Gizmodo Australia » steam

Steam-Powered Dragon Poised to Invade, Revolutionise Transport

Mark Wilson — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:39:34 +0000

Most of us haven’t grown up to possess our own dragon, settling for the mundanity of riding a mid-class Ford, Hyundai or Toyota to work. What if I said that can all change for you?

(What if I just exaggerated a bit for effect?)

The German-crafted Steam-Powered Dragon is powered by a nickel-plated brass boiler double-acting Wilesco steam engine, which drives the dragon’s tin construction to its limits. At 20cm tall, we wouldn’t call the dragon rideable, but maybe if you got really drunk or something…

100 dragons are available for $US1500 apiece. [pucciManuli via Nerd Approved]

Fully Functional Steampunk Vibrator Might Scald Your Privates

Jack Loftus — Sun, 03 May 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Unemployed exhibitionist metal worker Ani Niow created this fine piece of true steampunk craftsmanship, which for once actually deserves the “steampunk” moniker. Yes, it works. Sort of. Just avoid touching any exposed skin.

While it technically does run off steam, Niow cautions you’ll need to wear insulated welding gloves to handle it without getting burned. This is why she’s temporarily using compressed air for now.

If she can secure a smaller portable boiler she’ll give the thing a run at full power, as was intended. Just wear those gloves as a precaution anyway, ok Ani? [Flickr via Laughing Squid via Hackaday]

Steam-Powered iPod Charger Brings Back Memories of Locomotives and Cowboys

Erica Ho — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:40:00 +0000

One of Boing Boing’s readers managed to build his own steam-powered iPod charger. When your iPod goes “up in smoke,” at least it won’t mean an emergency trip to the Genius Bar.

A Lego Technic Motor was attached to a Jensen #75 steam engine to make a crude generator. He then added a 5V regulator circuit and soldered a female USB connection. He also added some circuit protection. It even looks like a cute little rest stop on the Oregon Trail before you had to dump all that leftover buffalo meat you shot into the river (sigh, what a waste.) He should remember though that water, heat and electronics usually don’t mix or he might end up taking the pony express to the nearest Apple store. [Boing Boing Gadgets]

World’s Fastest Kettle: Steam Supercar to Break 270KPH Barrier

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:00:00 +0000

This is the World’s Fastest Kettle. That’s what Charles Burnett III calls his steam supercar, which will race at 270kph over the Mojave Desert this coming June. Yes, I can’t believe it either.

The 7.6-metre-long steam supercar has a theoretical speed of 270kph. It uses four 90Ah electric batteries for ignition, which fires up the gas to heat twelve boilers. The boilers—which have a whooping 3.2km of metal tubing inside—can heat 13.2 gallons of water (50 litres) per minute to a temperature of 752 degrees Fahrenheit (400ºC). The resulting vapour is injected into a 13,000rpm turbine at go time.

Burnett will try to beat the previous record—established at 205.446kph by American Fred Marriott in 1906—over the Mojave Desert in early June.

GALLERY

END

[Daily Mail]

Giz Explains: Everything You Wanted to Know About DRM

Matt Buchanan — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:00:00 +0000

Condensed explanation: Digital rights management is a corporate pain in the arse that stops you from doing whatever you want with music and movies in the name of fighting piracy. But there’s more to it.

Google Buying Valve?

Mark Wilson — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:15:00 +0000

Weeeeird. According to The Inquirer, Google is set to acquire video game company Valve at any moment now. It might seem like an odd match at first, search engines not having much to do with The Orange Box, but Google may be interested not in Valve’s games but in Valve’s game distribution platform, Steam. Steam is the most veteran digital download service on the block, and acquiring the tech could further enable Google to take over the world/galaxy. Also, rumour has it that Valve has developed a rich stockpile of badass digital weaponry, like laser machine guns and WMDs and stuff. [theinquirer]

UPDATE: Kotaku spoke with Valve who said the rumour is false.

Valve’s Steam Cloud Brings Cloud Computing to Gaming Masses

Matt Buchanan — Fri, 30 May 2008 13:30:00 +0000

In the next update to Valve’s Steam client, which distributes and manages PC games, and is probably the best digital distribution setup around (other software companies wish they had a setup half as good), Valve will be throwing cloud computing into the mix. Called Steam Cloud, the update will let you store profiles, keybindings and all of your save games online, in addition to social networking features like calendars and stuff. The cloud storage is free. Why is this a big deal?

A game company is taking the lead with two very hyped developments in how we consume software—digital distribution and cloud computing. Steam was already groundbreaking in the way it eliminated physical media from the big software equation on a mass level, and and Steam Cloud does something similar, bringing cloud computing to the masses. (It’s been so successful Steam sales are about to overtake box sales for Valve.)

Google does this to an extent with Google Docs but by integrating it with the Steam client, Valve takes it a little further—it doesn’t matter whose PC you’re on, all of your stuff is there, waiting. Ironically, as much as Microsoft’s trying to fend off the cloud, Xbox Live presents a pretty awesome opportunity to dive into it and do something similar—they already do with respect to software distribution. [Maximum PC]

Steam Powered Electronic Newspaper Makes Us Ask If This is Really Necessary

Jason Chen — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:00:00 +0000

Does the world really need another steam powered anything? And if it does, would an electronic newspaper be the most appropriate thing to be steam powered? We don’t have any answers for these questions. All we know is that this Japanese setup can turn a page in all of 15 seconds, making it a whole two seconds faster than our “pull down our pants and turn it with our ass” approach. [Digital World Tokyo via Uber Gizmo]

1930s Steam Cooker Uses Car Exhaust To Cook For, Poison Your Family

Gizmodo US Edition — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:30:00 +0000

Before the advent of the drive-through, families on road trips were stumped by the dilemma of how to have a hot meal ready at any time during their travels. But never fear, 1930s road warrior — hook up this automatic food cooking contraption to your exhaust pipe and your car will prepare your dinners for you!

The cooker, meant to be mounted on the rear bumper, contains a steam pressure kettle that gets heated by aromatic, flavourful hot exhaust. An hour’s drive will yield you thoroughly cooked meats and vegetables, enveloped in the essence of leaded gasoline. Yum! [Modern Mechanix via Boing Boing]

Anti-Bacterial, Superheated Steam Cleaner Resembles Bird, Cleans to OCD Standard

Addy Dugdale — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:52:38 +0000

This 1200-watt anti-bacterial steam cleaner cleans anything, apparently. Toilets, engine parts of 50-year-old Ferraris, tile grouting—even dirty minds come away purer than a nun’s chuff* after a blast from this. Plug it in, fill the reservoir with water and anti-bacterial solution, wait three minutes and then spray away. The handheld model comes with 10 accessories (there’s also another model for giving floors and carpets the once-over) and costs US$100. [Herrington Catalog via Red Ferret]
*I made that up.