- Monday, 9 November 2009
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You may think Yes Minister is a comedy. I know it's a documentary - Peter Lilley
Mouse survives dishwasher
THINGS CAN GET downright dirty in the tech industry, but it's a problem Florida-based firm, Seal Shield, plans to tackle. Literally.
We came across Seal Shield at CeBit, just in time to see a company rep bung a couple of mice, a keyboard and some TV remotes into a dishwasher before turning it on.
On a table next to the washing machine, another Seal Shield employee was busy typing away on a keyboard completely submerged in soapy water.
Now, don't get us wrong, we at the St'INQ do take the occasional shower, but we couldn't help wondering what kind of a clean freak someone would have to be to dishwash a keyboard. Hadn't they ever heard of baby wipes, we asked politely?
Indeed he had heard of baby wipes, said the smiling rep, who went on to explain the pleasant summery freshness of a huggies wipe was actually no match for the hospital virus MRSA, or Ebola or a whole host of nasty, dirty bacteria one could pick up by touching things your mother would point out you didn't "know where it's been". Fair enough, so it's for hospitals then.
Not only hospitals, said the Seal Shield rep; paranoid, bacteria phobic parents could also enjoy the benefits of sticking melted chocolate covered keyboards and spit-up covered mice in the dishwasher.
The firm also boasts it uses something called 'silver seal' protection on some products, consisting of natural, pure silver ions embedded in plastic to create what the company says is an "effective, inorganic, antimicrobial solution". So the snotty neighbours' kid sneezes on your keyboard? Not an issue, says Seal Shield.
We still seemed unconvinced. "Seen some of the programmes they have on German TV?" winked the rep, continuing "Well, I strongly recommend you wash your hands after touching your hotel tv remote".
That certainly sold it to us!µ
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Haven't techs been putting keyboards and mice in dishwashers for years?
Not tried it myself (haven't got a dish washer) but my mum did put my old Gameboy Tetris cartridge through a 40 degree wash (none of this green 15 degrees crap) and it came out fine (label was a bit faded but it was clean) and my other half has put a couple of my SD cards and USB sticks through the wash before (she blames me for not clearing my pockets). They both survived, data intact.
Rob
People do realise that MRSA came about precisely because of our over obession with cleanliness?
All that 99.9% percent of bacteria does is help prepare you for fighting off the other 0.1%, your keyboard may be grubby but it's probably doing you some good. :)
I mean... ebola... if you're getting that from your keyboard you've probably got a lot more to worry about given that it's about 80% fatal.
I've restored a dead Mac to life by running its main logic board through the dishwasher & a few keyboards too. It was the death of an old MS Natural one, though. But yes, mostly, they can take it.
I wouldn't like to try /using/ one while immersed, though!
MRSA did not come about because of being overly clean, it came about because of the use of antibiotics in patients,
or rather incompetent and ignorant usage of the above.
it's an evolutionary process that gave us MRSA, but we could have reduced the impact if people had taken full courses and had doctors willing to take more time to investigate
(think about it, it's an environmental pressure that led to the development of resistance, survival of the immune versus sensitive)
Ah, sweet Sylvie, my love, I must share with you that as an industrial controls engineer, I've dealt with not only keyboards and mice that could handle high pressure steam, strong acids, and strong caustics, but displays and entire systems. So putting keyboards and mice in a dishwasher is actually fairly benign. It's all in the materials and the design. Costs like the dickins though.
Try turning your keyboard upside down giving it a good shake and a top on the back, see how many bits come out, no baby wipe i know of would get rid of that so a good wash would do the world of good.
Yesterday, I had some French fries and a sandwich with a beer front of my computer.
Mouse and keyboard managed to stay fairly clean. Except that shinny look on some parts due to the butter abd all...
I don't think there was some tough viruses in the food and on the keyboard. But yet don't eat and type and more than that don't eat front of your computer !
Yep the dishwasher trick is used all the time. Top shelf, keys pointing downwards, low heat (eco or quick wash), very little detergent and make sure the cables are secured otherwise the spinning washer blade or heat elements will cause big problems!!
Just rinse under a tap once finished (no pun intended) and leave to dry upsidedown for a few days. DO NOT PUT FANCY LCD/WIRELESS KEYBOARDS IN THERE THOUGH .......