The CampStove features a thermoelectric system that will transform part of the heat of the fire into electrical energy by moving the internal fan. There are no batteries or other fuels required. You can charge any USB device, from smartphones to LED lights. The overall device is quite small and packs away easily since it’s about the size of a Nalgene bottle.

It sells for $129(USD) and will be released in the spring of this year, right about when you’ll need something like this when you go out camping.

[via NOTCOT]

But then came Serafin’s Wall Mount Liquid Fuel Fireplace. Your home could be really cramped for space but you could still have the comfort that a fireplace can provide, right on your very own wall.

The entire thing was made to look like a blank metal canvas on the wall if it’s not being used, so it doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb in your home. The fireplace makes use of a natural ethanol-based fuel, too, so you don’t have to worry about ventilation or anything of that sort because it burns so cleanly.

You can get your own wall-mounted fireplace from Amazon for $649(USD).

[via 7gadgets]

Demonstrated in the video below – albeit on a very small fire – their system manages to snuff out a flame by destabilizing the fire by playing with electromagnetism and acoustics. While the DARPA program that drove the experiment aims to extinguish fires instantly, this technique does take a few seconds to kill these small methane flames.

It’s unclear exactly how it works, and there’s no evidence that they could scale it up to put out larger fires with the same technique. Still, it’s kind of magical how they just wave that little wand over the flames, and it puts them out for good.

[DARPA via Geekosystem]

The tech was developed by New Zealand-based fireplace manufacturer Escea and is currently available in their two latest models, the DX1500 and DL850. Both fireplaces can be operated remotely by an iOS app – shown above – eliminating the need for a dedicated remote control or any conjuring skills. An Android app is also being developed. Both models can also be integrated with home automation systems.

The list of character-building activities continues to dwindle. What’s next, an app that pitches tents? I would buy that. I have built my character using weakness and resignation.

[via Design Milk]

The Sparxgear Fire Piston is based on technology that first began in South East Asia and the Pacific Islands to kindle fire in ancient times. This Kickstarter project is simply a hollow anodized aluminum cylinder and a piston used to create an ember.

A piece of fuel, wood or cloth, is put on the end of the piston and then quickly compressed. This causes the fuel in the piston to combust allowing someone to then use it to start a fire. Pretty sweet camping accessory huh?

If you want one, a pledge of $35 (USD) or more will get you in on the fire-starting action.

[via Geeky-Gadgets]

The idea behind Green Footprint is simple. When a fire is detected, a special ceiling fixture releases a glowing flourescent liquid into hallways and offices. As people move around the room, the dye leaves a trail of glowing footprints wherever they walked. In theory, this would lead firefighters to see exactly where people made their exit or if they were trapped along the way.

If you’re wondering how the stuff would glow – the fixture would actually have lights inside of it, charging up the glow-in-the-dark goo all day long until a fire comes along and triggers a temperature sensor.

I know there are already fancy infrared cameras which let firefighters see the heat signatures of humans (and flames), but this seems like a nice low-tech solution which could definitely save lives – assuming that you can actually see the glowy footprints through the smoke.

Green Footprint was an entrant (and winner) of a Red Dot design concept award, and was conceptualized by Chen Hongyu, Tang Ruoqing, Wang Sheng, Zhu Baixuan and Bian Jing.

The Pyro Board was constructed for Fysickshow Aarhus in Denmark, and can create patterns from sound using flammable gas, pushed through a grid of pinhole jets. The rig sits on top of a loudspeaker inside of a flameproof metal box. When the sounds or music are played, they create low and high pressure zones between the metal box and the grid. These result in cool patterns of flame which move along to the beat of the music. Here, check it out for yourself:

It’s sort of like one of those sound-synchronized light shows, but using flames instead of LEDs or bulbs. While the patterns are definitely not as predictable as a Rubens’ tube, I think the effect is still pretty cool. Now I want a nightclub to install one of these and hand out marshmallows to roast on top of it.

[via Buzzfeed]

Instructables contributor lvl_joe made this fire-breathing pony out of a FurReal Friends Butterscotch Pony as an entry in their Hack It! Challenge. He combined the robotic pony with a flame thrower, some Arduino boards and other items – resulting in this fiery pony from hell.

If you want to try your hand at this, the full instructions are available on Instructables.

I love the way the neck moves realistically. It looks like an awesome pony of fiery vengeance come down from the heavens to kick ass and burn things to a cinder. Let’s all band together and make an army of these things.

