Media Platforms Design TeamFord took a $6 billion gamble when it introduced its Contour and Mystique sedans, near-twins that are offspring of Ford’s European sedan, the Mondeo. The big-money question is: Can a European-designed and-engineered car succeed on the American market? Ford’s Mondeo was developed in Europe and went on sale there in late 1993. It sold very well from the start and immediately won enough European car-of-the-year honors to fill a showcase....
Media Platforms Design TeamPickup Artist: Ford’s new F-150 is poised to take on the new Silverado.Ford versus Chevy. Is there a longer-lived, more deeply-rooted rivalry in all of automobiledom? If there is we don’t know about it. The latest round in this nearly century-old grudge between brands happened today. Chevy unveiled it’s all-new 2007 Silverado along with the GMC Sierra. Well, only hours later Ford gave us the skinny on the updated 2007 F-150....
Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamFlat-Panel Screens If the image on your LCD or plasma set isn’t as high-def as it’s supposed to be, the problem might not be the technology; it may be the dust. Windex and other glass cleaners can leave a hazy residue on plasma and LCD screens. Fill a spray bottle with a 50/50 mix of filtered or bottled water and isopropyl alcohol, then lightly mist it onto a very soft, nonabrasive cloth, such as a cotton T-shirt or a large microfiber dust cloth....
Q: I have a 1997 Ford Thunderbird 4.6 V8 with the 205 hp stock engine. I love the car, but it is so underpowered. I wanted to determine what I would have to do, and how much it would cost, to increase the horsepower without spending a lot of money.A: Power costs money. How fast can you afford to go? Seriously, there is a huge community of tuners making speed parts for the 4....
Media Platforms Design TeamTornadoes this year have ravaged Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing at least 39 people and injuring hundreds more. The stories are incredible: , a 36-year-old Indiana woman who huddled in her basement with her two children had both of her legs severed by collapsing steel beams. She survived, and her children—whom she had wrapped in a heavy blanket—escaped serious injury.In one horrific incident on TuesdayThis dramatic example raises a fundamental question that is surprisingly difficult to answer: Can a home be built to withstand a tornado?...
Q: My buddy has a ‘97 Ford Escort, and I help him with his maintenance. I have replaced his left headlight bulb three times in the past year, and it just keeps blowing out. I am very careful not to touch the bulb when installing it. What am I doing wrong?A: Maybe nothing. To rule out any issue with the car, start with a voltage check, specifically the charging system. Check the charging voltage at the battery, with the battery fully charged and the engine warm and running with all loads turned off (don’t forget the heater fan)....
If you live anywhere in the northeast, the last thing you want is a car that will give out on you in a blizzard. But finding an actual, natural blizzard to test cars isn’t exactly feasible. Which is why Chrysler decided to bring blizzards internal with the help of this nightmarish storm machine. Welcome to the new climate test cells at the Chrysler Technology Center in Auburn, Michigan. In addition to a 4x4 dynamometer that simulates the stress of driving by spinning its wheels underneath a test cars’, the new climate test center can reach temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit and as high as 130....
The creators of spud guns, trebuchets, gliders and other mechano-toys take pride in their work, and tend to have a sort of open-source mentality. In other words, they’re happy to share their plans, and their home videos.This is spudgun advice by Joel Surprise, who also sells spudguns through the Web, and here’s a rough diagram of a solid, basic model for you to download. (And here’s video of one of his more monstrous creations....
Media Platforms Design TeamTwenty-nine dollars will buy you a Chicago office tower, or about three and a half Guggenheims. For $70, you can get a whole New York City block. Of course, you won’t be able to actually fit inside these buildings, which are 1/1,000 the size of the real thing. But you can arrange them into a thriving mash-up city.The models are Ittyblox, tiny reproductions of real structures that you can print via the 3D printing service Shapeways....
NASA has a problem. Its go-to energy source for planetary missions is plutonium-283, a radioactive isotope that is used to build nuclear batteries called radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). RTGs have been used to power space missions since 1969, but the Department of Energy ceased production of plutonium-283 from 1998 to 2013.Although they are producing more now, and the U.S. does have a small amount stockpiled, there is barely enough plutonium-238 to power the next decade of planned missions to intriguing worlds like Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus....
