Gerry McGovern

I'm writing a story about hidden e-waste. Chips and electronics in products such as children's toys, shoes, clothes, etc.

Anyone has some funny / weird examples of products you don't expect to have chips / or that have no useful reason to have chips--but still do? Or examples of really throwaway electronics such as vapes?

Jul 16 at 8:22pmWeb
Show threadJust Me4d ago
@gerrymcgovern greeting cards (the musical kind)
Show threadBonkers4d ago
@justme @gerrymcgovern it's hard to call an annoying tune on a cheapest speaker a music ;)
Show threadAndres4d ago
@justme @gerrymcgovern Yes, I was going to say this. Literally use once (or less; I barely look at greeting cards people send me) and throw away. I pulled speakers, batteries, and a circuit board out of a bday card given to my daughter..
Show threadJen4d ago
@justme @gerrymcgovern a friend of mine took a singing birthday card apart to make a prop for SciFi LARP.

She fitted it into a locket to simulate an alarm that went off if it was opened.
Show threadfeliz4d ago
@gerrymcgovern
Hidden e-waste is also in every web search and every usage of AI tools: data centers, server farms and cloud services have not only high energy consumption but also produce a lot of electronic waste, as the hardware is regularly upgraded. That's hidden/outsourced #ewaste we probably don't often think about.
Show threadGerry McGovern4d ago
@feliz that's a great point
Show threadBruce Lawson ✅ (quiet time)4d ago
@gerrymcgovern I've seen musical birthday cards and cake candles that have a chip and a battery (and which are presumably binned the next day).
Show threadSarah dreams of beans4d ago
@brucelawson @gerrymcgovern On the theme of birthday e-waste, the junk in kids goodie bags as well
Show threadJohn Timaeus4d ago

@brucelawson @gerrymcgovern

The speakers in those things make passable contact microphones. Useful for getting sound samples off weird stuff.

Show threadTom 🇨🇦4d ago

@johntimaeus @brucelawson @gerrymcgovern

Ooh nice tip!

Thanks!

Show threadEudaimon ꙮ4d ago
@gerrymcgovern
I was given a pen with a big red ball on the top, that, when shaken or hit, makes some blinking light. Electronics AND battery, totally useless, absurd and absolutely out of place in our collapsing world. The person who thought this was funny and _different_ or whatever, lives very disconnected from our current situation 🙈
Show threadNoCorp4d ago
@eudaimon The human species is the only one gifted with stupidity and it's killing us.
Show threadEudaimon ꙮ4d ago
@gerrymcgovern
Another one: a water jar with a filter (active carbon) that has a small electronic device that you reset each time you change the filter, and which warns you after some time that you need to change it again.
Show threadChristian Klüber-Demir 🏈4d ago
@eudaimon @gerrymcgovern
Oh, shit, i just thought of (and commented on) exactly this totally stupid Brita filter gadget.
Show threadMy camera shoots fascists3d ago

@ckd @eudaimon @gerrymcgovern

Yeah, I just bought one of these things and shook my head in disgust when I saw that dumb little light.

Show threadBonkers4d ago
@eudaimon @gerrymcgovern at least it serves for about a year or more
Show threadJust Me4d ago
@gerrymcgovern kids shoes with leds that blink in patterns
Show threadChristian Klüber-Demir 🏈4d ago
@justme @gerrymcgovern
I have to admit that I love these and regularly comment to my wife that I wished these shoes would be avaliable in size 12...
Show threaddragonfrog4d ago
@ckd @justme @gerrymcgovern Oh they make them - they're all over aliexpress for around $20-$30.
Show threadChristian Klüber-Demir 🏈4d ago
@dragonfrog @justme @gerrymcgovern
😯
Show threadclew4d ago
There’s a category of “festival” electronics — cups shaped like incandescent bulbs that light up; doodads that concert goers hold in the stands that make the whole stadium into a reactive light show (I think, based on the description of a kid). @gerrymcgovern
Show threadEleanor Saitta2d ago
@clew
At least some of the bracelets used for synchronized lighting on stadium shows are relatively expensive and definitely re-used, because they're rental hardware.
@gerrymcgovern
Show threadclew2d ago

Ah, good to know!

