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Klein Tools are legendary for their toughness and reliability. That explains why they’re so widely used by electricians, utility linemen, and contractors—and why we were glad to hear of the company’s new industrial-duty non-contact voltage tester. Costing $25, it’s inexpensive enough for a homeowner to own. About the size of a large Sharpie pen, the tool can be a life-saver if you’re doing electrical work. Picture this: You turn off a circuit breaker, but then you poke this little tool against the receptacle or against the base of a bulb socket....

Thanks to NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), a satellite that detects microwave light from the big bang, astrophysicists were able to confirm a few of their long-standing theories—and in doing so paint a clearer picture of the birth of the universe. Using WMAP, researchers measured microwaves pointing in different directions and their polarization across the sky. The polarization was a product of photons left over from the big bang colliding with free electrons, which came from neutral atoms illuminated by the first stars....

Media Platforms Design TeamYesterday at Daytona International Speedway, a blue, purple, and red blur screamed past the pits. At speed, you’d be hard-pressed to relate this squat, bulbous shape to a stock BMW Z4, but that’s exactly the point: this newly unveiled Z4 GTE will battle the big boys over ten ALMS races this season, and just might silence critics who dismiss the Z4 as a hairdresser’s car.Forget everything you associate with a stock Z4: run by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and sponsored by Crowne Plaza Hotel and Resorts, this curvaceous Z4 GTE packs an M3-sourced 4....

Media Platforms Design TeamDetermined not to go the way of Oldsmobile, Buick is redefining itself into relevancy as a leaner, sleeker and slightly sportier brand. The latest stage of its metamorphosis is the Regal GS Concept, which Buick claims “will reinvigorate Buick’s storied Gran Sport legacy.“Okay, so it might not be the Corvette-smoking Buick GNX muscle coupe that appeared in the late 1980s, but the Opel Insignia-based Regal GS is no slouch, either....

Media Platforms Design TeamThis car of the future isn’t a car at all—or, at least, how we think of one. It’s more like a blown-up bicycle that’s still entirely human powered but has a body and cargo space like a car’s.Future Cycles founders Cameron and Rachel Van Dyke now have two models, the Cyclone and the Zeppelin, meant to move along people toward a post-car future. The Cyclone can seat two passengers along with the driver, and is designed to give the look of a 1920s mobster vehicle....

Media Platforms Design TeamYour phone is breaking your back.The human neck is usually just fine supporting your 10-pound head. It doesn’t do so well, though, when you spend your entire day looking down at that precious screen, which is the equivalent of wearing a 60-pound necklace, according to a new article in Surgical Technology International.That statistic if for the most extreme texters—the people who bring their faces down to the phones in their hands, tilting their necks 60 degrees forward....

Media Platforms Design Team(Illustration by Merce Iglesias) cellpadding=“0” cellspacing=“0”>1. Electric currentA magnetic field is generated by a 240-volt, 20-to-30-amp, 20-to-75-kHz-frequency electric current from a 40- or 50-amp breaker through a copper coil.2. Magnetic fieldThe magnetic field acts as a bridge, linking the electric current in the copper coils with eddy currents induced in ferromagnetic cookware. 3. Eddy currentsMagnets pull otherwise randomly distributed electrons in a consistent direction. The magnetic field sets the pan’s electrons into organized motions known as eddy currents....

Media Platforms Design Team If owning a Lambo isn’t exclusive enough, the Italian automaker will now start offering personalization options to make them even more special. Lamborghini plans to show examples of its “Ad Personam” program this weekend in Detroit, with the inspiration, of course, said to be coming from the fashion world. The Gallardo Spyder model a brown paint known as Marrone Apus. And like the paint on the $1....

Plenty of companies, from Uber to Tesla to traditional automakers, are dabbling in self-driving features. But it was Google that looked like it would take this tech to its extreme, building a new car from the ground up without unnecessary details like a steering wheel or pedals.That may have proved too ambitious. According to a new report from The Information, the idea is now on the scrap heap. Google is still in the self-driving car race....

https://vine.co/v/ejeva1hmTmM/embed/simpleHere's a hypothetical situation for you. You’re doodling around out and about in nature, and you come across a bomb. What do you do? If “pack it up to show around town” is your answer, then maybe, just maybe, you are Australian.According to Australian Broadcasting Corporation News, a man named Damien Lumsden discovered a bomb beneath the wreckage of an Australian World War II plane on Milingimbi Island off the coast of Northern Territory, Australia....

