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NEC wants to change your phone to corn

9 April 2007 9:13 by Dave "Davedough" Horvath | 4 comments

Japanese conglomerate, NEC which is known for production of everything from computer chips to defense systems stated that it has developed a new form of plastic. Its bioplastic is a corn based product that conducts heat faster than stainless steel. NEC aims to use this bioplastic as a source material for mobile phones and laptops beginning April 2008.

The benefit of this corn-based bioplastic is that it is lighter and would essentially run cooler than standard build practices. Laptops, for instance, wouldn't need to be burdened with the added weight of stainless steel heat releasing sheets or fans. Mobile phones would see an improvement in weight and heat generation if incorporated with this new plastic.

NEC hopes to replace most of the current plastic with its bioplastic by 2010 and has already begun using plastic made of fermented corn and kenaf fiber in phones in March of last year.

"Cost is still a bottleneck, but we hope to continue lowering bioplastic costs and add value so that other makers will also follow suit," said Shuichi Tahara, general manager of NEC's Nano Electronics Research Laboratories.

The new plastic is cheaper than other fiber-reinforced plastics as it requires less carbon fiber to produce, but it still remains more expensive than stainless steel.

Source:
Reuters

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klassic (Member) 9 April 2007 12:36
There is one other key benefit that was left out. This phone is much easier to recycle. After you get a new phone you can put the old one in the microwave for 3 minutes on high and it becomes a bowl of fresh popcorn. At this time you will still have to add your own butter and salt. Engineers are currently working on solving this problem for future versions. [ + quote]
hikaricor (Newbie) 9 April 2007 15:10
And if you eat your phone it should come out (thought painfully) whole as the human digestive system can not process corn. [ + quote]
Halen5150 (Member) 9 April 2007 17:34
LOL; Next thing you know; Orville Redenbacker is gonna be presenting: "CELL PHONES--NOW WITH THAT GR8 MOVIE THEATER TASTE" rofl... [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 9 April 2007 17:34
Blackjax (Member) 10 April 2007 2:12
I can see the news headlines now..... Man survives eight weeks stranded at sea by eating his cell phone and laptop. Another thought... remember the flaming laptop video?!?!? [ + quote]