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Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/29/iphone_consumed_by_death_ray/

iPhone consumed by solar 'death ray'

Touching destruction

By Rik Myslewski in San Francisco

Posted in Mobile, 29th June 2010 19:14 GMT

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An enterprising solar-energy enthusiast has discovered how an iPhone reacts to what he calls a "65-inch death ray".

As this video demonstrates, the iPhone's audio capabilities hold up well under the fresnel lens–focused attack, even as the Jobsian handheld itself is consumed in flame:

For reasons not fully understood by social scientists, iPhones inspire creative destruction. Various models have been blended [1], shot [2], stomped [3], dropped [4], microwaved [5] , beaten [6], run over by a car [7], attacked with a cutting torch [8], and more.

Perhaps such behavior can be attributed to the pleasure that young children experience when knocking over a pile of buiding blocks — a delight some psychologists claim is engendered by initiating an "order-disorder transition".

Or perhaps the answer is more straightforward. As one commentor to an iPhone-destruction video wrote: "LOL breaking things is cool!" ®