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Media Platforms Design TeamSize and clarity are the two main drivers of the television arms race. Thing is, new technology like ultra high definition (4K) isn’t really that much of a step up from plain old 1080p HD—at least in terms of what the human eye can see. But if you absolutely must have the most advanced, excessive viewing experience, you’d probably want the Samsung UN105S9B, which, at 105 inches, currently has the title as the world’s biggest bendable TV....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt was a big, bold mission: Fly halfway to Jupiter to meet up with a 3-mile-wide comet, hurtle through its trailing cloud of dust and gas at 13,000 mph, and capture particle samples using a tennis racket-shaped screen of aerogel. Oh yeah, and then return to Earth without destroying the samples, which date back nearly 4.6 billion years to the dawn of the solar system. It all came to fruition on Jan....

After months of planning and preparation, the operators of the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier were forced to abandon plans to transport the massive ship alongside Manhattan and down the Hudson River today. Mud, it seems, got in their way.The ship—home of the Intrepid Air, Sea and Space museum—is slated to begin a $60-million dollar facelift at a New Jersey shipyard in March. The first step was today’s tricky move down the shoreline....

(Published in the October 2008 issue)More: The Best LED Flashlights.If it were a nightmare, you could wake up and it would be over. But this is worse. It’s real and it’s just beginning. That noise that startled you from a sound sleep can mean only one thing. There’s an intruder in your home. If you’re smart, you have a plan for this kind of situation, like picking up the cellphone by your bed and calling the coppers....

2009 has been deemed the International Year of Astronomy thanks to the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s astounding space observations that changed the way humans views the sky. To celebrate, 17 radio telescopes across five continents coordinated for over 33 consecutive hours last week to observe three different quasars—supermassive black holes, each of which lies at the heart of a galaxy. This is the first time that those antennae across the world have been linked in real time through high-speed optical networks....

Sometimes simple news reports from Afghanistan provide a window to some very deep, troubling trends. Such is the case with an article this weekend from ToloNews, Afghanistan’s version of CNN. “The [Afghan] National Directorate of Security on Saturday announced that an army officer has been arrested on charges of cooperating with Pakistan’s intelligence agency and terrorist networks” it reads. The Afghan domestic security bureau told reporters that the officer was turning over classified information so insurgents could raid government offices in the Afghan capital, Kabul....

Media Platforms Design Team2009 DETROIT AUTO SHOW PREVIEW:• JAGUAR: 2010 Jaguar XFR• BUICK: 2010 Buick LaCrosse• CADILLAC: 2010 Cadillac SRX• FORD: 2010 Ford Shelby GT500There are quite a few no-shows at Detroit this year from major manufacturers. And that has freed up some space on the main show floor for Chinese automakers BYD and Brilliance to move up from the basement, where they were last year, and into the prime real estate....

Media Platforms Design TeamPoor Bertha. North America’s largest tunnel-boring machine, measuring 57.5 feet in diameter, hasn’t moved more than 4 feet along its 1.7-mile route since Dec. 7. And she isn’t going anywhere soon, either: Crews must now replace broken bearing seals inside the 7000-ton machine, which will require them to drill a shaft 120 feet below the surface to open up the area in front of the machine’s cutterhead.Bertha is part of a $3....

The Apple Watch is finally here—almost. Orders open April 10, with the watch actually available on April 24, the company announced today during a live event in San Francisco. The most basic version will cost $349 for the 38-mm model and $399 for the 42-mm version; the mid-level models cost $549 to $1099; and the Apple Edition models cost upwards of $10,000.The watch was front and center at Monday’s event, which Apple name “Spring forward” as a nod to yesterday’s beginning of Daylight Saving Time, with Apple’s Tim Cook and Eddy Cue tweeting cute teasers on the theme:The hoopla began early, with Apple’s Tim Cook and Eddy Cue tweeting cute teasers:View full post on TwitterView full post on TwitterBut Apple Watch wasn’t the only reveal....

Q: I have a 2000 Buick Century, 3.1L, with automatic transmission and 67,000 miles. About 3 years ago the automatic transmission would rough shift at times. A transmission specialist, after plugging in his analyzer, said I need to replace the Pressure Control Relief Valve ($500) due to the disassembly required to access the valve. I did not undertake that repair since I discovered that when rough shifting occurs parking the car with the engine off for 1 or 2 minutes cleared the problem....

