Technabob » magnet

Navy’s Electromagnetic Rail Gun Prototype Tosses Projectiles at up to 5600MPH!

Shane McGlaun — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:00:31 +0000

I would have to think that being an engineer on a prototype weapons program would be all kinds of bad-ass. I would like to be a member the team behind the latest new weapon that the U.S. Navy is about to begin testing. It’s a freakin’ railgun! The Navy has been testing railguns in the past, but this particular prototype is the first industry-built model.

This weapon, made by BAE Systems, is targeting a range of 50 to 100 nautical miles to start with and the Navy plans to increase the range 220 nautical miles. The railgun uses 32-megajoules of electromagnetic energy to fling a projectile down a pair of rails at anywhere from 4500 to 5600 mph. That is seriously hellafast.

In fact, it is so fast that explosives aren’t needed to destroy a target. No gunpowder, or high explosives, just pure raw speed and momentum will obliterate whatever that projectile hits. The Navy said to be in testing the new prototype this month while it waits for a second prototype to be delivered that is constructed by a different contractor, General Atomics. The day I can deer hunt with a railgun, will be the day I kill my first Bambi.

Ten One Design Magnus iPad 2 Stand: The Invisible Stand

Range — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:07:25 +0000

Just like cases, people are always looking for the perfect stand, especially when it comes to the iPad 2. While some people were initially skeptical about Apple’s Smart Cover, anyone who has used it knows that it works pretty well, but it’s still a little cumbersome as a stand. This new stand from Ten One Design also uses magnets and it will prop up your tablet like no other.

Magnus is a desktop stand made from aluminum and integrated neodymium magnets, which will attach onto your iPad 2. Because of its compact, minimal design, the Magnus has the added benefit of making it seem like your iPad is standing up by itself, with nothing holding onto it.

You’ll need to use two hands to pry it away from the powerful magnets, but that’s a small price to pay for these looks. Also, it doesn’t work in portrait mode or with a case on, so if those are requirements, you’ll need to pick a different stand.

The Magnus stand costs $50(USD) and is available from Ten One Design.

[via Geek & Hype(FR)]

Magnetic Nail Polish for People with Magnetic Personalities

Hazel Chua — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:06:17 +0000

I used to bite my nails all the time when I was a kid. To deter me from my bad habit, my mom would put on two coats of nail polish in bright colors. I eventually kicked my bad habit, but not before developing a huge love for nail polish.

The latest one that caught my eye is Magnetic Nail Polish. At first, I thought that it was like a paint-on magnet (for your nails) that was just for silly purposes. However, you won’t really be left with magnetic fingernails with this polish.

The nail polish by Nails Inc. actually has some iron powder mixed into it. After putting on a generous coat on your nails, just hold the cover above your nail while the polish dries.

The cap actually has an embedded magnet that re-aligns the magnetic iron powder in the nail polish, so when you move the cap away (after the polish dries), you’ll have a unique and awesome wave-like pattern on your nails that’s hard to replicate sans the magnets.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Cool Hunting via Oh Gizmo!]

Native Union Play is Like a Digital Sticky Note for Your Fridge

Technabob — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 02:41:41 +0000

There have been plenty of cheap little devices you can use to record an audio message and leave it on your fridge or by your door, but I rather like the idea behind Native Union’s Play, a gadget which also lets you leave video messages for your family or roomies.

Designer Fabien Nauroy came up with the Play, and it comes in a nifty little package shaped like a speech bubble. The compact device has a front-facing video camera and microphone for recording, and a small 2.4″ color LCD screen and speaker for playback. Once you leave a message, it has a bright LED indicator so you know that someone has recorded a clip.

It’s also got a built-in magnetic back so you can just stick it to most refrigerators. Plus, if you have a fridge that won’t hold magnets, you can just hang it over the handles with the convenient carrying strap. That also makes it easy to hang on a doorknob too. They also include a magnetic sheet with a sticky-tape back that you can hang up anywhere.

Specs are nothing to write home about with just 320×240 resolution, but it’s a fridge magnet so what do you want?

The Play is available for pre-order now over at Native Union for $59.99 (USD), and is scheduled to start shipping on October 20th. But good luck ordering it the U.S. Unfortunately, the drop-down menu to choose the color is borked in the U.S. version of their website. You’ll have much better luck if you live just about anywhere else though. Hopefully, Native Union will fix the problem soon for those of you who want to order one. Just don’t try their even more perplexing customer service page.

