McDonald’s installs phone cleaning devices.
The systems operate on the basis of ultraviolet technology.
These systems, powered by ultraviolet technology, destroy up to 99.9% of germs within 30 seconds while customers wash their hands.
That’s really cool. I already foresee Americans intentionally breaking them and finding ways for people to get their phones stuck in there to be assholes and for internet likes.
Some Australian cities installed usb charging ports on their bus fleets. They were filled with chewing gum within a week
Qi chargers are the way to go imo. Make it out of some nice hard plastic and much more difficult to vandalize.
That’s weird, there’s a place 10 minutes away from me (W Europe) that has them installed in the bathrooms.
It’s just a slot in which you put your phone. You wait for it to beep and you take it out again. Ideally while you’re washing your hands.
How well is that actually going to work? UVC sterilization usually takes much longer than 30 seconds.
WOTA claims 99.9% sterilization via UV-C. Does Japan have false advertising laws? I genuinely don’t see how it can be that fast, but like, it would be dumb to make difficult-to-believe claims if you could be sued for it.
Anyway, mostly unrelated, I used one of these there and I didn’t care if it was that effective. Wasn’t gonna be holding my phone for that span, so any sterilization is nice.
Just because you don’t see how it can be that fast doesn’t mean you should immediately jump to false advertising. Think of it like cooking chicken to a safe temperature, you can do it sous vide at a lower temperature and still get safe chicken it’ll just take 8 hours or you can throw it in an incinerator at a thousand degrees and have it sterilized in a few seconds.
Sterilized is more than just the amount of time it’s also the amount of exposure, an extremely strong UV light needs significantly less time than a weaker one
Oh lol. I said that cause I was inclined to believe it due to false advertising laws. Hence, it would be dumb to make such a grand claim and open yourself up to liability [if it weren’t true]. The anecdote after was worded as mostly unrelated because it wasn’t about the effectiveness, but the convenience of the little unit
It’s dose dependent not just time dependent. LED uv-c emitters can pump a huge dose onto a surface from a short distance such as this device does.
This recent study showed viral inactivation using such shorter time frames.
Because it’s in Japan, I’d probably use it. If this was in New York, I probably wouldn’t be in that bathroom in the first place.
I’ll “clean” your device! Just let me handle it for a few seconds…have you installed my app yet? It gives me…you, roo…hmmm cool powers and access to the cleaning system interface…yeah that’s right, I need access to the cleaning interface.
is the remaining 0.01% of bacteria becoming superbugs?
It says UV so probably not. Otherwise we’d already be fucked from sunlight and Instagram models tanning.
that sounds plausible, how is it different with UV?
Drugs kill germs by messing with their biological systems. They target specific processes, like preventing enzyme from properly bonding so that it fails to do something important in the reproductive cycle or whatever. If a new generation of bacteria evolve such that that specific process works differently, it could kill the effectiveness of the drug. And that’s what happens when something becomes resistant to a certain drug. Suddenly the aforementioned enzyme and the reproductive cycle are ever so slightly different, and as a result the drug can’t do what it used to do, at least not as effectively.
But UV just straight up breaks up the bonds between molecules. There’s nothing biological about it, its destruciveness is entirely physical. The photons get in there and start destroying molecules, living or not. It’s not easy or likely at all for a strain of bacteria to randomly evolve resistance against physical destruction at a molecular level. They’re generally too small to have a protective layer to shield them against that, like our skin does.
I’ve seen these being marketed as the big new thing for ages. I think they had some on Shark Tank. Covid probably helped them along.
It’s cool, I want to know how it works! But I don’t trust it. All it takes is an accidental moment of suction to destroy a microphone or moisture seal. Or maybe someone accidentally dropped a bobby pin or something in there that could damage the charging port? That’s all it would take to basically ruin my phone…
I also don’t trust the employees to care or know how to safely remove a phone if a motor died or the building lost power… But I realize I’m paranoid! 🤷♂️
It’s a bit narrow with lots of moving parts. Maybe a clamshell setup would be easier and more usable with different phone sizes / accessories?
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No thanks, I’d rather bring my own knowing what people would stick in there and there’s the risk of it stealing your phone if it malfunctions
and there’s the risk of it stealing your phone if it malfunctions
You wouldn’t just go to the staff and ask them to open it up for you? lol.
Not sticking my phone in there.
But but… It was made for me! Th-this is my hole!
Who are you that is so wise in the ways of not sticking things into anonymous slots?
Ooooooh iPhone 4s long time no see
Seems like a solution in search of a problem.
For many, if not most Japanese people, bacteria existing is a problem in need of a solution. Even when COVID restrictions lifted, people were more than happy to keep their masks on for months. I’m not living there anymore, but most shops had hand sanitizers installed at their entrance, and I know a lot of people don’t want those to ever go away.
Does McDonalds have a device for eating my ass? They should work on that next.
A bidet that utilizes heated water will likely give a somewhat similar sensation to a wet tongue. Whether or not any McDonald’s out there have those installed I don’t know
Sounds like a no then. Either they eat my ass or not
