We've all seen how fashion frequently goes full circle and brings back designs our grandparents wore, but we would never have guessed the same for dowsing. Popular during ancient times, it was believed that a pair of simple divining rods could magically detect water underground.
(Credit:
ATSC (UK))
Seems dowsing is coming back, albeit with an unexpected angle. British company ATSC (UK) is selling a portable explosive detection device called the ADE 651, which brings bomb detection technology to another (magical) level with claims it can detect guns, ammunition, explosives, and even contraband items from more than half a mile through obstacles and even planes flying 3 miles overhead.
Amazingly, it uses no power source and all the operator needs to do is hold a pair of metal rods that will point to dangerous items via "electrostatic magnetic ion attraction." ATSC (UK) is selling the ADE 651 for between $16,500 and $60,000 each (depending on the source).
Despite the fact that the ADE 651 has been debunked by journalists and authorities (including Dale Murray, head of the National Explosive Engineering Sciences Security Center at Sandia Labs), the Iraqi government has purchased more than 1,500 units and swears by them. We all know a sucker is born every minute, but are the hoodwinked Iraqi soldiers depending on the ADE 651 to save lives, or the public to pay for these with their tax dollars?
(Source: Crave Asia via The New York Times)
We purposely attempted common jumper cable errors with the PowerSafe cables and lived to tell the tale.
(Credit: Antuan Goodwin/CNET)I was given my first set of jumper cables at the same time I received my first car. Before setting me loose on the world, my father gave me a very serious speech about the dangers of improperly jump-starting a vehicle. I was warned of potential electrocution, sparks igniting gasoline fires, and--most seriously--acid spewing battery explosions if the cables weren't connected in just the right way and in just the right order. Even armed with this sacred knowledge, I still throw sparks every time I jump-start a car, just for kicks. Sorry, dad.
However, most drivers didn't get my dad's speech and as a result, they find themselves in an even more precarious situation when the day comes that they need to borrow a few electrons to jump a dead battery. Here's where Energy Safe Technologies come in with its PowerSafe jumper cables.
The PowerSafe jumper cables look like your standard jumpers, with a pair of terminal clamps on each end. However, midway through the cables' length is a small electronic brain that monitors the state of the connections and only lets power flow when everything is hooked up just right.
So, if you accidentally connect your cable backward on either end, the system will display a red warning light and the power stays off. If you accidentally touch the loose ends of a live cable, the red light glows and there are no sparks. If there's a short of any kind, even within the dead battery, the red light glows and everyone remains safe.
Once both ends are properly connected and both indicator lights glow green, the system uses a soft start circuit to gradually ramp up the power flow, eliminating power spikes and protecting delicate vehicle electronics.
We were given a demo of the PowerSafe cables prototype at Energy Safe Technologies' booth, tucked away in the back of the SEMA Show's north hall. No matter how haphazardly we connected or disconnected the cables, we were unable to cause a fire, throw wicked sparks, or create an acid-spewing battery explosion--which is boring, but very safe.
The PowerSafe jumper cables should be available in early 2010. Pricing has not yet been announced.
I should have bought the $31 DVD player.
(Credit: Matt Hickey)Exploding iPhones are so earlier this week, people. The new scary consumer electronics product that might explode and kill you and your family is the cheap Durabrand DVD player exclusive to Wal-Mart. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a recall of the device, saying the players can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers.
The players retail for less than $30, are made in China, and are full of shrapnel to flay flesh from bone. OK, that last bit was hyperbolic, but still, any Durabrand DVD player bought from Wal-Mart after 2006 can be returned to the nearest store for a full refund.
So far 12 out of approximately 1.5 million units have flamed up, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which adds that the fires have caused property damage but no injuries. While 12 problematic devices don't really add up to epidemic-like numbers, it's still troubling knowing yours could be the 13th. Not that I'm fearmongering or anything.
Updated at 4:43 p.m. PDT with comment from Apple.
I'm on my third iPhone (having upgraded twice), and I've also owned an iPod Touch. I loved them all dearly, largely because they never exploded into flames, burning me and my family alive. Just saying.