[via Fancy]

Magnetic Light Switch Plate Holds Keys with Ease

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 00:19:33 +0000

When it comes to keeping up with small things like keys, I’m pretty bad. I generally just lock the car in the garage and leave the keys in it so I don’t lose them. If I do take the key out of my car by mistake I always end up searching everywhere for it. If you have a hard time keeping up with your keys, this cool Magnetic Switch Cover might be perfect for you.

Designed by Jake Frey, the switch cover has a silver bottom section that is magnetized. Assuming you have a metal keyring, all you need to do when you come in the door is stick the keys to the light switch cover. That is pretty cool, and you probably won’t forget your keys there. The cover comes in a standard single switch size.

I wonder what effect the magnet in the cover would have the newer “intelligent” car keys that have RFID chips in them – hopefully nothing. You can order one of these right now for $24.95 (USD) over at Fancy.

So This Is How Cobb Spun His Top in Inception

Hazel Chua — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 12:00:51 +0000

If you’ve seen the movie Inception, then you probably already know about his spinning top. If you haven’t, then I’m not about to go spoil the movie for you.

However, I am going to talk about that top he keeps on spinning. I’ve spun my share of tops back in the day but I can never manage to keep it going for more than a minute. Maybe I was just bad at it or maybe all I needed was the Magnetic Powered Spinning Top.

So what makes it spin? It’s not by the initial mechanical energy that you impart onto the top by giving it the first spin. Rather, it makes use of the concept of magnetism. The top actually comes with a radially oriented magnetic field while there’s a conductive coil hidden inside the base that comes with it. When the spinning top passes by the center part of the base, its magnetic field causes a current to be induced in the coil, opening up the battery switch, and passing through a jolt of power from the electromagnet to keep the top spinning.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Really, this is probably how Cobb did it. If you want to work that same magic that he did with the top, then you can get the Magnetic Powered Spinning Top from ThinkGeek for the dreamy low price of $9.99 (USD).

[via Coolest Gadgets]

The Meissner Effect Illustrated (By a Cute Little Guy)

Technabob — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 23:25:10 +0000

The Meissner effect is defined as “the expulsion of a magnetic field from a superconductor during its transition to the superconducting state.” When put to the test in scientific experiments, it usually manifests itself as magnet hovering above a liquid nitrogen-cooled superconductor. But that’s kind of boring, so some guys at Poland’s Lublin University of Technology decided to make it a little more fun.

In this brief laboratory demo, they put their lab mascot – a little guy known as “Zenek” on a superconductor track, and let the Meissner effect carry him along on a bed of magnetic energy, through wisps of liquid nitrogen fog. By carefully balancing Zenek, he whirrs around the track multiple times with only a small push. The short video was shot by Jakub Przybylski, and set to the tune of Regina Spektor’s Us, which makes it all that much more whimsical.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Last time I remember seeing such an adorable laboratory mascot set to music was Keepon and his little dance to Spoon.

[via The Awesomer]

Geek Sticks iPad 2 to Fridge Door Using Smart Cover Magnets: Next Up, Shattered iPad 2

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:46:31 +0000

This is disaster waiting to happen right here. I can understand the need for people to mount their iPad in strange places. If you are in the kitchen cooking it might be nice to mount your shiny new iPad 2 on the fridge, where you can read or watch video while you cook.

One geek has figured out that the magnets in that cool new iPad 2 Smart Cover are strong enough to hold the svelte tablet to the fridge door. The problem I see if that the stuff hanging on my fridge randomly crashes to the floor about every three days.

I would hate to see the iPad 2 crash to the floor because you were too cheap to buy a proper dock – or one of these – for your $500+ iToy. If you are the sort that doesn’t mind living on the edge now you know you can stick the iPad 2 up there like a piece of kid’s artwork.

[via 9to5Mac]

Super Mario Bros.: Magnetic Bamboo Edition

Technabob — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 21:54:45 +0000

Fans of the Super Mario Bros. games would love to have these awesome wooden magnets to stick up on their fridge.

Artist Travis Chen (aka Aristomatic) spends his days and nights programming and designing video games for companies like Bungie, Blizzard and Neversoft. When he’s not coding his heart out, he’s making cool video game-inspired schwag like these retro Super Mario Bros. magnets.

