Gizmodo: Destruction

Humanity Will Record Apocalypse with Cellphones

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:00:00 EDT

After yesterday's California earthquake everyone and their dogs* is posting videos online. Cellphones, camcorders, digital cameras, or CCTV, it doesn't matter: like the following clips show, it looks like this era of democratized gadgetry has made humans eager to record their own destruction, perhaps as a last chance to leave a notch in History. I can see it already, when the fourth angel sounds the trumpet, people will take out their cellphones and start recording a video of the Apocalypse. Except iPhone users, who would only be able to take photos. That and change their Facebook status to "is watching the asteroid falling."

* See? The dogs too.

In fact, I can already imagine Facebook's status worldwide:

"Jason is taking off his pants as he watches the city turn into flames"
"Jesus is trying to repent quickly of all his sins and having his last Margarita"
"Brian is liveblogging the incoming tsunami. It's cool"
"Mark is trying to finish Mario Galaxy II before the asteroid hits"
"Adam is looking for his bong"
"Matt is reading the NYT. Wha'?"
"Benny is looking for Tracie for a last snog"
"Strider is commenting in Brian's liveblog"
"Lindsay Joy is watching her Lego minifigs melt"
"Curves is keeping it cool, like always"
"OMG Ponies is OMG"

Have your own favorite California earthquake video or your future Apocalypse Facebook status? Post it in the comments.

How to Create Plasma from a Beer Bottle in a Microwave

AddyDugdale — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:16:44 EST

Now, this is what microwaves were invented for—forget about reheating your coffee, or drying your underpants out in an emergency, or heating your pajamas. Nope, if you're Washington University research engineer William J. Beaty, it's all about melting beer bottles and making glowy yellow plasma in your kitchen. [MetaCafe via BoingBoing]

iPhone Vs. Semi: iPhone Laughs in the Face of Danger

Haroon Malik — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 16:00:00 EST

Ever wondered what an iPhone would look like if it took on a semi? Wonder no more, for Mike Beauchamp's iPhone went one-on-one with a huge, mo-fo of a semi, and guess what? It was not disintegrated into a plastic/metal mangled mess, oh no. The iPhone stood tall, and only lost part of its brushed aluminum buttocks. Best of all, the resilient little sucker was still working at the end of it. The iPhone may lack muscle in the haptic feedback department, but it sure as hell has some balls. Check out the gallery for some more shots of the carnage. [Flickr]

$70,000 Industrial Robot Modded to Fire Flameballs

Jesus Diaz — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:30:47 EST

There's only one thing better than robots that can destruct things: robots that can destroy things and terrify people by firing flameballs, bowling balls, watermelons and bloody pig entrails at high speed. Like the Robopult, a gigantic $70,000 industrial robotic arm hacked to throw all these things like a Terminator version of Roger Clemens. We talked with Aaron Rasmussen about how the heck they managed to get an industrial robot and some of the details of this crazy project:

Jesus Díaz: How the heck did you get your hands on a giant industrial robotic arm?
Aaron Rasmussen: My friend had it for his company, and it was caught in some sort of accounting limbo. So he agreed to let us use it if we didn't break it. We had to give it back after, sadly. That robot goes for about $70,000.

JD: OK, so that was free. What about the cost for the whole project? I saw that you "rented" (buy and return) an HD camera for free from Fry's...
AR: The total cost was actually only about $1,000, or about $1,220 if you count the camera that gets hit by the bowling ball:

• Truck rental: $716.13
• Gas for truck $72.86
• Bowling Balls $60.00
• The pig entrails, water for us, carrots, watermelons, eggs and such came to around: $100
• We found scrap parts for the catapult arm
• We traded computer services for the heavy equipment (Skylife and tractor).
• The RV camper van was a junker from a friend of a friend.

Looking at the full video, it seems like the best way to spend a weekend and $1,000 with friends. I personally can't wait for some kind of laser arm version. [Mana]

Gizmodo Crush-o-Thon 2007 Brutally Lays Waste to Outdated Gadgets

Adam Frucci — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 10:55:44 EDT

We asked you to send us some gadgets to wreck a while back, and we finally got to the task today. The Geek Squad had a crusher set up at Digital Life, where they were being generous enough to break our tech products for free, rather than charge $49.99 like they usually do when people bring stuff to them. We put a whole stack of gadgets through there, and we were not disappointed by the results. It's safe to say no one is going to be using these things again, ever. Thanks to everyone who sent stuff in, and enjoy the carnage. | Video by Richard Blakeley

Win a Razer Tarantula Keyboard for Destroying your Current Keyboard

Travis Hudson — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 10:44:23 EST

With the Optimus keyboard on a downward spiral towards death it is time to begin looking for other high-end keyboarding solutions. The Razer Tarantula may be it. This $100 keyboard is macro-able and designed with the gamer in mind. Razer will be giving away five of these bad boys, but at a cost.

They want to see video of you destroying your old keyboard in the most gruesome way possible or how you would go about destroying it via drawings, renderings, etc. Upload the video on the YouTube and submit the entry to Razer. They will be giving away five Tarantula keyboards. Hit the linkage for all of the details and specifications. – Travis Hudson

Tarantula Tradeup [Via ubergizmo]

Microwaving an iPod nano—Why God, Why?

Travis Hudson — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 16:06:51 EDT

I'm not sure what is more sad. The fact that these kids willingly destroy gadgets for their own enjoyment, or witnessing an iPod nano melting in a microwave. Fucking kids need to learn some respect for property, but it is neat to see the iPod melt, nonetheless. – Travis Hudson

The posting of this video does not reflect Gizmodo's stance towards Apple products. No worries, we are still Apple fanboys.

Nuke an iPod Nano [Gadgetizer]

SanDisk Indestructible Giveaway Update

Travis Hudson — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 15:39:29 EDT

There are only a couple days left in our SanDisk Indestructible Giveaway. If you are just tuning in, we are giving away a couple SanDisk 2GB Cruzer Titanium w/ U3 USB flash drives. To figure out what you need to do, follow the linkage here.

Thanks to Mark for this very, very sad picture of a broken HP Tablet PC. It was shipped to Mark and the shipper decided to send it via U.S. Priority Mail ... in an envelope. It is kind of neat to see how much damage the USPS can do to an unprotected laptop.

Also thanks goes to SanDisk for sponsoring this contest and providing the 2GB Cruzer Titanium flash drives.

SanDisk Indestructible Giveaway [Gizmodo]