But it seems that other people might not have been so lucky. Numerous reports say the European Commission is now looking into accounts of exploding iPhones and iPod Touches--and Apple is cooperating, according to The New York Times.
Apple said "these are isolated incidents," commission spokeswoman Helen Kearns told reporters in Brussels. "They don't consider that there's a general problem." Kearns said the company is seeking more information on the reported incidents and will do necessary tests.
Claims of iPhones exploding have surfaced in Britain and France, with at least one person, a teenager, sustaining an eye injury. In addition, KIRO TV in Seattle has turned up 800 pages of documents from the Consumer Product Safety Commission that include cases of burning or flaming iPods.
There have been many well-documented cases of laptop batteries bursting into flames, so it's plausible that iPhones could heat up too, given that they use the same (or similar) battery technology.
"We are aware of these reports and we are waiting to receive the iPhones from the customers," Apple said in a statement late Tuesday afternoon. "Until we have the full details, we don't have anything further to add."
Editors' note: The damage to this iPhone was the result of someone trying to hack the device.
Authorities are questioning the cause of death of a South Korean man who was initially thought to have been killed in a cell phone battery explosion, according to news reports.
The unidentified 33-year-old man had been found dead next to an electric shovel at the quarry where he worked, and a mobile handset with a melted battery was discovered in his shirt pocket. His injuries reportedly included a punctured heart, ruptured lungs, and broken ribs and spine.
But the National Institute of Scientific Investigation determined that those injuries were too severe to be attributed to a phone battery explosion, according to the Associated Press, citing reports from the Yonhap news agency. Final results from an autopsy are expected in about 15 days.
LG, which makes the phone model in question, reportedly said an explosion as originally described was virtually impossible.
While research scientists are still grappling with the possibility of harmful effects from cellular handset use on the human body, a fatal accident involving a mobile phone occurred recently in South Korea. The TelecomsKorea News Service reported that a 33-year-old man was found dead, presumably killed by an explosion of a mobile phone battery identified to be from LG, though no specific model was cited.
It was reported that the man was found lying beside an electronic shovel at a quarry where he worked. A co-worker described him as bleeding from the nose and having a phone with a melted battery in his left shirt pocket. A professor from the Chungbuk National University examined the body and speculated that a phone battery explosion, which punctured his heart and lungs, was the main cause of death. He added that the victim's ribs and spine were broken.
This is the first time a cell phone battery explosion is believed to have taken a life in South Korea. Earlier this year, a man in China was reportedly killed by a mobile phone explosion.
(Source: Crave Asia)
"Mother of Satan"--that's what bomb makers call peroxide-based explosives like triacetone triperoxide (TATP), which are easy to make and hard to detect. But a new pen-shaped detector doodad offers hope for those doing time in airport security lines.
(Credit:
Acro)
The Peroxide Explosives Tester, or PET, by Acro is supposed to help security personnel quickly and accurately identify peroxide-based explosives, from diacetone diperoxide and hexam-methalene-triperoxidediamine to the notorious TATP, a component allegedly used by Mr. Goofy in the shoe bomb he tried to detonate on a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001.
Acro announced this month that it had licensed the explosives testing kit technology from Life Science Research Israel, a subsidiary of the Israel Institute for Biological Research.
Peroxide is what bombers from London and Madrid to Casablanca and the streets of Israel all have in common nowadays, and unfortunately we're not talking about their roots. It's also what caused the hoopla over liquid explosives in London in 2006 and subsequent banning of all carry-on bottled goods.
The chemical generally comes as an innocuous-appearing solid that looks like sugar, a class of explosive that's almost impossible to detect with dogs or conventional high-tech methods. To make matters worse, it's easy to whip up at home with ingredients available at any supermarket.
Testing with the new device sounds easy enough: Insert the sample into PET and inject the secret sauce; if it turns green-blue, dive for cover. The company says it's also disposable and nonpolluting, but there's no word on how it's expected to be applied to mass screenings.
There's already a constituency opposed to readmitting fluids to your carry-on--the people who charge $2 for a pint of water in the departure lounge.
