The steam powered internet machine

Ok, so we're not exactly certain how Apple will incorporate this feat into their next batch of "I'm a Mac, and I'm a PC" ads, but running an internet connected iMac off a steam engine is impressive, for lack of better words. Two Brits struggling for an artistic concept to connect the "industrial revolution to the digital revolution" somehow settled on this contraption, and have garnered a good bit of attention. The demand for the spectacle has become so large that the creators, Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane, are touring through Kent and Margate over the next month to show off their machine; it can also be seen at the Turner Contemporary. Be sure to stop by if you can, because who knows when you'll next get to see a steam engine facilitate  Engadget access.

[Via Guardian]

[plasmatic @ Jul 12th 2006 2:30AM]

That's pretty cool, I just don't see the point.

[james may @ Jul 12th 2006 2:46AM]

margate is a town in kent! not 2 seperate places that can be visited

[Chris Gunton @ Jul 12th 2006 3:32AM]

You wouldnt happen to be local would you James?

[Horatio @ Jul 12th 2006 5:53AM]

Perhaps James is *THE* James May - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_May - or maybe its just someone with the same name :-)

Anyways, when are we getting a steam-powered iPod? You could strap a jet-pac type contraption to your back and walk around listening to music using only the power of water! And when it rains you won't even need to do a manual charge. Genius!

[Alex @ Jul 12th 2006 6:25AM]

I'm sure I saw this at my local art gallery a few years ago, except with a G3 mac. Was it the same guys? google awaits!

[RacetrackOwner @ Jul 12th 2006 6:44AM]

I'm having a hard time seeing why this is exciting. Would it be just as cool if he ran a hair dryer with a steam-powered generator? What if he plugged it into the wall and noted that the nuke plant up the road uses steam to spin the turbines?

It's just a generator...

[Crin @ Jul 12th 2006 7:24AM]

Intresting marriage of old and new, though I'm not sure it's worth the drive to kent to see. Infact I'm sure it's not.

[JJ @ Jul 12th 2006 7:52AM]

I hope they drop it.

[Kevin @ Jul 12th 2006 8:08AM]

What a waste of water.

[james may @ Jul 12th 2006 8:15AM]

if only i was the real james may, that be so cool and we are quite alike apart from the 25 odd year age difference. but yeah im a local and i know my kent having lived there for 23 years and being able to vefiy that margate is a little crappy town on the coast that used to have a theme park, inside the county of kent

[Marc @ Jul 12th 2006 8:22AM]

Next step: run your mac thanks to waste products.

[Hoatio @ Jul 12th 2006 8:26AM]

It isn't a waste of water! It is meant as art remember so you should be viewing it from that perspective but also, the 'wasted' water is in fact turned into steam, released back into the atmosphere and is free to turn back into water whenever it feels like it :-) A waste of coal maybe??

[Leigh @ Jul 12th 2006 8:50AM]

Perhaps this explains why Macs are prone to overheating and turning yellow?

[Andrew @ Jul 12th 2006 9:57AM]

Unlike some modern art, I really get this. It illustrates the connections between past and present. Now I want to see a phonograph running off of a fuel cell.

[David @ Jul 12th 2006 10:45AM]

Read 'The Difference Engine' by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling if you want some real steam powered digital excitement.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/055329461X/103-0614295-0779001?v=glance&n=283155

[Mark Felps @ Jul 12th 2006 10:49AM]

It would be more impressive if most of us didn't already run our computers on steam engines. The majority of electrical power created, in the U.S. at least, is done by steam turbines. We just have a much longer extension cord (the power grid) than he does.

[David @ Jul 12th 2006 11:26AM]

I like this project. Art doesn't have to be practical (it probably shouldn't be, actually), so if you're looking for the point you've probably already missed it.

[OMAC @ Jul 12th 2006 11:38AM]

Would be cooler if they used a waterwheel like you see in old mills. But I guess that wouldn't be too portable.

[blackfeather @ Jul 12th 2006 2:50PM]

Wow! And the coal it burns pollutes only slightly more than the nuclear reactor in the background...

[DrBuzz0 @ Jul 12th 2006 10:59PM]

My computer also runs on steam. Well...mostly. Only the steam generator is located off site at a powerplant :-p. And by the way...the reactor polutes a LOT less than the coal.

[mastershake916 @ Jul 27th 2006 10:22PM]

steamsteamlol