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"Since it arrived a few days ago near the food court at University Mall, the bright green kiosk has earned its share of curious looks.\"It's like when the first ATMs came out,\" says marketing director Jamie Polli, \"What's that thing over there spitting out money?\"This version is called EcoATM. It's the brainchild of a San Diego company that has installed 500 machines thus far in shopping malls around the U.S.Its signage and flashing displays promise up to $250 cash on the spot for used cell phones and other personal electronic devices.Don't count your chickens just yet.EcoATM does not guarantee it will offer you a nickel, though machines will accept every device and accessory with a pledge to recycle responsibly.\"Nearly 75,000 lbs of used phones are thrown into our landfills every year,\" the machine informs a customer while conducting an evaluation of a vintage LG Voyager, circa 2010.The company said it recently took in its one millionth\u00A0 phone.See, you're doing a good thing.Police worried the technology might become a magnet for stolen electronics, like pawn shops sometimes do. So far that's not panned out.\"We found it had a lot more safeguards than we could have imagined,\" said Detective Ron Bliss of South Burlington Police. \"Hiding the information about who you are and what you've got is going to be very difficult to do.\"The suite of security features on the machine include live cameras. Sellers are required to insert a drivers license before any sale and a company representative in California checks to ensure the two match while you're standing at the machine.If they make an offer to buy a device the machine captures a thumbprint from every seller before money is dispensed, evidence available to police if the device turns out to be stolen.No hot phones have turned up at University Mall's kiosk, Bliss says.Machines are also in place in malls in Massena, N.Y., Concord, N.H., Rutland, Vt. and downtown Burlington.Ehmed Terdjman of South Burlington didn't anticipate any windfall when he put his old TracFone into the Eco ATM Monday and got what he expected.The machine declined to offer him any money. \"I got nothing,\" he said, laughing, \"only recycling.\"Minutes later, the same result for Gunnar Neilsen of Georgia. He inserted an much newer iPhone4 -- with a badly cracked screen -- and was similarly declined.\"Sorry, I am unable to offer you value for your device,\" the voice from the machine told him. A door popped open and Neilsen retrieved his iPhone and was on his way.But Terdjman will be back. He says he's got three or four more phones collecting dust at home, and figures something might be worth a few dollars.\"Even just to play with the machine, it's fun,\" he said. \"Great idea to have this here.\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.mynbc5.com/article/ecoatm-is-turning-heads-at-area-malls/3309775>