It started out with a full-page ad in The Economist magazine challenging the world’s physicists to a duel: Come test our machine, and prove us right or wrong. That was in 2006.
This update is from a year ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3aaRrEIp-0
Now July, 2008 and on the last public test, ‘it was the bearings that broke down’.
Some things to remember about Steorn – they were an ad and pr company that got caught in the dot com bust so they wouldn’t be totally unaware of pulling off publicity stunts.
Here are some more recent comments from ZDNet:
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/search/?ss=date&q=steorn
Steorn, described by one observer, is a busted flush. The scorn for Steorn is mounting. Others believe they’ll pull through at the eleventh hour or perhaps send a post card all the way from South America.
Whatever the results, it’s been an interesting ride and Steorn is not the first to speak and (almost) demonstrate a magnet motor.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
John Bedini of the Bedini Electronics company is an electrical engineer noted for the invention of the Bedini Audio Spectral Enhancer, an audio signal processor that was used to enhance stereophonic effects in various commercial recordings in the early and mid-1990s. Additionally, on his personal Web site, Bedini has self-published a number of articles related to experimental methods for generating and transmitting electrical energy.
Bedini is one of many engineers who claim to have designed or co-designed[2] machines that do not adhere to the first or second laws of thermodynamics, which relate to conservation of energy. Such inventions are generally considered perpetual motion machines and in principle impossible. Bedini has registered at least one patent for such a device.
The Steorn question for many has been answered with calls of fraud. This has caused Steorn supporters to kick into knee jerk action and so far, they’re standing tough. If it’s a game they’ve probably pushed it as far as it will go. If it’s not, well….