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Media Platforms Design TeamHow can I record TV on my computer? Is it legal?What kind of TV do you have in mind? The type of equipment and software you’ll need depends on whether you’d like to replicate cable or regular over-the-air (OTA) TV. Assuming you get decent reception, you can view and record the broadcast channels in your area using a USB-based TV tuner and antenna, such as Hauppauge’s WinTV-HVR-950Q ($79) for PCs or the PCTV for Mac HD Mini Stick ($120) for Macs, plus software that can play and record those signalswe recommend EyeTV ($80)....

Media Platforms Design TeamThere’s nothing quite like a freshly poured beer from a draft system, but for most of us draft beer has been a pleasure that you only get at bars and restaurants. That’s a shame, because kegged beer is a cheaper, fresher, better preserved product. To top it off, some craft breweries also offer beers in kegs that they don’t sell in bottles or cans.You can buy a ready-built kegerator, but with a price tag that usually exceeds $700, you’re spending a lot of money to buy a fresher beer....

Kitchen CabinetsReader: Zachary PietrzykowskiBrockport, N.Y. Over the course of three years, Zachary Pietrzykowski turned a pile of knotty pine boards into the custom kitchen of his dreams. The Western New York bookbinder had no experience with cabinet-making at the outset of his daunting project, but he coached himself through it with patience and exacting measurements. Along the way, he took no shortcuts. Rather than choosing pricey furniture-grade lumber, Zachary hand picked from stacks of cheap shelf lumber that he found for 80 cents per board foot....

The surface of Europa has fascinated astronomers ever since the Voyager probes revealed deep cracks on the icy veneer. The brownish ravines hint at the giant ocean Europa might be hiding beneath its surface. And a new hypothesis says that the coloration might just be caused by salt from that ocean.The findings, published in Geophysical Research Letters, suggest that the unique hue happens thanks to the bombardment of radiation Europa receives....

The Input DilemmaTo date, brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have accomplished wonders, famously giving at least one paralyzed human the ability to control a computer cursor with his mind, and providing an army of lesser mammals limited mastery over machines. Monkeys have fed themselves with robotic arms, and last year, a rhesus monkey willed a humanoid robot to run on a treadmill. All of these are impressive feats, but the common denominator in these experiments was a cortical implant, a device inserted directly into a brain....

The Obama Administration wants to play tough with the Russian government over its invasion of Crimea by imposing sanctions targeting the assets of key Russian officials. But Russia has struck back by squeezing the place where it has great leverage over the United States—the space program.Following his earlier suggestion that NASA astronauts use a trampoline to reach the International Space Station, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, one of the officials targeted by U....

View full post on YoutubeThere I was, on a Saturday night, delighting in the late-90s pop-rock of “Flagpole Sitta” by Harvey Danger. But then, at the song’s peak, just before the halfway point, something happened: a blip of silence.This was, I realized, the censored version of the song. And I knew the copy I had wasn’t that version because I always noticed the offending line (which happens in perhaps the song’s weirdest couplet: “You told them all I was crazy / They cut off my legs, now I’m an amputee, Goddamn you!...

We knew the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee would take center stage. But we did not expect Chrysler’s Jim Press to arrive in a Fiat 500. The Fiat-Chrysler merger still isn’t final, but this overture may show that it is close to a done deal. The 500 will “expand the choices we can give the American consumer,” Press says. “This would be the perfect car to get around NYC.” We agree. But we hope this boutique two-door can attract the volume of customers Chrysler needs in the rest of the country....

Media Platforms Design TeamView full post on YoutubeSince building a wooden boat with my son a few years ago, I’ve been a fan of all things related to epoxy and composites. You can make just about anything with a little Styrofoam, fiberglass or carbon fiber sheets, and some epoxy resin. Even modern passenger jets such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner are built using composite construction.But working with epoxy and composites is a bit of an art, and, as with any art, it takes time to master the techniques....

SATURN AURAMedia Platforms Design TeamPrice Range: $20,595-$27,769Basking in the GlowWith a solid chassis, potent engines and a good-looking body, Saturn’s Aura is for real.Minus Two»>“THE BMW’S CLUTCH OPERATION IS SO SMOOTH THAT IT APPROACHES MANUAL-TRANSMISSION NIRVANA” – JIM DUNNE NISSAN ALTIMAMedia Platforms Design TeamAltima prices begin under $20,000–that’s a bargain.Family-Size FunLarge, front-drive family sedans aren’t usually at home on twisty mountain roads. But the all-new Nissan Altima is. This car loves to be driven hard, as we found during a day’s drive around California’s rugged Monterey Peninsula....

