POSTED BY

Rob Beschizza

AT 8:56 AM
Friday June 26, 2009

Dumb

woo

$400 USB stick probes magnetic fields

lab-hallprobe01.jpg

Remember Steorn, the Irish company that pitched a perpetual motion machine a couple of years ago? They're back with the USB Hall Probe, a $400 wand that detects fluctuations in the woo.

At Wired, Charlie Sorrel takes it down.

6 Comments

SamSam

#1 – 9:52 AM June 26, 2009

$400?!? Are they insane?!?

High end: A sensor probe like Vernier's Hall effect sensor: $66, plus $40 for the connection to your computer if you don't already have it (connection works with dozens of other probes). Comes with all the software you could need.

Medium end: any voltage sensor that attaches to your computer (like Vernier's, $40), plus a $20 gaussmeter.

Low end: Practically anything at all that attaches to the USB of your computer (e.g. Arduino Mini USB Adapter, $19) plus a $20 gaussmeter chip. Requires some very, very basic programming.

This is just dumb dumb.

phisrow

#2 – 10:32 AM June 26, 2009

On the plus side, doesn't violate the laws of physics. On the minus side, overpriced...

semiotix

#3 – 11:14 AM June 26, 2009

But is it danceable?

AirPillo

#4 – 5:45 PM June 26, 2009

It may be worth the sticker price for collectors of concentrated failure.

Patrick Arcee

#5 – 8:27 PM June 28, 2009

Well, this is great! If this ionization rate is constant for all ectoplasmic entities, we could really bust some heads! In a spiritual sense, of course.
Hey, Dean Yeager!

Chuck

#6 – 3:19 PM June 29, 2009

Well, they have to use most of the money to pay the settlement from the lawsuit (Physics v Steorn).

Homer Simpson: Lisa, in this house we obay the laws of thermodynamics!

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