Cola phones are too futuristic apparently.

[Daystar Clarion]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100114/tod-fizzy-phone-mobile-runs-on-coca-cola-870a197.html

This article basically tells a tale of a university student who has designed a phone that can run off the sugar in Coca Cola, lasts 6 times longer than a standard battery and only leaves water as waste... But apparently, Nokia think it's too futuristic...

So this got me thinking. Are companies actually holding back progress instead of helping it?

And my other question is... will the phone run off tea? Because that would be awesome.

 

[Julianking93]

That is bullshit.

Nokia just knows they won't get any business if this hits the market.

Once you get phones that run on sugar, there's no need for batteries, chargers or the need to buy a new phone every year.

They will loose their money this way and I really hope this becomes available.

 

[Kollega]

Well, companies want to have every last bit of profit from the existing tech before moving on. Cases of big companies holding back the plebothinum technological progress are not unheard of.

Or it might have had some technological flaws (too expensive, for example).

...or the need to buy a new phone every year.

Last time i checked, people bought new phones every year because they're fancy. I don't think this would change.

 

[Baby Tea]

That phone is awesome!
Coke could get into the Cell-phone business!
You wouldn't need car-chargers, since you can buy cokes everywhere, and every coke you buy gets you, like, 10 extra minutes (Not a lot, I know, but money has to be made here). I love the idea.
Screw Nokia! Sell that to the Coke company!

 

[Swaki]

i was hoping this was about the can on a string phone.

still kinda cool, but i was really hoping for some impressive string system.

 

[Starnerf]

So how long do the enzymes last? Will they biodegrade before a typical battery goes dead?

 

[Julianking93]

Well, companies want to have every last bit of profit from the existing tech before moving on. Cases of big companies holding back the plebothinum technological progress are not unheard of.

Or it might have had some technological flaws (too expensive, for example).

...or the need to buy a new phone every year.

Last time i checked, people bought new phones every year because they're fancy. I don't think this would change.

I was actually just referring to how my phones seem to break every year.

But you're right. I forgot about how trendy phones are.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

So how long do the enzymes last? Will they biodegrade before a typical battery goes dead?

They are supposed to last 6 times longer I think.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

That phone is awesome!
Coke could get into the Cell-phone business!
You wouldn't need car-chargers, since you can buy cokes everywhere, and every coke you buy gets you, like, 10 extra minutes (Not a lot, I know, but money has to be made here). I love the idea.
Screw Nokia! Sell that to the Coke company!

This could pontentially start the cola wars again...

COCA COLA vs PEPSI.......FIGHT!

 

[rompsku]

i was hoping this was about the can on a string phone.

still kinda cool, but i was really hoping for some impressive string system.

Ditto.

 

[Baby Tea]

That phone is awesome!
Coke could get into the Cell-phone business!

This could pontentially start the cola wars again...

COCA COLA vs PEPSI.......FIGHT!

Now thats just silly.
Everyone knows Coke is the best.

 

[T3h Merc]

Eh. It's just coporate bullshit. Cool thread but I can't be bothered to care too much. Might give myself an annyerism(I fucking misspelled that word to hell).

 

[Starnerf]

Pepsi is the undisputed king of cola flavor. UNDISPUTED. Don't even try to dispute. You will be wrong.

 

[Malkavian]

It'd be awesome. And props to the student that invented this.

 

[Zac_Dai]

So this got me thinking. Are companies actually holding back progress instead of helping it?

All the time.

A lot of companies buy up and sit on patents for years and years, other times its just wouldn't be profitable to produce certain tech even though it would greatly improve everyones quality of life.

Think about the cure for AIDS, is there actually any money in it? The citizens of African countries can barely afford simple drugs. No way in hell could the average African AIDS sufferer afford the price of an AIDs cure.

Besides drug companies make enough money treating western sufferers with the huge daily cocktails of drugs they need.

In business you only do something if it will turn a good profit within a reasonable timeframe. They're never interested in the technological progress of humanity.

They aren't evil for doing so, its just that the pursuit of pure profit is the only way they can continue to exist.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

What? That is a disaster! If these bateries get popular, the price of the Coca Cola will rise!

 

[somekindarobot]

Funny thing is, I kind of wonder if, in the long run, if this concept could actually be more damaging to the environment. I mean think about it: the phone runs on sugar, right. That means if everyone had one, we'd need a shitload of sugar to power them. To meet that demand, sugar farmers would need more cropland, probably destroying wilderness in the process and reducing biodiversity at an even greater rate. And heaven forbid that the sugar comes from corn, driving food prices up. It's the ethanol debacle all over again!

 

[AWAR]

People are not yet ready to use such products and Nokia thought that the sales would be really bad.
Also battery manufacturers wont get their share