(Credit:
Computer Dynamics)
Turns out the "explosion-proof" computer that's been making the rounds on the gizmo circuit may be safe to use at the gas pump, but it won't do you any good to sit on it while cruising Karbala.
The Ruffneck Zone 1 Computer can be used for virtually any application, in the harshest of environments by the most careless and abusive operators, according to Computer Dynamics. It has a 15-inch touch screen that's readable in any light condition (including direct sunlight), is impact-resistant and can be operated by gloved hands. But no, it's not bomb-proof.
So what, exactly, can it withstand? Ian McMurray of Computer Dynamics explains it this way: "The term 'explosion-proof' in this instance describes the fact that the Ruffneck can contain an internal explosion rather than withstand an external explosion."
He gives this example. The Zone 1 is deployed near an open oil well where explosive gas is known to lurk. Some of this gas makes its way into the computer, where an inverter is generating some very high voltage to drive the backlights that illuminate the display.
"For some reason, the inverter fails and causes a spark. The spark ignites the gas that is inside our Zone 1 enclosure. Boom. The force of the explosion rapidly expands the air volume inside the Zone 1. Due to the way the Zone 1 is designed, the explosion is contained and the energy from the explosion is released, in a controlled manner, to the outside world at an energy level so low that the external atmosphere is not ignited and a catastrophic accident is avoided."
In other words, without this hazardous-location feature, a computer could go from faithful friend to fuel-air bomb in a femtosecond.
To know your zones, go to the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and U.S. Class I Zone.
Will Greenwald in Optimus Prime helmet was a late tournament scratch (sore hammy).
Voting is now closed for this round. See the results of the battles here and vote on eight more first round battles here.
Complex as they are, most robots solve dilemmas in a basic way: they fight each other. Then Michael Bay films it, charges $10 a ticket, and everyone enjoys the marvelous robots-kicking-the-crap-out-of-each-other show.
But there are plenty of robots that have no appetite for destruction. What about these robots, ones that have to rely on personality, artifical wits, social skills, and dance moves in order to survive?
Even if they banded together, these robots couldn't fight their way out of a Buddhist monastery. That's why you have to settle these one-on-one robot battles with your online votes. It's the only way to figure out which one's the best.
In NCAA tournament style, each robot in the bracket below has been given a seed number. The winner of each battle will advance to the next round, where it'll take on the winner of another battle.
Get your picks in! Each first-round bracket will be open to your votes for one week, from today until Sunday, September 2. This week features battles between prototype robots and consumer robots. Next Monday, September 3, we'll post the second half of the bracket: robots from the movies and TV.
Note: This tournament field is not meant to be all-inclusive. Some great non-violent robots, such as Roomba, Scooba, and R2-D2 (he has a built-in taser) had to be left out of the mix by the selection committee. If you're peeved at the omission of a particular bot, let us know in the TalkBack section.
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PROTOTYPE DIVISION
===================
(Credit:
Honda.com)
1. Asimo
Fittingly pronounced "awesome-o," Honda's amazing humanoid bipedal robot is this year's tourney favorite, and with good reason. It's already been inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame. It climbs stairs. It looks like an astronaut. And most unfortunately for its first-round opponent, it has some pretty sweet dance moves, as this video can attest.
(Credit:
Nomura Unison Group)
8. Partner Ballroom Dance Robot (PBDR)
Not to be confused with PBR, which is the fourth-seeded Beer-Launching Fridge's secret weapon, the PBDR is a hot-pink mechanical lady with mouse ears, an ample bosom, and ballroom-dancing skills. Tough first-round draw for the PBDR. It's probably the hottest robot in the competition, but looks only get you so far when you're battling Asimo. Plus, it's arguably the sixth-best dancer in the competition, behind Asimo, Keepon, Sony's QRIO, Robosapien, and Woody Allen.
(1) Asimo vs. (8) PBDR: Who wins?
