My friend has patio bricks outside his house. He has noticed heat coming from a place before, but figured it was some kind of weird thing that wasn't harmful. He just posted a picture of the same place today and even though a storm knocked out his power several hours ago, the "place" has melted the 1/2" ice from the storm. Got any ideas?

A previously unknown free energy source?

Yes. There was speculation that maybe there is a leak in his water heater that has made its way under the slab. At least that's one thought that was posted a few minutes ago.

A laser guided "Geo-Thermal hot spring"

Take a multimeter and some # 10 AWG copper wire.

Stick the wire into the ground near the brick, then connect the black probe of the meter to the copper wire. First set the meter to /C voltage and then touch the brick with the red probe. Is there any voltage?

If not try setting the meter to D/C and re-test. It is entirely possible that a conductor is touching the brick and ground causing a current flow.