Remember that study that came out a few years ago that suggested the average smartphone is dirtier than a public toilet seat? It concluded that some the most common electronics that we use every day — cell phones, tablets, keyboards, mice, remotes, etc.— are breeding grounds for bacteria.
But the thing is, this information hasn’t really changed our behavior that much. Just knowing about it isn’t enough, because cleaning your electronics is still too much of a pain for most people. You’re probably well aware that your keyboard is filthy, but spraying it down with 409 or tossing it in the dishwasher isn’t exactly an option when circuits are involved.
That’s where UviCube comes in. Freshly launched on Kickstarter this week, UviCube is a new breed of appliance designed to safely sanitize all your electronic gear. Instead of using heat or some sort of liquid antibacterial agent, it blasts your stuff with high-intensity ultraviolet light, effectively murdering 99.9 percent of all germs without damaging any sensitive electronic components.
The company is positioning the device primarily as a tool for parents to sanitize bottles, pacifiers, and other stuff that babies put in their mouths; but UviCube’s range of potential uses is much broader than that. The cube can presumably sanitize anything that fits inside its interior chamber, which measures about 9.5 inches wide by 9.5 inches deep by 11.25 inches tall.
If the Kickstarer campaign is a success and the project reaches its $25K funding goal by the end of March, UviCube’s creators hope to ship the device to backers as early as June. If you back the project now, you can lock one down for about 200 bucks, a full $100 cheaper than what it’ll retail for in the future.
