Hasta La Ideas

According to the buzz, Samsung has taken out a patent for a mobile phone antenna with an integrated USB plug. This would make it possible to charge the telephone via the computer’s USB port. It would also make data exchange between the computer and the phone possible, we suppose. We don’t write much on mobile tech, but if this is true we think it is smart, and it would be really convenient, too.brbr

Last we flew home from Bangkok, it turned out that our luggage had turned very heavy during our stay. Not that we had been shopping too much (which perhaps we had), but also because everything in those suitcases probably weighed 20 percent more in the warm and moist weather. We did not care to rip open our cases and start sorting what to keep and what to get rid of right in front of the check-in counter, so we just had to look happy and hand over the plastic. But it was neither fun nor cheap. But, with a scale like this (or one like it) maybe we could have had the chance to give our cases a well needed purge before we even got into the cab to go to the airport. The scale is USD 24:85; it would have paid for itself many times over. But the next time… The scale is available on Magellan’s or on Amazon-, where it is a tad bit cheaper; USD 22:95.brbr

We all have stuff we more or less always want to carry around with us (cellphone, keys, sunglasses, you name it), but few have any good place to put said stuff when you are at home. The hall furniture is probably in a similarly chaotic state in everybody’s house. This, however, is a rather clever way of creating some de-cluttering; a small storage box combined with a coat hook for the hall or entrance. This way everybody can have their own little box with room for their must-have-stuff. Designed by Luca Nichetto for Bosa Ceramiche in 2005.brbr

We have been nominated in the Blogger’s Choice Awards in two categories; Best Blog About Stuff and Best Shopping Blog. If you like Smart Stuff we’ll be very happy if you want to vote for us!brbr

When you burn coal in coal power plants, one by-product produced in the process is fly ash (Wiki). Most of this fly ash is collected by the power plants smoke cleaning gear, and the gathered ash can either be sold off as a component for the cement industry or, which is more common, be disposed of in landfills. This is a growing problem. According to calculations, hundreds of millions of tonnes of fly ash has to be disposed of in the world yearly. In India alone, fly ash landfills are now reported to cover 160 square kilometers (some 40,000 acres). But there may be a solution in the works. Henry Liu (above), a retired American engineer, has developed a method with which fly ash can be used to make building bricks. The fly ash brick, which is made under high pressure, becomes as strong as concrete, and compared to clay bricks, it has several environmental upsides. It requires no mining, no high temperature firing in kilns, and having fly ash in buildings is a lot better than having it in landfills. Henry Liu is now reported to be working on getting his bricks in production some time during 2008.brbr