“Does turning the heat on really help cool an engine?“Yes. The excess heat goes into the heater core, which is just a tiny radiator, pulling the temperature of the coolant down. Of course, it will rapidly overheat the interior of the car–and you. If doing this means getting to the top of that hill without boiling over, it might get you to someplace that can check the cooling system for problems....
Media Platforms Design TeamIn case you were wondering what happens when molten aluminum is poured into a watermelon, the internet is here with the answers. The aptly named YouTube user “The Backyard Scientist” was brave enough to find out, with an experiment that shouldn’t be tried out at home.First, he melted down an aluminum can in his backyard foundry and punched a hole in the middle of the watermelon. But what happens next is surprising!...
Media Platforms Design TeamA guitar having straight lines, giving it an old-fashioned appearance, can be made by the home mechanic. If care is taken in selecting the material and having it thoroughly seasoned, the finished instrument will have a fine tone.The sides, ends, and bottom are made of hardwood, preferably hard maple, and the top should be made of a thoroughly seasoned piece of soft pine. The materials required are listed in the materials list....
This bike began as a 1984 Yamaha. Then the guys at Jakarta-based Thrive Motorcycles got their hands on it. They stripped it down, added some custom handlebars, fitted fat and knobby off-road tires to 18-inch spoke rims, added stainless steel exhaust, put in a smartphone mount for a dashboard, and cut the body from a sheet of aluminum. Oh, and the frame is made custom to accommodate the insane body.The Thrive MC “T005 Cross” 2008 Yamaha Scorpio, as they’re now calling it, was built for a client who’s a graphic designer....
Spectrometers fracture light into telltale patterns of colored bands that reveal the composition of just about any type of matter, whether it’s a plant sample, the dark cloud spewing from a smokestack, or gases swirling in another planet’s atmosphere. The devices can be found in biology and chemistry labs, hooked up to astronomical telescopes, and piggybacking on Mars landers. As I recently discovered, it’s also possible to make one with a few inexpensive parts....
Media Platforms Design TeamFor the second consecutive day, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) took off from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Palmdale, Calif., to map the fires that are burning across Southern California. Equipped with infrared sensors that can pierce smoke and soot, the aircraft will provide thermal imagery that emergency management officials will use to deploy firemen and water bombers battling the fires.NASA’s Ikhana UAV—a modified Predator B aircraft used for civil research—is remotely piloted from a control station at Dryden....
View full post on YoutubeThe annual Star Wars Celebration is a time for fans to come together, but this year’s event has the specter of The Force Awakens hanging over it, bringing fan excitement (and potential heartbreak) to a fever pitch. Earlier this morning, rumored official teaser art for the new films started circulating.The first new Star Wars live action movie since 2003’s Revenge of the Sith (or Return of the Jedi, depending on who you ask), the J....
Media Platforms Design TeamThe lightsaber may be the most coveted sci-fi gadget in film history, and scientists from Harvard and MIT have taken a first step in achieving humanity’s collective dream of owning the mystical Jedi weapon.In a paper published last Wednesday in Nature, leading scientists Mikhail Lukin and Vladan Vuletic bonded photons, the particles that make up light, to form molecules‚ a state of matter that had only previously been theorized....
Oxfordshire, England—Fiat’s retro success story turned another page this month with the launch of the latest version of the two-door 500, the 500 Cabriolet. Known as the 500C, this is, in effect, a fabric roll-back roof convertible in the style of the first Dante Giacosa designed Fiat 500 Nuova in 1957, or the Citro’n 2CV of the same era. With the dust from the Chrysler merger still settling, even Fiat admits that it’s isn’t exactly sure which cars will be coming to the U....
You’re off and running with your DIY project, looking to become a home improvement hero and saving some cash in the process. Sure, you may know your way around power tools, but you could be the dumbest guy in the neighborhood.The trap? Building codes, those rules and regulations that govern everything from lumber spans to the clearance in front of a toilet. If you don’t comply with building codes, you may be on the hook for fines and an expensive tear-out and redo of your project....
