Media Platforms Design TeamIf you’re a blog-scouring gadget-head, you don’t want to hear about Altec Lansing’s new iPod speaker. Seriously, it’s an iPod speaker, and not even one that’s jammed into a toilet paper holder. It doesn’t double as an alarm clock. There’s no LED display, no remote control, not even a power light. This is a speaker—that’s all.But if you pull this thing out of your bag, people get excited....
This week, One Laptop Per Child, the Nicholas Negroponte-led group behind the much-publicized XO-1 laptop (better known as the “$100 laptop”), made headlines when it announced its next low-cost computer for developing nations: A keyboardless tablet with two 8.9-in. touchscreens. The XO-2’s target release date is 2010, its projected price $75. The original XO-1 became a target for critics when it shipped for significantly more than its $100 goal–the cheapest units went for around $180....
Media Platforms Design TeamYou may not spend much time thinking about attic ventilation, but if you own your own home, you owe it to yourself to give the subject serious thought. Inadequate venting leads to high attic temperatures that can reduce comfort, raise utility bills and shorten the useful life of roofing materials. The good news is that adding a few vents almost always solves the problem. And for even greater effectiveness, you might consider installing an attic fan, as well....
It turns out that iPhones don’t make for very effective brake pads. It’s almost as if they weren’t made for that purpose.View full post on YoutubeThe YouTube channel EverythingApplePro decided to replace the front and rear brake pads on a 2002 Porsche 911 with iPhone 5S and 4S handsets. That means eight total, because each wheel requires both sides of the brake to have pads. Traditionally these pads are what grabs and ultimately slows down the car....
The Claim: The Get-A-Grip is “the remarkable handle that attaches in seconds and keeps you safe,” a telephone-shaped, suction-cup-powered plastic handle that locks onto a smooth surface to give you a grip. Flip the switches to make two spring-powered, flexible plastic cups retract into concavity to grab a wall, and it’s “instantly locked and secure.” “Getting in and out of the tub has never been more comfortable, and hopping in and out of the shower couldn’t be safer!...
Media Platforms Design TeamSteve Jobs has officially resigned as CEO of Apple, the company that he co-founded, was famously ousted from, then returned to and steered from near-extinction into largest and most influential technology company in the world. Jobs is a brilliant man and an incredible leader. He has done more than any other person in the last decade to force technological progress. And the fact that his career is being cut short by health concerns is a tragedy for both him and the technology industry as a whole....
When I hunt through a home for wasted space, I usually head right for the stairs. The area beneath them is often completely unused, or else squandered on a narrow, poorly designed closet. A single large drawer or several smaller ones stacked on top of each other can provide lots of storage in the low space at the foot of the stairs. A seating alcove makes excellent use of the taller area underneath the top of the staircase....
Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamBig engines provide a satisfying surge, but most of the time we’re using only a fraction of an engine’s maximum power. To increase fuel economy, automakers are rapidly employing smaller engines—both in displacement and cylinder count. Downsized engines can, however, produce big-motor power with the help of pumps that force more air into the engine. The extra air, combined with fuel, makes a more powerful “boom” when the spark plugs fire, increasing horsepower....
Media Platforms Design TeamThe F/A-18D Hornet that slammed into a residential neighborhood in San Diego Monday came from the first family of fighter jets with full fly-by-wire technology, where a flight control computer gathers data from on-board sensors to control flaps and other control surfaces that were mechanically driven on planes decades ago. But for all their high-tech appeal, do fly-by-wire systems distance pilots from the feel and behavior of their airplanes to the point that crashes become more likely?...
Media Platforms Design TeamCredit: AFP / Getty ImagesIt’s no doubt that the new skyscraper at 1 World Trade Center is a marvel of mega-engineering, or that the view from the top is breathtaking. What was in doubt, until today, was whether the building would own the official title of tallest in the Western Hemisphere.The folks who decide such a thing are members of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat....
Media Platforms Design TeamA Texas researcher hopes to build a laptop-size device to detect the onset of decompression sickness, or the bends, on submarines, the International Space Station and dive boats. Currently, the only way to diagnose the condition is to wait for the symptoms (including joint pain, headaches and burning in the chest) to begin. By then, however, it can be too late to prevent serious injury or death. University of Houston biomedical and mechanical engineering assistant professor Kirill Larin is adapting his research in the heady field of optical coherence tomography (OCT)–making high-resolution images of biological tissue using lasers–to create a device that could be used routinely on anyone making the transition from a high- to low-pressure environment....
