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Many discarded electronic devices in the U.S. wind up being dismantled overseas using crude and unsafe methods, partly because of a lack of markets for some electronic materials, e-waste experts told a congressional committee on Wednesday.

Despite major recycling efforts by several electronics manufacturers, some recycling programs send electronics waste to developing nations in Asia and Africa, where devices are dismantled using hammers and plastics are burned to separate out the metal components, said Ted Smith, chairman of the Electronics Take-Back Coalition, a group that pushes for responsible recycling.

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Rather than just let tourists wander aimlessly on a sightseeing excursion, hoping to stumble upon the next landmark, one city has a better idea. Spearheaded by the Cambridge, Massachusetts, Office for Tourism, the city’s new Web site features downloadable audio tours.

“Almost the minute we finished with the Web site, we were approached by Michael Epstein and his group at Untravel Media to do a mobile walking tour that would be downloadable,” said Robyn Bell, executive director of the Cambridge Office for Tourism. Untravel Media, in Boston, produced the tour, which can be downloaded to a Window’s Mobile 5.0 enabled phone, video iPod or other MP3 devices.

Ironically, Lee Loree loses sleep over his invention, the Sleeptracker.

Loree, 35, gave up a career as a stockbroker in Atlanta about eight years ago to work on the device — a wristwatch and software system designed to record a person’s sleep pattern.

The idea came from someone else’s dream. Loree remembers staying up late one night with a penlight reading an analyst’s report for his job when his wife started a lucid, friendly chat. When Loree later woke her just a few minutes later, her tone had changed.

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