For example, what should you do when some chemical accidentally gets into your eyes? Or how do you dispense acids when you need to handle them? And a pretty common concern: what do you do when something nearby catches fire from your Bunsen burner?

Well, for the third question, it actually depends on the class of fire you’re dealing with. These types of fires are classified based on what material is burning, and as a result, also require different firefighting agents in order to put them out. But when you’re in a huge hurry, then often you might just rush off to grab a bucket of water or hose it down with the chemical extinguisher without taking some time to identify what type of fire it is and what it needs to be put out completely.

Something that can definitely be of use is the FireFormula, which is a handy and portable firefighting device that contains both CO2 and H2O firefighting agents in different compartments. All you have to do is identify the fire, identify what it needs to be put out, and push the button.

The FireFormula extinguisher is a pretty neat concept design by Sheng-Hung Lee and Chen-Hua Wang, but not without some complications. First and foremost, the amount of each agent will be available in limited quantities because of the size. Second of all, the agents are usually pressurized so they’re able to extinguish the fire in a shorter amount of time.

That said, the FireFormula is a good idea, but it just needs to sort out some of the kinks in order to become a really, really good idea.

[via Yanko Design]

Made by Instructables contributor PDRWLSN, this flamethrower pistol looks like it could still do some pretty major damage, especially if you’re within a couple of feet of its flame-shooting barrel. He made it using various bits of copper tubing, plywood, some laser-cut acrylic parts, butane, and the pulse-ignitor from his gas grill to start the fire burning.

And while readers over on Make: have been quick to point out the dangers of spraying burning hydrocarbon into the atmosphere, you shouldn’t be playing with such a device if you’re not a little bit of a risk-taker.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I love how he uses it to melt snow off his barbecue grill. I could use one of these this winter for sure. I’m betting that we’ll have another blizzard or two this winter here in Chicago. And if not, I could still use one to hold back the impending zombie invasion.

[Instructables via Make:]

Stock Photo: Not the Actual Apartment Burnt Down by Flaming Poo

The price of gold has been rising pretty steadily over the past few months. And for those people who are down on their luck or in dire need of money, nothing is impossible. For example, Moran actually thought that it was possible to turn his own poop into gold by putting into an electric heater. All I can say is, if that were all it took to turn human waste into gold then everyone would be trying to poop their heads off – but they aren’t, for a reason: because it’s gross, it doesn’t work, and it can burn down your entire apartment block, which was what happened in Moran’s case.

Unfortunately for him, a judge wasn’t too impressed with his poop-to-gold experiment and has sentenced him to serve three months in jail.

[Belfast Telegraph via HuffPo via Dvice]

Kidding aside, the technology is Boeing’s way of “bringing science to the art of firefighting.” When I read “water balloons,” the first thing that popped into my head were the type of water balloons that I used to throw at my sisters (to piss them off) when I was much younger. Obviously, the ones used for Boeing’s firefighting system, Precision Container Aerial Delivery System (PCADS), are much larger, more durable, and environment-friendly. Each water balloon can hold about 250 gallons of water or fire-retardant. Not only is this method of fighting fires more accurate, but a regular C-130 cargo plane can be used to drop them, and can drop water at a higher altitude than traditional firefighting airplanes.

PCADS is still in its test phase, though, so forest fires will still have to be fought the traditional way for now. But I’m interested to see how big of a difference using PCADS will actually make in fighting such fires.

[via Dvice]

The dragon was created by Aaron Amatnieks (aka akama1_lego) and is red and its wings have a nice flamejob. It looks so cool to begin with, but the best part to me though is that the dragon actually breathes fire out of his mouth.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The video about the thing doesn’t actually show how the lighter is integrated. I am betting that the flame-spewing dragon uses one of the long lighters that you use for candles or starting a fireplace. It appears that a switch on the side of the grey egg triggers the flame. Honestly, I am not sure if that is an egg or if the dragon is supposed to be in the middle of tearing down a castle wall. Either way, it’s the coolest cigarette lighter you’ll see today.

[flickr via Brothers-Brick]

I’m not saying they might either, even after they get their hands on the DryShot Fire Extinguishing Gun. But it’s worth a shot (pun intended.)