Asimo
PBDR
====
(Credit:
Robot Watch)
3. OmniZero.4
The demonstration-winning robot from this year's Robo-One 11 event in Japan is built for entertainment. Known to his friends as "Li'l Clompy," OmniZero.4 climbs ladders, skips rope, breaks the hell out of eggs, and politely bows. Sure, he can be physically intimidating if you're an egg or one foot tall, but everyone else can just kick him into a swimming pool if he gets confrontational.
(Credit:
Robot Watch)
6. Motoman
Motoman is big, handy, plays the drums, and was built to do mundane tasks like sorting clothing and reading bar codes. Sure, Motoman is huge and can carry big sticks, but its limp-wristed drum-playing style doesn't instill much fear in either humans or its fellow robots. On the other hand, it does sort mail, so maybe all that postal work will fuel Motoman's robotic aggression.
(3) OmniZero.4 vs. (6) Motoman: Who wins?
OmniZero.4
Motoman
====
(Credit:
John W. Cornwell)
4. Beer-Launching Fridge
Another robot that could potentially do some damage if you're not paying attention, the Beer-Launching Fridge holds up to 10 cans of delicious beer and flings them to you so you don't even have to get up. Unfortunately, at this point, you'll have to know designer John W. Cornwell personally, because he has the only one. But he may build more. One can hope, or at least buddy up to him on Facebook.
(Credit:
ShowbizPizza.com)
5. The Rock-Afire Explosion
The perfect compliment to any of the dancing bots in this competition, this one-time Chuck E. Cheese/Showbiz Pizza animatronic band has been reprogrammed to play the hits of today. We're talking songs like Fergie's "London Bridge" and Bubba Sparxxx's "Ms. New Booty." The band's repertoire is available on video here, courtesy of its programmer, christhrash. Alas, it's hard to hear the songs over all the moving robot parts...hence the surprisingly low 5 seed.
(4) Beer-Launching Fridge vs. (5) The Rock-Afire Explosion: Who wins?
Beer-Launching Fridge
The Rock-Afire Explosion
====
(Credit:
BeatBots.org)
2. Keepon
The robotic star of two Spoon videos (one unofficial one, and one official one) has the most soul of any Nerf robot we've ever seen. In addition to bass (which it picks up through its nose mic), the secret to Hideki Kozima and Marek Michalowski's head-bobbing robot is in its base. Base! How low can you go?
(Credit:
BornRich)
7. Tiro
For all you non-committals out there, this robot is your worst nightmare. For just $215,000, this humanoid will marry the crap out of you. No, it won't actually marry you. The honeymoon night would be horrendous. What it will do, however, is preside over your wedding and pronounce you and your (human) partner man and wife. Then it will make out with the PBDR robot at the reception.
(2) Keepon vs. (7) Tiro: Who wins?
Keepon
Tiro
=========================
CONSUMER DIVISION
=========================
(Credit:
Michael Kanellos/CNET Networks)
1. Pleo
When most people consider the concept of a robotic dinosaur, thoughts of mechanical T-Rexes and velociraptors duking it out on a rickety bridge over a flaming pool of tar come to mind. Ugobe's Pleo is about as far away from that image as possible. He's cute, cuddly, "learns" things as time passes, develops moods and personality traits, makes grunting noises, and is slated to be in stores in October for around $250. However, the robot version of Carl Everett doesn't think Pleo exists.
(Credit:
DreamKitty.com)
8. Hello Kitty Robot
Per Crave regulations, we need a Hello Kitty or a pirate in the mix, so here's this. More than just a $6,300, voice/face recognizing pink cat robot, the chatting Hello Kitty Robot is actually described as "a perfect robot for whoever does not have a lot time to stay with child." Which raises the question: is it better to be a lonely toddler, or one that's raised and nurtured by a Hello Kitty robot?
(1) Pleo vs. (8) Hello Kitty Robot: Who wins?
Pleo
Hello Kitty Robot
====
(Credit:
Rainy Day Magazine)
3. WowWee Alive Chimpanzee
I'd argue that there's no better use for robotics than a lifelike chimp head that hoots and hollers and follows you around with its eyes. WowWee's Alive Chimpanzee does everything a real chimp head does without that pesky chimp smell. It also benefits from some tough in-conference competition; battling it out with WowWee's Alive Elvis head and the fourth-seeded Robosapien on a regular basis means this chimp is used to bringing its A game. This is the dark-horse pick to win it all.
