# Hey everyone, Steorn just released Orbo for sale! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 9, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-everyone-steorn-just-released-orbo-for-sale/739957 "2015-12-09T16:03:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-everyone-steorn-just-released-orbo-for-sale/739957/1 "2015-12-09T16:03:07Z")
After not thinking about it for years I randomly googled to see how the paradigm-busting, laws-of-thermodynamics-ignoring Orbo is getting on and discovered to my delight that coincidentally they actually put a product on sale - yesterday. [It’s a phone charger](http://boingboing.net/2015/12/08/free-energy-for-sale-steorn.html) that costs €1,200. Well I say “on sale”, I mean “pre-order”. Delivery time in six weeks. Supposedly. And a €480 retro never-charge phone to follow. There still seems to be scant information about how it ‘works’. > [@](#): > > …it’s made of layers of dissimilar conductive metals, with layers of a non-conductive “electret” material sandwiched between them If it does actually manage to charge a phone three times a day - or at all - with no further energy input, I will be very impressed indeed. I am however wondering if it will have a battery or a winding mechanism at the back (just to ‘prime the pump’ you understand). ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-everyone-steorn-just-released-orbo-for-sale/739957/2 "2015-12-09T16:17:34Z")
Somehow I think I’ll be passing on this one. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-everyone-steorn-just-released-orbo-for-sale/739957/3 "2015-12-09T17:22:54Z")
Layers of dissimilar conductive metals, and it creates electricity? Wait, I think I’ve heard of that [before.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaic_pile) Without knowing much else, I strongly suspect that the ‘non-conductive’ material actually is, and that the device will indeed charge phones… for a while. I suppose it’s possible the builders don’t really understand what’s going on. Though I’ve heard of that before, too. To quote Wikipedia: “Volta did not appreciate that the voltage was due to chemical reactions. He thought that his cells were an inexhaustible source of energy.” The other option is that this is all an investment scam, and that there’s no real intent to ever ship any actual product – it’s a lot easier to rip off investors than consumers, after all. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-everyone-steorn-just-released-orbo-for-sale/739957/4 "2015-12-09T17:23:45Z")
Ah those charlatans are still knocking about. I wonder about them from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-everyone-steorn-just-released-orbo-for-sale/739957/5 "2015-12-09T17:28:50Z")
wow, so they’ve invented a battery? ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-everyone-steorn-just-released-orbo-for-sale/739957/6 "2015-12-09T20:11:04Z")
Hey! I’ve got this wonderful drinking vessel which can tell you what you just put in it! I only need a few million to scale up to mass production! (and a few more million, please) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-everyone-steorn-just-released-orbo-for-sale/739957/7 "2015-12-09T20:36:24Z")
Pays for itself in energy savings in only 2 centuries! ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-everyone-steorn-just-released-orbo-for-sale/739957/8 "2015-12-09T21:09:21Z")
I stumbled upon Steorn years ago since their name is so similar to my (now 20+ year old) username. Part of me’s rooting for them. But that was when they were just scamming gullible investors, now they’re going to scam gullible consumers and that makes me sad.