Photos of the Lab, No Load

One of our readers was able to get this photo of the lab where Steorn is working on the device:

"Attached are 2 pictures of the upstairs of Kinetica-Museum which Steorn are using as a temporary workshop. You can see a perspex disc, blu tack, a drill, a hammer and a hack saw. Over unity it would seem does not seem to require more than a few basic household tools! Though those hot lights clear play havoc with the blu tack!!!"

He was also able to speak with a Steorn employee:

You can also see pictures of the red jacketed Steorn employee I vented my spleen at around 10.00am, telling him that I had never in my 20 years in technology sales and marketing seen such an incredible display of incompetence. He had no answer to the most obvious of questions. He presented himself as a spokesman for Steorn.
...
Most tellingly he admitted before 4 witnesses that there was no load bearing Orbo device inside the Kinetica museum. No weights being lifted by any device. Just a spinning Orbo (still requiring fixing) . He explicitly said that "the load bearing device is back in Dublin".

Our first view of Orbo, All 4 Cameras are Live

Camera 1:

Camera 2:
Camera 3:

Camera 4:

Steorn's Screwup in the News

Here are some recent stories posted around the Internet:

SiliconRepublic - The heat is on Orbo

Steorn say that the intense heat should not affect future applications of the Orbo technology as this is just a prototype. The prototype was set up in the museum on Sunday and as of Tuesday night, McCarthy said it was functioning perfectly until yesterday when it froze suddenly.
...
“We did break the barings when we were installing it, but it looks to us almost certainly that it is probably the intense heat from spotlights that were only installed yesterday afternoon,” said McCarthy.

To remedy this, McCarthy said: “We could put fans all around but then we’re pushing air across the wheel,” which would attract the same amount of suspicion as hidden batteries.

ZDNet - Rupert Goodwins - Steorn demo fails to appear - update

Sean McCarthy: "We don't expect to convince anyone with the demo straight off, it's more a sort of cat and mouse game. We'll see how people react and change it accordingly"

Wired - The Perpetual Energy Machine: Art Project?

the live feed page on the Kinetica site makes us think this is all a big hoax in the name of art. The garbled visuals are accompanied by creepy new age music and some indistinguishable chatter

Brilliant reporting Wired, those are astream's test feeds.

Here are some other related stories:

PES Network - Orbo Free Energy Demo Has Botched Start
I4U News - Steorn Orbo free Energy Technology to be shown Today
Engadget - Update on Steorn's Orbo boondoggle
TECH.BLORGE.com - Irish breakthrough: free, constant energy supply?

Update:
Additional commentaries:
Machinist: Surprise: "Free energy" machine hits "technical difficulties"
Gizmodo: The Rise and Fall of the Steorn Orbo Free Energy Machine

More Delays, Feed 3 is Live

SeamusF updates us again:

We are experiencing some technical difficulties with the demo unit in London. Our initial assessment indicates that this is probably due to the intense heat from the camera lighting. We have commenced a technical assessment and will provide an update later today.

As a consequence, Kinetica will not be open to the public today (5th July). We apologise for this delay and appreciate your patience.

I find it interesting that while the skeptics just get more skeptical, some of the believers in the forum argue that these technical difficulties show that Steorn is the real deal. I think that's a bit of a stretch! I'll hold off judgment until the dust settles.

Also, Seamus gives an answer to why the demo unit was assembled on site:

SteornSkeptic:Its probably so that they can show videos of everything from the construction phase to a full working prototype in that location.

SeaumsF: Correct!

On a final note, Steorn has updated their website, so now the previously non working links are all functional:
http://www.steorn.com/orbo/demo/

Note that currently, Feed #3 is an actual feed of the demo location, while the others are still Big Ben.

Fireworks

I just got back from a wonderful fireworks display, and it seems there were some fireworks going on with Steorn as well. SeamusF left this message on the forums:

... they ran into some technical issues, firstly a problem with the bearings, which was fixed once identified. The next issue appears to be an environmental issue. We think possibly the temperature from the lighting system in the immediate area, but this has to be further assessed in the morning.

The laws of nature are not giving up without a fight!

On another note, this is the only official word we've received from Dr. Mike:

I am in London!

No sign of Mabuse, yet.


It's late, and the beer was good. Time for me to go to bed.

Patience, persistence, truth,
Dr. mike