Each one is cut from bamboo wood, with an accurate pixel art design burned into it, then attached to a strong neodymium magnet.

Sets of magnets range from $45 to $160 (USD) – depending on the number of magnets included, and can be found over at Aristomatic’s Etsy shop. If I could afford to build an entire bamboo Mushroom Kingdom out of these, I would.

The God Helmet: Magnetic Field’s a Hell of a Drug

Lambert Varias — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:16:02 +0000

One of the most important questions known to man is one that is perhaps best not conclusively answered – the question of whether or not God exists. I’m sure the debate will continue and intensify as scientists gain more and more knowledge about the world, but what would be the effect of the definite answer to that question? Neuroscientist Michael Persinger believes that people who have had what we can call a spiritual experience were actually being stimulated by a variety of factors, none of them divine. To prove his point, Persinger created the God Helmet.

Persinger believes that man’s best way of coping with the fear of death is to imagine something infinite, omnipresent and everlasting, which is quite predictable really considering the problem is that we’re afraid of our finite existence. Persinger further believes that the efforts of our brain’s right temporal lobe to allay our anxiety about death can lead us to have spiritual experiences. So he made a helmet that specifically targets the right temporal lobe, stimulating it with magnetic fields. Here’s the soothing voice of Morgan Freeman with more info, in an excerpt from the Science Channel’s Through The Wormhole:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

As far as I’m concerned, we can interpret Persinger’s experiment in a variety of ways. It could be proof that deities are indeed safety nets, in which case announcing to billions of people that their safety net is illusory would probably lead them to either get depressed, or just create another illusory safety net. Or, it could be that Persinger is partly right – maybe we normally don’t think or dream of such things unless we’re blasted with magnetic fields or take part in rituals, but that could just be a way to help us heighten our senses. Think of it this way: if you enter a darkened room you obviously wouldn’t be able to see what else is inside. But if the room is illuminated, even if it is by artificial means, then you’ll be able to see.

Or it could be that magnetic fields just give a freaky good time.

[via linkfilter]

This Magnet That Will Make You a Lefty. Say What?

Range — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:05:07 +0000

Apparently this magnet can make you left-handed, if you’re right-handed. Sounds kind of crazy, but it makes sense how this could help people who have either lost some function in their right arm.

According to a study by researchers at UC Berkeley, when the proper trans-cranial magnetic stimulation is applied to the brain of a righty, you get a lefty. The techinque disrupts the brain’s parietal cortex, changing the brain’s decision on which hand to prefer. This has helped in the research to fight learned limb disuse, which is when victims of stroke and other brain injuries start favoring the arm or leg they can more easily control. This magnet could help force these patients to use the other limbs again, restoring full limb movement.Sounds like science-fiction, but it’s happening right now. Kind of cool, if you don’t mind me saying so.

[via io9 via DVice]

http://dvice.com/archives/2010/10/image-of-the-da-39.php

Nanodots Are Like Magnetic Bb’S and LEGO Rolled Into One

Shane McGlaun — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 17:59:46 +0000

I would bet that most of you were like me when you were a kid and had tons of building sets like Lego and Lincoln Logs. My son had this set of magnetic building thingies for a while that had large magnetic balls and magnetic tubes you could make into different shapes. A magnetic building set has surfaced for today’s geeks called Nanodots (which seem to look a whole lot like BuckyBalls to us.)

The things look like little BB’s that are magnetically charged. You can take those little magnetic spheres and combine them together to make just about anything you can imagine in any shape. There are multiple colors so you can make patterns if you want.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

A set of the Nanodots with 216 of them range in price from $29.99 to $39.99 (USD) depending on the color. You can get them in original, black, silver, and gold. Each set comes with five spares, a carry pouch, and an instruction manual. Check out the video to see how the dots work.

Magnogrip Magnetic Wristband Lets You Keep Your Nuts Close at Hand

Lambert Varias — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:15:43 +0000

Or bolts, nails, screws, any small metal you want. The MagnoGrip has 3 small but powerful magnets. The outer covering is made of ballistic nylon, which is highly resistant to scratches, while the inner covering is made of felt.

You can order the MagnoGrip magnetic wristband at Amazon for $11 (USD); there’s also a pink-colored version but it’s more expensive. Get a whole bunch of these and you can pretend that you’re Magneto.

