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Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamWhen people think open source, they usually think of software. Linux-based operating systems such asUbuntu (for PCs) and Android (for mobile phones) give code tinkerers free license (literally) to create and collaborate on new software projects that are usually released for free and benefit the entire community of users. OpenMoko, the Taiwanese manufacturer of the as-yet-unreleased, Linux-based touchscreen Neo 1973 cellphone (it’s expected to come to market mid-April for around $399), released its source code in February of 2007, allowing anyone in the community to add to the OS....

By the time I was 20 years of age, I’d owned over 30 cars. That’s because I was a car freak and also because I was poor; most of those cars were purchased for somewhere south of $300. And in most cases, I was the end user. I’d drive the beast for a few months (if I was lucky), then tow it’s smoldering remains to the junkyard.Today, I got to see where at least some of those cars likely ended up....

We’re Ridgid fans. These power tools perform well in our tests and deliver terrific value. And this year there’s a new reason to get excited.The company is introducing a doubleheader that’s one of the best buys in power tools we’ve seen in a while. Its 18-volt hammer drill and its impact driver are both improved with brushless motors, and now they come in a combo kit with two 4-amp-hour batteries, charger, and bag for about $280....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe Costa Concordia cruise liner, which wrecked off the coast of Italy last Friday, remains stuck in the water with several passengers still unaccounted for. Facts are still emerging about the event, which claimed the lives of at least 11 people.Maritime safety experts say that it will be a long time before we know the details of what happened on the night the ship crashed into a small island....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe used-car dealer’s offer is just too tempting: a clean-looking hybrid sedan for a great price. The gas–­electric hybrid system works perfectly,­ and the previous owner has thoughtfully provided fuel receipts that prove the egg-shaped little car is consis­tently capable of 40-plus-mpg fuel economy. The only problem is that the internal combustion engine has blown a head gasket, but the price asked by the dealer is tasty enough that you can easily fix that yourself and still be ahead of the curve....

Media Platforms Design TeamEditor’s note: This story was originally published on July 17, 2012, and has been updated.It’s Exploratory DrillingRoyal Dutch Shell isn’t really planning to drill for oil this year and in 2013. It wants to drill for data. The company will cap and permanently abandon any wells before the sea ice returns. The company had planned to drill as many as two wells in the Beaufort Sea and three wells in the Chukchi Sea in 2012....

Media Platforms Design Team1. North Dakota’s Bakken Formation is a layer of dense, oil-bearing rock found at a depth of about 2 miles. To tap it, oil companies drill to the hydrocarbon-rich stratum, then curve the well bore 90 degrees so that it runs horizontally through the thin, irregular formation. 2. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, typically frees oil by cracking rock with high-pressure bursts of water, sand, and chemicals. Tight rock in shale-oil plays like the Bakken requires multistage fracking to maximize oil recovery....

Media Platforms Design Team(Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)Things keep getting worse for General Motors as the car manufacturer recalled another 8.2 million vehicles on Monday that had faulty ignition switches. This new round of recalls affects mainly midsize cars; it brings the total number of recalled GM cars this year to 28 million.GM says it is aware of three deaths and seven crashes involved in the recalled cars, but the automaker does not believe that the faulty ignition switches were the cause....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has been hacked. The company reports that the extent of the hack is fairly minor. Hackers used “spear phishing” attacks to pass themselves off as internal employees and gain access to the email system. Still, it’s a pretty chilling statement considering the organization’s role as a gatekeeper of all domains across the Internet.The compromised areas included the Centralized Zone Data System (CZDS), which had sensitive information such as phone numbers and addresses....

At last, there’s a way to enjoy high-definition television broadcasting without a five-figure price tag and the worry of buying equipment that may be obsolete in a few months. See Mark McGwire sweat at the plate. Watch movies crisper than at the multiplex. Blink to be sure Jay Leno isn’t sitting in your den. What is this quick fix? It’s a sharp, state-of-the-art viewing alternative: HDTV your PC. Thanks to the newly available WinTV-HD video/tuner board from Hauppauge Computer Works Inc....

