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On any given play, the quarterback must survey the football field and make a split-second decision about where to throw before a 250-pound tank of a man pummels him into the turf. Now some players will use virtual reality to practice the mental part of the game—going through the decision-making process of a passing play all from the safety of the film room.The Dallas Cowboys, never an organization to shy away from extravagant expenses, is the first in the NFL to use virtual reality for training....

Paul Feig, the creator of Freaks and Geeks, is bringing his own vision of the future of space travel to Yahoo! TV. The show will feature one famous starship commander whose valor is known across the universe from his travels in the not-too-distant future. I’m speaking, of course, of Capt. Joel Hodgson of the Satellite of Love.Feig just dropped the trailer for the show, called Other Space. It’s about a group of fish-out-of-space-water cadets dropped into an alternate universe....

Media Platforms Design TeamAs outlined earlier, Apple’s full-fledged foray into an automotive multimedia interface is finally here, and it’s called CarPlay.What’s it like to operate Apple’s CarPlay, and is it everything we’ve come to expect from the Cupertino-based company? We spent some one-on-one time at the Geneva Motor Show with a CarPlay-equipped 2015 Mercedes-Benz C-Class to find out.Easy, PeasyCarPlay fires up automatically when an iPhone 5, 5c, or 5S is plugged in via a Lightning connection, and the first thing you’ll see is a simplified version of the oh-so-familiar iOS 7 desktop....

Media Platforms Design TeamSonja Lovas/FlickrMy favorite long-term housing trend is the move toward bigger and better outdoor living spaces. And I’m not alone in my love for crazy awesome outdoor living. According to a survey of architectural professionals completed by the American Institute of Architects, buyers are spending less on lot size and more on amenities—especially outdoor spaces. Nearly 63 percent of architects report increasing consumer interest in this kind of space, the report says....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe Low-DownThe new HTC One, which begins shipping on April 16, is a complete hardware and software reinvention of HTC’s premium Android phone. It has a sleek aluminum body, unique camera sensor, front-facing stereo speakers, and a news-feed-based version of its Sense Android overlay. There’s just one problem: It’s coming out around the same time as Samsung’s blockbuster Galaxy S4.HardwareThe One’s seamless aluminum design is gorgeous and feels substantial in the hand....

Media Platforms Design TeamCar sales in the U.S. climbed 9 percent in December, closing what turned out to be the strongest year since 2007. But equally notably, luxury car sales constituted sixteen percent of sales in December, representing a larger portion than in years past.A Los Angeles Times article suggests that year-end executive bonuses usually help boost luxury car sales towards the end of the year, but 2012’s strong performance comes from buyers who appear “unfazed by the current level of economic uncertainty generated by the fiscal cliff negotiations....

Trees are in trouble in the United States. In a study released in last week’s Science researchers surveying forests of the American West found that trees are dying at an ever-increasing rate. Global warming appears to be the culprit. Warmer temperatures means more drought stress on trees, study leader Philip van Mantgem of the United States Geological Survey says, which also makes trees more vulnerable to the predation of bugs such as bark beetles....

On June 30, 2004, one of the most sophisticated spacecraft ever built screamed toward Saturn at 54,483 mph. Then, for 96 minutes, it burned half its weight in fuel, braking just enough to settle into orbit. In the two years since, Cassini has floated over the planet’s delicately banded atmosphere, glided by its ancient, cratered moons, and passed right through its iconic rings–returning images that surpassed even the mission scientists’ wildest expectations....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe Circus ManReader: David SouthallMaterials: $900Time: Eight daysResult: Absurd, circus-worthy transportation – with an unbeatable sense of style.* See Monowheel Runners Up* Submit Your Own DIY ProjectModeled on a 1924 circus design, the Monowheel works like a ball bearing: Anchored by the weight of the engine and driver, the inner wheel stays upright while the outer loop, propelled by a 90cc engine, revolves at 20 mph or more....

To exoplanet researchers, Sara Seager is a cosmic rock star. A professor of planetary science at MIT, Seager was the first planetary scientist to characterize an exoplanet’s atmosphere. Now she has her eyes on detecting the atmospheres of more Earth-like planets, with a plan for how to tell if the faraway world might be supporting life at this very moment. The goal is to find another Earth, or, at least, something a lot more like our planet than the nearly 2,000 confirmed exoplanets we now know....

