Forget the apps or the fingerprint scanner or anything else. The best feature of the iPhone is its reversible charger. We unwashed Android masses will get ours eventually, as the wonderful new USB Type-C rolls out, but until then, there’s the MicFlip.USB Type-C is a whole new standard for ports, so it’ll take years for it to show up in products, and years more for you to replace the ones you already have with those new ones....
Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design Team2009 Mazda RX-8This is the world’s only mass-produced, rotary-powered passenger car, and it’s been refreshed for 2009. The all-out R3 boasts a sport-tuned suspension with Bilstein shocks, and urethane foam-filled front suspension crossmembers intended to make the ride more compliant. It appears more aggressive thanks to a rear spoiler, side sills, fog lights and a sportier front bumper. Recaro sport seats, a 300-watt Bose sound system and keyless entry and ignition round out the R3 package....
Whether it’s a rifle erupting with high-speed plasma (a Halo favorite), another magnetic proximity mine blowing up whomever dares run over it (a GoldenEyestaple) or some other as-yet-uninvented gun spewing more neon-colored energy, the virtual arsenals of video games have been thoroughly picked apart, overplayed and underestimated. The weapons selection in multiplayer-oriented shooters is particularly familiar, as the 16 years since the original Doom (the first game to feature head-to-head, first-person death matches) have seen a modernization of munitions types and tactics: Assault rifles do less damage–but fire faster–than sniper rifles; rocket launchers fire even less frequently but deliver all-encompassing “splash damage” … yada yada yada....
Ask a kid to draw a motorcycle and they’ll draw something like the Triumph Bonneville. Since it came out in 2001, the bike’s marriage of modern functionality with 1960s lines that evoke Dennis Hopper and Steve McQueen has accounted for huge sales. Ducati and BMW have released their own retro-styled bikes, too. Something about vintage and motorcycles just kinda works.So it’s a big deal that Triumph is making a new version of its heritage staple, the Bonneville, and its variants, which were just unveiled....
FRIDGE FILTER After purchasing a new refrigerator, we were very surprised to see how much dust had collected on the condensing coils after only six months. There are no pets in the house, no rugs in the kitchen, and we keep the house clean. We didn’t want to vacuum the coils frequently, but we also didn’t want the refrigerator to work any harder than necessary. So we went to the hardware store, bought a small piece of lightweight filter material and cut it to match the shape of the vent panel just under the door....
Media Platforms Design TeamThe strict NASCAR regulations that control fuel, aerodynamics, and most other parts of the race cars force teams to get pretty creative in search of a competitive advantage. For three-time NASCAR champ Tony Stewart, the next frontier in racing tech is something that sounds simple, but the team hopes could make all the difference: grease.We recently headed down to Dover International Speedway to see for ourselves what’s going into the No....
Media Platforms Design TeamPopular Mechanics editorial advisor Shawn Carlson has dedicated more than 15 years of his life to the support of amateur science. The former Scientific American columnist says widespread access to the Internet and low-cost electronics have created the ideal working conditions for individuals who want to contribute or make their own advancements in science and technology. But you can’t have amateur scientists without enthusiasm for the discipline. That is why one of Carlson’s primary focuses is promoting science for children....
View full post on VimeoToday Instagram launched Hyperlapse, an app that turns shaky, sea-sick videos into smooth time-lapse movies. Although the app shares its name with the technology Microsoft announced earlier this month, it seems this Hyperlapse app is all Instagram’s doing.By sending footage through image-stabilization algorithms, Hyperlapse can make handheld, iPhone-shot footage look like it came from a far fancier—and steadier—rig. The app itself is simple: Open it, press record, choose the playback speed (from 1x to 12x) and then share the video either on Instagram or Facebook via those apps....
You know that feeling when your fingers are covered in grease, your arteries are coated in fat, and your soul is slathered in shame—but you just have to Facebook message Steve immediately to let him know that you accept his bucket challenge? KFC knows, and it wants to be your enabler. The KFC Tray Typer is an idea that seems brilliant on its face: a flat, USB-charged Bluetooth keyboard that replaces the paper in your eat-in tray so you can type out greasy things to your greasy friends while you’re eating greasy food, all without greasing up your phone....
Media Platforms Design TeamLost’s third season ender may have left you with more questions than answers. But as experienced in debunking as we are here at Popular Mechanics, the ABC drama’s theories of time travel, alternate universes, smoke monsters and invisible men are pure science fiction. What we can offer is a reality check: Writer, filmmaker, military adventurer and former dynamite wrangler weighs in on the good, the bad and the fake from Wednesday’s mind-bending finale....
