Gizmodo Australia » ceramics

Asus Marine Cool Motherboard Fights Heat with Ceramic Plates

Mark Wilson — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:40:00 +0000

Ceramic isn’t just for pottery. It’s used in military armour to stop bullets and the Space Shuttle to thwart heat. Now, Asus is reintroducing the material in its sci-fi-tastic Marine Cool motherboard.

If our best guess is correct, all of those off-white stuctures on the board are “micro-porous ceramic” heat sinks. But not only do they dissipate heat from board components while looking ever so evil—the ceramic also improves the structure integrity of the board itself.

The only catch to performance clockers may be the inclusion of SO-DIMM slots—small form memory slots generally reserved for notebooks.

As of right now, the Marine Cool is a concept. But like their dual-screen laptop, if Asus actually brings this model to market, we’d all remember that the company is capable of creating a lot more than just netbooks. [Softpedia via Engadget]

Raku Ray Guns (Sorry, They’re Just Ceramic)

Mark Wilson — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:40:00 +0000

Maybe by next year we’ll be telling you about real ray pistols, but for now you’ll have to settle for these charming Raku Ray Gun sculptures. Each is completely one-of-a-kind, constructed on a pottery wheel and fired using the low-fire “raku” method. The sculpture is then placed on a 12″ by 9″ moon crater plaque for proper wall mounting, the perfect replacement for that singing bass you’ve been meaning to take down (because we all know it was never meant to be ironic). The Raku Ray Guns run US$275 a pop.

[Muddy Mountain Pottery via BoingBoing]

Self-Stirring Cup of Tea Puts My Left Hand Out of a Job

Addy Dugdale — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:42:00 +0000

In GizmodoWorld, no one loves a cuppa quite like I do—although the amount of times I go to the kettle each day is giving me RSI. Anyways, two French guys have designed a cup of tea that stirs itself. Simple in its design, all you need do for it to work is channel your inner Cognac-drinker, swilling the liquid around the cup until the sugar has dissolved. More info, including a How-To cartoon is after the jump.

The cup, called Ceramic For Mix, has a protruding base that bulges out—imagine a boa constrictor after an all-you-can-eat sheep buffet—and a ceramic ball that goes in the bottom. Pour in the PG Tips, add the milk, spoon in the sugar (if that is how you take your tea) and then swill the cup. Gravity ensures the ceramic ball doesn’t bop you on the nose when you drink, apparently.

One of the designers, Florian Dussopt is expecting to sell his invention to cafes and bars, eliminating the need for a spoon (unless your sugar comes in a bowl, in which case you’ll have to use your hands to shovel the sugar into your cup.) Should this be seen as spoonicide? “The aim is not to kill the spoon but to suggest an alternative for a special occasion,” he says. So that’s alright, then. [Daily Mail]

Gameboy Bricks Make Floors, Bowser Castles

Jesus Diaz — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 13:00:17 +0000

30,000 years from now, aliens will discover these Gameboy bricks and decide that humans’ ancestors originally had buttons and directional pads on their bellies. Which, in the case of some of the people I know, it’s true.

At least, I bet artisan/tinkerer/musician/genius with GOD (Gameboy Obsessive Disorder) Gijs Gieskes probably has a “Start” and “Reset” buttons instead of nipples. Apparently you can buy the glazed models for US$43. [Gieskes via Gizmodo Japan]

Talking Floor Helps Your Diet, Calls You Lazy Fatso

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:45:31 +0000

Diet Floor is a “smart” talking ceramic floor that will talk to you whenever you spend too much time on top of it at the wrong times. In other words: you go to the kitchen in between meals, stop in front of the the refrigerator to see what you can nib on and it will shout something like “Watch out for those extra pounds!” or “Beware of the cold pizza monster!” or something like that. And it gets even better when you install them in an office environment.

Then, the tile will turn from diet helper to employee abuser: if you spend too much time in front of the water cooler or the coffee machine, it will say phrases like “You should be working now,” at which time you would probably grab a stapler and start hitting it.

These infernal Diet Floor tiles, created by Spanish ceramics company Tau Cerámica and the inventor Pep Torres, have weight sensors and a CPU that controls different parameters. They can even detect individual people and record their activity in front of the fridge, as well as personalising it to shout different messages according to the person on top. It’s like an episode of Futurama, but not funny at all. [TAU Ceramic - In Spanish]

Ceramic Remote Solves One Problem, Creates Others

Wilson Rothman — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 13:27:15 +0000

Designer Yuta Watanabe’s motivation in creating a ceramic concept TV remote was the disdain we usually show our little infrared friends, tossing them around, losing them in seat cushions, leaving them in another room. If the remote was an objet rather than a mere object, we might not be so rough on it. Yes? I say no. I give it a week—maybe two—in this house. But it sure is pretty to look at. [Yanko Design]