Articles tagged with "devices"

Mobile AI, over-promising and under-delivering

19 August 2024

Recently two different mobile AI devices have been released, and given all the overhyping of AI these days they've fared about as well as you'd expect them to - which is not very well at all.

Consumer Report: Snoring Strap

18 September 2023

For Father's Day, my ever-loving family purchased me some interesting devices from Temu, including an anti-snoring chin strap. The strap is made from neoprene, and has velcro straps on the top and back, along with a harness that goes around your chin. The chin harness is meant to keep your mouth closed as you sleep, which apparently will stop you snoring.

Glittery Just Desserts

21 December 2020

As Skeptics we're not very fond of scammers, and we often try to protect the public from those who would rip them off with dodgy devices and ineffective products. The video below documents a feat of engineering, a device that targets the problem in the US of people who steal people's parcels - and it targets them in a pretty funny way. Although theft is not really a scam, it's still enjoyable to see unethical people get their comeuppance - and it's mentioned later on in the video that this device has also recently been used against scammers. And to be honest, I needed a good excuse to share this video!

Kangen Water has made the news again :(

27 May 2018

As we talked about at the end of last year, there's been a real push to sell Kangen Water devices in NZ recently. An article in the Herald recently has detailed Ainsley Brunton's efforts to sell the water in Whanganui to unsuspecting customers. Her water devices are selling for $4,000, with promises that the water can help with cancer, diabetes and other serious diseases. Enagic in Australia is selling the machines to New Zealanders who are passing them on, and Enagic's prices for a machine that does nothing useful to water vary between $2,300 and $6,500.

Proof of a flat earth

21 May 2017

Someone in the US recently flew on a plane with a spirit level to prove that the earth is flat. Instead he demonstrated a misunderstanding of physics.

Never Pay an Electric Bill Again!

1 February 2005

Next time you visit the US don't miss the Museum of Unworkable Devices, the brainchild of physics Professor Donald Simanek from the University of Pennsylvania.

Put a Pixie in Your Petrol

1 August 1993

A Sprite in your Spirit, a Bogle in your Benzine, a Fury in your Fuel, a Greyhound in your Gasoline. With acknowledgement to the oil company which, many years ago, urged us to "Put a Tiger in your Tank."