Technabob » cooling

Antec Soundscience A/V Cooler Keeps Your Home Theater Gear from Overheating

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 22:14:57 +0000

I remember well the day my first PS3 died. I was sitting in my office working and all the sudden I heard this beeping sound. Once I walked around the corner, I could see the light on the PS3 flashing behind the glass door of my entertainment system. When I opened that glass door, my eyebrows were roasted half off by the heat trapped inside. Bye, Bye PS3.

If your entertainment center is poorly ventilated – or your gear just gets hotter than you like it to, Antec has a new solution specifically for cooling your gear. The device is called the Soundscience A/V Cooler. Inside the shiny silver case is a pair of dual speed 80mm blower fans.

The top of the device is aluminum for heat dissipation. The cooler pulls hot air in from under the device and then spits that hot air out the back through pair of vents. The dual fans promise quiet operation with a maximum of 28.7 dBA of noise. Antec also says that the device needs only 5W of power to operate on high. You can order the Soundscience A/V Cooler now for $139.95 (USD).

Self-Cooling Clothing Cools You Down When You Break a Sweat

Hazel Chua — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:00:27 +0000

The weather on my side of the world has been crazy lately. One minute it’s scorching hot, and the next, it’s so humid that I can literally feel the water vapor hanging in the air condense on my skin.

Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but I’m not kidding about the erratic weather. Now if only there were some kind of clothing that could automatically cool me down once I begin breaking out a sweat. Oh, wait, there is already clothing that can do that.

Released and developed by the Columbia Sportswear Company, the Omni-Freeze line of clothing automatically cools down once sweat comes into contact with it. Each item in the line is made with special flat yarns that encourage the release of heat and altogether feel cooler to the touch. Aside from that, the flat yarns are bonded with a special chemical that reacts with sweat (or water) to provide a cooling effect.

The whole thing sounds like a really good idea to me. However, I can’t help but wonder: what if the wearer gets caught in a downpour? I doubt anyone would ever want to cool down even more during a heavy storm.

[via Engadget via Dvice]

iPhone Dock Fan: Does Just About the Only Thing Apps Can’t Do

Lambert Varias — Tue, 31 May 2011 15:29:51 +0000

Want to keep cool while you’re using your iPhone? There’s a fan for that – the Dock Fan from JTT. As its name implies, it plugs into the iPhone’s dock, meaning it can also be used with the iPod Touch and the iPad. The fan can be tilted 90º, although not towards the side facing the screen.

The Dock Fan gets its juice from your iOS device – the iPhone 4 in particular can power it for as long as 6 hours. The blades of the Dock Fan are made of soft urethane plastic, so it’s highly unlikely to cause an injury even while in use.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can order the Dock Fan from JTT for ¥1,260 (~ $15 USD). I wonder if you can mod it and amp up it’s output to turn it into a Dock Rotor.

[via InventorSpot via Ubergizmo]

Nyko Intercooler STS for Xbox 360 Slim: Aren’t These Not Supposed to Overheat?

Range — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 11:00:55 +0000

While Microsoft might not approve of Nyko’s Intercooler, if you’re worried about your Xbox 360 Slim overheating, you haven’t got many options available. However, unlike the original console, the Xbox 360 Slim isn’t supposed to overheat much, but you know what, it’s probably better to be safe than sorry.

Nyko’s Intercooler STS was made to work exclusively with the black Xbox 360 Slim. It has a temperature sensor that makes the fan only run when you actually need it, and power comes directly from the Xbox’s USB ports. It blends in pretty nicely with the look of the Xbox 360 too.

The Intercooler STS is currently available for $20 (USD), so it’s not that much to pay to have peace of mind during a marathon gaming session.

[via CrunchGear]

Thanko PC Waterbed Cools Laptops, Let’s Hope it Doesn’t Leak

Range — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:13:26 +0000

I’ve never been one to mix water with electronics, but if your laptop is generating too much heat, then you need to do something about it, right? This portable waterbed for your laptop should get the job done. Now, why didn’t of that?

Yes, my Asus laptop gets very hot, but my new MacBook Pro doesn’t. It just stays very cool most of the time. That being said, if you tax your processor and graphics card a lot, your laptop will heat up. That’s why Thanko came up with this PC Waterbed.

It combines a cushion with a cooling unit. The outer part of the unit can be filled with air, while the part under your laptop is filled with water. I don’t know how efficient this is, never mind the fact that it’s filled with water, natural enemy of electronics. If you’re willing to take the risk of a wet laptop (or just a wet lap), it’s available for ¥1,980 ($24 USD) here.

