The trend in power tools is to do more with less. Today’s woodworkers are as likely to pick up a trim router to do a small job as they are to hoist a full-size router onto the workbench. Principally designed to trim laminate but with the capacity to do light woodworking, these tools operate at speeds as high as 35,000 rpm. That’s a lot faster than a standard router’s 21,000 to 24,000 rpm....
Media Platforms Design Team1. Put fresh batteries in smoke detectors and test the devices.Although modern AA batteries and 9-volts typically last longer than a year, replacing them is still a good idea. Besides, if they’re more than a year old, they may be living on borrowed time and the detector will emit an annoying beep when the battery wears out. 2. Replace smoke detectors that are erratic or more than 10 years old....
We’ve been pouring over the rumors for a while now, but Apple’s World Wide Developer’s conference is finally here. Tim Cook and company are taking the stage at the opening keynote to spill details about the next version OS X, iOS 9, and a new streaming service. You can watch live at Apple’s website (on Safari), but we’ll be covering the best parts (and only the best parts) right here.OS X El Capitan Media Platforms Design TeamJust like the rumors suggested, the new version of OS X is focused on subtle improvements to the experience, and performance optimization under the hood....
Media Platforms Design TeamWhen a manufacturer stuffs the biggest engine they make into the smallest body they offer, speed freaks take notice. When that model only comes with a manual gearbox, die-hard driving aficionados rejoice. And when said setup becomes discontinued and replaced with an automated, two-pedal gearbox– well, things get complicated.For evidence of the 2015 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S’s curiously tight drivetrain packaging, look no further than the above blueprint of its predecessor, the V12 Vantage....
Media Platforms Design TeamAt a Home Depot in Virginia on Tuesday, President Obama spoke about the ways millions of homeowners can earn tax credits among other incentives in the Recovery Act. He described in surprising specificity the allure of insulation—going so far as to call it a “sexy” building material about which “I get really excited.” He turned to Frank Blake, chairman and CEO of Home Depot, to ask, “Frank, don’t you think insulation is sexy stuff?...
The men who heroically fought the wildfire ripping through 3 million acres of Idaho and Montana, late in August 1910, were up against a formidable enemy. “The forests staggered, rocked, exploded and then shriveled under the holocaust,” wrote local historian Betty Goodwin Spencer. “Great red balls of fire rolled up the mountainsides. Crown fires, from 1 to 10 miles wide, streaked with yellow and purple and scarlet, raced through treetops 150 feet from the ground....
Media Platforms Design TeamIn a subtle celebration of Earth Day, Nissan let six Leafs loose into the streets of Manhattan as full-time New York City taxis. The half-dozen electric vehicles are an experiment organized by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commision in conjunction with Nissan to see how electric vehicle technology fits in to the city’s technologically demanding and economically complex taxicab industry.Over the next year, city officials and Nissan engineers will gather copious amounts of data on the cars as they transport passengers about the city, charging the same fares and running the same 12-hour shifts as other cabs, with some even running double shifts....
A do-it-yourself Halloween could be as simple as positioning a few scary props at strategic locations throughout your home, or as elaborate as a movie-grade haunted house. But one thing you’ll definitely want either way? Some creepy fog to set a mysterious mood. You can build a simple DIY fog machine to make that vision a reality. The good news is that we’ve got two ways to make fog without forking over a bunch of cash....
Media Platforms Design TeamThe time for 3D printing is now. With printers becoming and for the growing platform, 3D printing is more accessible than its ever been. more and more affordablepopular software such as Photoshop adding supportBut there’s one major problem the industry can’t ignore if it wants to pull millions of new users into 3D printing: How do you make it simple for everyday people to make stuff? Professional software such as AutoCAD tends to be cost-prohibitive and intimidating to someone taking their first steps into 3D printing....
Newton’s laws of motion state that for every action, there is an opposite reaction. For Sir Isaac’s forces, the reactions are always equal. But does that hold true for people, like Charlie Isaacs? When the world pushes you, how hard do you push back? It’s a question several characters will have to contemplate. Charlie, who figured out in the last episode that the “Thin Man” plutonium bomb design he’s been working on is a dud, now has the chance to run that operation as Reed Akley’s deputy....