Media Platforms Design TeamDraper has an update for the way astronauts get around in the near-vacuum of space, one intended to keep astronauts stabilized outside their spacecraft. By repurposing parts used in spacecraft control, Draper thinks it can make for safer EVAs and bring Manned Maneuvering Unit technology up to date. (Maybe they can help rename it Crewed Maneuvering Unit?)The control momentum gyroscope-based technology is usually more associated with attitude control in spacecraft, helping shuttles and other craft stabilize in the microgravity environment....

Media Platforms Design Team(Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)According to a new study, astronomers say it’s possible that two never-before-seen planets larger than Earth could be hiding far out in our solar system.Some of the most distant known objects in the solar system, such as dwarf planet candidates out in the Kuiper Belt (the band of icy objects where Pluto lives), have strange and wonky orbits that just shouldn’t be. To explain how those objects got such stretched-out, high-inclination orbits, you need something heavy pulling on them....

Media Platforms Design TeamA lot of the new features Apple revealed in Cupertino one week ago today may have been new to iPhone, but they weren’t exactly new. For example, near-field communication (NFC), a standard that’s been used in Android devices for years, has finally reached iPhone with the 6 and 6 Plus. The bad news for iPhone users: Apple is restricting the chip.Apple introduced NFC technology to power its touchless Apple Pay system, the golden service that Tim Cook promises will do away with the need for your physical wallet....

Media Platforms Design TeamAfter 200 miles and three straight days of running across the Northern Italian Alps, 50-year-old Gregoire Millet wearily walks across the finish line. The brutal 2012 Tor des Géants is the second ultramarathon he has run, and by pushing his body well beyond what most would consider the brink, he takes the silver medal. He has been racing for nearly 79 hours, much of it in the rain, and has slept for only 6....

Media Platforms Design TeamA deadly crash killed a pilot and at least eight spectators in Reno, Nev., injuring dozens more. Veteran stunt pilot Jimmy Leeward lost control of a P-51 Mustang, which plummeted into the seats. The National Transportation Safety Board is just beginning an investigation into what could have caused this, though Forbes reports that spectators saw a piece of the plane, possibly a trim tab, fall off the P-51 just before the wreck....

For defense wonks, today was bigger than Christmas. After all, that holiday comes once a year. The creation of a new stealth bomber is once-in-a-generation, and today the U.S. Air Force announced that Northrop Grumman won a contract that amounts to $55 billion or more to build the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRSB.) That amount could grow to as much as $100 billion over time. The company beat a team formed by Boeing and Lockheed Martin to build what Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter called the “backbone” of the Air Force’s ability to strike and deter enemies....

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has released its list of the safest cars (including crossovers) for the 2007 model year. And, happily, the critical decider for “safest” came down to active safety, rather than passive. In other words, vehicles that had the best chance of avoiding an accident in the first place fared better than those that simply helped protect their occupants once they were in an accident. And, as far as the IIHS was concerned, that accident-avoiding ability ultimately boiled down to vehicles equipped with stability control systems, which Popular Mechanics gave a hard look in our man vs....

This is the day the students have been waiting for, and it’s perfect.The sky over the Bronx is a clear, cool blue, with white sponge clouds drifting here and there. The traffic on the Bruckner Expressway, a massive eight-lane highway that chokes off this neighborhood from the rest of the borough and the rest of the world, is a dim wash in the distance, and the dark Bronx River ripples with expectation....

“Nice bike. I didn’t know Honda made a four-cylinder cruiser.” Those were the words of a friendly motorist while I tanked up my recently renovated 1982 Honda CB900 Custom. His comment confirmed that I had accomplished my goal of updating a 20-year-old design to look like a modern cruiser. But instead of the ubiquitous V-twin and rumbling exhaust, my bike has an Inline Four that gives off a sport bike howl when prodded by the throttle....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhat Is It? 2009 GMC Yukon Hybrid The Specs The Yukon Hybrid is the third GM body-on-frame SUV to receive the two-mode hybrid technology. GMC says the Yukon will seat 8 passengers, tow 5800 pounds and return around 21 mpg in city conditions. The hybrid powertrain is the same as the system used in the Tahoe and that includes the 332 hp 6.0-liter V8. To differentiate the Yukon, GMC has fitted the big SUV with GM’s MagnaRide suspension, which utilizes the same magnetorheological shock technology that’s used on the Corvette ZR1 to adjust the damping rate based on road conditions....