[via DVice]

KÜHLER H2O 620 Liquid Cooling System Keeps CPUs Cool Without the Mess

Shane McGlaun — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 14:00:34 +0000

I am a serious computer gaming geek, and once I decided I wanted liquid cooling inside my machine. I gathered all the parts together for a roll-your-own liquid cooling system. It was a nightmare to route the hoses where they would reach and not be crimped. Once it started up, leaks were a big problem and I ended up going back to air-cooling. What I needed was something like this new self-contained liquid cooling system by Asetek.

The KÜHLER H20 620 system is a joint venture between Asetek and Antec and uses a copper cooing plate that sits on the CPU and a radiator with fans. The hoses are all hooked up right from the get go and the liquid is inside the tubes.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The system is maintenance free and the hoses are designed to bend easily to prevent kinks. Asetek claims that the system is able to cool 20% better than air and it costs not much more than a nice aftermarket air cooler. The 620 will ship this month for $69.95 (USD).

Use Winter Air to Cool a Blindingly-Hot PC

Range — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 15:16:56 +0000

Yes we know; gaming PCs can get very hot. There was a time when I had one inside my bedroom and I usually had to turn down the heat when I was playing. Sure, nowadays, you can get liquid-cooled PCs, but an enterprising modder decided to use the cool winter air to get his PC down to manageable temperatures.

While initially I thought that this was a joke, it turned out to be a serious mod. Ultimately, if you PC is generating this much heat, you need to get creative, especially if you are overclocking it. So if your PC is melting your desk, then you should check this out to make sure that it won’t set fire to your bedroom.

If you doubt that this is possible, you can check out all of the pictures of the build here.

[Hack A Day via Ubergizmo]

Asetek Liquid Cooled All-in-One Pc: Cool Inside and Out

Lambert Varias — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 12:34:57 +0000

All-in-one PCs look nice and simple to set up, but they don’t appeal to hardcore computer users because these people know that it’s the insides that count, and PCs with slim form factors generally don’t have top of the line CPUs and GPUs because of the lack of airflow inside their cramped spaces. Until now, that is. Asetek claims that they’ve come up with a PC that combines the best of both worlds – a slim computer with drool-worthy guts, in this case a 130W Intel Core i7-920 desktop processor and a 75W nVidia GTX280M graphics card.

Installed in the stand of Asetek’s prototype is a high performance radiator coupled with a low profile fan. The coolant is distributed to cold plates attached to the GPU and CPU via a pump. Also, Asetek would like us to know that these parts are all high performance or low profile or both, as explained by Thermal Engineer Todd:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Ah, the old lab coat-wearing expert; why won’t you go away? No word yet on when the PC will be finalized, but I’m pretty sure this one won’t be cheap. That, and the fact that some PC enthusiasts actually enjoy customizing their rig means that this will have a limited appeal, but it’ll still find a home with well-moneyed folks, savvy graphics people, and hardcore gamers who don’t care about constantly upgrading their systems.

[via DVICE]

Ecofan Bamboo Cooling Stands: Cool Your Laptop With Wood

Technabob — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:32:31 +0000

Does your laptop get hotter than Hades and overheat all the time? I know there are plenty of laptop cooling solutions out there, but how many of them actually look decent?

Macally’s wooden ECOFAN and ECOFANPRO stands keep your laptop nice and cool, and look good doing it . Each stand has a built-in USB powered cooling fan, and can support any laptop up to 17″. They’re made from Bamboo wood, which not only has a warm natural style, it’s eco-friendly.

While the ECOFAN features a fixed-position stand, I greatly prefer the adjustable height stand on the ECOFANPRO (pictured above). Here’s a snapshot of the simpler model:

Both stands are available over on Amazon, with prices around $32 to 33 (USD) for either model. With virtually no price difference, there’s no reason not to go PRO.

Now all I need is one of those Bamboo laptops to go with this, and I’ll be set.

Xbox Aquarium Casemod: Swimming With the Fishes

Technabob — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:52:17 +0000

So you’ve got an old Xbox lying around the house and you don’t know what to do with it? Why not do like this guy did and float it in your fish tank?

Yep, thanks to the non-conductive cooling properties of mineral oil, this submerged Xbox system still works as well as it did the day it shipped from Microsoft. As a matter of fact, the CPU in the aquarium Xbox actually runs a full 10-degrees (Celsius) cooler than it used to. The only thing that modder b-rad didn’t have the guts to immerse were the mechanical components like the DVD player and hard drive. I don’t blame him.

B-rad is still putting the finishing touches on his fish tank Xbox, and still plans to add a proper lid and some colorful LEDs before he calls it done. You can read all about it over on the Llama’s Game Console Forums.

Despite the science behind it, the fact that this thing works at all still amazes me.

