

Smartphones Recycled Into Devices That Detect Deforestation - topherwhite
http://venturebeat.com/2014/06/26/your-old-smartphone-could-pinpoint-illegal-logging-save-the-rainforests/

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userbinator
This is interesting because I've often wondered how many people realise that a
smartphone has an extremely dense collection of input/output devices that can
sense and interact with its environment; most will have a touchscreen,
speaker, microphone, camera, compass (magnetometer), accelerometer, gyroscope,
light sensor, distance sensor, GPS, maybe even a thermometer and barometer.
They also have radios for GSM/CDMA, WiFi, and Bluetooth.

Instead of only listening for chainsaw sounds, they could be watching and
monitoring other aspects of the environment too.

The only downside is that the electronics in these weren't designed for
continuous exposure to the outdoors, so they probably won't last so long...
but if these were going to end up as rubbish anyway, it doesn't matter so much
--- as long as they can keep up with installing new ones as the old ones fail.

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Kortaggio
In the Scientific American article[1] it mentions that the electronics are
encased in waterproof housings. Regardless, exposure certainly will be a
challenge given the environment.

[1] [http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/if-poachers-and-
il...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/if-poachers-and-illegal-
loggers-strike-this-forest-phones-it-in/)

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Scoundreller
This probably qualifies as a shower thought, but if every smartphone just had
a tiny solar panel built into it, at EOL, each and every one could be utilized
as some kind of periodic off-line sensor in some environment e.g. car GPS
tracker or daily photo taker. This would extend each unit's useful life by
several years in an interesting way.

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dang
Url changed from [http://mashable.com/2014/06/26/recycle-smartphone-startup-
de...](http://mashable.com/2014/06/26/recycle-smartphone-startup-
deforestation/) because the current article seems a little more substantive.

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topherwhite
This one is even more substantive, perhaps:
[http://scientificamerican.com/article/this-forest-listens-
an...](http://scientificamerican.com/article/this-forest-listens-and-calls-
for-help/)

