If synth rock was meant to go hand-in-hand with fantastic steampunk universes (and we really can't see why it wasn't), instruments would look something like the thing you see here. This is the Parker Steam Synthesizer, a steam-powered music synth that runs on water and some coal. Designer Lorin Edwin Parker controls steam pressure with a ball valve which activates a dynamo. The dynamo is a magnet motor attached to a flywheel that creates an alternating magnetic field which is then turned into electricity by an inductive pickup. That pickup is finally plugged into an amp and you have some trippy electro from a device that could have been around years ago. He says it will run for about 20 minutes on one tank of water, which, in our estimation, is just long enough for Bjork to hear it and add to her band's already-insane inventory. By the way, the Read link includes a .mov file so you can see this thing in action.

[Via MusicRadar]

It's been quite a while since LG introduced its first SteamWasher, but the company has finally decided to extend its newfound love of old school technology to some other household appliances, introducing its first steam dishwasher and steam dryer, as well as a new washer/dryer combo. Like the original SteamWasher (pictured at right), the new appliances boast a built-in steam generator to back up the traditional washing and drying processes, which promises to not only do the job better, but save on energy as well. Also like the SteamWasher, these latest appliances don't exactly come cheap, with the steam dishwasher (available in stainless steel only) running you $1,599, and the new washer and dryer units (also stainless steel) set to demand a hefty $3,499 apiece -- all should be available in the third quarter of this year. A separate SteamDryer will also apparently be available for those that already thrown down the cash for a SteamWasher, with it a comparative bargain at $1,149 to $1,399 in your choice of white or wild cherry finishes. All the laundry units are also compatible with LG's Remote Monitoring System, which'll let you check up on your clothes from anywhere in your house, although you'll have to drop an extra hundred bucks for that pleasure.

Read - LG Steam Dishwasher
Read - LG Steam Laundry System

There's definitely a good deal of steampunk gear out there, but this little dude can also keep you company -- kinda. Steam Walker, a steam-powered walking robot of Japanese origin, looks as if it walked (at an unbearably slow pace) out from the pages of a romanticized steam-bot storybook, complete with a makeshift exoskeletal hot bod and loud-as-all-hell engine. The site doesn't offer up much info, but we can tell you that Steam Walker operates via a series of components including the head as a boiler / combustion chamber, an engine, steam pipe, gear box, and yes, a funny little water-drawing bucket.

[Via Boing Boing]


Read - Steam Walker
Read - Video of steampunk bot in "action"

In a patent filing that appears to belong to Philips, an inventor is attempting to lock down the secret to no-look cooking, giving hope to clueless culinarians everywhere. The patent focuses on a method for determining the very moment during the cooking process in which the food "has reached a ready state," and seeks to use precise scales in an oven to determine exactly how much water has left the foodstuff and converted into steam in order to determine just how dry, crisp, and / or ready to devour it is. Of course, this fellow isn't the first bloke to iron out the details of automatic cooking, and interestingly enough, it seems this idea itself may have already been in the works, so we'd highly recommend consulting the folks behind Daewoo's autonomous microwave (and the subsequent technology) before boasting too proudly.

[Via NewScientistTech]

Just in case there weren't enough alternate fuel developments going on around the world, it looks like we've got yet another vying for business over in Israel. Engineuity, a company started by Amnon Yogev, has reportedly developed a method for vehicles to "produce their own fuel" using metals such as magnesium and aluminum to create hydrogen and steam. Similar to a solar-powered "zinc-to-hydrogen" approach that gained attention in 2005, this method utilizes a "long metal coil" which would be inserted into a metal-steam combustor that stands to "separate hydrogen out of heated water." After intense heating, the metal atoms would purportedly bond to the oxygen from the water, creating metal oxide; the result would free up hydrogen molecules to be sent to the engine alongside the steam to provide the juice. The firm also insinuates that "refueling" the vehicle would be "remarkably simply," and construction could be completed on current production lines without requiring entirely new infrastructures. According to Yogev, the "running cost of the system should be equal to that of conventional cars today," and hopes to have a full scale prototype ready to rumble in "around three years."

[Thanks, Mike]

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]