Paul King and Hercules Networks' ACM.

Regular ATMs charge you a buck or two for convenient access to cash.

But this machine gives you a charge — for your cellphone.

When Paul King was a senior at Carnegie Mellon, his cell phone died while he was driving to see a friend. As he drove past ATMs outside shops, he remembers thinking, “People can get cash anywhere they want, but they can’t charge their phone anywhere.” So after graduating with a degree in psychology in 2005, King considered starting a business to make and sell standalone charging machines for mobile devices….

The result is a machine that can charge any mobile device in about 10 minutes. It includes a TV screen positioned at eye level that plays a 10-minute loop of ads (advertisers include Bank of America (BAC), Cadillac, and AT&T (T)) and content (the content comes from a partnership with CBS (CBS)). The business makes money selling advertising and by leasing the machines to companies looking to attract crowds to their booths at conventions.

King’s company, Hercules Networks, is just getting going, but it’s already a finalist in Business Week’s “Best Young Entrepreneurs” contest. For anyone who has ever dealt with switching cellphones, what makes the product truly impressive is that it works with nearly every kind of phone, regardless of what unique connector each company uses. His target market is conventions and airports, where people simultaneously need their phones, use them heavily, and don’t always have a convenient or fast way to recharge them.

The problem: A mountain of obsolete electronic devices, many containing hazardous compounds. The Environmental Protection Agency notes that 140 million cell phones were sold in the US in 2007 — and only 10% of those will end up being recycled.

To address that problem — and prepare for federal laws that require electronics merchants to accept old devices for recycling — A new company called ecoATM has begun deploying an an ATM-like machine.

The process is simple: a customer feeds the machine an old mobile phone and it analyses the device and assigns it a value. If the phone has a resale value, the customer receives store credit, or can donate the amount to charity. If there’s no resale value, customers can choose to have the handset recycled.

Although it currently only takes mobile phones, ecoATM will soon be able to accept a range of consumer electronics including MP3 players, digital cameras and even computers and printers.

The first ecoATM was installed at Nebraska Furniture Mart in Omaha. But the company is working with other large retailers, and says it will soon have machines in San Diego, Boston, Dallas and Seattle.

The POWR bar-top deposit-only kiosk.

Out in Portland, Oregon, a bartender saw a need and came up with a novel solution: a deposit-only ATM.

We all know we can use the automated teller machine to get cash out. But, now a Portland company has come up with a reverse ATM. Cash-in only. No withdrawals.

It’s designed for day labors to taxi drivers to hair stylists and more. Nearly 50 million people are what’s called “un-banked” or “under banked” people, earning $1 trillion a year in wages.

The idea came from Doug Lindstrom, a bartender at the 21st Avenue Bar & Grill in Portland.

On the surface, the POWR — for Point of Wealth Register — looks like an ordinary ATM. Lindstrom thought there’s got to be a better way for those with lots of cash at the end of their shift to save it.

Kamala Taylor-Cline is a server at 21st Avenue Bar & Grill. She’s happy the machine will be the first one installed where she works.

“Getting out at three in the morning it’s quite a concern leaving with cash,” she said.

Those using the machine log-in then direct to which account to deposit the cash.

Deposits can be made to a checking or savings account, or pay the electric or cable bill. Money can be added to pre-paid debit cards or donate to a local charity.

Accounts can even be set up to add money to IRA’s. Each transaction cost between $1 and $2.

Lindstrom spent $125,000 developing the machine and building three prototypes, and is now CEO of Point of Wealth Systems. He plans to use Portland as a 200-machine test market while seeking $5 million in venture capital to fund a total of 1,750 machines nationwide.

And the first installed machine? It’ll be going into the 21st Avenue Bar and Grill in a couple of months.

Solar-powered ATM under construction in Seattle.

Like a lot of urban neighborhoods, Seattle’s Phinney Ridge and Greenwood sections hold a farmer’s market every weekend in the summer. It sets up in the parking lot of the Phinney Neighborhood Center, a local community center.

And, since farmer’s markets rely heavily on cash, the center has decided to install a cash machine for the market.

But unlike most ATMs, this one is solar-powered.

The Phinney Center is installing a solar-powered ATM in its upper parking lot. It should be up and running for Friday’s Farmer’s market. It will be in a secure “cage” that will be locked at night.

Of course, as with any new technology there are bound to be a few hiccups, as a follow-up post demonstrates:

The prototype solar-powered ATM recently installed in the Phinney Neighborhood Association’s upper parking lot has been removed after getting “fried” by too much power coming from its solar cell array, according to the PNA.

They expect to install a revamped ATM in the spring.

The effort demonstrates a powerful idea: The go-anywhere ATM. With a solar array and a wireless adapter, ATMs can go without power cords, telephone lines or Internet cables. An operator could cart them around to fairs, festivals, markets and other temporary venues and place them anywhere. Or they could be used in remote locations where power and Internet connections are hard to come by. The possibilities are endless.d