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Whether you’re talking about giant lasers mounted on 747s or next-generation super-radar, missile defense is a hotbed for big, weird ideas for defense technologies that often sound too amazing to be true. That’s not even the half of it: According to a Los Angeles Times report, however, the Pentagon has spent about $10 billion of taxpayer money over the last decade on systems that sound futuristic and marvelous but went basically nowhere....

Most of the time, media test cars are distinguished only by a license plate that might bear a discreet “manufacturer” tag. Audi diesels, though, are a different matter. Whether a Q7 or an A3, the diesel press cars from Audi (which is part of the Volkswagen group) always bear towering “TDI Clean Diesel” decals across their flanks. I guess the theory is that when the cars are out on the road they’re serving double duty as billboards, spreading the gospel about the Volkswagen group’s engineering prowess....

Media Platforms Design TeamEveryone knows there are control and capability benefits of all-wheel drive when you’re dealing with the elements—come sand or high water. Dropping an engine’s torque down to the ground with four tire patches instead of two would give any vehicle more traction. But headed to market in more and more performance cars are new systems that can seamlessly and instantaneously distribute torque to any single wheel at a time....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhen I was a kid, I remember a certain yearly Halloween ritual that didn’t involve candy, costumes or door-to-door trick-or-treating. My father and I would walk down to the end of our driveway, screwdrivers in hand, and remove our mailbox from its post. After several years of living in our house in suburban Westchester County in New York, my father had decided that our mailbox had simply taken enough abuse....

Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamFINAL REPORT - March 2010Media Platforms Design TeamAs much as we’ve praised the Jetta’s torquey and fuel-efficient diesel powertrain, it was the smart touches inside that made the commutes and road trips a breeze. On one getaway weekend from L.A. to San Diego, we found the trunk cavernous enough to haul our baggage—and all our SeaWorld trinkets—home. Today’s vehicles have added more and more techy gadgets, so it’s refreshing to see some simplicity....

Media Platforms Design TeamNo. 1. Make a ListTotal Time: 2 HoursFirst, make a plan that’s achievable. Your list should include a balance of projects, from the have-tos (sensible data backup) to the want-tos (whole-home audio!). Don’t forget all the adapters, tools, and other supplies you’ll need. Order cables ahead of time online—they’ll cost far more in a last-minute run to the store.No. 2. Back Up Every ByteTotal Time: 2 HoursEquipment: NAS drive ($100 to $200), 10-foot Ethernet cable ($3)Before a weekend of mucking around with your gadgets, make sure to back up your data....

Media Platforms Design TeamMercedes offered an early peek at the redesigned E Class two months before it will be officially introduced next March. While mechanically similar to the existing car, it’s been restyled extensively inside and out. Many of the styling clues, like the sweptback headlights, were obviously heavily influenced by the company’s flagship S Class. Inside, the dash follows the S Class, and on the center console there’s the rotating hockey puck that controls most of the car’s comfort and entertainment systems....

Yokohama, Japan—There’s a lot to like about Infiniti’s M sedan. As something of an unsung hero in the midsize luxury performance segment, it offers a plush interior with topnotch ergonomics, a uniquely swept body shape, and a leading array of state-of-the-art technology. In 2012, that goodness makes its way untainted into the new M Hybrid, along with the requisite electric motor sandwiched between engine and transmission. And while introducing a hybrid luxury car may not seem like such a novel idea these days, the M actually won’t have much competition—you’ll pay almost twice the price to get an electric motor or two in your BMW or Mercedes-Benz, and the sleepy Lexus GS Hybrid II is more than a little long in the tooth....

Art Strieber shoots founders and CEOs, mega-stars like Ryan Gosling and Elvis Costello. Oh, and he’s also a regular at publications such as Popular Mechanics. His job is to show up, tools in hand, and capture the essence of a subject.If you think all the magic happens in post-production, forget it. Shooting great portraits comes down to planning. Here are his techniques that work as well for magazine covers as Snapchat....

4 Reasons Why Prince of Persia (2008) Is Better Than Prince of Persia (1989)* True Teamwork While the original PoP was a solo affair, the new game’s plot and mechanics are heavily driven by the interplay between the Prince and a new character named Elika. The interactions between the Prince and Elika (who, like any ancient princess worth her salt, has magical powers and can fly) provide some of the game’s cool....

Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design Team Russian troops invaded Georgia’s South Ossetia on Friday, but Russian attacks on Georgia’s major Web sites and overall Internet access began a day earlier. That’s according to Jart Armin, editor of RBNexploit—the community blog that has been leading the reporting and analysis efforts on digital security in Eastern Europe this week, even as Russian officials ordered a stand-down today. Official Georgian domains are currently so unreliable that the country is now using a Google-run Blogspot Web site to host information from the Georgia Ministry of Foreign Affairs....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe drought that swept across America last summer affected 80 percent of U.S. agricultural land, making it the most severe in more than half a century. As water becomes an increasingly critical issue in many regions in the U.S., not just the dry Southwest, water managers need increasingly accurate models and maps.One of the most important factors for water availability is evapotranspiration (ET), a figure that combines evaporation and plant breathing, known as transpiration....

Police in the Australian state of Queensland raided a suspected methamphetamine lab and uncovered a 3D-printed firearm. This is apparently the first time that a 3D-printed firearm has been captured by police anywhere. The firearm appears to be a Liberator pistol, a design created by Defense Distributed, a Texas-based gunsmithing group, and uploaded to the Internet for free. The Liberator is a single shot, .380 ACP caliber pistol almost entirely made of parts capable of being manufactured by any 3D printer, with the exception of a single steel nail that functions as a firing pin....

RotoZip revolutionized the construction and remodeling business when it introduced the spiral cutting saw in 1972. This tool’s legendary status has only increased through the years as the company has fine-tuned the design and brought out specialized bits to plunge cut just about anything you can think of, from drywall to metal to ceramic tile.Now RotoZip has taken the next logical step and added lung-saving dust collection, part of an accessory it calls the Dust Vault....

For generations, the default vehicle for plumbers, contractors and delivery drivers has been the full-size van. The pressures of the economy, ever-increasing urban congestion and the fluctuating price of gasoline could move them to smaller rigs like the Transit Connect. The size is just right, with a low, flat floor that can be loaded through any of the three cargo doors. BEST WORKHORSE VEHICLEFord Transit ConnectBase Price: $21,475Powered by a thrifty four-cylinder engine driving the front wheels, the van returns 22 mpg city and 25 on the highway, is low enough to slide into many garages and can handle a 1600-pound payload....

When it comes to status symbols, nothing beats a circle. There is a global race to create the biggest Ferris wheel, and while these attractions are built for fun, the stakes are serious. “These wheels have almost replaced the skyscraper as icons,” says Dennis Speigel, president of the consulting firm International Theme Park Services. When the Singapore Flyer makes its debut this month, it will be the world’s tallest, at 541 ft....

Media Platforms Design TeamAnn Arbor, Mich.—Don’t call the Volt a plug-in hybrid. GM engineers steadfastly claim that the Volt is an electric vehicle with an on-board generator, or in their words, an “EV with a range extender.” We tend to favor the former. Semantics aside, the Volt is the most thoroughly tested car in GM’s history, a new type of vehicle that vehicle line director Tony Posawatz claims is overengineered because, “Frankly, we have to change minds about the quality of GM vehicles....

Exploration of asteroids has been limited to bodies large enough to allow a probe to enter its orbit. Smaller ones don’t have enough gravity to send the same kinds of missions. Justin Atchison has a plan for that. Atchison, a senior aerospace engineer at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, wants to explore small asteroid bodies by sending a fleet of smaller nanoprobes at them to make gravitational measurements and determine mass and other characteristics of the rocky—and little-understood—debris from our solar system’s formation....

Media Platforms Design TeamAfter starting dead last in the 42-car field of Saturday’s Petit Le Mans at the Road Atlanta racetrack, the Nissan DeltaWing finally completed its first race, finishing an impressive sixth overall. Although the prototype racer was shunted and rolled by a Porsche during a testing session before the race, bringing up more questions about whether the DeltaWing could be a serious competitive racecar, the team was able to repair the car in time for qualifying on Friday....

Media Platforms Design TeamNEW SENTRA MAKES WORLD DEBUTEvery carmaker needs a well-known entry-level model. For Nissan, it’s the venerable Sentra, and it’s all new for 2007. Nissan says it added some pinache and lots of room to its otherwise reliable if not exciting small car. Except Sentra’s not small anymore. This sixth-generation model has 5.9 in. more wheelbase, 2.3 in. more length, 3.2 in. more width and 4 in. more height....