Technabob » destruction

High-Voltage Plasma TV Burnout Is Spectactular, Dangerous

Technabob — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 17:30:23 +0000

After watching countless “will it blend?” videos, I was actually getting pretty burnt out on viewing the destruction of countless innocent gadgets. Maybe it was because of the monotony of watching stuff getting chopped up in a blender. For those of you who’d like to see some stuff destroyed in a different way, you’ve come to the right place now.

What we have here is a video of the demolition of the screen on a defunct LG plasma display, courtesy of a microwave transformer. By connecting the high voltage leads of one of these dangerous transformers to the screen of this plasma, YouTuber Aussie50 puts on a spectactular lightshow, while risking life and limb.

Amazingly, the display doesn’t just peter out after a couple of minutes of high-voltage, but keeps going for almost 15 minutes. Needless to say, playing around with plasma screens and microwave transformers is really dangerous stuff, and you could kill yourself in an instant if you accidentally come in contact with a spark – or flying glass from an exploding plasma screen. Suffice it to say, do not try this at home. Leave it to the professionals (or the professional lunatics like Aussie50.)

[via Doobybrain]

Navy Records 32-Megajoule Railgun Firing on Video

Shane McGlaun — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 01:00:05 +0000

You know, if I heard some gun maker talking about how they were working on railguns, I would probably laugh and move on about my business. When the U.S. military tells you it’s working on something as far-fetched as a railgun, it’s hard to ignore it, because the military and its various research arms, and its contractors have a long history of taking the improbable and bringing it to fruition. The railgun that I talked about a while back is a perfect example, this weapon is literally straight out of a video game, yet the military has made it real.

The U.S. Navy has test fired the first of two industry-built railgun prototypes. They had to use a very oddly shaped projectile that is not aerodynamic in the test so it would slow down quickly. The projectile looks sort of like an engine part to me and is a big and bulky thing. The Navy recorded one of the six test firings of the railgun constructed by BAE on video, and it’s pretty spectacular:

That is one the coolest videos I’ve seen from the military in a long time. I can only imagine how far an aerodynamic projectile would have traveled and the speeds it would’ve reached. The Navy plans to eventually fire an aerodynamic projectile from the weapon, with a goal distance of 220 nautical miles. You certainly would not want to be on the receiving end of that.

[via Navy Times]

Drive A Tank Lets You Drive Real Tanks, Crush Real Cars

Hazel Chua — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 18:00:49 +0000

This year was a particularly tough one for me. I had a lot of things I had to hurdle through, from personal matters to work-related stuff. But now that it’s nearing the end of the year, I’d like to say that 2011 had it’s good times despite all the bad. One thing I learned from everything was how important it was to learn how to let things go in order to move on.

To help cope, you could try yoga, pottery, work on arts and crafts, write about it in a journal, do some kick-boxing, or drive a tank and crush some cars. Yes, you read that right: Drive A Tank lets you drive an armored tank around for a day and even crush some real cars, if you want to. How’s that for anger release?

The basic tank driving package costs $499 (USD), and you have to fork over an additional $499 if you want to crush a car. Or if you’re feeling mighty angry that day, just add $200 more dollars and crush two cars.

You can drive a tank at Drive A Tank in Kasota, Minnesota. They even offer a helicopter taxi service to and from Minneapolis/St. Paul, since that’s the closest major city. This is a pretty expensive way to manage your anger though, so you might just want to try a few yoga classes instead.

But kidding aside, Drive A Tank seems to offer a unique service that you probably won’t find elsewhere.

[via Reddit]

Protect Your Hard Drive Secrets With a Simple Sticker

Range — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 11:02:19 +0000

While I don’t think that hackers need any info on how to destroy their data in case of an FBI raid, other people might need a helping hand. Here’s the easiest way to destroy your hard drive, in case of an emergency. FYI, you’d best keep a drill handy.

Just like in the movies, the “safest” way of disposing of a hard drive would be a strong electromagnet or some white phosphorous explosives. Since most of us don’t have easy access to either of these, I guess this sticker do quite nicely.

You can find the pattern to print out right here. Randy Sarafan recommends that you check the appropriate iFixt teardown to locate the exact position of your laptop’s hard drive before applying your sticker.

[via Free Art & Technology]

Beautiful Xbox 360 Explosions: Cool but Why?

Range — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 13:03:58 +0000

While I do see the photographic beauty in these exploding Xbox 360 consoles, just like the Apple products that were shot, I wonder if his is just a colossal waste. Admittedly, it makes a bold statement.

These images were created by Dan Saelinger for a Fortune Magazine story about the demise of a console. It doesn’t even look like these consoles had the dreaded Red Ring of Death before they were blown up.

In order to get the perfect image, they blew up 10 Xbox 360s and 8 controllers. Even if it was an expensive waste, the final shot is still pretty cool. This cool slow motion video captured during the shoot is definitely worth watching…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[Dan Saelinger via Kotaku]

Google Destroys Its Own Chrome Notebooks – to Prove a Point

Technabob — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 03:05:24 +0000

So if you’ve been paying attention at all to the news this week, Google revealed their first Chrome-based notebook computer. It’s the first mainstream PC to shy away from local application and document storage – moving as much as possible into the cloud. While many people are concerned about privacy and security of storing content with Google, there is one big advantage – portability. You can get to your stuff any time, any place. To prove this point, Google has put together a little video clip.

