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Media Platforms Design TeamIf you’re reading this, you’re probably more likely to pore over spec sheets than People magazine. But for the rest of the auto buying public, a glitzier set of priorities often prevail.Consider a recent evening at a post-Oscar shindig sponsored by Jaguar/Land Rover, which featured the XKR-S Convertible and Evoque prominently displayed along the glitterati-infused red carpet, complete with the obligatory phalanx of paparazzi.Rap and fashion impresario Pharrell, performer Esperanza Spalding, and composer/Oscar musician Hans Zimmer mixed into the crowd....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe recent haircut delivered upon oil prices will surely come as a relief in the coming months as I fill the 25-gallon tank in my old F150. (Yeah, I’m a bit embarrassed to be driving a truck that gets all of 12mpg and yeah, I’m thinking real hard about trading it for a Tacoma).But to tell the truth, I’m not all that happy about it. I worry that when prices fall like this (down near $55/barrel as I write), collective amnesia sets in....

Well, our long-term Infiniti is now seeing duty here in NYC, having made the eastward trek as the photo and support car for the Z06 that Ben Stewart drove last week. Of course, the Vette got all the glory. But the M35 is a pretty darn nice piece in its own right. Among its many wonders is what the Infiniti folks call the Smart Key. It’s not unique to Infiniti, and it’s not really too smart....

1953 Kurtis 500B, Chassis No. 363Powered by a 404-hp Offenhauser engine, this bright yellow speedster qualified for the 1955 Indianapolis 500 with a top speed of 140 mph. It rolled across the finish line fourth.Row of 30s-era BentleysThese machines are ready to race, not sit in the garage being rubbed with diaper.1934 Bugatti T-51This manual four is outfitted with an 8-cylinder engine with twin overhead cams, roller bearing camshaft, and supercharger....

Media Platforms Design Team American cinema of the 1930s and ’40s may be revered as golden, but by today’s standards, the technology of the era was anything but. In 1946, Hollywood was abuzz with new underwater filming techniques that let audiences experience big-screen shark encounters and beautiful coral reefs. By placing an air-tight plastic box over a standard-size 16-mm camera, operators could finally film in so-called “fish-view.” “External controls on the case permit the camera to be started and stopped with ease,” PM wrote in the May issue....

Media Platforms Design TeamThere aren’t enough bionic men on the planet to produce a proper stereotype. Even so, David the Farmer seems atypical. Ruddy, red-haired, and impossibly cheerful, he meets us on the ­gravel path outside his workshop. What I was expecting—a grizzled retiree limping stiffly through his daily chores—bears no resemblance to this 30-something mechanic climbing down from a massive tractor without hesitation, weaving between ATVs and scattered engine parts, moving from task to task with no evidence that he’s part machine....

Media Platforms Design TeamA hulking military transport vehicle rolls up to the event—a party being thrown by the location-based service Pathcrosser, DJed by the musician Questlove—and a dozen tech analysts and entrepreneurs pile into the back for a free ride to the next stop on one of the epic nights that tend to follow the panel-filled days of the South by Southwest Interactive technology conference in Austin, Texas.The vehicle may have been old—a Swiss army transport from 1973—but its method of delivery was all new: It was called by a tweet....

Electronic blood-pressure and insulin monitors, CAT scans, X-rays and MRIs have mechanized much of the medical process. But when it comes to inserting knives, needles and catheters into patients, clinicians around the world still do it the old fashioned way—by feel.When inserting needles, doctors and nurses rely on tactile feedback, says Jeffrey Karp, chemical and bioengineering professor of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology. They use resistance of the tissue to know by feel where the needle is, so they know when the needle has reached its target....

Media Platforms Design TeamIn the last half-century, the advance of camera technology has brought an impressive array of improvements to photography, most noticeably the replacement of film with digital pictures. But the way you take a photo has barely changed at all: You zoom, you focus and you push a button, a process that leaves you with a static image.And then along came Lytro. A few weeks ago, the Silicon Valley startup made waves when it announced its plans to release a commercial “light-field camera” this fall....

Media Platforms Design Team(Photo Credit: BitcoinTalk)Bitcoins are supposed to be stable in part because they’re linked to virtual information only, rather than to something—or some place—physical. But when a fire ripped through a massive bitcoin mine outside Bangkok, Thailand, last month, the bitcoin world was reminded that escaping the physical world entirely is, at least for now, impossible.The fire erupted October 14 in a 5-megawatt mining facility run by Cowboyminers, a group of European miners based in Bangkok....