(Credit:
Caleb Goessling)
6. Nintendo R.O.B.
Any votes for R.O.B. will come straight from nostalgia, because Nintendo's game-playing robot sure didn't have many gaming skills. With only two compatible NES games (the forgettable "Gyromite" and "Stack-Up") and molasses-slow movements, R.O.B. was rarely part of any old-school gaming session beyond his first foray out of the box. These days, R.O.B. has hung up his Gyro Blocks and now has his own MySpace page.
(3) WowWee Alive Chimpanzee vs. (6) Nintendo R.O.B.: Who wins?
WowWee Alive Chimpanzee
Nintendo R.O.B.
====
(Credit:
WowWee)
4. Robosapien
Another selection from the ultracompetitive WowWee Conference, Robosapien has a bunch of tricks. Namely, belching, farting, caveman noises, dancing, and more farting. That's a nice little repertoire for $50, and Robosapien's hacker-friendly innards have paved the way for some sweet mods. This is another dark horse with an enthusiastic fan base that may propel it to the late rounds. It is also good at farting.
(Credit:
MacTechLab.jp)
5. Necoro
Necoro instills fear in any opponent. It's not because this lap-cat robot is particularly intimidating; it's because it's creepy as hell. Its jerky head motions and facial tics carefully mimic those of a meth-addicted Mr. Mittens, and it'd be hard to sleep knowing one of these was in your house. Still, in terms of sheer entertainment value, the awkward robo-cat is sure to pick up a ton of vote from all the YouTube-watching Necorophiles out there.
(4) Robosapien vs. (5) Necoro: Who wins?
Robosapien
Necoro
====
(Credit:
Mobile-review.com)
2. Sony QRIO
Hey, where's Aibo? Sorry. Sony's robo-dog was pummeled in the Sony conference finals by this lesser-known humanoid robot. Face and voice recognition, communication skills, and memory were some of QRIO's noticeable traits, but its smooth, fluid dancing moves (showcased in this Beck video) were QRIO's main drawing point. Development on the robot was halted before it hit store shelves, but you can't blame that on QRIO.
(Credit:
World of 2-XL)
7. 2-XL
Who would have thought that "The Smartest Toy Robot in the World" would be fueled by 8-track tapes? Mego's infotainment robot was released in 1978, and Tiger revamped the robot--adding a cassette deck instead of an 8-track player--in 1992. 2-XL asked trivia questions, told bad jokes, and is responsible for my life-long fear of electrocution, due to the fact that I got shocked when I tried to plug him in at my cousin's house.
(2) Sony QRIO vs. (7) 2-XL: Who wins?
Sony QRIO
2-XL
Note: Check back on Monday, September 3, for the results of these first-round battles as well as eight new first-round matchups (TV and movie robots)!
The notebook battery recall isn't over yet.
Acer, the fast-growing Taiwanese PC maker, announced on Wednesday a voluntary recall of 27,000 lithium ion notebook batteries made by Sony. A danger exists that the batteries can short-circuit and burst into flames.
Millions of notebook batteries produced by Sony have been recalled since last year. Acer was one of the few major companies not impacted by the battery recall to date. Apple, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba have all had to recall batteries.
The Acer TravelMate notebooks containing the batteries subject to the recall were sold from May 2004 through November 2006. More details can be found on Acer's corporate Web site.
Sony has paid millions to PC makers under the recall programs. The recall also added to the pile of recent woes for the Japanese giant.
So far, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has received reports of 16 batteries overheating, according to Acer. When they do overheat, however, the results are spectacular. A video of a Dell notebook spontaneously bursting into flames was a big hit on YouTube.
Several start-ups and established companies have been tinkering with making batteries out of less volatile materials such as zinc to make batteries. Other companies, meanwhile, such as Boston Power and Panasonic, have come out with safer lithium ion batteries.