In the 5 minute-long clip, Google Chrome UX designer Glen Murphy puts his Chrome notebook through some basic paces – creating documents, editing images and whatnot. All the while, his computer keeps getting snatched and sent off to meet its maker. Seconds later, his notebook is replaced with a fresh one, and everything Glen was working on is restored, instantly.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

While I’m sure that you won’t have a spare computer lying around if this were to happen to you, it does prove a good point. Cloud-based computing could definitely be a god-send for corporate IT teams. Imagine never having to re-image or restore a machine from backups, since everything you do is centrally stored. And if your home PC were to fall into a vat of liquid nitrogen or be grilled alive, you could get back to work as soon as you bought a new machine.

And if you’re still not convinced, and want to stick with your old-school laptop, that’s cool. You can still enjoy the video for the wanton destruction.

Antimov: This Robot Will Self Destruct in 5 Seconds.

Technabob — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 01:50:22 +0000

Ok, this is my kind of contest. The whole point of Sparkfun Electronics’ Anitmov competition is to create robots which are supposed to complete a trivial task in a highly inefficient way, in the course, destroying themselves. Think of it like the Mission Impossible tape recorder, except with robots.

Entries included everything from a ghostly piñata that gets the crap beaten out of it by children, a suicidal LEGO bot, and the winner – Dennis Brunner’s “Teddy Bear Birthday Party,” a robot who tries to cut a birthday cake – with horrific, childhood-scarring results.Check out the prize-winning robotic mayhem in the video clip below…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[Sparkfun via Make:]

The Face of Washing Machine Destruction

Technabob — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 22:10:55 +0000

Remember that little clip we posted the other day, showing off the cataclysmic destruction left in the wake of throwing bricks in a washing machine? Well I can officially tell you that I like this new version better.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Oh, the humanity! Oh, that’s right, it’s still an inanimate object.

Washing Machine Cleans Bricks

Shane McGlaun — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:24:19 +0000

When I was a kid my grandmother had this set of plates that had gold leaf on them. When she got her first microwave, I used to sneak into the kitchen and put one of the plates in the microwave to see the sparks it created. It’s a good thing there was no YouTube when I was a kid. The only thing keeping me from trying out the old “brick in the washing machine trick” at my house right now is that I am the one who would have to pay for a new machine. If you are in the same boat, you will have to make do with the video of this dude killing his washing machine in fantastic style by tossing bricks inside it during the spin cycle.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

One brick made the machine smoke and vibrate a lot. Once the second brick was added all hell breaks loose and some innocent flowers are killed in the process. This is much better than the Will it Blend stuff.

[via Laughing Squid]

Do Hit Chair: Cool or Stupid?

Lambert Varias — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:06:55 +0000

Designed by Marijn van der Poll of Droog Designs, the Do hit chair isn’t much of a chair in its vanilla state. It’s simply a 40″ x 28″ x 30″ stainless steel box, about 0.05-inches thick. But it also comes with a wide-headed hammer. Guess what you can (have to?) do with the box.

That’s right; van der Poll draws a very thin line between customization and destruction. Here’s the designer himself “customizing” a Do hit chair:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I hate to be a downer here, but even though whaling on your furniture seems like a fun activity, I don’t think you’ll ever make a comfortable chair out of it. Not that that’s the point of the whole thing. Eh, at least you get a free sledgehammer out of the deal. Contact sales@droog.com to request the price of the Do hit chair.

[via uncrate]

Inversion for Xbox 360 and PS3: It’S All About the Gravity

Technabob — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:48:20 +0000

Now I’ve not been shy in saying that the Gravity Gun in Half Life 2 is my all-time favorite video game weapon. So when I heard about Namco Bandai’s new Xbox 360/PS3 third-person gravity manipulation shooter Inversion, my curiosity was definitely piqued.

In Inversion, your primary weapon is the Grappler – which is like a Gravity Gun on steroids. Wielding the Grappler, you can move massive environmental objects, changing the landscape of the gameplay arena with a pull of the trigger. And while you can manipulate objects with your Grappler, you’ll also encounter zero gravity and other gravitational anomalies in the environment, which should make for some unique combat situations. You’ll also need to use your gravity manipulation skills to solve a variety of puzzles that keep you from reaching your objectives.

Think your opponent is crouching behind that bus? Just pick it up and move it out of the way. Or better yet, drop the bus on his head. Or just toss him aside like yesterday’s garbage.

Inversion is also one of the first games to feature Havok’s new Destruction physics engine, which provides incredible destructible environments – woo hoo! The game is being developed by Saber Interactive – best known for the time-manipulation shooter TimeShift.

Expect Inversion to land on Xbox 360s and PS3s some time in 2010. Keep an eye out for this one. Just don’t try and hide behind anything. I’ll find you and drop a bus (or two) on your ass.

Lethal Pneumatic Ping Pong Gun: ‘Nuff Said.

Lambert Varias — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:45:51 +0000

MAKE magazine fan/artist/inventor/sculptor/prototyper/modern da Vinci Ron Kissinger built an air-powered gun that turns ping pong balls into balls of fury.

The gun has a magazine that can fire up to 14 shots. It takes a few seconds to load the ammo – i.e. a ping pong ball – and prepare the gun, but there’s no doubt that it’s lethal.

Kissinger also injected water into ping pong balls, creating some plywood-destroying, extra strength ammo.

Here’s the gun in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Don’t try this at home. You might have too much fun.

[via TinyEnormous via OhGizmo]

LCD Monitor Death by Firing Squad

Technabob — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:07:28 +0000

Some guy who was frustrated with his broken LCD monitor decided to take out his frustrations on the poor thing using a BB gun.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Now it goes without saying that you probably shouldn’t try this at home. However, you can always pick up one of these.

[via