Media Platforms Design TeamToday, Red Bull, the energy-drink maker and sponsor of some of the world’s most dangerous and outlandish competitions (Red Bull Air Race, Flugtag), announces the first ten finalists in an all-new contest of wits, creativity and technological prowess. And I’m proud to have played a small part in the selection process—I was one of the judges in the preliminary competition.The competing teams don’t know yet what they’ll be asked to do for the final competition, yet they have already had to fight their way through two complicated challenges....
Media Platforms Design TeamA solar flare that erupted at just the right time and direction could disrupt long-distance phone calls here on Earth, or make TV signals drops out for a while. But that’s nothing compared to the pummeling one exoplanet takes from its home star. Thanks to a rare moment of synchronicity between the Hubble and Swift satellites, researchers at NASA recorded the first observed change in the atmosphere of a planet outside of our solar system....
Media Platforms Design TeamYou wake up one morning with some strange malady and figure you’d better see your doctor to determine whether it’s something or nothing. But the next open appointment is weeks away, and the thought of going to the ER fills you with dread—the nimbus clouds of germs, the waiting. There may be a third option—one that involves an app, describing your symptoms to a physician, and getting a prescription, all without visiting a doctor’s office....
Media Platforms Design TeamMercedes-Benz is pitching the CLA 250 as an approachably priced entry into the triple-pointed star, but the sedan’s $29,900 MSRP wouldn’t mean much without appropriately low fuel economy numbers.Though it has yet to receive official EPA numbers, we’ve got a hunch the CLA will score a surprisingly strong highway fuel economy rating. Why the confidence? Is it the turbo four’s modest 208 hp output and stop/start capability? The flexibility of the new 7-speed dual clutch gearbox?...
Tired of counting down the days until the 18th of December? Well, you may not be able to pull a Han Solo and bend the rules of space and time to make The Force Awakens come sooner, but a new crowd-funding campaign will make the waiting much, much easier.With SaberForge, custom prop-maker Phillip Isherwood is Kickstarting what’s easily the coolest Star Wars crowd-funding effort we’ve seen since the Kickstarter for the actual Death Star....
So far, our coverage of the DARPATech 2007 conference in Anaheim, Calif. has focused on autonomous robots and potentially life-saving medical technology. But this is a Department of Defense-sponsored event, so what about stuff that kills people, or prevents U.S. personnel from getting killed? Our honest assessment of the conference’s various presentations and progress updates is this: DARPA isn’t all that violent. There are definitely DARPA-funded weapons systems in development, ranging from a hybrid “scramjet” cruise missile to an advanced sniper rifle, but the more lethal-minded defense contractors tend to have massive war chests at their disposal....
Heavy wind cut down the room Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle had to make an already tight U-turn by about a third in what turned out to be his final flight last month, officials at the National Transportation Safety Board reported today.Confirming what private pilot and PM contributing editor Jeff Wise told us after re-tracing Lidle’s flight path over New York City’s East River, the safety board said Lidle and his instructor, Tyler Stanger, did not file a flight plan on take-off from Teterboro, N....
DisneyAlice in WonderlandMedia Platforms Design TeamJohnny Depp as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s 3D fantasy adventure Alice in Wonderland. (Photograph by Disney Enterprises, Inc.) Tim Burton is known for his wacky characters, and Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is full of them. They play even better in three dimensions. Burton uses a combination of live action and animation in the film, which wasn’t truly shot in 3D–much like the live action/animated hybrid G-Force, Disney will convert Alice from flat 2D photography....
Put a can of Easy Cheese and a 3D printer in the same room, and suddenly it seems like the cheese could be even easier. Specifically, it could be printed, taking the onerous tasks of aiming and nozzle-squeezing out of your hands and putting them firmly in the grip of the machines.Andrew Maxwell-Parish did just that, making our printable processed cheese dreams come true. Maxwell-Parish, manager of California College of the Arts’ Hybrid Lab, had his printer give a cracker a healthy amount of cheese, draw some cheese squares, and attempt to build a cheese box....
Back in January, Elon Musk told the world about his plans to get into the internet business with a fleet of web-beaming satellites. Looks like he was serious because now SpaceX is officially asking the FCC for permission to try it out, according to The Washington Post.The plan, which involves launching a group of some 4,000 satellites, is coming up on this milestone right about the same time that Facebook just scuttled its plan to launch an internet satellite of its own....
