Of 140 million cell phones sold in the US in 2007, only 10% were recycled, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. That leaves a mounting pile of e-waste to deal with. Offering a solution is EcoATM, an automated reuse-and-recycle machine that makes it easy and financially rewarding for consumers to offload their abandoned electronics. The process is simple: a customer feeds the machine an old mobile phone and it analyses the device and assigns it a value. If the phone has a resale value, the customer receives store credit, or can donate the amount to charity. If there's no resale value, customers can choose to have the handset recycled.

The first EcoATM was installed in Omaha, Nebraska, and has already proved successful, with 23 phones collected on the first day. It's likely to hold appeal for retailers and manufacturers too, as the system is designed to facilitate compliance with new federal 'takeback' laws. Although it currently only takes mobile phones, EcoATM will soon be able to accept a range of consumer electronics including MP3 players, digital cameras and even computers and printers.

Similar to the reverse vending machines we covered a few years ago—which make for easy recycling of beverage containers—the EcoATM's combination of convenience and a reward will no doubt appeal to consumers who might otherwise neglect to find a destination for unused gadgets. The incentive for EcoATM is clear: an estimated 12 billion dollars is currently sitting in drawers across America in the form of old phones. (Related: Retail approach to recycling — Incentive-based recycling — Startup buys broken iPods and abandoned GameCubes.)

Website: www.ecoatm.com
Contact: erosser@ecoatm.com

Spotted by: CNET via Judy McRae

Proving that the internet’s information doesn’t always have to appear on-screen, Question Box brings the web’s intelligence to offline communities. At the heart of the venture is a solar-powered intercom box that features a large green button. By pressing the button, a user is connected to an operator sitting in front of a computer. The caller asks a question and the operator does a web search to find the answer.

Two Question Boxes are currently operational in the Indian state of Maharastra, where the first box was installed by California-based non-profit Open Mind in September 2007. In March 2009, the Applab Question Box service was launched in Uganda—tweaking the model by enabling callers to contact call centre operators from their own mobile phones. Both services log previously answered questions in local databases, speeding up responses to future enquiries and providing information offline in case of lack of connectivity. Queried topics range from crop prices and cricket scores to exam results.

The free service brings almost limitless information to poor and rural areas, in a format that transcends literacy. As the scheme expands, it will be interesting to see whether the boxes begin to focus on specific niches: health advice or political updates, for instance, or be adopted by corporate sponsors offering a similar service in exchange for airing commercial messages. (Related: Internet-in-a-box for areas without electricity.)

Website: www.questionbox.org
Contact: www.questionbox.org/contact.php

Spotted by: Susannah Haynie

Too much choice, too little time—it's a constant theme of the information age. There are 60,000 apps available for the iPhone, but the benefits of using personally relevant apps can almost be negated by the amount of time it takes to discover them. 16apps is a new web service designed to streamline the process. The service scours users' Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed or LastFM accounts for information about their hobbies, interests, lifestyle, character and location. It then uses the data to make personalised app recommendations. For instance, if it detects messages or links on a user's profile related to politics, it may recommend an app like "Political Tweets"; if it finds swear words, it has been known to recommend "Rude Ringtones".

Although the functionality of the app has had a mixed reception among the social media crowd, the value in the concept is clear. As consumers experience an explosion of choice in more and more areas of life, recommendation engines are becoming indispensable tools. What makes 16apps particularly interesting is that it doesn't require previous interaction with users in order to discover what they (are) like, since it makes use of openly available data that they've already shared, painting a full picture of their 'digital personality'. It creates an interesting challenge for brands: how to mine the data in a relevant way, without being intrusive or spammy.

Website: www.16apps.com
Contact: info@16apps.com

Innovative startups managed to scoop up some hefty cash prizes in Amsterdam on Friday. In addition to RidgeBlade winning EUR 500,000 in the Green Challenge, augmented reality browser Layar bagged EUR 75,000 in Vodafone's Mobile Clicks contest.

Layar is a free mobile browser that displays digital information over the real world image that a user views through his or her mobile phone. By turning on Layar and pointing her phone's camera at a row of houses, for example, a user can see prices and details for houses that are on sale, can easily find nearby Thai restaurants or—in case of a cardiac emergency—locate the closest defibrillator. Besides layering practical information, the Dutch application is also being used to create games that mix real and imagined worlds.

Developed by the same team that created ING's ATM finder, Layar presents endless opportunities for entrepreneurs aiming to reach, help, entertain and delight consumers wherever they are. One to check out, if you haven't already! Layar is currently available for phones that run Android, with a version for iPhone 3GS to follow soon. (Related: iPhone app uses augmented reality to help road warriors find a place to work.)

Website: www.layar.com
Contact: www.layar.com/contact

While the web is disrobing many businesses in the name of transparency, the City of San Francisco is happy to expose itself. A month since the launch of DataSF.org, a public archive of government data, Mayor Gavin Newsom has announced that the site will now showcase applications which manipulate that data to make it more useful and accessible to the city's residents. Inspired by the success of Apple's iTunes App Store and Facebook's open developer platform (60,000 and 350,000 apps respectively), writes Mayor Newsom, San Francisco is encouraging democratic participation by “giving residents the tools to build the kind of government that works for them.”

A number of apps are already online, with the new showcase expected to stimulate many more creations. Among those currently available, EcoFinder helps residents find out where their nearest recycling services are located, while Cabspotting—a project by the Exploratorium interactive science museum—displays a real-time map of cab locations in San Francisco.

It's not the first step the tech-centric Bay Area has made towards ‘Gov 2.0’—in June we reported on their Twitter service for civil complaints. But this latest effort could mark the start of a sea-change in the way governments provide public information services. Don't let your local government miss the boat!

Website: www.datasf.org/showcase
Contact: www.datasf.org/showcase/?page_id=115

Spotted by: Duncan Rickelton