Coolit Pc Casemod Gives Me the Chills

Technabob — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:32:16 +0000

I’m pretty sure that this custom-built PC won’t ever overheat. That’s not just because it looks like a frosty block of snow and ice. It’s actually decked out with a completely over-the-top cooling system that keeps the interior of the computer at arctic temperatures.

The CoolIT PC is named after the system’s cooling technologies, provided by CoolIT systems. 19-year old Dominic Heiße painstakingly built the entire CoolIT computer case from scratch, using MDF for the main case structure, overlays of Plexiglas cut to look like icicles, and (I think) layers of Bondo for building up the snowy look on the surface.

The case is loaded up with a heavy duty Boreas liquid cooling rig, along with 15, count ‘em, 15 neatly arranged fans in the back of the case. The whole thing is illuminated by tons of cool blue LEDs to complete the icy cold look. Check out the gallery below for more pics:

You can see Dominic’s complete photolog of the construction process over on the CoolIT Forums. Very cool indeed. Downright cold, actually.

[via modding.ru]

LEGO-Like Fridge Concept Allows Thieves to Steal Your Fridge One Stack at a Time

Lambert Varias — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:54:53 +0000

Designed by Stefan Buchberger, a student at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, the Flatshare fridge concept gives you your own fridge space, perfect for roommates. And wives with messy husbands. Since the modules are stackable, you can just pile them in one spot like a normal fridge. And when you finally divorce your husband, you can take your part of the fridge with you, i.e. the one with actual food in it.

The stacks also allow for even more specific temperatures for different items – you can freeze your meat in one stack and leave your veggies on a separate stack. As you can see, the fridge is made of up to 4 modules plus a base module, which I think has the temperature controls and the actual cooling mechanism. Wait. So there’s still a problem when you and your fridgemate part ways – who gets the base module?

But if your fridge was as cute as these stacks, I’m sure you’ll be willing to buy another base module of your own. I like the one on the right. This is definitely one of those concepts that deserves to be mass-produced.

[via Inhabitat]

Big Ass Fans: ‘Nuff Said

Lambert Varias — Wed, 27 May 2009 11:30:01 +0000

No, I’m not going to talk about sizable fans for your butt. Although I’d like to see what an ass fan would look like, what I’ll be sharing with you today are fans that are just plain huge. Just big ass fans, called Big Ass Fans, from the company Big Ass Fans.

While your run of the mill fan has a diameter no bigger than 5 ft., Big Ass Fans are at least 6 ft and top out at a huge ass 24 ft. in diameter. Big Ass Fans rotate slower than ordinary fans, so they use less energy, but at the same time they produce up to 25 times more airflow compared to conventional models. Big Ass Fans are so effective, they can even ” make the surrounding area feel between 8 – 16ºF cooler.”

The innards of Big Ass Fans are as revolutionary as their size. See, typical fans are turned by gears, which results in the sometimes annoying buzzing sound. Big Ass Fans on the other hand are operated by a series of magnetic pads. Not only does that make the fans run silently, it also makes Big Ass Fans more efficient because of the “friction-free rotation.”

Big Ass Fans come in 5 models: the small and minimalist Isis, the mobile vertical floor fan Airgo, the position-adjustable Pivot, the stylish Element (Flaming Lips’ frontman Wayne Coyne has one in his house), and the strongest Big Ass Fan, the high-performance Powerfoil X.

You can contact Big Ass Fans at 877-BIG FANS (244-3267) if you’re a US resident, +44 (0) 1942 200787 for UK residents, and at +61 (0) 0458 589 955 for those of you in Australia for pricing and other details. You can also fill out a form at the Big Ass Fan website and wait for a representative to contact you.

[via Popular Mechanics]

Giant Computer Fans: Not Cool (Unless Your Name is Macgyver)

Lambert Varias — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:20:55 +0000

Cooling and proper ventilation is an important aspect of building computers, especially for gamers or hobbyists who want to get the most out of their machines by overclocking processors and…doing other stuff that I don’t really understand. There are tons of sophisticated cooling solutions for computers, but what if you don’t have the money to get your PC some sweet liquid cooling? You improvise. As we all know, “improvise” comes from the Latin word improvisus, meaning “get a huge electric fan and aim it at your PC.”

Fresh Pics has gathered some of these improvised cooling solutions, and man if I had the money I’d get these guys some proper gear. This is like steampunk, but way uglier.

I’m not much of a hardware guy, so I’m really wondering: at that distance, won’t the fan blow away some of the computer’s tiny parts?

With a main fan that huge, is the smaller second fan even necessary?

This one’s actually more sophisticated than the other setups, but doesn’t it need another pipe – or another fan – so that the air inside circulates properly?

