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The International Space Station zips around the Earth once every 90 minutes. While apps like Spot the Station alert you when it will be visible, this gadget lets you know where it is at any point in its orbit. Created by Grady Hillhouse, the ISS Orbit Tracking Pointer shows the way to the ISS, even if you can’t see it.Built with a ST Microelectronics Nucleo F401 microcontroller (which is Arduino-compatible), it utilizes tracking information and motors to point at the ISS....

Media Platforms Design TeamTwitter is finally rolling out a few new features that brings it up to par with its competitors. Like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and countless other apps, you can now send group messages, and Twitter is also finally offering video messaging, a feature that seemed like a natural fit after its Vine acquisition in 2012. The group messaging function will allow direct messaging between multiple parties, much like Facebook, WhatsApp, or most modern texting apps....

Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamFoul-Weather FriendIf and when the sky starts to fall, the Weather Channel-branded Stormtracker VEC136 ($100) is our kind of all-in-one backup plan. Its black-and-white TV picks up VHF and UHF, and the radio gets digital AM, FM and NOAA Weather Radio. Its LCD screen can be set to display SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding) text alerts related to your county. If that’s not enough of a lifeline, it also has LED lights and a cellphone charger, and everything but the TV can be powered with a trusty hand crank....

The Navy has lasers. It alsohasrailguns. But that’s not quite good enough. It wants better ones, and it thinks it can get them out in the wild by 2020. Rear Adm. Bryant Fuller, chief engineer at Naval Sea Systems Command laid out the plan for better lasers and better railguns at a panel presentation earlier this month , outlining the next steps forward for both futuristic techs. Right now, the Navy has a test Laser Weapons System (LaWS) out in the field in the Gulf Coast in service on the USS Ponce....

Media Platforms Design TeamSay you’re an Army combat engineer in Iraq, and you’ve got a C-130 Hercules that’s no longer fit for service. How do you dismantle it? Sure, you could break out the tow truck, torch cutters, and maybe a circular saw or two, but an unloaded C-130 still weighs over 75,000 pounds. Better idea? Run some det cord and high explosives to the wing joints, and make fast work of taking apart one of the Army’s workhorses....

Media Platforms Design TeamIn good weather, pilots typically have the option of guiding an aircraft to the ground by locking onto ultra-high-frequency radio signals broadcast from the target runway. Up and down corrections can be made either by hand or by an autopilot computer, keeping the plane descending on the proper glide slope. GPS systems are also aboard to help the pilots stay on course.But in the case of Saturday’s Asiana Airlines crash of a Boeing 777 at San Francisco International Airport, the pilots didn’t have the option of following a glide slope set by such an Instrument Landing System (ILS)....

Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamThe Torch, from Wicked Lasers, is billed as the most powerful flashlight in the world. After using this $300 device, we can’t really argue with that, although it might also be the most dangerous flashlight in the world.In addition to pumping out a blinding 4100 lumens (just about every other commercial flashlight clocks in at well under 100), the Torch is supposed to be able to set fire to paper, melt plastic and even scramble eggs....

Media Platforms Design TeamFor true sci-fi fans, any mention of a real-world rail gun will draw an instant, slightly audible gasp. Instead of relying on chemical propellants–such as gunpowder–a rail gun uses magnetic “rails” to launch a solid, nonexplosive projectile at incredible speed. Theoretically, rail guns would be able to precisely strike targets at extreme ranges, and would negate the risks associated with carrying around tons of explosive ammo. More to the point, they’re cool-sounding, just like lasers....

Independence Day is supposed to be fun and patriotic, but preparation is key. Here, Popular Mechanics senior editor Roy Berendsohn reveals everything you need to do to keep your family safe, whether it’s with fireworks, around the pool, tending the BBQ, or playing outside at night.Fireworks🎆 Have a small bucket filled with water on hand and a garden hose equipped with a spray nozzle. Use them to soak unexploded fireworks or fireworks that fizzle out....

Media Platforms Design TeamTree HouseIf you were lucky enough to have one when you were a kid, then you know how awesome these are. And if you weren’t, then it’s time to live vicariously through your children once you’ve built them a wooden house in the branches. Popular Mechanics has covered the craziest, most opulent tree houses around, but for a simpler version, stick to this plan from Instructables.TepeeIf your backyard is short on trees tall enough for that tree house, then we suggest the tepee....