[via Cool Tools]

Photoshop Magnets Upgraded to Cs4, Just in Time for Cs5 to Come Out

Lambert Varias — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:22:22 +0000

Meninos has released an updated version of the previously featured Photoshop magnets. No new functionality has been added. And there’s still no Windows version.

Get a set of Photoshop CS4 Magnets at Meninos for only $25 (USD). And just like Adobe, you’ll probably have to pay a pretty penny to upgrade when the CS5 version comes out.

[via Chip Chick]

Levitron Revolution World Stage, Magnet Toys Are Awesome!!

P. Blandino — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:48:24 +0000

Okay, honestly this is the best item for sale on ThinkGeek to date. The Levitron Revolution World Stage comes with a globe that hovers with the power of MAGNETS! Aren’t magnets cool? If you get tired of the floating globe you can open up the globe, remove the magnet disc and use that to make other things float in the air (maximum capacity 3 oz)!

The whole kit comes with an AC powered base with 8 blue LED lights, so you can see your laws defying creation in the dark! And the globe with the removable magnetic disc. This action shot from ThinkGeek is just awesome, I’m still convinced that its Photoshopped. But I want to believe it.

The Levitron Revolution World Stage can be purchased for $99.99 (USD) on ThinkGeek. So what would you make float? I’m thinking of a ninja turtle on a hover board.

Chocolate Sweet Magnet: Robot Snack or Choking Hazard?

Lambert Varias — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:36:16 +0000

The cleverly designed Chocolate Sweet Magnet lets you break the whole bar into smaller pieces, so you can share it as you would a real chocolate bar. Just let the kids know that it’s made of wax and metal and not cocoa and milk.

You can get the Chocolate Sweet Magnet at MollaSpace for $18 (USD).

IPhone Icons Fridge Magnets Don’T Require an at&T Account

Lambert Varias — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 12:15:21 +0000

Fimo clay artist bearduck’s handmade iPhone icons fridge magnets just got upgraded to a full set of 20, featuring icons for familiar apps like YouTube, maps and more.

The set comes in a neat tin container, so it also makes for a great gift.

You can get the magnets at bearduck’s Etsy shop for $38 (USD). Cut & paste not included.

[via Geeky Gadgets]

Dog Swallows 1,000 Magnets – Erases Every Floppy and Vhs Tape in the House

Lambert Varias — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:30:54 +0000

The United Press International continues to build on their 100 years of journalistic excellence with their coverage of an Australian woman and her cattle dog. Polly – the dog – recently underwent emergency surgery to remove 1,000 magnets from her tummy. Owner Cathy James said that Polly swallowed the magnets in her – the owner’s – office last August 11, then became ill the next day. James thought that Polly had learned an awesome new trick when she found the dog stuck on their fridge’s door, wearing what appeared to be a pressure cooker and the neighbor’s mailbox. Okay I made that last one up.

Amazingly enough, Polly still had room in her stomach for other stuff. James told the Melbourne Herald Sun, “The vet said it wouldn’t be that many, but when they operated there was half a gravel track in there as well.” And it gets better – but not for Polly – as James also revealed that her dog is a veteran swallower of things no one but a garbage truck is supposed to swallow. Her previous guilty pleasures include a computer mouse, gardening gloves, a large rubber band and several rolls of fax paper. Sadly, no cracker.

[image via ihasahotdog]

Motifo Fridge Magnets: Pop Art in Pixels

Technabob — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:00:52 +0000

Why just put a couple of magnets on the front of your refrigerator when you can cover the entire thing with ‘em?

These mosaic magnets from Australia’s Motifo let you build complicated pixel art creations all over the front of your fridge.

Each pack of Motifo magnets ($79 to $99 USD) comes with nearly 1300 1-inch square magnets, along with diagrams to create numerous images on the face of your fridge. Motifo has put together pixel maps for a variety of celebrities, pop culture icons, and other patterns you can create on your refrigerator door. Each set can make any of the designs shown on their website, but the color scheme will depend on the kit you buy.

At the moment, both GNR8 and Motifo are sold out of these pixel magnets, but hopefully they’ll restock soon. If you poke around a little bit, you might be able to find a set at Australia’s Pulp Creative Paper.

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]