Tag: FIRE

Most Facebook games may not do a whole lot for the body, mind and soul, but one online game may have just saved the life of a disabled man named Robert Chambers. On Tuesday, Chambers was at home in Spokane playing a Facebook game called 'Evony,' when his toaster caught on fire. Smoke began filling his living room, and Chambers began to panic. Because he suffers from muscular dystrophy, the ...

The Web is teeming with the unrealized ideas of both students and established designers who set out to produce astonishing renderings and prototypes for unusual products. Unfortunately, due to the lack of time, money, or technology, many of those products never progress from the planning stages to the mass market. But that doesn't mean we can't salivate over them, nevertheless. Maybe we've ...

Thirty-year-old Yoshifumi Takabe did what any emotionally repressed nerd might do when his mother, with whom he lived, threw out some of his robot action figures. He burned down the house. Takabe, who says he became suicidal after losing the Gundam 'bots that he considered his life partners, just plead guilty in Kobe District Court for setting the blaze in 2009. ...

As if smoking didn't make us look cool enough, nicotine lovers now have another way to enjoy their cancer sticks, thanks to a new set of Zippo lighters from SEGA. As Walyou reports, the game company recently unveiled a new line of lighters designed to look like SEGA game consoles. Smokers and/or pyromaniacs can choose between a 16-bit Mega Drive Genesis console, or a 32-bit Saturn version. Both ...

Apple has received so much attention and criticism over explosive and incendiary gadgets that it's definitely time for a fiery reversal of fortune. After being plagued for years by volatile iPods and iPhones, the company has again made the news -- this time with an incinerated iMac. But, in this particular situation, the gadget wasn't actually the source of the flames. After an inferno ...

With winter in full swing, most people have moved their parties indoors. But if you're like us, nothing beats kicking back a few drinks on an outdoor patio with some close friends. Before you give in to Mother Nature and her cooler temperatures, consider investing in the Cal Flame G5000 fire pit and cocktail table. According to Born Rich, this heavenly creation features a round, glass tabletop ...

If South Korean firefighters can't take the heat, they might send in a new mini robot instead. According to CNET News, about 100 remote-controlled robots will be sent to Korean fire stations for testing in the coming months. The Firefighters Assistant Robot, which weighs about three pounds and almost fits in your hand, can scout burning buildings when conditions may be too dangerous for humans. ...

digg_url ='http://www.switched.com/2009/08/11/smokey-the-bear-turns-65-gets-hip-to-the-internet/'; Who says you can't teach an old dog bear new tricks? Smokey the Bear, that cute and lovable reminder of wildfire prevention and safety, turned 65 years old Monday, and he celebrated in style. Not only did the pants-wearing brown bear debut a new slogan ("Get Your Smokey On"), but he also ...

Those aesthetics aren't the only "dangerous" aspect to Acer's Predator gaming desktops. Apparently the insulation on some of the computer's internal wiring can become stripped, and has proceeded to short-circuit and melt internal components and the external casing in two separate reported incidents. Acer is recalling the ASG7200 and ASG7700 machines sold between May and December of last year, ...

Look, LeVar Burton and Twitter are both incomprehensibly cool, but part of the beauty of Twitter is that you can do so many other things while using it. So while you're, say, cooking, you can pay attention to the food and exchange messages on Twitter. Network World blogger Curt Monash didn't realize how easy it was to do other things while sending messages to Mr. Burton on Twitter. So, while Mr. ...

It's hard to call two incidents of some occurrence around the world a trend, but, when those incidents both involve an electrical device catching fire spontaneously, it creates a situation that's hard to ignore -- especially when that device is the iPhone. On Saturday, Italian blogger Tim Colbourne was charging his 3G handset and, after three hours, it sparked and caught fire at the base. Tim ...

Thanks, MIT. Why don't you just make the rest of the world feel a little more useless. Every week or so, we're forced to stare at yet another amazing invention coming from your doors; to be frank, it's just downright unfair. All childish angst aside, the latest idea to come from the institution is one that could certainly be put to good use: a self-sustaining sensor network that taps into trees ...

Details on this one are remarkably skimpy, but here are the facts as we know them. A fire caused around $30,000 worth of damage to a mobile home in Delaware this past week, but thankfully, the Millsboro and Indian River firefighters found no one home at the time of the incident. The culprit? A "malfunctioning cellphone charger that ignited the wall covering in a bedroom." That's it, folks -- no ...

Fight fire with fire we always say -- those bright red canisters attached to hoses are for sissies. Real men fight fires with The Shooter, a concept for a fire extinguisher gun. The premise is simple, yet brilliant; what looks like a fancy Nerf gun is loaded with up to eight pressurized CO2 cartridges that smother the fire. You simply adjust the distance belt, aim, and fire the carbon dioxide ...

Look, it's pretty clear that the lithium-ion battery in the first generation iPod nano has the potential to burst into flames. Seriously, how many more cases do we have to see? Even after giving Apple a stern talking-to and ferocious wag of the finger back in March, Japan's government is once again investigating possible battery defects that caused a pair of Tokyo nanos to burn: nano model MA099 ...