@dymaxion @gerrymcgovern

Show threadAnne Ominous4d ago

@gerrymcgovern

there are NFC chips in at least some ctities' metro tickets, maybe many?

i know boston and montreal both use paper, disposable tickets with chips in them

they are useful i guess, but one would think they'd have some better methods with less waste

Show threadCaden4d ago
@rustoleumlove @gerrymcgovern I thought the paper tickets in Boston were hole-punched? At least I see people getting some kind of tickets punched when I use the commuter rail.
Show threadAnne Ominous4d ago

@tarix29 @gerrymcgovern

whatever it is or was, i specifically said metro meaning a metro rail, excluding commuter.
and if you want to see the chip inside - thee's a reddit post --

https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/1cg2br2/accidentally_put_a_used_charlieticket_boston/

Show threadCaden4d ago
@rustoleumlove @gerrymcgovern oh I see, I didn't know they had paper tickets for the regular T, let alone with a chip inside!
Show thread-rb4d ago
@rustoleumlove @tarix29 @gerrymcgovern what’s the difference between a metro rail and a commuter rail? I have been using the terms interchangeably for decades! 😳
Show threadCaden4d ago
@dashrb @rustoleumlove @gerrymcgovern in Boston the Commuter Rail is a specific set of lines that extends outside the city of Boston, and has a different ticketing system. Metro rail, I assume, refers to all the other lines, but most people in Boston just call it the T
Show thread-rb4d ago
@tarix29 @rustoleumlove @gerrymcgovern thank you! (I’m not from Boston)
Show threadAnne Ominous3d ago

@dashrb @tarix29

a metro/subway (or L or T) serves a city.
the commuter rail serves the extended area.
but in the US, theyre usually 2 different systems

caden explained Boston..

in Chicago, we have the L, but not always elevated so some ppl say CTA & Chicago commuter rail = Metra.

DC has a Metro, + Maryland's MARC commuter & Virginia's VRE commuter

Philly has Metro + PATCO, & SEPTA commuter rail

NYC has a subway, then Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North, & NJ Transit,

for some examples!

Show threadAnne Ominous3d ago

@dashrb

a totally different example (bc i feel like someone is gonna jump in and mention this...)

would be san francisco, which has Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) -- covering everything - the trains that go into SF, trains that go into Oakland, trains that go into San Jose -- the BART trains connect it all.

Show thread-rb3d ago
@rustoleumlove @tarix29 ah yes I am vaguely familiar with VRE but never been on it. I should have made the connection (no pun intended)!
Show threadOskar im Keller3d ago

@rustoleumlove @tarix29 @gerrymcgovern

See also this answer about Montreal tickets
https://mastodon.nz/@AlexsandraSmart/114865587129352124

AlexsandraSmart (@AlexsandraSmart@mastodon.nz)

@Bakeri666@social.psychodog.co.uk @gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green Yes they count. @kenshirriff@oldbytes.space did a breakdown (literally in acid etc) of a paper metro ticket. He posted a thread about it on here somewhere, but he has a website with a blog post https://www.righto.com/2024/06/montreal-mifare-ultralight-nfc.html that I really recommend.

Mastodon NZ
Show threadTank4d ago

@rustoleumlove @gerrymcgovern
Most hotels are going to NFC chip room access keys. SO MANY cards.

Or are those RFID?

Show threadAnne Ominous4d ago

@tankdigital @gerrymcgovern

dunno but i return those to the front desk and hopefully they get reused.

Show threadShaun McDonald4d ago
@rustoleumlove @tankdigital @gerrymcgovern yes the hotel room cards should be getting reused.
Show threadGerbrand van Dieyen20h ago
@smsm1 @rustoleumlove @tankdigital @gerrymcgovern Yes, and some hotels charge you when not returned.
Show threadShaun McDonald4d ago
@rustoleumlove @gerrymcgovern the Glasgow Subway has disposable metro cards with a chip in them. If only they supported normal payment cards it would stop the e-waste. At least they provide a discount when using the ITSO card, however you can't get one ITSO card that works across the whole country as the systems are incompatible, except some mostly neighbouring systems.
Show threaddatenwolf16h ago
@rustoleumlove @gerrymcgovern the same kind of chip can be found in more or less every product sold by Decathlon retail stores. RFID / NFC is vastly quicker and more robust to read out than barcodes/QR code/Datamatrix. The privacy implications on the other hand.
Show threadkdacar5h ago

@rustoleumlove @gerrymcgovern is RFID stuff actually e waste in that sense? I thought most of those near-field stickers were just specialized coil identifiers with most everything else on the connected system.

