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Gadgets can be captivating sources of light. Today’s toddlers discover this when their parents pacify them with smartphones, but for me the epiphany came when choosing my first stereo as a 13-year-old: I found myself more interested in getting a system with jazzy LED level indicators than a piece of equipment that actually delivered killer sound.
Those LEDs provided almost no functionality, but they turned an inanimate object into something quite alive -- a black box bristling with electricity, and dancing with life. And so that special relationship between gadgetry and illumination continues today. Computers, cellphones, even laser pointers -- they all light up in fascinating ways, providing real-time reminders that personal electronics are very much in the business of pushing atomic particles to and fro.
In the following gallery, we present 11 curiosity-piquing examples of the clever intersection between gadgetry and illumination. One object refers back to the dawn of electronics with a tungsten filament. Another features fiber-optic cabling, a wholly modern approach to illumination. But we begin our story with perhaps the most dangerous object in our office at this time -- a flashlight so hot it can cook breakfast. --Jon Phillips
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Wicked Lasers Torch
It's great to have a flashlight on your desk in case the power goes out. But if the power goes out and society collapses, you'll want the Wicked Lasers Torch. Most flashlights output less than 100 lumens. This $180 personal high beam spits out an estimated 4,100 lumens. It's intense enough to ensure that anyone you shine it at will freeze like an intern in the headlights. But it's also a multifunctional survival tool -- the 100-watt halogen bulb gets hot enough to start a fire or cook an egg. As an added bonus, the aluminum frame quickly becomes an excellent hand warmer. If only it could shed some light on why the copier keeps jamming. --Aaron Rowe Photo: Vincent Fournier <script src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js" type="text/javascript"></script><object class="BrightcoveExperience" id="myExperience1649072223001"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"></param> <param name="width" value="660"></param> <param name="height" value="423"></param> <param name="playerID" value="3698508001"></param> <param name="publisherID" value="1564549380"></param><param name="isVid" value="true"></param> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true"></param> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1649072223001"></param></object><script type="text/javascript"> runMobileCompatibilityScript('myExperience1649072223001', 'anId'); </script><script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script>
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