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Wednesday, February 8, 2012

City / Tech The Trashcans of the Future

Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 3:31 PM

Gizmodo yesterday reported on the new trashcans London is installing in time for the Olympics:

For London 2012, new bombproof trash cans that have dual giant LCD screens and Wi-Fi hotspots will brighten up the dreary London fog.

I'm not in love with the idea of LCD screens on trashcans—one more thing that will stop tourists dead in their tracks on busy city sidewalks—but I totally adore the idea of wi-fi hotspot trashcans. It's a smart way to double up on two important urban necessities. One of these necessities has always existed, and one of them developed over the last decade. This is something I'd love to see in Seattle.

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That would revolutionize smart-phone service in urban environments. Low-cost data plans that require high percentage of use on wi-fi networks would skyrocket.

Posted by lukeiscool on February 8, 2012 at 3:41 PM

Well if they work well in London, then Seattle will need to buy 2,000 of them.

Posted by Kinison

on February 8, 2012 at 3:52 PM

Why not use all those parking meters for the same thing?

Posted by Vince on February 8, 2012 at 3:55 PM

I think you mean FORMER wi-fi trashcan hotspots, after vandals destroy them all. Or someone figures out how to display hardcore torture or animal porn on the adjacent LCD screens.

Because there's certainly nothing else interesting London could use the money on. Might as well throw it all away. They're probably going to tear down their big stadium afterwards too.

Posted by Fnarf

on February 8, 2012 at 3:56 PM

Is the wi-fi functionality also bomb proof?

Posted by SeattleSeven on February 8, 2012 at 4:04 PM

Those probably will do little more than provide CCTV operators with something more destructive to watch that usual.

Posted by Dougsf on February 8, 2012 at 4:15 PM

Hotspots are easy, the hard part is getting the city to invest in a network good enough to support all the traffic. The problem with public wifi isn't access points, it's bandwidth.

Posted by Anthony Hecht on February 8, 2012 at 5:05 PM

Fuck the future. What about poor people, homeless people, and the downwardly mobile middle-class do you idiots not get? What a great fucking idea spending millions on trashcans. Carry on gents, I salute you.

Posted by pioneer on February 8, 2012 at 5:23 PM

@8, well, if the wi-fi still works when the poor have built a fire in the trash can to stay warm, you've killed two birds with one stone! Healing the digital divide (sorry about only these hard paving stones to sleep on).

Posted by Fnarf

on February 8, 2012 at 6:02 PM

Paul, this America and if they do it in Europe we can't do it here.

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on February 8, 2012 at 6:03 PM

I'm not sure if the plan made it far, but wasn't Seattle parks trying to get rid of trash cans, instead opting for signs that requested that you "pack it out"?

Posted by Eastpike on February 8, 2012 at 10:00 PM