But I may be mixing my technologies here. I know that the "targets" that twel if you are taking a book from the library or product from a store can just be coils.

Show threadHåkan Geijer4d ago
@gerrymcgovern pregnancy tests with digital readouts
Show threadTwoowls Elt4d ago

@gerrymcgovern digital pregnancy tests…

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54025997

The surprising secret hidden in a pregnancy test

Researchers take apart a digital pregnancy testing kit and find a standard paper strip inside.

Show threadTuckers Nuts Resist! 🇺🇦 4d ago
@twoowls73 @gerrymcgovern
Do these digital pregnancy tests have access to the internet of things via WiFi?
Show threadTim Clevenger 4d ago
@jstatepost @twoowls73 @gerrymcgovern No, they just have an internal sensor that "reads" the test and gives a definitive yes/no to the user.
Show threadTuckers Nuts Resist! 🇺🇦 4d ago
@timjclevenger @twoowls73 @gerrymcgovern
Seems to me that's going to complicate the ability to add generative Ai to these pregnancy tests, Tim.
Show threadqurlyjoe4d ago

@jstatepost
Somebody will figure it out. Eventually they’ll figure out how to detect the sex of the incipient being, and email it to your gender-reveal event planner. Also the government agency that will be keeping track of these things.

@timjclevenger @twoowls73 @gerrymcgovern

Show threadTim Clevenger 4d ago
@qurlyjoe @jstatepost @twoowls73 @gerrymcgovern I'm surprised that Texas hasn't installed sensors at the street sewer connection to each house yet.
Show threadqurlyjoe4d ago

@timjclevenger
We lost even the pretense of a 4th amendment protection against that when it became ok to search people’s trash without a warrant.

@jstatepost @twoowls73 @gerrymcgovern

Show threadeyrea3d ago
@jstatepost @twoowls73 @gerrymcgovern I don't know about that, but I do remember reading an article where somebody got Doom to run on one of them. That's a lot of electronics for what is basically a simple chemistry test.
Show threadJakub Steiner ⭐4d ago
@twoowls73 @gerrymcgovern all it needs is an ai assistant to tell you the news.
Show threadChristian Klüber-Demir 🏈4d ago
@gerrymcgovern
Brita water filters with a mini LCD to tell you the next filter change date.
Show threadpaurea4d ago
@gerrymcgovern RFIDs in concert/festival wristbands.
Show threadIain4d ago
@gerrymcgovern do the paper wrist bands with nfc tags in them count?
A local amusement park uses them for their day tickets.
One day use, and designed to be thrown away without realising how the "magic" worked
Show threadAlexsandraSmart4d ago
@Bakeri666 @gerrymcgovern
Yes they count. @kenshirriff did a breakdown (literally in acid etc) of a paper metro ticket. He posted a thread about it on here somewhere, but he has a website with a blog post https://www.righto.com/2024/06/montreal-mifare-ultralight-nfc.html that I really recommend.
Inside the tiny chip that powers Montreal subway tickets

To use the Montreal subway (the Métro), you tap a paper ticket against the turnstile and it opens. The ticket works through a system called ...

Show threadScott P ✅4d ago

@AlexsandraSmart @Bakeri666 @gerrymcgovern @kenshirriff

That blog post is really quite fascinating. Thanks, Ken!

Show threadIain4d ago
@AlexsandraSmart @gerrymcgovern @kenshirriff a format and re-write later and my son and my wristbands are ready to be useful in the house... I just need to figure out what to use them for! But they aren't being binned
Show threadLaikulo4d ago
@gerrymcgovern I don't know if this counts, because it's not really cheap, but it is hidden. It's pretty common for cars and a few other large items to have a long range RFID tag in them, typically on the inside of the bumper cover. It's meant for logistics during production, and it's typically suicided before sale.
Show threadSam Oldman 🐀4d ago
@laikulo @gerrymcgovern Also the car's four tire pressure senders and the receiver.
Show threadJulescelt4d ago
@gerrymcgovern The site iFixit showcased an advert they got from a ad company recently, it was a cardboard box with a card that had a monitor in it to play an ad for the company. It was all disposable. Ugh.