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LighterPhone

 A cellular telephone handset with built in lighter.
 
(+2, -2) 		  [vote for,
against]

Check the contents of your pockets... how many of you came up with both a cell phone and a lighter? This thing could save you valuable pocketspace. How often do you lose your lighter? By building it in to your phone, the chance of you forgetting to get it back from whoever you loaned it to last drops by a factor of 10: just call your LighterPhone to find out who has it!
—benchun, May 30 2001

No need for lighters on my planet http://www.halfbake.../idea/Public_20Fire
[benfrost, May 30 2001]

Hitachi & Tokai pair up to make PDA fuel cells http://news.com.com...224.html?tag=cd_top
Dec 11 2003 [krelnik, Oct 04 2004]

Fuel cells developed that run on butane, diesel http://www.scienced...09/010905072008.htm
Dec 11 2003 [krelnik, Oct 04 2004]

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       There are those who would see cell-phone-user-aural-self-immolation as a feature, not a bug.
—Uncle Nutsy, May 30 2001
   

       *checks pockets* Nope, no cell phone and no lighter. Seem to have lost my knife, though.
—Dog Ed, May 31 2001
   

       "Hello? OW! Goddamnit, I burned my ear again!"
—AfroAssault, May 31 2001
   

       And why do you need a cell phone? Too good for pay phones? Get rid of your cell phone and now your pockets are empty. Problem solved even more.
—ejs, Jun 01 2001
   

       They just raised the price of a payphone to 50 cents (U.S.) per call. That's b.s.
—AfroAssault, Jun 01 2001
   

       I thought this was going to be about reducing the weight of phones. As I don't have a cell phone and am not an arsonist I can see no need for this product so go fish.

Looking at it from another angle, the casing of a cellphone is about as tightly packed as it can get with current technology. Building in a lighter would require increasing the size of the phone by the volume of the lighter (since they share no common components that they could share). So how would this save space? If you frequently lose your lighter won't attaching it to the phone make you lose the phone more often?

Simple way to test its usefulness: tape your lighter to your phone and try it.

AfroAssault: If more people used payphones instead of cellphones the payphones would earn enough to cover their upkeep with cheaper calls. In Australia a local payphone call is only 40c (about 22c US). Come here and call all your US friends for a lot less.
—sirrobin, Jun 01 2001
   

       Actually I think you folks missed an interesting angle on this. What if the fuel source for both the phone and the lighter were the same thing? Then you'd have a practical reason for them to be integrated, and you'd refill instead of recharging your phone.   

       I read recently that a US university had succeeded in making a fuel cell that runs directly off butane, the fuel of most lighters. And see link for a story about Hitachi pairing up with a cigarette lighter manufacturer to make methanol fuel cells for PDAs.   

       I'm betting this invention will be baked commercially within 2 years.
—krelnik, Dec 11 2003
   

       right on, this damn phone will hold however many hours of music, check email and plays prince when it rings but try to light a small cooking fire in an emergency situation and it all falls painfully short.   

       How about a small electrolyser running off the battery, just add water and you've got instant hydrogen flamage. Totally baked... wanted one for years.
—greyfiend, Jun 06 2006
   


 

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