A Hong Kong company has released a handheld laser, which is actually fairly powerful.
George Lucas isn't happy and has sent them a cease and desist order, because the laser device looks a lot like the hilt of a light sabre.
Wicked Lasers' Pro Artic Laser is fairly powerful and, now that it has become popular, they have started packaging it differently - essentially they are now putting a difusing lens on the end, so that people won't hurt themselves when they first turn it on; you have to remove the lens to get the full, focused power.
Techi.com clicky. I first heard about it on TNT (Tech news today over at TWiT.tv), about 22-23 minutes in, the story is actually very funny to listen to.
Edit:
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| Company press release wrote: Steve Liu, CEO of Wicked Lasers, has never compared this or any of his products to the Jedi weapon wielded by Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader – not to mention the other obvious differences between the two products (e.g. PAS3 is 1 watt peak output power while Lightsaber is1 billion watts peak output power; PAS3 has non adjustable infinite length beam while Lightsaber has adjustable finite length blade; PAS3 is real while the Lightsaber is imaginary, and so forth).” | |
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Edit 2: From the website, no "it may cause" disclaimer:
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| Quote: Warning: Extremely dangerous is an understatement to 1W of laser power. At close range, this Class 4 beam will cause immediate and irreversable retinal damage. Use with extreme caution and use only when wearing proper safety goggles with an O.D. of 3+ is required and 4.4+ for longer exposures. Customers will be required to completely read and agree to our Class 4 Laser Hazard Acknowledgment Form. | |
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It will cause blindness, it will cause skin cancer, not a namby-pamby product!