I have a feeling these portable fire shooters extinguishers won’t fare very well with huge fires, but for teeny tiny fires, they will probably do. The conventional red (and heavy) fire extinguishers aren’t the easiest things to maneuver and sometimes, even the people who know of the PASS acronym even forget what the letters stand for.

Even the precious few seconds people spend staring aimlessly pondering what to do next could spell disaster because that might just be all the time the fire needs to grow exponentially.

Just aim the DryShot Fire Extinguishing Gun at the flames and shoot at them to snuff them out. For $43.65 (USD), you can get the gun and 3 cartridges from FocalPrice. Ready, aim, fire!

As much as I’d like to believe that SAT119 is just filled with the bravest and most determined water molecules on Earth, according to the manufacturer’s website, SAT119 contains chemicals that stop fires by accomplishing several things at once. One of the chemicals reacts with the oxygen in the vicinity to produce carbon dioxide, thus depriving the fire of oxygen. It also cools down burning materials and produces ammonia gas, which creates “a fire retardation effect that restrains the burning chain reaction.” Yes. Of course. That barely made sense to me. Here’s a video of a few safety experts choosing SAT119 and finding it super effective:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

In its concentrated form, SAT119 is good for putting out small fires; for larger blazes the manufacturer suggests diluting it in water. By the way the red packets in the picture above don’t contain the SAT119 fluid. Instead they contain potassium carbonate, which apparently is great at snuffing out cooking oil fires. Rakuten was selling the SAT119 for ¥6,090 (approx. $70 (USD), but they’re out of stock. If you know someone who lives in Japan you can ask them to snag a bottle or two from Amazon Japan.

[via Neatorama]

The guys at J&M Special Effects put together a set of DIY flamethrowers that are mounted on his gloves, firing intense, scalding flames from the palms of his hands. But who needs words when you can see it in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

This kick-ass pyro system is just a prototype, and the J&M guys say the final version of the system would be more streamlined so the hoses and cables could be hidden inside of a performer’s costume – which I can only hope would be flameproofed.

[YouTube via Gadjitz]

Actually, at first glance at the Lightning LED watch concept, I thought it looked like an electric cooktop, but then those tiny blue and yellow “flames” that go around the perimeter to indicate hours and minutes threw me. Maybe a hybrid gas/electric cooktop would look like this – at least one you can wear on your wrist.

It would be really cool (if not a bit dangerous) if those flames were actually powered by butane, and you could walk around and have a flaming watch on your wrist.

If you love this design (in LED form, that is), head on over to TokyoFlash and vote for it – if they get enough votes, they’ll actually produce it. One thing that’s bugging me. I don’t know why it’s called the Lightning watch, when it says “fire!!!” right there on the front – I think that’s a much more appropriate name. I’d expect a lightning watch to shoot off bolts of electricity around inside of it. Ooh, cool. I gotta get on that idea and submit it to TokyoFlash.

[via Yanko Design]

Now I know that custom PCs are often overclocked and can generate a bunch of heat, but I doubt that this fireplace computer would keep your room as warm as a real fire. At least they could have put an original Xbox 360 in there. Whoa. Snap. Who said that? Yeah, I did.

How about that devilish fire in the second photo – it’s just a little more ominous than that warm and cozy fire in the first pic, eh?

I really couldn’t find out much about this casemod, but when I saw these pics over on Mike Deal (aka ZoneDancer)’s Flickr stream, I had to post them. All I can figure is that it was on display at the recent PDXLAN 16.5 event in Portland. That’s about it. Let me know if you guys find out who built this awesome thing, so I can give credit where credit is due.

If you are the boring sort that likes to stare at a fake fireplace, Comcast has seriously upgraded the Yule log watching experience for this holiday season. You can now stare at the fake burning log in full 3D. I might watch it if they occasional showed some 3D boobage too.

I think the only thing worse than actually having to sit on the couch and watch the Yule log burn would be having to sit and watch it burn wearing 3D glasses, and getting a headache while doing it. Cleaning up wrapping paper would be more fun.

Recently, a few geeks took some kites, fireworks, and hit the beach at night to set about making a flying pyrotechnic display. I honestly expected more mayhem in the video than we got. They obviously aren’t experts at blowing things up. Regardles,, the video is cool enough to look at.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I would have strapped a couple of big bottle-rockets to the kite’s wing tips, an artillery shell to the center, and by god everyone on the beach would have known it was a holiday… and ran for their lives. I guess it’s a good thing we only get fireworks twice a year in my area.