Keep Your Gadgets Dry at the Beach With These Waterproof Pocket Shorts

By Vignesh Ramachandran2013-05-14 01:29:13 UTC

Many of us protect our gadgets from clumsy falls and nicks with protective cases. But when your precious smartphone gets wet from the elements or from an unfortunate drop down the toilet, sometimes there's no going back.

Salt Lake City-based Stash Incorporated has designed waterproof pocket shorts that are designed to keep your phone and other pocket items dry. It could be convenient for those summertime activities: relaxing at the beach, a trip to the water park or for mindlessly running through the sprinklers.

The Stash shorts basically incorporate a built-in, waterproof pocket bag, with an opening on the shorts' exterior that can be snapped closed via an attached cap. It's a special pocket for your keys, money and electronic devices that could allow you to jump in the pool with your belongings. The shorts are made out of a 60/40 polyester/cotton blend and come in khaki and sage green colors.

Since the Stash shorts are still under development, at this time, Mashable was unable to obtain a sample pair to test the company's claims. But with summer coming soon, these shorts could potentially be pretty nifty — if you pardon the slightly-awkward-looking pocket opening.

The company is trying to raise $135,000 on Kickstarter to begin manufacturing. With 23 days still left to go in the Kickstarter campaign, backers had pledged just over $4,700, as of Monday afternoon. Backers who pledge at least $69 can get early-bird specials for the shorts.

While Stash Incorporated has designed their Stash pocket in shorts right now, they say they envision bringing the special pocket to things like swimwear, backpacks, life vests and jackets.

How do you keep your gadgets safe from the elements? Let us know in the comments.

Thumbnail and images courtesy of Stash Incorporated

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9 Great Apps and Gadgets to Help Your Garden Grow

Camille Bautista2013-04-05 10:45:40 -0700

We weren't all born with green thumbs. For those of us that need a little help, technology can be our saving grace when it comes to gardening.

Whether you've never picked up a shovel or have a blooming back yard, we've rounded up a collection of great apps and gadgets to help you grow a garden. Some apps serve as a digital catalog for your favorite flowers, while others recommend seeds and equipment for beginners.

For those who prefer virtual greenery, you can tend to your plants on screen, or have tech do all the work for you with smart flower pots like Click & Grow or Wi-Fi sensors that monitor your soil stats.

Check out our gallery of garden gadgets and let us know in the comments if you use other apps or devices.

Image courtesy of Flickr, antonychammond

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Spring Clean Your Gadgets With These 10 Weird Products

Amy-Mae Elliott2013-03-29 18:26:28 UTC

At this time of year it's traditional to partake in a little bout of spring cleaning. Here at Mashable, we think that annual ritual should be extended to your gadgetry.

We have found 10 products that will help you spring clean your laptops, smartphones and other gizmos.

Take a look through our selection of weird and wonderful products that can help you keep your tech world tidy. Share in the comments below any tips, tricks and cleaning gadgets you swear by.

Image courtesy of Aroma Home

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'Paintable' Electronics Pave the Way for Cheaper Gadgets

Elizabeth Palermo, TechNewsDaily Contributorfor TechNewsDaily 2013-03-25 16:52:38 UTC

Researchers in the field of materials science are using a new technique to create paint-on plastic electronics that can be used to make popular gadgets less expensive and better for the environment.

Scientists at the University of Michigan (U-M) recently announced that they've discovered a way to make unruly semiconducting polymers- like those used in computer processors and LED displays- more manageable.

Most semiconductors used in modern electronics are inorganic, or based on materials other than carbon, like silicon or copper. While inorganic semiconductors do an excellent job of spreading a charge through an electronic device, they're costly and impossible to produce without specialized equipment.

Organic and plastic semiconductors like the ones used by the U-M researchers, on the other hand, can be prepared on a basic lab bench. However, scientists have found that they're not as efficient at carrying a charge through an electronic device as their inorganic brethren. Or at least, such was the case until recently.

The new "paintable" semiconducting polymers can be brushed over a surface to create a thin-layer film capable of carrying an uninterrupted charge.

"It's a big breakthrough," Jinsang Kim, a professor of materials science and engineering at U-M, said in a statement. "This is for the first time a thin-layer, conducting, highly aligned film for high-performance, paintable, directly writeable plastic electronics."

The decision to create a liquid polymer solution led to some interesting opportunities for innovation by Kim and his fellow researchers. First, they designed the polymers to be slippery because, as Kim explained, ordinary polymers glom together like "flat noodles left in the fridge."

By choosing polymers with a natural twist, the team was also able to keep the polymers from sticking to one another inside the solution. But researchers then had come up with a way for the polymers to align with one another to create a charge-carrying freeway for energy being passed through the semiconductor. To achieve this, they designed the polymers to untwist as the solvent dried up.

To further stop the polymers from sticking together, the researchers added flexible arms to the sides of the flat, wire-like polymers. The arms helped each polymer push its neighbors away and remain isolated in the solution. When a paintbrush was dragged across the solution, the polymers lined up in the direction of the applied force.

After painting the polymers onto a piece of plastic film, the U-M team built the "paintable" semiconductor into a simple transistor, like that used to make computer processors. And the device worked.

"By combining the established molecular design principle with a polymer that has a very good intrinsic charge carrier mobility, we believe it will make a huge difference in organic electronics," Kim said.

Kim also said he believes the semiconducting film will be useful for making electronics such as those used in LED displays or the light-absorbing coatings for solar cells.

Image via iStockphoto, krystiannawrocki

This article originally published at TechNewsDaily here

Topics: Dev & Design, electronics, Gadgets, semiconductor, Tech TechNewsDaily is a Mashable publishing partner that is an exciting new and accessible source of technology news and information for non-geeks seeking to learn about the cool gadgets, powerful software and unavoidable technologies of everyday life. This article is reprinted with the publisher's permission.

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