three-watt LED light. People in developing countries could use the Solio to replace their kerosene-powered lights, which aren&#39;t kind to the environment.In addition, Better Energy Systems is working with the Grameen Foundation&#39;s Village Phone project. The project offers small loans to people who can then buy a mobile phone and rent it on a per-call basis to their neighbors. The project currently relies on batteries to power the phones, but Better Energy Systems is hoping to offer users Solios instead.
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The therapeutic power of flowers takes on new meaning with a Japanese gadget that turns plants into audio speakers.
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Environmentally friendly flowers are a hard sell. After all, most people donât eat them.
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InfoWorld - You may think of sunsets as something nice to look at, but if you have an older cell phone or a home alarm system, there's one coming up on Monday that may not be so pretty.
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By Colin Stewart, The Orange County Register, Calif.  Jun. 19--Editor's note: Second of two columns on new uses of mobile  phones. Last week: an info-on-demand service for cell phones.
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(InfoWorld) - Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson and the development fund of the GSM Association (GSMA), which represents the interests of GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) operators, have started a pilot project to develop biofuels to power rural India's wireless networks. A similar pilotÂ to the one in India is currently being run by Ericsson and GSMA in Lagos, Nigeria, with the MTN Group, a service provider with operations in Africa and the Middle East. In India, Ericsson and GSMA are partnering with a large local operator, Idea Cellular. India has large rural areas that lack electricity connections or have an inadequate power supply, which is likely to be a bottleneck for mobile operators planning to expand their coverage to the countryside, said P. Balaji, head of marketing and strategy at Ericsson India, on Thursday. Instead, users in rural areas in India and elsewhere in the world have to choose between using biofuel or fossil fuels to power their generators. Using biofuels is environmentally friendly as it reduces carbon-dioxide emissions by between 70 percent to 80 percent, Balaji said. Biomass for biofuel can be locally produced, providing employment in rural areas, he added. Ericsson and GSMA are aiming to create an ecosystem consisting of mobile services operators, local farmers who will grow the crops for biofuel and local entrepreneurs who will generate the biofuel for the wireless base stations, using converter technology developed by Ericsson and the GSMA. Biofuel will currently provide only marginal savings to an operator, but the benefit is likely to increase as biofuel is more widely adopted, while the cost of fossil fuels rises, Balaji said. Using biofuel will also translate into savings on logistics and transportation of diesel, he added. India has been adding over 6 million mobile subscribers each month, and many operators are targeting the countryâs underserved rural markets as the next big revenue opportunity. In India, Ericsson and the GSMA have identified nonedible plant-based fuels such as cotton seeds and jatropha, a plant grown in the region. In the second phase of the pilot in Pune in Maharashtra state, the two organizations and Idea Cellular are setting up a supplyÂ chainÂ usingÂ locallyÂ grown crops to produce biofuel to power betweenÂ five and 10 base stations in the region. The goal is to have these base stations powered by cotton or jatropha by the middle of this year.
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New service sends color maps and directions to cell phone users.
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Researchers warn that a growing number of people are getting addicted to their mobile phones and PDAs.
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Personal bio sensor connects to game on a mobile phone that is won by relaxing.
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It's time for a research resurgence into using small water plants to produce oil and ethanol. In Autopia.
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Electronic devices that generate their own power can play a major role in the battle against climate change.
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By Tricia Duryee, Seattle Times  Feb. 12--Kirkland-based Wildseed spent years tinkering with the concept of a kidney-bean-shaped wireless phone that makes sending messages a snap, especially for teens.
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By Laura Figueroa, The Miami Herald  Sep. 17--Whether she's ready to rise or not, Maria E. Brackett has become all too familiar with her morning wake-up call -- the "beep, beep, beep" of trucks backing up into a warehouse adjacent to her home.