Media Platforms Design TeamThey call it the ladder of death. But soon it could be robots—not U.S. Navy sailors—making the descent. U.S. Navy Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) teams carry out thousands of operations every year, inspecting vessels suspected of smuggling, piracy, or breaking embargoes. The eight-man team approaches in a small boat; if the vessel to be inspected refuses to lower a ladder, the Navy team must board with grappling hooks and rope ladders....

View full post on YoutubeCygnus, the Orbital Science spacecraft headed for the International Space Station, is in orbital limbo. A week ago today, the company’s Antares rocket blasted the capsule into space toward an expected rendezvous with the ISS. When the Cygnus reaches the station, Orbital will join SpaceX as the only companies to reach ISS with their own privately built spacecraft.Orbital had planned to reach the station this past Sunday, then delayed the ETA to today, Wednesday, because of a software glitch....

BURJ DUBAILocation: Dubai, United Arab EmiratesPrice Tag: Approximately $1 billionCompletion Date: 2007Estimated Height: 2950 feetTallest building one-upmanship seems to erupt every 30 to 40 years. In 1930s New York the Chrysler Building battled with the Empire State Building for the world title. In the early ’70s, the World Trade Center and Sears Tower duked it out. Malaysia took the fight overseas in 1998, when its 1483-ft. Petronas Towers overtook the Sears Tower as the world’s tallest building (unless you count the Chicago building’s highest antenna – a point of contention in some circles), only to be bested six years later by Taiwan’s 1671-ft....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt’s been a stellar 18 months for SpaceX. The aerospace company signed a $492 million launch contract—the largest in history—with satellite company Iridium Communications. It received a $75 million slice of NASA pie to develop an escape system for its Dragon spacecraft. And in December, it became the first private company ever to launch a craft into orbit and successfully recover it: After circling the Earth twice, the unmanned Dragon splashed down within a mile of its target in the Pacific Ocean....

Q: i have a 2003 Buick Century. My low washer fluid light will not go off. is there a way to reset this? A: You probably need to replace the sensor. Check to see if it, or the wiring to it, is shorted.Q: I have a 2004 Mercury Marquis Ultimate with V8 engine. I need to replace the blower motor resistor but don’t know where it is located. Can you help?...

Media Platforms Design TeamInfiniti Red Bull Racing is killing it in Formula 1, and Sebastian Vettel’s current 90 point lead over Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso is only part of the reason their success is causing some to speculate that the team is secretly employing traction control. How did the Asian luxury manufacturer reach such lofty (and controversial) heights in just three years? We caught up with some of Infiniti’s behind-the-scenes puppetmasters at the Italian Grand Prix* to find out....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt may be the closest planet to the Sun, but even Mercury has water ice. A lot in fact—as much as 100 billion to 1 trillion tons, according to a trio of studies published today by scientists working with NASA’s MESSENGER orbiter. The findings, out today in the journal Science, are the first to give strong evidence of water in Mercury’s polar regions, following decades of speculation.Using the neutron spectrometer aboard MESSENGER—which in March became the first spacecraft enter Mercury’s orbit—scientists detected unprecedented high concentrations of hydrogen within the craters in Mercury’s polar regions....

There are 31 days in July and among them are typically some of the hottest days of the summer.Flag HolidayGive Old Glory a good airing this July 4th, Independence Day.Soil MoistureDay time temperatures typically soar into the 80s and 90s in July. That means you have to keep your guard up to prevent dehydration damage to your lawn and plants (not to mention you, by the way). Rule of thumb: The cool-season grasses that cover most of the continental US require at least 1 in....

Media Platforms Design TeamWith a secondary explosion worthy of the Star Wars franchise, a Navy missile designed for anti-missile defense shot down a defunct spy satellite on Wednesday night. The cruiser USS Lake Erie fired a vertically-launched SM-3 missile from its position northwest of Hawaii at 10:26 pm (EST), and military planners continue to track the debris. “Thus far we’ve seen nothing larger than a football,” said Gen. James Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff....

Media Platforms Design TeamRichard Branson beware: The first rocket launched from the future home of Virgin Galactic’s commercial spaceport sputtered out of control, landing well ahead of schedule Monday.The rocket, SpaceLoft XL, which was set to loft amateur experiments (including science projects from a sixth-grade class) and commercial payloads to a sub-orbital altitude of 70 miles, reached only about a tenth of its intended altitude before crashing in the desert near Spaceport America–New Mexico’s $225-million hub under construction for the Virgin CEO Branson’s $200,000 tours of sub-orbital space....