Plastic made from pig urine

The company has essentially devised a way to better commercialize urea, a compound of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen, found in urine.

Other animal waste products like manure can be inserted into the system, but pig urine is particularly interesting because it is an environmental hazard, says Peter Tøttrup, a partner at Seed Capital, a Danish venture firm that also helps the government incubate start-ups. We ran into Tøttrup at the coffee urn at the NordicGreen conference in Menlo Park, Calif., this week.

"There are 20 million pigs in Denmark, and what they do environmentally is a problem," he said.

Transforming farm waste into plastic precursors is potentially attractive over other bioplastic ideas because the feedstock effectively has no value. In fact, it has negative value because animal waste must be disposed, which costs money. Some other bioplastic companies make their resins out of corn starch.
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ModeLabs tries on another Levi's phone

Paris-based phone designer extraordinaire ModeLabs continues to make its mark on the mobile landscape in Europe, with diverse handsets ranging from an MTV-branded slider to Tag Heuer's "Meridiist," with varying degrees of success.

Its latest offering is a new Levi's handset--not the dubious red tag version seen recently--to be marketed exclusively by French telecom Orange. Unlike the original steel-case model, the new version is a slider that claims to be the first mobile phone with a design that "combines a metal and soft touch finish," according to Gadgetizer (PDF). What does that mean? Who knows.

Other than that curiosity, it's a fairly standard phone with a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, microSD card slot, and FM radio tuner that costs about US$400. At that price, they should at least throw in a pair of jeans.

Via CNET Crave | Credit: Mobile Choice

Goodmans creates the anti-boombox

If this is an indication that the latest incarnation of the boombox is dying, we're all for it. For some unfortunate reason the iPod has inspired a rebirth of the '70s staple in video form, which has resulted in some awkward designs. Even recent makeovers can't adequately disguise that polyester leisure suit we know is lurkig underneath.

Goodmans has released its own version of an iPod dock with an LCD, which is a welcome antidote to the retro ugliness that has stricken so many other models on the market. This multimedia station with a 7-inch display has a design that's much more streamlined than most and comes with a 3-in-1 card reader as well, according to Chip Chick. We've yet to learn anything about its A/V quality but, if nothing else, at least it's a relatively manageable size.

Via CNET Crave | Credit: iPodWorld

Time runs out on Microsoft's SPOT watches

It's a sad day for fans of Smart Watches, which use Microsoft's once-hyped SPOT technology. The Smart Watch, the epitome of nerd chic, is dead.

Engadget picked up a blog post from Jon Canan, program manager for MSN Direct, who delivered the news on SpotStop.com:

"As of recently, the Smart Watches with MSN Direct have sold out and are no longer for sale," Canan writes. "While we continue to move forward with MSN Direct and seeking out new opportunities for devices that would benefit from the MSN Direct service, we, along with our watch partners, do not have immediate plans to create a new version of the Smart Watch, as we are focused on other areas of our business. We will maintain support of our watch customers and continue to deliver information to the watches, but we do not plan to increase our investment in the watch business going forward."
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Sony Ericsson G502 announced for Q3 in Asia

As if the numerous events happening concurrently aren't enough to keep us busy, Sony Ericsson dropped a couple of new handsets today on us. The G502 "cram(s) a wealth of time-saving features into an affordable, pocket-sized phone" and is supposedly the first in its line to come with HSDPA connectivity. Features include a 2-megapixel camera, built-in FM radio with RDS, Bluetooth stereo A2DP and A-GPS--all in an uninspiring candybar form factor. This is expected to be available in Asia come Q3.

The second model is the Z780 with almost similar features, but this time in a clamshell. Though that probably won't matter since it won't be available in our region. Neither phone has pricing details yet.

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