Kickstarter Pick: Seta--The Eco-Friendly iPhone Dock Saver

Does this scenario sound familiar?

"You grab your docked iPhone and attempt to rush out the door only to realize the dock is still attached and you've been dragging the cord along behind you.  You desperately (and somewhat violently) shake your phone, waiting for the dock to release and subsequently soar across the room until it crashes into a wall.  But what did you expect?  The dock is made of lightweight plastic and you bought it for $10 on Amazon. "

So what do you do? You certainly don't buy another cheap plastic dock from some unknown online seller. You could buy a more expensive aluminum dock that's heavy enough to stay put when you pull up to release your phone, however "it takes 319 days to retrieve aluminum from the ground and refine" it to the point that it can be used in products like docking stations. So now there are two problems, a plastic dock that's being tossed into landfills and an aluminum dock with an unforgivably giant carbon footprint.

Luckily there's a solution--and it comes from gecko feet (no joke.) For $5 (!) you can support the Kickstarter campaign for Seta, the "eco-friendly" alternative to your current dock made from "a specially developed reusable piece of foam inspired by the biomimicry of the non-residue leaving adhesive microstructure found on gecko feet."

Seta is basically a "ridiculously strong" sticker that you can attach to the bottom of your dock--or even the phone itself--and it won't leave behind a sticky residue. Seta uses 100% recycled and compostable labels and packaging that's "embedded with 50-75 wildflower seeds," so when you toss out the box you're also growing some pretty flowers. And did we mention it's only $5?!

EcoATM: Recycle Your Technological Waste and Get PAID

If you're one of those people who waits in line at the Apple store the morning a new iPhone is released (guilty), then you probably have an outdated gadget or two lying around. You probably also have no idea what to do with all your e-waste, and you're not alone. 100 million cell phones are trashed each year, not to mention all the improperly recycled computers and mp3 players leaching mercury, lead and arsenic into the ground. But the EcoATM seeks to change all that and throw some cash your way in the process.

Think of the EcoATM like a reverse vending machine. Instead of inserting money, punching in your selection and getting a candy bar (or, in many places now, a new iPod), you insert your old phone or mp3 player and get money in return. The machine has super smart robots inside (our personal term for artificial intelligence) that determine what you've inserted and calculate its worth. To make sure people aren't ripping off cell phones and heading to the nearest EcoATM to make a buck, you're asked to enter some personal information as well. Then you can decide what to do with the cash; donate it to charity to send your phone off to a responsible smelting facility and pocket the cash.

So far, EcoATMs are mainly a West Coast operation, with a few locations popping up in the Midwest. Though according to rep from EcoATM, we should see them start showing up from D.C. up to Boston sometime around August--with 100 of 'em throughout the area by the end of the year (!)

Now excuse us, we've got a line we might need to start standing in...

Just Get It: Cinemagram--The Animated Instagram

It was just the other day that we were talking about how GIFs are making a comeback and then BAM!: Factyle comes out with Cinemagram, a new app that lets you make animated GIFs with your own pictures. It was if the App Gods of the Universe were reading our site!

Here's essentially what it does: Once you film a 2-3 second video clip and animate just a small portion of it, you can add vintage filters and share it instantly on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Simple? Yes. Everything we've ever wanted? Possibly.

We obviously decided to take it for test drive and and it's surprisingly fast and easy to do. The most difficult part is selecting the area to animate. We accidentally highlighted half of our friend's arm, so when the app animated him, it appeared as if his wrist was being severed from the rest of his body (sweet, but not our intention.) After a few failed (but fun) attempts, you'll be a Cinemagram pro in no time, and you can wow your mom and dad with your new space age phone technology.

Meanwhile, check out some of the featured Cinemagrams for inspiration. 

-- Perrin Drumm

Small Business Owners & Non-Profits: Cause.it May Be The App You've Been Waiting For

Cause.it from Kurtis Beavers on Vimeo.

Normally, we aim to point you away from your smartphones, but this one (we must admit) is quite brilliant:

Essentially, Cause.it is an app designed to make it easier and financially beneficial for small businesses to help local charities and nonprofits. There are benefits for volunteers and the nonprofits themselves as well, but Cause.it began with the civic-minded small business owner in mind; those who wants to extend their reach beyond the occasional service, product or monetary donation.

To give you a simple example, it works like this: The owner of a cafe offers incentives like free coffee or discounts on meals that can be redeemed using a point a system. To get points you volunteer your time. For example, planting a tree with one nonprofit gets your 50 points, 7 of which can be redeemed at a local cafe for half off any coffee drink. 

Though Cause.it is still in its initial phases, the more it catches on, the wider the network of volunteers it has the capacity to create; and that's something we can align with. Currently, there are some obvious bugs to work out (the first bug we came across: waiting for over an hour for it download. Maybe too many users?) Either way, once the kinks are smoothed out, we're excited to start navigating the system. Promote a local food drive and get a discount at a small boutique? Why yes, we'll take it.

If you're a small business owner or run a nonprofit, register through Cause.it and begin reaping the benefits of some good old fashioned civic duty!

-- Perrin Drumm

The Artist's Way: Now Officially An App (Which We'll Review For You Now)

Based on "The Artist's Way," the best-selling book by Julia Cameron, The Artist's Toolkit is an app designed to "unlock your creativity" and keep you "inspired all year long." (Yes, the implications of your smartphone doing this is eye-roll-worthy.) But before we roll them right out of our heads, let's lay what this app is all about. First, you create your customized artist's notebook, which basically means choosing the gridded paper or antiqued theme option for your notebook background. This is where you will "trace your creative process" as you "unblock your creativity." 

You start each morning with your Daily Meditation, designed to get you into that special, creative space. Each day you will receive Inspirations and Affirmations (their capitalization, not ours) and each week you'll be sent Artist's Date ideas. You can share your Daily Inspirations with your friends, listen to Creative Soundbites or do a few exercises, which are prompts like "If you have five other lives to lead, what would you do in each of them?"

After cruising around this app for a while (you can take a virtual tour) it seems best for those who've always wanted to try their hand at poetry but have never gotten around to it, or those looking for a guided, journaling experience--or those who've hit rock bottom and are desperate enough to try anything to crawl their way out again. Of course, all these daily tidbits of wisdom and the ability to organize your Post-It notes (aka Fleeting Moments of Creativity) don't come free. Yes, the app itself is free, but to actually use it you have to sign up for a $4.99/month membership.

Final say: Grab yourself a blank notebook, we think it just might do the trick.