Last month, William Merideth was arrested for first-degree criminal mischief and first-degree wanton endangerment after shotgunning a quadcopter out of the sky when it allegedly flew over his home in Hillview, Kentucky. This is what that looked like to the drone. This video—released by the drone’s pilot, David Boggs —comes as the latest piece of evidence in a long he-said-she-said battle over exactly what happened the day the drone was shot....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt is, without a doubt, the most intense and spectacular sequence in Super 8: As kids film a zombie movie at a train station late at night, an Air Force train whips by. Suddenly, a pickup turns onto the tracks, derailing the train, raining fiery metal debris over the countryside and releasing something decidedly not of this world into a small Ohio town.Though the film opened Friday, the creation of the stunning sequence started more than a year ago....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe hacked toilet’s lid could be opened and closed remotely, or its bidet function suddenly turned on, leading to “discomfort or distress to user.” The unsecure refrigerator allows hackers into the same network as a person’s computer, which they used to send spam. Even a poorly secured internet-connected HVAC system can lead to disaster—that was the portal through which hackers gained access to tons of customer data at Target....

Media Platforms Design TeamTALLIN, Estonia – The sun has popped out once or twice, but largely it’s been overcast and drizzly on Day Five of the Mercedes E-Class Experience road trip from Paris to Beijing.Yesterday, we managed to get into Riga, Latvia, in time for a brief sightseeing trip. Despite our being quartered in a very nice hotel, the neighborhood in the older center of the city was dirty and graffiti-laden—quite a contrast to the ultra-modern M-B dealership across town where this caravan’s rally cars were sequestered overnight....

Media Platforms Design Team9:26-Hey everyone! Today is officially tablet day. This is Glenn Derene, live outside the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, waiting for the Apple event to start. There are tons of reporters here. I’m sitting outside with everyone else, waiting to be let in for the event. It’s chilly out here. Keep checking in and we’ll keep you updated as things progress. 9:48–Inside now. Pics on the way....

Media Platforms Design TeamView full post on YoutubeA new self-directed music video from British-Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. takes a frightening look at the future of the 3D printer. The agitpop’s video for “Double Bubble Trouble” off her latest album Matangi can be best described as a wide array of disparate images with no linear connection save for one—the prominent display of 3D printers (Ultimakers to be more specific) and the weaponized offspring they can produce....

Media Platforms Design TeamAn upcoming feature to the OnStar platform will enable drivers to update their Facebook status and have their news feed and Twitter feed read aloud to them. as well as the just-announced also offer the large number of in-car mobile apps with friend-finding functionality. It seems that social media has finally found a place in our daily commute. But the in-car cloud will mean more than streaming music and an increased risk of driver distraction—it will offer a wealth of live information on driving conditions....

On D-Day, when we remember the almost unbelievable amount of effort that went into storming the beaches of Normandy and winning the war, it’s hard to even get your head around the number of people who died during World War II. This great animation by Neil Halloran tries to put the astonishing losses—both civilian and military—in perspective.Says io9:The video (it’s well worth the time to watch), titled “The Fallen of World War II,” is divided into three sections....

The term “Roger that” is a widespread term for confirmation, either between truckers on their CB radios, kids playing back and forth with walkie-talkies, or even face to face. But it’s easy to adopt the phrase and understand what it means without ever really knowing where it came from. So here’s a (very) brief history for your edification. ➡ You love military history. So do we. Let’s nerd out over it together....

Media Platforms Design TeamThese days, it seems that simply surfing the Web stretches our phones’ current 3G networks to their limits. So if next-gen phones are going to have any hope of living up to their potential as full-featured multimedia machines, they’re going to need faster next-gen networks. Thankfully, two new flavors of 4G (for fourth-generation) high-speed wireless are set to turbocharge mobile broadband: WiMax and LTE. Here, Matt Buchanan from explains what you need to know about each....