Media Platforms Design TeamI’m so glad to be back in the world of Lost—and after seeing the season premiere, I can say it was worth the wait. Somehow the show always seems to get the exact right ratio of questions answered to questions raised, and last night’s season opener was no exception. (Now, I’m trusting them here: If the series finale doesn’t end up with some serious ‘splainin’, I’m going to be pretty angry....
Welcome to PM/AM, Popular Mechanics’ morning briefing on the top science and tech stories for today.Media Platforms Design TeamPhoto credit: Mark Wilson/Getty ImagesThe driverless future took another step forward on Tuesday when the California Department of Motor Vehicles approved rules for testing autonomous cars on public roads. Now, any manufacturer who wants to test a self-driving vehicle must apply for a permit, have certified drivers, and have a $5 million insurance bond....
Media Platforms Design TeamThe SpecsThe previous 911 Turbo was no slouch. When you thrust the pedal to the carpet in this new car, it surges forward effortlessly with little lag. The new Turbo’s pleasantly muted engine noises are accompanied by the rising whoosh as the turbochargers breathe massive life into the car. Porsche’s 2010 911 Turbo is equipped with the direct-injection flat-six engine recently debuted in the normally aspirated 911 Carrera range, but with twin turbochargers–equipped with variable-geometry vanes to optimize boost–which help increase output....
As teams were knocked out left and right during round three of the Progressive Automotive X Prize fuel-efficiency testing, race director Bob Larsen remained optimistic. The minimum target for the X Prize is the equivalent of 100 mpg, but “we’re seeing efficiency way, way over that,” Larsen says. “Some teams are hitting 150 mpg with vehicles that are passing all the dynamic testing. The performance we’re seeing here is really impressive....
Media Platforms Design TeamAs well as your car or truck may be running, if you can’t see where you’re going you’re not going to enjoy driving it. Your night visibility is totally dependent on your vehicle’s headlights. If one headlight is burned out, your night visibility is cut in half.Fortunately, replacing a burned-out sealed-beam headlight is a simple and inexpensive task. The first step in replacing a headlight is ascertaining exactly what type of light you need....
Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamThe Dream Chaser is still chasing a future in orbit. The Sierra Nevada Corporation says this week that it will build a new version of the space plane to work with Stratolaunch, the mega-jet designed to be an airborne platform for launching spacecraft.Up until mid-September, Sierra Nevada was still in the running to send NASA astronauts to the International Space Station aboard its winged Dream Chaser space plane....
Media Platforms Design TeamORLANDO, Fla — I’m being followed by a rolling keg. At the International such surveillance is considered normal. One isn’t supposed to curse or kick the keg. One isn’t supposed to flee.Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA),Conference chair Nikolaos Papanikolopoulos, director of the Center for Distributed Robotics at the University of Minnesota, knows a thing or two about automated surveillance. His lab created the remote-controlled, camera-equipped contraptions known as Scout Robots, which enable soldiers to suss out what lies around the corner—or inside a building or cave—without stepping directly in harm’s way....
Reddit has been going through some hard times lately. First, it banned its alarmingly popular forum devoted to ceaselessly mocking the overweight, which sent Redditors of all stripes (but mostly jerks) into a tizzy. Then a well-loved moderator of the famous interview subreddit r/IAMA was inexplicably let go, and the Redditsphere exploded.Over 30 of the site’s most popular subreddits went dark in a show of solidarity, protesting against the now Conde Nast-owned site’s treatment of its Reddit-employed admins and volunteer moderators....
Saturn is no more, but that doesn’t mean that the 350 or so dealers and all their vehicles just disappear. If you want a new Saturn, and can’t resist fire-sale prices, remember that your retailer—and every other Saturn retailer—will be gone within a year, probably sooner. Here are your options on keeping your old or brand-new Saturn up and running.As the new GM has begun to re-establish its four core brands, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC, in the marketplace post-recession, there was a glimmer of hope for some of the assets the corporation had cast aside....
It was bound to happen. This week, for the first time ever, a person was sentenced to jail in a case where law enforcement used an unmanned aerial vehicle. Judging by the reaction, plenty of journalists see this as a watershed event—especially as the man, cattle rancher Rodney Brossart, argued that the drone was “dispatched without judicial approval or a warrant.“Here’s the case in a nutshell: Brossart refused to return another rancher’s cows, which had wandered into his property, instigating a 16-hour armed standoff with police and SWAT teams....