Replica Whizzer MotorbikeReader: John KilchenmanCharlotte, North Carolina When an old, non-working lawnmower engine ended up in John Kilchenman’s hands, he knew he couldn’t let the old beast go to the curb. After cleaning out the air filter, the engine started on one pull, leaving Kilchenman with endless project possibilities. He decided to build a replica Whizzer motorbike, inspired by the one he bought from his uncle when he was 14. A local welder extended the frame 8 in....

Media Platforms Design Team As a small, light vehicle, the Mini Cooper makes a good electric car candidate. So good that we’ve already slid behind the wheel of a Hybrid Technologies electric Mini Conversion. Now, BMW has started production of its own electrified Mini. Dubbed the Mini E, it will be available for lease in three states—California, New York and New Jersey—and only to those companies and individuals participating in the 500-unit pilot program....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt would be so great right about now if those dedicated toiling away 5000 feet deep in the Gulf of Mexico could just get that blowout preventer valve closed. I’m no oilman, but I’ve done my time on the plumbing aisle. And these 50-foot-tall valves seem to be the simplest way to stanch the still-gushing flow of crude. Crank the valve, shut the pipe and start bailing the black gold out of the Gulf....

Hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius may soon be joined on the road by plug-in hybrids and pure electrics. Here are the specs on some distinct approaches to building such cars. The key figure may be the cost to go 30 miles, a typical U.S. round-trip commute. For comparison with a conventional gas-powered model, that figure for a 2007 Toyota Camry would be $2.83.TOYOTA PRIUSCost for 30-mile trip*: $1.39 ($....

Media Platforms Design Team· A pig roast is like a big party where you get to be part Boy Scout, part caveman. You can’t do it by yourself, and that’s the beauty of it. You’re sitting in lawn chairs, telling stories, and tending a huge fire all night long. It’s the opposite of fast food. Nothing makes me happier.· I’ve cooked a lot of pigs—hundreds of them, I’d guess. A lot of that pig has been served at my restaurants, McCrady’s and Husk, but just as much is the product of roasting with friends....

Media Platforms Design TeamI installed compact-fluorescent and LED bulbs throughout my house. They work well everywhere but not with dimmer switches. The bulbs either dim insufficiently, flicker, or they don’t light at all. It’s driving me crazy. How do I correct this?The complex circuitry in these new bulbs makes them difficult to dim. In many cases, a typical dimmer switch (now called a legacy dimmer in the electrical industry) won’t work properly, if at all, with CFL or LED bulbs....

CABOT, Vt. — Missed Friday’s post, thanks to a day of travel that would have had a lesser man crying at the feet of the United Airlines gate agent in Denver. OK, so it wasn’t that bad; in fact, it went quite smoothly, but I was in transport from 7 a.m. MST to 11 p.m. EST. That, my friends, is a long day.While I was gone, my wife, Penny, was forced to run the generator....

In most car-racing games, you can hit a barrier at 140 mph and bounce off. That may make it a bit easier to complete the course in record time, but it’s hardly realistic. In the just-released game GRID you can pilot virtual versions of up to 50 cars, including the Aston Martin DBR9 and Porsche 911. You can also crash them into a twisted, smoking mess of mashed-up metal. “Crashes are part of the excitement of motorsports,” says Clive Moody, the game’s lead programmer....

Media Platforms Design TeamJTTF (Joint Terrorism Task Force)A JTTF is a mixed group of federal and local law enforcement officials dedicated to thwarting terrorist attacks and investigating ones after they occur. The FBI runs these regional collaborations. The first one was established in 1980, and there were 35 operating by September 11, 2001. After 9/11, more regions embraced this idea. There are now about 100 JTTFs across the country. A JTTF’s mandate is specific: The FBI says that these groups are “focused on known threat actors or identified individuals who meet the thresholds established in accordance with the Attorney General’s Guidelines for Domestic FBI Operations....

A washing machine’s spin cycle takes about 10 minutes of constant spinning to remove approximately the same percentage of moisture. Georgia Tech’s David Hu and his team are working with washing-machine manufacturers such as Whirlpool to instill dog-like snapping motions into everyday appliances.Media Platforms Design Team1.) The average radius of a Labrador retriever’s abdomen is about 5 inches.How fast a dog must shake to become dry depends on the radius of its cylindrical abdomen....