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Unusual but true: Indoor rotating garden a space-saving wonder
2019-02-15 

In stories this week, we have a paper poster updating the weather in real time, artwork made from used telephone keyboards, the world's first fully automated toilet for dogs, rings and accessories created using human teeth, and an ingenious rotating indoor garden that saves space.

All the odd and interesting anecdotes from around the world are here in our news review.

Real-time weather from paper poster

This silk-screen printed poster uses smart ink and a tiny internet-connected computer to reflect the day's changing weather. [Photo/IC]

A paper poster that knows the weather has been launched.

It's not a particularly detailed forecast -- just a single icon of whether to expect rain, clouds or sun at 8 am, 12 pm, 4 pm and 8 pm.

A weather poster is seen on the wall. [Photo/IC]

The screen is a traditional paper poster, which uses heat-sensitive ink to "light up" the relevant icons using forecast data pulled from the internet. It is a mix of analog and digital technology.

Artist dials up creativity in phone keyboard works

Desire Koffi poses for a photo holding his artwork made from used mobile phone keyboards, at his workshop in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. [Photo/IC]

Desire Koffi often walks through Koumassi, a popular district of Cote d'Ivoire's main city Abidjan, to collect old mobile phones that he buys from people for about 500 CFA francs ($0.8726) a pair.

Back home, the 24-year-old Ivoirian artist dismantles the phones with a hammer to pull out the screens and keyboards. He uses them for his paintings.

Desire Koffi is creating a piece of artwork with used mobile phone keyboards, at his workshop in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. [Photo/IC]

"My No 1 goal is to try, in my own small way, to reduce electronic waste that is found in the streets and in the bins," he said.

World's first smart toilet for dogs

A dog is using a smart toilet designed for canines. [Photo/IC]

A Texas-based product design company claims to have created the world's first "fully automated dog toilet".

Called the Inubox, it's a self-contained toilet system that "captures, processes and contains" dog's waste.

A dog sits in front of a smart toilet designed for canines. [Photo/IC]

Inubox knows when a dog steps on the platform and detects any waste left behind. Once the dog is away, the station closes the platform and starts the cleaning cycle in less than one minute.

All solid and liquid materials are passed through a solidifying process and contained in a closed bag. Once full, it delivers a sealed bag for disposal.

Jewelry with a bite: Human teeth in rings, accessories

A ring created by Jacqui Williams using a human tooth. [Photo/IC]

Jacqui Williams, a 26-year-old jeweler from Melbourne, Australia, is using human teeth, hair and animal bones to create unique pieces of jewelry for people.

"I stumbled across a community of like-minded people and collectors of curiosities and oddities," she said. "They wanted to give another life to things that once were. This then started the ever-growing collection of bones and oddities of my own."

A ring created by Jacqui Williams using a human tooth. [Photo/IC]

Jacqui says she's had many bizarre requests, though she tries to fill as many orders as she possibly can.

A barrel of greens: Ingenious indoor rotating garden

A girl uses a pair of scissors to harvest vegetables from an indoor rotating garden. [Photo/IC]

A French-Canadian startup claims to have created a space-saving way to grow herbs and small plants -- an indoor rotating garden.

The OGarden enables users to plant and grow up to 90 herbs and other plants simultaneously in a small rotating wheel which revolves around a grow light placed at the device's center.

A close-up of herbs and vegetables growing in an indoor rotating garden. [Photo/IC]

The makers say the rotation of the wheel, the effect of gravity and the lighting can produce stronger, more robust vegetables.

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