Q: I live in the Pacific Northwest where many homes, including mine, have moss growing on the roof. Is there a chemical I can spray to remove the moss?A: Your best bet is to follow a three-step moss-control process: kill it; remove it; prevent it. Here’s how.First, proceed cautiously when applying chemicals for any purpose. It’s best to first try the least toxic product you can find before resorting to more drastic measures....

Most advances in retinal implants concentrate on restoring, not enhancing, sight. But there’s hope yet for superhuman vision, and without surgery: A team at the University of Washington has created a contact lens assembled with functional circuitry and LEDs. Potential uses include virtual displays for pilots, video-game projections and telescopic vision for soldiers. A working prototype of a lens-embedded antenna that draws power for the device from radio frequencies has also been created....

Media Platforms Design TeamShino Yamanaka, left, and John Gurdon.Shino Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan was a shoo-in for the 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine. But in a surprising twist, he shared it with a researcher who did his award-winning work 50 years ago. In 2007 Yamanaka discovered that all human cells have a set of genetic switches, four points on the genome, that can be tweaked to create pluripotent stem cells....

In 2008, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault was established on a Norwegian island in the Arctic to serve as a conservator of biodiversity and food security. In other words, they keep seeds safe in case we need them in the future. It seems that future starts now.Damage to a gene bank near the city of Aleppo in Syria caused by the ongoing civil war has caused Middle Eastern researchers to request replacement samples of dry region-suited seeds....

Media Platforms Design TeamDeLorme InReach SEPrice: $299.95Getting out of cell phone range can feel like a treat these days—until you twist an ankle on your hike or forget where exactly the meeting point was. The InReach SE is a satellite communicator that allows its users to send and receive text messages and post to social media no matter how far off-grid they’ve wandered. Just in case you don’t trust DeLorme’s Iridium satellite network, which boasts 100 percent global coverage, the device also displays delivery confirmation of each message on its color-screen....

Media Platforms Design TeamPhotograph by Jens MortensenTechnical KnockoutThe iPod isn’t the only MP3 player in town that also plays video. In fact, if Apple’s 30GB iPod and Creative’s Zen Vision: M ($299) got into a fight–a fair fight, based solely on technological innovation–the Zen would win by a hair. Of course, life’s not fair, but Creative’s David has three main advantages over Apple’s Goliath: twice the battery life for video playback (4 hours, compared to the iPod’s two), a noticeably brighter display, and compatibility with nearly any video file format–including WMV9 and DivX....

The US Army is set in 2018 to deliver brand-new night fighting abilities to the troops. Rifle-mounted thermal sights, coupled with a new set of WiFi-enabled goggles, will not only make soldiers more accurate shooters at night but provide them with the information on whether or not to use lethal force to begin with.For decades, US troops night vision has given them the upper hand against adversaries. Troops are better able to defend themselves 24 hours a day, robbing enemy forces of the cover of the night....

When it comes to building a Mars colony, it’s going to have to be locally sourced unless we haul dozens of tons worth of material to the Red Planet – an unfeasible cost. NASA is courting the 3D printing community with ideas for structures that could be created with materials from the Red Planet, but one from Foster + Partners is particularly amazing. Essentially, it starts with robotic landings on the surface....

The “effective power” text messages that can crash iPhones is still floating around, and now a new contender for crashiest message has appeared. The text string “http://:” is all kind of bad news for Skype.The bug surfaced on the Skype support forums (in a post that is now removed) and was first reported by VentureBeat. The message can crash Skype on virtually all platforms, including iOS, Android, and Windows. VentureBeat reports that Skype for Mac is fine, but I managed to crash it....

Among the 30 geologists and oceanographers on the research ship JOIDES Resolution are seven paleontologists who specialize in the small fossil shells that make up the bulk of the deep-sea sediment cores we drill. They man the microscopes on 12-hour shifts—sometimes not easy on a rolling ship—and within an hour of a core being plucked from the Pacific seabed they can tell you how old the sediment is, just from the mix of fossil species it contains....