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Media Platforms Design Team Taking a self-portrait using your arm is risky business: Did you get everyone in the frame? Do you look normal or are you squishing in your chin? According to two enterprising companies, the solution to all your self-portrait problems can be found in telescoping camera extensions. In plain language, these are light, collapsible handheld tripods for point-and-shoot cameras. The Quik Pod and XShot 2.0 both aim for the same objective: to become a natural extension of your arm when you are taking self-portraits in order to get more natural-looking snapshots....

With the flu, every year is a rapid arms race. Countless numbers of viruses are pushed to mutate and spread over and over again, transforming until they can finally evade the human antibodies that have built up to fight off their predecessors. This shifting landscape poses a particular problem for the people in charge of reformulating the annual flu vaccine. How do you prepare for the onslaught of a virus that doesn’t exist yet?...

Videogames, even those with “Tom Clancy” in the title, aren’t known for their realism. But when Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon debuted in 2001, it was possibly the most realistic first-person shooter ever released. Six years and various sequels later, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (GRAW 2) , released last month for the Xbox 360, plays like a brochure for the Pentagon’s Land Warrior System, which as Popular Mechanics contributing editor Noah Shachtman reviews in our current issue....

Wine connoisseurs know that removing the label off a bottle of fine wine is a valuable skill to have. What better way to forever remember that 1982 Lafite-Rothschild than to frame it? But removing a label for keeps is a meticulous process that isn’t always necessary. Home brewers everywhere know the value of removing beer bottle labels quickly and completely. And those of use who have ever made creative use of wine bottles—whether making glasses or a chandelier—know that spending half an hour steaming a wine bottle just isn’t time well spent....

The kitchen is the hardest-working room in the house, with cabinets, counters, and appliances filling nearly every square inch. Yet one of its most visible, functional surfaces, the backsplash wall, typically garners no more attention than a tub of tofu at a Texas barbecue. Backsplash tile is an easy project you can do in a long weekend; new material options like smart tile make it even quicker and more simple. Here’s how to use tile to transform this blank wall into an eye-catching focal point....

At first glance, a recent proposal to link the lower 48’s three electrical grids–the Eastern, Western and Texas Interconnects–seems like a no-brainer (technological hurdles excepted). The Tres Amigas “superstation” proposed for Clovis, N.M., would extend the reach of renewable energy, finally allowing wind power from Kansas to flow to Colorado, or solar power from Arizona to reach Oklahoma. It would also let wind and solar energy from the blustery, blistering hot plains of West Texas flow across state lines....

At 9 pm on Monday evening, the History Channel will premiere its 2-hour documentary, 9/11 Conspiracies: Fact or Fiction. According to its online description, the documentary “includes theories that the World Trade Center was brought down by a controlled demolition; that a missile, not a commercial airliner, hit the Pentagon; and that members of the U.S. government orchestrated the attacks in hopes of creating a war in the Middle East.“The preview goes on to say that each conspiracy theory “is countered by a variety of experts in the fields of engineering, intelligence and the military....

Media Platforms Design TeamKids these days. Your average 18-year-old college freshman is part of the first generation raised from the cradle in the era of the personal computer. These young men and women grew up to the tune of cellphones ringing and video games bleeping. The World Wide Web was invented when they were only 1 year old. For this reason and many others, today’s college students make fascinating test subjects for consumer electronics....

Media Platforms Design TeamSince Concorde’s retirement in 2003, fliers have had to settle for the subsonic speeds of standard commercial aircraft. Although supersonic flight is by no means a recent technological development, for the members of the general public it remains wistfully shelved next to flying cars and butler robots. Why haven’t supersonic jets come back? The primary reason for this is simple: The Federal Aviation Administration and international regulations don’t allow sonic booms over populated areas....

Everybody can use a good knife, but any knife is only as good as it is sharp. So, instead of gifting a gorgeous kitchen knife this holiday season, why not give something to help your loved ones keep their kitchen tools sharp and on point.The Chef’s Choice $180 Diamond Hone Knife Sharpener 700 is a marvel of compact engineering. It sharpens and hones ordinary steel knives, whether they are carbon or stainless, as well as ceramic knives....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt’s been more than a week since Hurricane Sandy struck New York. Power is still out in many places, and citizens in numerous locations are cold, hungry, and in some cases short of drinking water and other crucial supplies. Property damage has been incredible. So, what lessons can we learn from this experience for next time?I think these fall into two categories: short-term preparation and long-term preparation. And these categories can be divided into things the government should do, and things that the rest of us should do....

