Snake oil

[G7PSK]

I am sure you could get 10 watts from a 3 watt bike dynamo you just have to turn it fast enough to raise the voltage, after all cycle dynamos are not regulated so up the voltage and you up the power out until they burn up.

[meeder]

You chose an odd example to support your argument. MD was very well supported by a huge number of manufacturers right up to the time that MP3 players made MD truly obsolete.

oh, I didn't intend MD as an example. It was something that I really liked, which is why I still have it. Yes, it was very supported. But it was still another one of Sony's many dead-end formats, like Betamax, DAT, Memory Stick, UMD, all of which I had bought into.

I just segwayed into saying that I was hosed by Sony so many times ...

MD did do a whole lot better than what Philips had to offer at that time, the DCC or Digital Compact Cassette. Although the sound quality was (at least on paper) a bit better than MD the lack of instant track selection killed the DCC very quickly.
Just as Sony had some dead-end formats Philips had them as well... The V2000 video system or example, technically superior on every aspect to VHS failed because they didn't want to license the technology to other manufacturers and VHS was widely licensed so that became the standard. Sadly for a lot of people the urban V2000 vs. VHS myth isn't true.... The urban myth is about the availability of certain types of movies

[lincoln]

I will just leave this here....

[Mechanical Menace]

I will just leave this here....

When it comes to the Cult of Tesla I always wonder, what would Tesla say to them when he was still sort of sane?

[lincoln]

I,,, I, sigh,  I got a hour long dissertation form a guy, He is a nice guy but, well lacks fundmentals, ie power is not measured in volts. 

[abigbell]

thanks for the term “snake oil”?first time hear that

[Kowalski]

thanks for the term “snake oil”?first time hear that

I believe it's reference to the olden days when con artists would come to local towns and sell what they claimed to be a miracle medicine. Snake oil is one of the best examples of that, as it claimed to be a cure-all and the ultimate solution for aches and pains. It was a quick way to make a buck.

These days I assume people do it for Youtube money, to sell a bogus "guide" or just to troll. Snake oil "innovations" are common these days as the speed of technology advances are causing people to believe that we will all be the Jetsons in the next 3 years and anyone who disagrees is an uptight stubborn naysayer. Just look in the comments sections of "free energy" videos to get a better understanding.

[TimFox]

A recent documentary on the History Channel (or one of its competitors) discussed the original "Snake Oil".  The quack (late 19th century) would demonstrate rendering a snake for its oil and claimed that it was in his linament preparation.  It turned out that there was no actual snake oil in his commercial preparation.  However, there was capsaicin (from pepper) in it, so it did have some positive effect, which generated testimonials from satisfied users.

[ciccio]

Just rediscovered this:http://bybeetech.com/
They sell audiophools "filters", or better "quantum purifiers".
This is how one of their product is claimed to  work:
Atoms are the basic building blocks of ordinary matter. Atoms can join together to form molecules, which in turn form most of the objects around you.
Atoms are composed of particles called protons, electrons and neutrons.  Protons carry a positive electrical charge, electrons carry a negative electrical charge and neutrons carry no electrical charge at all. The protons and neutrons cluster together in the central part of the atom, called the nucleus, and the electrons ‘orbit’ the nucleus.
Carbon atoms are present in all living things, and in the air.   Nearly 99% of the carbon atoms are C12 atoms, while less than 2% of the remaining atoms are C13.
Bybee Technologies has developed a product that is energized by a surrounding energy field.  Once energized, our product resonates at the same frequency as the C13 atom.  Consequently, this creates a magnetic field of force effect.   In this magnetic field, the polarity of all electrons and protons are altered, affecting their oscillation by making them more aligned with each other.  This reaction creates an affect that makes the transfer or sharing of electrons between atoms more streamline and efficient; and air molecules less resistant.

Nice...