View full post on YoutubeYour favorite hot sauce comes alive in this video of the Sriracha factory in motion, as founder David Tran narrates a tour of the spicy empire he built. Tran fled Vietnam in 1978, seeing new horizons in the United States. He named his company, Huy Fong, after the boat that brought him from Vietnam to Hong Kong before he crossed the ocean to America. When he started the Huy Fong operation in 1980, Tran packed the bottles by spoon....

Media Platforms Design Team1. Carbon Motors E7The E7 doesn’t exist, but if police agencies nationwide know what’s good for them, it will. It would be the world’s first purpose-built police car, a diesel-powered Dodge Charger look-alike with a laundry list of built-to-order options, such as armored front doors and dashboards (capable of stopping 9-mm rounds) and forward-looking infrared cameras. But the biggest potential innovation here is the business model. “Law enforcement agencies don’t buy in bulk,” says William Li, chairman and CEO of Atlanta-based Carbon Motors....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe Department of Homeland Security’s latest warning of a possible plot to blow up airliners during the Sochi Olympics was a stark reminder: A bomb remains the most serious threat to aviation security post-9/11, now that hijackings and attacks on cockpits are all but impossible to pull off. What’s most alarming about this latest warning, what become known as the in the media, is that it suggests that even the tiniest amounts of liquid explosive could be used to concoct a device capable of bringing down a commercial airliner....

Media Platforms Design TeamIf NASA doesn’t change the terms in the draft version of its contract to build a spacecraft that can deliver astronauts to orbit, then Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) may simply bow out of building one for NASA. “We may not bid on it,” SpaceX founder Elon Musk said. However he is increasingly optimistic that the agency will change some of the rules that dictate the design.Musk was in Washington, D....

Media Platforms Design Team Like many German automakers, Volkswagen tosses its hat into the four-door coupe ring with the introduction of the 2009 Passat Coupe. Though the concept of a four-door coupe makes little sense (it’s essentially a sleeker looking, more low-slung sedan), it seems like every carmaker is rushing to get one on the streets. At first glance, the new Passat has a lower, more aggressive stance than previous gens....

Media Platforms Design TeamNEW YORK—The stylish but stark basement of a classic brick building in SoHo, the New York City neighborhood where art, fashion and commerce collide is a fitting place to pitch the virtues of the Fiat 500. Known also as the Cinquecento, the 500 is the first Fiat to come stateside since the Fiat X1-9 of the early ’80s and perhaps the first of additional tasty Italian cars heading our way now that Fiat and Chrysler have merged....

The aerospace industry is no stranger to mega-mergers, but even this sector may not have seen a deal like this. Two huge entities are proposing to merge: the Netherlands–based EADS and London-based BAE Systems. EADS makes the civilian A380 airliner, the Eurofighter, U.S. Coast Guard and Army helicopters, and A400M military transport haulers. BAE makes a slew of electronic warfare equipment such as antiaircraft jammers and sensors used in American weapons systems, as well as military training aircraft and submarines....

The Optimal Bow purports to offer better archery through the magic of math and computer-guided engineering. Designed by artist John Briscella, the bow was mathematically designed to combine the qualities of some of the best bows, with the whole thing carved out of aluminum, guided by a Computer Numerical Control machine for maximum precision.It’s designed to be a lightweight that carries back about 40 pounds of pressure. That’s a bit more than some compound bows on the market, which are designed to have a lower pressure drawback....

Media Platforms Design TeamThey’re called “thumpers” and with good reason. With one combustion event for every 720° of crankshaft rotation, big-bore (500cc and up) four-stroke single-cylinder motorcycles inherently produce the most vibration of any engine design. And when that cylinder fires, it’s really an “event.” Even so, there are pockets of hardcore thumper fans who wouldn’t ride anything else. Their addiction rivals that of the diesel die-hards getting thrilled to the marrow by the sound of piston slap....

This morning, President Bush announced a $13.4 billion federal loan package for GM and Chrysler. Ford has said it doesn’t need money at this time and was not included in the plan. There are of course several concessions that must be met. Among them, the automakers must eliminate the jobs bank program, limit executive pay, and be on a clear path to viability by March 31. If the government decides that either of the two companies have not met those requirements,the loans may be called....