Media Platforms Design TeamShimizu Corp has a new audacious idea: a domed city on the surface of the ocean, powered by biogas from microorganisms and thermal heating from the ocean floor. Up to 5,000 people could live there, with the ability for the city to submerge itself underwater when the surface of the ocean is rocked with storms. It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, which is par for the course for Shimuzu, which has also envisioned moon bases and space elevators....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe world is a giant museum, with its stone buildings, streets, and monuments serving as silent sentries that have seen generations of history unfold. Timera, a new and camera app, aims to bring that history right to your mobile device, merging together the past and the present of potentially any place on the planet.iOSAndroidWith a massive user-generated database of historical images that are geo-tagged to their proper locations, Timera creates pseudo-historical works of art by blending old photography and modern technology....

Citing “people familiar with the findings,” The Wall Street Journal reported today that “the U.S. Department of Transportation has analyzed dozens of data recorders from Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles involved in accidents blamed on sudden acceleration and found that the throttles were wide open and the brakes weren’t engaged at the time of the crash.“NHTSA, however, says otherwise. “It didn’t come from us,” Julia Piscitelli, a NHTSA spokeswoman, says. “Toyota gave The Wall Street Journal that story....

Media Platforms Design TeamCredit: Getty ImagesAmerica’s roads are in bad shape, and could be getting much worse. This morning, President Obama pressured Congress to pass a one-time tax to prevent the federal government from running out of money with which to fix our highways.What’s Going On?The money for highway repair, which totals about $50 billion per year, comes from the Highway Trust Fund, a transportation and infrastructure fund financed by gasoline taxes....

Media Platforms Design TeamSuddenly, everyone has a plan. Veteran oilman T. Boone Pickens is to replace foreign oil with massive wind farms and increased natural-gas production. Sen. Barack Obama proposes spending $150 billion over the next 10 years to “deploy climate-friendly energy supplies.” Sen. John McCain backs plans to build nuclear power plants and open more U.S. waters to drilling, and for whoever develops a breakthrough electric-vehicle battery. And Al Gore believes we can convert our electricity grid entirely to “renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources” within 10 years....

Media Platforms Design TeamFirst of all, I’m not a futurist. I don’t even know what a futurist really does, exactly. I think they skim research papers, make dramatic proclamations and then watch journalists scatter like ants from a kicked anthill. And they wear magical robes. No, I’m just a regular guy with a dangerous amount of robotics knowledge and a few pet theories about how ‘bots will impact our day-to-day lives....

Media Platforms Design TeamDETROIT — Here’s a look at what we think is a Cadillac CTS-V model for 2008. At first glance the car look identical the CTS model we saw at the auto show here in January. But tiny details in the front-end appearance—plus that obvious black cover-up on the hood—may paint a different picture. This is certainly not the CTS that Cadillac has already shown off. Look at the headlights: The side-by-side lenses are different from the vertical arrangement of the standard model....

To see video from the Eye’s camera, click hereEdie Widder paces the deck of the Point Lobos as it plows across California’s Monterey Bay. Alongside the 110-ft. research vessel, double-crested cormorants cruise silently above white-capped waves. Widder grabs a rail, steadying herself against the ship’s incessant pitching. She is nervous about the scientific mission ahead: retrieving a three-legged, 200-pound contraption she left two days ago 2600 ft. below the ocean’s surface....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe wait is over, and the coolest phone ever is here. Senior tech editor Glenn Derene walks you through the iPhone’s main functions with first-look video, then live blogs his first week with this smartphone on steroids. Stay tuned, because he’s bound to find something to complain about.PLUS: 3 Accessories that Won’t Work with Your iPhonePODCAST: The Future of the iPhonePM NEWS: Our Favorite Geeks on the iPhone LineDAY 1:Avoiding all the chaos and hullabaloo around the Apple Store yesterday on Fifth Ave....