[Refrigerator]

Just rediscovered this:http://bybeetech.com/

Atoms are the basic building blocks of ordinary matter. Atoms can join together to form molecules, which in turn form most of the objects around you.
Atoms are composed of particles called protons, electrons and neutrons.  Protons carry a positive electrical charge, electrons carry a negative electrical charge and neutrons carry no electrical charge at all. The protons and neutrons cluster together in the central part of the atom, called the nucleus, and the electrons ‘orbit’ the nucleus.
Carbon atoms are present in all living things, and in the air.   Nearly 99% of the carbon atoms are C12 atoms, while less than 2% of the remaining atoms are C13.
Bybee Technologies has developed a product that is energized by a surrounding energy field.  Once energized, our product resonates at the same frequency as the C13 atom.  Consequently, this creates a magnetic field of force effect.   In this magnetic field, the polarity of all electrons and protons are altered, affecting their oscillation by making them more aligned with each other.  This reaction creates an affect that makes the transfer or sharing of electrons between atoms more streamline and efficient; and air molecules less resistant.

my bullshit-o-meter broke 

[daqq]

Naaah, 1500 USD/cable? Sounds totally legit.

[Refrigerator]

Naaah, 1500 USD/cable? Sounds totally legit.

Don't forget the $7.6k power cable.

[trodas]

This is amaizing job - if you actually find a person who pay the price, of course. I would sell that stuff right away, because who is that stupid, deserve it 

[Asmyldof]

Large Regular Quantum Purifiers are typically used in AC applications, and with loudspeaker transducers. Specially shielded using ERS Stealth carbon fiber material.

ERS Stealth? No idea what it is, but it isn't stealthy. I can still see the tell-all shape of a standard ceramic or ferrite. If I were them I'd make it a resistor: Things that are magic need to get warm.

[MikeW]

thanks for the term “snake oil”?first time hear that

Just look in the comments sections of "free energy" videos to get a better understanding.

Reading youtube comments of any kind is something I learned to stop doing a long time ago.

[Derick Freese]

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/07/gallery-we-tear-apart-a-340-audiophile-ethernet-cable-and-look-inside/

I wonder if that hot snot was applied by the finest nude virgins China has to offer.

[walterharriman]

Aussie50 rips apart some classic "power cleaning" bullshit:



The power of steel plates will save us all!

[Godzil]

A friend of mine found this nice audiophile related wesite: http://studiozey.com/

I welcome you to read about the Woodencapacitors: http://studiozey.com/invisistor/index.html
Or about the "Invisitor": http://studiozey.com/invisistor/index.html

I'm just speechless 

[McBryce]

I'm just speechless 

You're not speechless, it's just the "invisibleness" of your voice!

It's like the guy is just sitting there trying to make it up!

McBryce.

[Zucca]

http://studiozey.com/

This one is hard to beat...

[codeboy2k]

wow... those wooden caps .... I'm just speechless....  and those cotton wrapped resistors !

These look prettier though...
http://www.v-cap.com/tftf-capacitors.php

[McBryce]

If it's just for looks, the Dueland Cast capacitors are a winner: http://www.hificollective.co.uk/components/duelund_cast.html

McBryce.

[Godzil]

£13.5 for a 0-1K 1/4W resistor: (muuuch bigger than a huge 10W resitor!) but with golden plated copper pins ! Wonderful !

http://studiozey.com/zeyresistor/index.html

With a tolerance of +/-1%? Hum.. I seriously doubt about this tolerance, I'm sure he just trim unless his multimeter give the value -/+1%, but he basicaly forgot that his cheap $10 multimeter does not have a 1% tolerance... (and is surely not calibrated  )

Does anyone have money to waste to do a teardown/scam review of these things?
I'm starting to think that it's just a standard resistor wrapped in fancy stuffs

[codeboy2k]

Does anyone have money to waste to do a teardown/scam review of these things?
I'm starting to think that it's just a standard resistor wrapped in fancy stuffs

I was thinking the same thing..just going to be a resistor in there...  then he goes on about the specially mixed resin composition that he creates... I started to think maybe he actually did make a resistor from something... but that still doesn't mean it has all the "natural" qualities he claims it has simply because he made it with all-natural bran flakes....

And if he did make up some magical composition that has resistive properties, then it probably has TERRIBLE temperature and voltage coefficients.   Getting it right and stable for voltage and temperature is not going to be easy, and certainly not going to be something available from natural resin and pulp/silk/cotton ingredients.

Yes, maybe someone should start a GoFundMe for audiophoolery busting

[Godzil]

because he made it with all-natural bran flakes....

Do you mean he found his new material for resistors in his morning breakfast cereals?

That would make sense, the number of time a few part of the circuit I'm working on fell in my morning coffee in the morning... If I was eating cereals I would have found that before him