quick question

[tamaranth]

What is the smell that I associate with model railways and brand-new stereo components, and have just encountered on my shiny new PDA? Some sort of mineral oil, I presume, but I have no idea what.

Comments

[zotz]

From: http://fins.actwin.com/killietalk/month.200308/msg00218.html

di-iso-octyl phthalate is the only monomeric plasticizer ever used and accounts for some of the smell of new plastic

[gummitch.livejournal.com]

It's probably the classic smell of hot electronics, which I've always assumed to be the out-gassing of some component of the circuit boards. It's also a danger sign that things are getting too hot, but I assume the battery of your PDA gets warm when charging, so it's probably just that.

[pigeonhed.livejournal.com]

oh have you got a shiny new PDA perchance? :-)

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

It's not a new-plastic smell: more metallic, or flinty.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

not a heating smell either: and was present from the moment of unwrapping!
Shall hope newness lasts 'til this evening, and you can see smell what I mean.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

very shiny! very new!

[pigeonhed.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't happen to be the item Amazon are 'dispatching shortly' via their time travel unit would it?

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, sudden moment of nostalgia - I remember the smell of my train set so vividly. I think it's in the loft somewhere...

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

What sort of train set? If its the real steam variety then you may be smelling meths, which could also be used as a cleaner for the electronics.

This is, though, just a guess.

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

I suspect it's the same smell I associate with my brother's model railway, something to do with the transformer but god knows what. It was certainly distinctive, and remarkably evocative.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

Didn't model railways used to produce ozone? Maybe it's a new feature: lots of techie fun, plus you get to replenish the Ozone Layer at the same time.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

Great opening line: "Wanna sniff my PDA?"

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

I'm amused by the fact that half the commenters are saying "Oh, yes, I know the smell you mean!" and the other half are offering explanations of completely different smells.

There's obviously some deep truth about the way that people's minds work involved.

I'm in the "Oh, yes, I know the smell" camp, so I can't help.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

it is kind of ozone-y, now you mention it. But not quite.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

that'd be it!

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

not the steam train variety, and not meths (which I think I'd recognise, though it's been a while). It does remind me of flints, as well -- both the sort you dig out of the earth, and the little cylinders as used in old-fashioned cigarette lighters.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

It's a smell I've managed perfectly happily without a name for -- but now I know I don't have a name for it, it's bugging me!

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

Mine was a fake steam train. You dripped a bit of a special oil into the funnel to create the steam effect.

[latexiron.livejournal.com]

Spaff. We're so excited by little silver shiny boxes and trains... well, you get the idea.

Perhaps someone else had your PDA before you?

Lick it and see what it tastes like.

[akicif.livejournal.com]

No longer true - di-tertiary-butyl terephthalate is also used these days, I believe.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Lick it and see what it tastes like.

too busy scrubbing my brain ...

[autopope.livejournal.com]

<geek>So what sort of PDA is it?</geek>

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

this one! (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000BKBHJM/202-1401160-4780630?%5Fencoding=UTF8)

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

and they've just dropped the price: bah ...

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

my friend's was wholly electric stock, I think ... it's a long time ago!

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Hey, I've got a LifeDrive; how do you think I feel about the price cut?

I figure there are two or maybe three accessories you'll be after: some more storage, a case to keep the thing safe, and possibly a keyboard. Of those three, the one you're most likely to be ripped off for on the high street is memory. The solution is to go on eBay and search for "SD memory 1Gb": you'll find tons of folks waiting to sell you a 1Gb SD/MC card for £30. Whereas if you try to buy on in Dixons/PC World/Palm's website you'll end up paying in the range £60-120 depending on how stupid they think their customers are.

Speaking of Palm and their online store, they don't discount at all as a rule -- they're almost always more expensive than the other online retailers who sell Palm kit.

If you're after a keyboard or case, I'd recommend Expansys (http://www.expansys.co.uk/) -- fast, efficient, and they answer the phone if there's a problem.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

have keyboard, the old Palm wireless one, which seems to work without trouble. May think about extra memory at some point, but it's currently only 40% full, and that's going to drop as I tidy up apps that don't work any more! (The only one I'm upset about is TideTool: there is no longer, it seems, any freeware tide-calculator for the UK)

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

I've noticed that my nice new computer and nice new LCD monitor both smell of it, but that the packing boxes do so more strongly. Something in the plastic that electronics is often shipped in?

High-end paperbacks (the sort printed on semi-gloss paper) have a similar smell to me.