Crealev builds a levitating lamp
By Nilay Patel 
posted Oct 31st 2007 4:09PM
posted Oct 31st 2007 4:09PM
Read -- Crealev website
Read -- Video of the lamps in action
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That's awesome.
And the best feature, you can lay any hdd or other magnetic electronics on the surface and it's instantly erased!
...I love lamp
lol@ enzo.
MYTH! Magnets do NOT erase HDDs.
@Mushroom.... really, thats news to me, Maybe your average fridge magnet will be fine, but try waving a large power inducing electromagnet somewhere close to your hard drive and lets see how well it works afterwards.
Forget about the HDD, I am worried about my mom - in - law's pacemaker....
On a second thought... where can I get one?
Changing the batteries for the lamp must suck.
That's true! I hadn't thought about that.
Who says that the lamp is installed in the levitating part....
If you look at the pix in the link closely, it looks like the base is actually the light source. The hovering "light shade" probably involves some clever reflection/transmission to make it appear that the light is coming it.
But agreed, if the light was actually coming from the hovering part, it would def have to be battery powered ...
"coming *from* it" that is
I was just looking at the photos and video links at bit closer - I didn't scroll down far enough but it seems that the base is lit underneath, so it must be just reflecting somehow off of the hovering element. That would make more sense. The photo above (where the entire lamp shade is lit) threw me off initially.
you could also use induction to transfer energy between the bottom and the levitating part.
Hoverboards, here we come!! :)
That's really cool, but it's not what I'd call a "very high levitation height". I mean, it's only hovering a few inches above the platform. If it were a foot or more, that would be entirely different.
Still, cool concept. Who else has offers a hovering lamp?
I wonder what the light output is - how practical it is?
So now magnetism is "proprietary technology" or they have built a working anti-gravity device and used it in a extremely dumb way.
Magnetism may not be new, but reliable dynamic control of EM fields to keep an object hovering in the same position at a stable height certainly is. That's a big part of the Transrapid maglev patents as well, precise control over the fields at high speed while minimizing flutter and such.
Mad as!!
I suspect the light is actually in the base and shining up, and the only thing levitating is the lamp cover.
levitating the actual lamp would require adding a battery, which is rather heavy, or adding wireless power....
Notice first name of the designer - that explains technology used
I'm not too fond of the pedestal, but that is one nice concept. I hope it doesn't stay as a concept too long.
Wingardium Leviosa!
Hawwww yeah
Leviosaah not Leviooosaa... Sheesh...
Perhaps a very intense and focused EMF bombarding the lamp shade from below. The gases contained in the bulb within the lampshade would then fluoresce. And it would give your brain an instant tumor when sitting within 50 feet of it.
BTW, if the light is in the shade, you don't need a battery by any means. Short range induction and other wireless power technologies could easily power a light bulb.
What I really want is their levitating buddha.
I have such a sweet lamp, but none of my credit cards work and my fillings hurt.
Took the future long enough, I was waiting for this on January 1st 2001 at 12:01 am.
also, do I get a hula hoop to pass the shade through?
I made a levitating lamp for a school project last semester, but how is the energy supposed to be transfered to the bulb? that's pretty insane XD
wicked!
I really hope engadget'll tell us when this thing hits the market!
this is cool and all but shouldnt we use this technology for something oh i dont know...more useful? i mean come on its a lamp! how about a car, boat, or some sort of transportation
If you go to their website and look at the "Future Product Designs" large example they have a drawing of a chair (with no legs) levitating about 2 feet above the base. Now _that_ would be cool.
now make me a coffee table that will levitate my remote so i will know where it is now.
its just a
This.. is a flying lamp..
What next? Little flying halo thingies on hats?
Most likely the heat from the bulb in the base is heating the air causing the shade to float like a hot air balloon...the end
its an mirror that contains magnets.
It hovers above the base.
see for a video in action + guy placing the "mirror" in the magnetic field
http://www.youtube.com/maxschoot
Leviton or levitoff?
Could the shade simply be attached to the wall behind it, so it's not magic at all?
My cats would *so* pwn that thing.
To those of you saying that hovering a lamp would require a battery:
You're wrong.
http://bea.st/sight/lightbulb/
It's madly not practical, but it could be done. If these guys figured it out so far as to have that much power transfer in that manner, hats off to them.
So, when you turn electricity off, this shade will fall down ? And when you turn it on, shade will float up ? Come on ....
I guess there is thin wire which you cannot see, so it seems that shade is levitating :)
I 2nd that...
Even if it is levitating get ready to buy the Chinockoff™ version for 1/20th the cost, complete with thin fishing line for Magic-netic™ levitation.
Seems like they're selling the technology more.
they could always use some Tesla invention (for those who saw the light bulb thing in The Prestige, you can do that but not at the range in the movie)
Hot air would probably not float that stably
Magnets could be used for cars, but that would mean redoing all the roads in the country to be like the base of the lamp (assuming it is magnets)
it wont be so 'cool' to leave your car keys or spare change on the pedistal, if you do, make sure you swtich the lamp off for at least half an hour before attempting to pick them up again.
sweet tech - everything else so far related to floating has the object with a arm above and below - this looks like it only uses the base.
can we get this into warehouses please?
make the complete floor with this - floating pallets would make things so much easier.
They should build a skate park and have the floor covered with the pedestals. Then they can put some of the disks onto the bottom of boards, and voila, hoverboarding!
whoa
again...
whoa
I wonder how well the specs scale up, especially the power required.
Their site says ~500g for .5-8 watts.
Picking 10 watts/kilo, that would lift me (~75 kilo) for less power than running my microwave!
Thank you for that analysis, liquid-metal man. The rest of us will have to wait for true levitation.
wow, that is so cool/friggin ugly
I'm guessing "propriety technology" in this case means so blindingly obvious that once we say what we've done, everyone will copy and undercut us.