Q: have an old SUV, a 1973 I.H. Scout II. The servicing manual tells me to change the gear oil every 6 months with “straight mineral oil SAE-90”. I keep thinking that a more modern oil would be better for my gears, require less frequent changes, and be a little easier to find at the store. However, I have been a little shy to make the switch since I am not sure if there is a reason for the “straight mineral oil” directed by the manual, or if that was just the best they had in 1973....
Scientists using NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, in orbit above the Martian surface, have made a surprising discovery: an ancient dried-up lake bed that once held 10 times as much water as all of the Great Lakes combined. There’s a possibility that this location saw the evolution of life billions of years ago, and may offer clues as to how life arose on our own planet.Observations by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter revealed that buried underneath the Eridania basin lay massive deposits of minerals....
Media Platforms Design TeamAre these tiny cars the precursor to today’s unmanned aerial vehicles? Probably not, but the Miniature Autonomous Robotic Vehicle is certainly cute.Courtesy of Alexis Madrigal’s newsletter, the MARV was built in the mid-90s using all off-the-shelf parts. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico wanted to see the possibilities of small autonomous vehicles, and ended up making one of the smallest. It’s 1 ¼ inches tall, 1 ¼ inches long, and just 1 inch wide....
Getting route changes approved for commercial flights while already in the air is not a simple request. That’s where NASA comes in with an app that helps pilots communicate with air traffic controllers to shave time and miles off trips.The NASA-developed software, Traffic Aware Planner (TAP), is scheduled to be tested by both Virgin America and Alaska Airlines over the next three years. It hooks to a plane’s avionics, providing real-time information about the plane’s location, its route, and can even use the plane’s Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) to read other planes’ ADS-B signals to plan out new routes that don’t conflict with other planes that save fuel and time....
Media Platforms Design TeamThe folks at MicroBLINK just made it a lot easier to cheat on your math homework. All you have to do is point, shoot, and solve for X.Their creation, PhotoMath, is a ridiculously easy-to-use app built to answer most math questions within seconds. Just use your phone to snap a picture of the problem. The app can’t help with handwritten problems, but it can help with square roots, linear equations, and arithmetic....
Media Platforms Design TeamThe Olmsted Locks and Dam is one of the biggest civil works jobs ever undertaken by the Army Corps of Engineers. Started in 1993 and set to be complete by 2016, the $2 billion program is about to enter a tough phase–constructing and hauling 36 12,000-square-foot concrete shells weighing about 3500 tons—yes, tons, not pounds—from the shore to the river bottom. It requires not just one, but two record-breakingly enormous mega cranes....
Media Platforms Design TeamGENEVA — Rolls is on a roll, with last year’s sales at an all-time high of more than 1000 cars—a number officials expect to increase in 2008 with the addition of a coupe to its three-vehicle Phantom lineup. The new coupe is based almost entirely on the aluminum frame, aluminum body and suspension of the drophead coupe introduced last summer. The Phantom is a close copy of the 101EX experimental car that debuted in 2006, Rolls-Royce chairman Ian Robertson said here, with some interior modifications....
Media Platforms Design Team(Click here for PM’s live race blog from the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge!) VICTORVILLE, Calif. — Not since Comedy Central’s much-maligned “Battlebots” went off the air has the probability of robot-on-robot violence been so high. The DARPA Urban Challenge gets underway today, and among all the unpredictable factors involved in this contest, a new one just topped the list: wind. After all, the former Air Force base where this Pentagon-funded autonomous race is being held is relatively close to where wildfires were recently whipped into a frenzy by the fast-gusting Santa Ana winds....
Inspecting high-rise construction sites is a dangerous job, but somebody–or some robot–has to do it. Engineers at Virginia Tech built the HyDRAS-Ascent II to climb by encircling a beam and twisting its 90-degree joints in sequence. In December, the robot won the grand prize at the Capstone Design Fair in Seoul, South Korea, competing against experimental robots, electronic gizmos and other novel hardware. Traveling with HyDRAS isn’t easy–co-designer and doctoral student Gabriel Goldman had to explain the contents of his carry-on suitcase at every airport-security checkpoint....
