Keeping connected while walking in rainy weather just got a little bit easier. The Phone-Brella from kt Design lets you text and use for phone for whatever without having to worry about the water damaging the all-too-delicate device.

Unlike other umbrellas that require you to awkwardly balance them on your shoulder while trying to hold down the handle with one forearm, the Phone-Brella’s handle hooks around your arm.

A counterweight lets the Phone-Brella balance easily on your shoulder, leaving both hands free but still protecting you from the weather.

It seems like sort of a silly invention, but one that will undoubtedly be useful for plenty of people who are frustrated with the weather making them miss important texts and even more important Candy Crush levels.

The post Hands-Free Umbrella Weathers the Storm While You Text first appeared on Gajitz.

If your jewelry is conflict-free and your coffee fair trade, then this smartphone will help fully clear your conscience. The Fairphone was recently introduced in London and boasts some pretty strong ethical credentials.

The Fairphone is a world first, an openly-designed conflict-free (almost) smartphone.  It’s partnered with the NGOs Conflict Free Tin Initiative and Solutions for Hope to make sure the minerals used in each device are traceable to their ethical origins. The Chinese factory that the Fairphone is assembled in is also receiving a living wage review, as 15,000 of the 25,000 unit production have already been ordered.

An impressive feature of the Fairphone is that it comes unsealed with actual instructions on how to do repairs. The Dutch company’s CEO and Founder Bas van Abel does stress the fact that it isn’t completely ethically perfect. But the Fairphone’s initiative is unique in that it’s two-dimensional; it looks at both conflict-free and green initiatives, a huge step toward a much needed solution.

The post The World’s First Openly-Sourced Conflict-Free Smartphone first appeared on Gajitz.

Cellular phones being marketed as the “world’s smallest” are causing trouble in the UK, according to the BBC. These itty-bitty phones are meant to look like key fobs – those little devices you use to lock and unlock your car from a distance. They even feature real car company logos, further obscuring their real purpose.

The problem is that the phones are apparently being marketed toward prisoners. The sellers even point out the phones’ low metal content, implying that they will be easy to get through metal detectors. Because having a cell phone in a UK prison is a major violation, all kinds of government agencies are jumping into the issue and trying to ban the phones, which are made in China. The car companies whose logos are used on the phones say they are being used without permission.

The phones only perform the most bare-bones of features: sending and receiving calls and texts. But from inside a prison, even these simple features can facilitate crimes as prisoners call contacts on the outside to give orders. While the criminal aspect of these little phones is off-putting, they are kind of adorable – and since they fit on your key ring, they might even be handy as emergency phones.

The post Branded Car Key Remotes Are Tiny Cell Phones in Disguise first appeared on Gajitz.

There are a lot of things to worry about in day-to-day life, but get ready to be really freaked out by something that is probably within three feet of you right now: your phone. According to the inventors of PhoneSoap, there are more germs on our phones than there are on toilet handles – they love the constantly warm surfaces of phones. And to make matters worse, there is no simple and safe way to clean a smartphone.

The PhoneSoap, of course, is here to change that. The invention is small and unassuming to look at, but it really is quite ingenious in function. It uses UV-C light to sterilize a cell phone in 3-5 minutes. The light disrupts the DNA of germs, viruses and other nasty things living on your phone, killing them and easing your germophobic worries.

But aside from cleaning your phone safely, the PhoneSoap also provides a handy charging station. Since many of us charge our phones overnight and use them as alarm clocks in the morning, the PhoneSoap is able to integrate nicely into that routine. The box contains both an Apple cord and a micro USB cord so you can charge most types of phones while the PhoneSoap is doing its cleaning thing. When you wake up your phone is fully charged and super-clean. The project is seeking initial funding through Kickstarter; you can get your own PhoneSoap for a $39 donation.

The post Talking Dirty? Invention Sanitizes + Charges Filthy Phones first appeared on Gajitz.

Cell phone design has evolved to the point that we no longer have to pull out an unsightly antenna before making calls, but the infrastructure could still use some work. Most places in the developed world are full of unsightly cell phone towers. While some can be creatively camouflaged, the vast majority of cell towers are blights on the landscape. A company called Chamtech wants to make those ugly towers a thing of the past with an unlikely solution: spray-on antenna.

The solution comes in a can and contains mysterious nanomaterials that, according to Chamtech, charge and discharge like tiny capacitors extremely quickly. The material gives off no heat and can be sprayed on virtually any surface. Tests have been incredibly promising so far, in one case increasing the range of an RFID chip from five feet to 700 feet. If the company’s claims prove to be true, cellular service antennas could eventually take the form of painted sides of buildings or painted trees. The U.S. government has an interest in the product, and we would climb over our own grandmothers to get a chance to try this stuff out. The company’s website doesn’t list a price for the antenna kit, and you know what they say: if you have to ask how much it is, you can’t afford it.

The post Spray-On Antenna Gives You Cellular Reception Anywhere first appeared on Gajitz.