Actually, I used to place bottle caps underneath my Macbook to elevate its bottom, thinking that it would help dissipate heat. It did nothing but make the laptop look stupid. At least these guys had common sense. Check out Fresh Pics for more fan fails.

Just Cooler Notebook Coolers With Built-in Speakers: Not Just Cool

Lambert Varias — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:50:16 +0000

I’m sure some of you have seen Brando’s quirky notebook cooling pads, the ones that have HDD slots that leave the attached drive’s butt hanging in the air. Just Cooler’s cooling pads aren’t as weird, but they have their own gimmick: their latest models have built-in speakers. One of them’s a 2.1 system, although I don’t know how just much oomph a 10-watt subwoofer provides.

The one on the left is the NB-9100. The pad’s angle is adjustable so you can tweak it to fit your needs. It has 2 2-watt speakers and can support notebooks of up to 17″. The one on the left is perfect for those who want to have their laptops served in bed. Hmmm. Come to think of it, you can also use it to cool actual food. Anyway. This model, the NB-8000, is the one that has a 10-watt subwoofer along with a pair of 5-watt speakers. Both are powered via USB, but the NB-8000 can also run on 4 D batteries.

Both have fan speeds of 1500 rpm and a noise level of 25 dbA. Both are not yet for sale. But soon they will be. And when you get one and people asked you why you got it, just say, ” ’cause it’s Just Cooler.”

[via Chip Chick]

Hundreds of Box Fans as Interactive Art

Technabob — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:45:44 +0000

This unusual art installation took hundreds and hundreds of individual cooling fans, and tied them together with sensors that detect the movements of passersby to produce an amazing visual and sensory experience.

Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde worked with a team of technical wizards to create this mammoth interactive work entitled Flow 5.0. The display dynamically adjusts the speed and direction of the fans, reacting to visitors’ movements. The installation was constructed as two 10-meter-long walls which immerse visitors in the center of the artwork (and gives them a nice cool breeze while they’re at it).

Flow 5.0 is on display through January 3, 2008 at the Kapelica Gallery in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In other words, you probably won’t be seeing it up close and personal, so you’ll just have to live with this video clip instead.

[via dezeen]

Dumbest Person Ever

Technabob — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 17:40:35 +0000

I’m really hoping this forum post over on Blu-ray.com is fake…

According to the poster of the thread, his friend was wondering why his shiny new Playstation 3 had stopped working, when he discovered the unthinkable. His buddy decided to duct tape over the vents in order to keep dust OUT of the console. Yeah, that’ll keep it nice and clean.

I think we might have a new candidate for the Darwin Awards.

[via CrunchGear]

The Real Puffy Shirt

Technabob — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 03:20:51 +0000

Here’s a fun one that must have slipped past my radar screen when it hit the circuit last year. This USB-powered clothing is designed to keep you cool on those warm Summer days.

As long as you don’t mind looking like a complete fool, the air conditioned shirt plugs into your computer and blows air onto your sweaty body, keeping you cool all day long. The fans will also run on batteries if there’s no USB power source nearby. Designed by an ex-Sony technician, it’s no wonder the PlayStation 3 has such a good cooling system.

Our friends over at CScout Japan have these shirts for $159 each.

[via Newlaunches via CNet Asia]

Cool Your Hot Console With a Radiator

Technabob — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:42:26 +0000

For certain current-gen consoles (espectially those that start with an “X” and end with a “360″), overheating has been a recurring problem for many of us. I’ve seen all sorts of cooling fans that claim to help with the problem, and sometimes they do. That said, there doesn’t appear to be a perfect solution, other than a redesign of the console’s innards.

However, for those of us who have already purchased said white-hot console, we’re always looking for options too keep the thing from melting down. This add-on takes a vastly different approach than those noisy fans.

This passive “heat radiator” lays on top of your (horizontal) sweltering console or computer. It’s aluminum fins are said to dissipate the hot stuff, decreasing the heat retained inside your precious electronic gear. As a bonus, it’s got a funky picture of some unknown JapAnime character on it (take that Intercooler!)

The Console Heat Radiator is available from Japan’s HimeyaShop for $35.

Xbox 360 Fan Adds More Outputs Than You’ll Ever Need

Technabob — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 21:22:19 +0000

This new fan attachment for the back of the Xbox 360 gives you much more than just supplemental cooling. It actually adds a variety of direct-access connectors to the back of the console, eliminating the need for special adapter cables.

Along with two cooling fans, the add-on gives you easy access to VGA, Component, Composite and S-Video outputs. There’s also four USB connectors, a TOSLink optical out for digital audio and an Ethernet pass-through. The GA-CX1005XB Docking Station Fan will be available from Japan’s DigitalCowboy starting July 13th. Pricing information hasn’t been announced yet.

[via AV Watch]