We’ve heard law enforcement officers complaining about the app Waze giving away their locations. Now police in Miami have taken a new tactic to try to beat Waze: they’re just flat-out lying about their location on the app. The goal is feed the app users enough useless and wrong information that users no longer take cop reports seriously, unable to tell the difference between a real speed trap and a very fake squad car on the map....

Media Platforms Design TeamJust when you thought it was safe tobuy a HDTVNew York Times next-generation hi-def technologyTimes. distant . –Benjamin Chertoff set, the runs a story about – lighter, brighter and all-around better than plasma, LCD and projection HDTV – that Mitsubishi plans on formally announcing at the end of this week. According to the Times, these sets are a variation on the direct light projection (DLP) theme, using three, individually colored lasers to project the image, instead of white LCD or incandescent light....

Rocket fuel is nasty stuff—highly toxic and very combustable. Because there’s no automated way to fuel up rockets with it, you need human handlers in heavy-duty protective gear. NASA, however, is in the midst of making a more enviro-friendly rocket fuel that’s less hazardous to humans, while at the same time being better for deep-space exploration.The new fuel, called AF-M315E, is designed for a “shirt-sleeve environment,” a term commonly associated with aviation refueling, not up-goers, and meaning that no protective gear is needed....

In the movie Zoolander, Ben Stiller’s eponymous character used a comically miniscule cellphone. So similar was the Nenode N2, that we’ve taken to calling it “the Zoolander phone” around the office.This phone isn’t just cute, it’s weird. You actually hold the back of it against your ear to talk (so the LCD screen points away from your head). The most striking feature, however, is its tactile feedback. Pressing a virtual button on the touchscreen causes a slight vibration so you know you’ve pressed well....

A new science-themed expansion pack for the party game Cards Against Humanity will provide you with such delightfully nerdy white cards as “failing the Turing test,” “explosive decompression,” and, of course, “electroejaculating a capuchin monkey.” Better still: The proceeds from the pack will go to help women who want to go to college and major in the sciences.Zach Weinersmith, creator of the Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal webcomic, and Phil Plait, proprietor of the Bad Astronomy blog, coauthored the card set....

Media Platforms Design TeamRalph Baer, one of the unsung heroes in the history of video gaming, has died at age 92, according to Gamasutra. Baer developed the Brown Box (which became the ) and came up with the first light gun, a technology still used today.Magnavox OdysseyThe Odyssey was the first home video game console, predating the Pong units by several months. And while the console was released commercially in 1972, Baer had actually developed the Brown Box in 1968 while working for a defense contractor before selling the unit to Magnavox in 1971....

Media Platforms Design TeamNot since Billy Bass has America seen an animatronic musical toy as unintentionally wacky as The FUNKit DJ ($99) coming out this fall from KNG America (“acknowledged and recognized as the innovative market leader of quality novelty electronics products”). The FUNKit serves as an iPod cradle and speaker system that shines LED lights, “scratches” his turntables and dumbfounds spectators by interrupting the musical experience with catchphrases such as “Drop the Beat!...

The United States’ largest source of oil imports is not the Middle East, but rather Canada: The Athabasca oil sands underlying a huge swath of northern Alberta, containing perhaps 175 billion barrels of oil, have been a steady—and controversial—source of liquid fuel. Extracting it is a dirty business, and a recent plan to escalate development by building a pipeline through the Midwest inspired thousands of people to throng the White House....

1963 Rokon Trail BreakerMedia Platforms Design TeamThe Trail Breaker is probably the only motorcycle in the world that’s designed to float. But that’s not this bike’s only trick. The small, two-stroke Chrysler engine drives both wheels-a driveshaft runs through the frame to the front forks. Plus, the aluminum wheels double as water tanks. Call it the ultimate survival machine. But don’t expect to get anywhere fast. The top speed is around 25 mph....

Media Platforms Design TeamElectric vehicles are the hottest and smallest niche market at the moment, and the 2013 Ford Focus Electric intends to join the fray. Its features begin with an electric motor and extend all the way to your smartphone.Electrification is part of a larger strategy for Ford, where engines are downsized with their turbocharged Ecoboost engines, mechanical systems are replaced with efficient electric ones, and vehicles are fitted with stop/start, hybrid, plug-in and battery electric systems....