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Media Platforms Design TeamGoogle dives into the smart home space in a huge way with today’s $3.2 billion acquisition of Nest Labs, the Palo Alto-based home automation company best known for its smart thermostat and smoke detector. “Nest’s founders, Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, have built a tremendous team that we are excited to welcome into the Google family,” Google CEO Larry Page said in a statement. “They’re already delivering amazing products you can buy right now—thermostats that save energy and smoke/CO alarms that can help keep your family safe....

If you’ve always wanted a backyard pond, you’re not alone. Hundreds of thousands of homeowners already have them and thousands more are installing them every year. Why all the fuss over a water-filled hole? Well, for one thing, gurgling waterfalls are inherently appealing. Also, with the growing popularity of “water gardening,” many people look at their ponds as an interesting, ongoing project.But before you can start stocking aquatic plants and animals, such as fish, frogs, tadpoles and snails, you need the pond itself–and a source for supplies and equipment....

Media Platforms Design TeamWe have two bathrooms in our house, and I want to fix up the smaller one. We use it infrequently, but I still want it to look nice. I think the first thing that needs to be changed is the wall sink, which is original to the house and almost 30 years old. The tub is also original, but we changed the toilet about 10 years ago. Can you do an article on how to swap a wall sink, or at least provide us some tips?...

You’re a conscientious car owner. You get the oil changed when you’re supposed to and you take the vehicle in for its occasional required maintenance. But maybe you’ve been wondering what other quick things you could be doing to keep your trusty ride running. Consider the problem this way: Say you were going on a long road trip tomorrow and had today to get your vehicle in the best running shape it could be....

Everyone is rabid for every tantalizing clue about Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and as usual when it comes to Star Wars movies, Vanity Fair has the scoop with a big cover story and this behind-the-scenes footage from the shooting.Some of what we see is pretty basic, but there are some intriguing elements. Like Han Solo and Chewbacca. Or that Lupita Nyong’o’s character will be a CGI pirate named Maz Kanata (seemingly a strange choice for a film bragging about its practical effects)....

Less than six months after the new 1 World Trade Center officially swung open it doors, its claim of being the largest building in the Western hemisphere is already at risk of being usurped by another towering project right across town. According to new design drawings released Monday, a planned New York City residential building called the Nordstrom Tower might stand at 1,795 feet. That’s 19 feet higher than 1 WTC, which ticks in at 1,776 feet including its spire....

Media Platforms Design TeamTonight we got our first in-person peek at the 2014 Cadillac CTS. Yes, it looks as good in person as it does in photos. And yes, now we’re even more excited to jump behind the wheel and unleash the full fury of Cadillac’s new 420-hp, 3.6-liter twin-turbo V-6. But as much as we here at PM like pretty and powerful, we’re just as impressed by how Caddy managed to make the third-gen CTS bigger while also dropping 244 pounds, bringing its total curb weight to 3616 pounds....

While organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens have been popping up in cellphones and MP3 players for a couple of years, the technology is only now finding its way into TVs with the introduction of the new Sony XEL-1. While the set is small and pricey (it’s 11 in. diagonally and costs $2500), the ultrathin screen and ultrasharp picture are jaw-dropping. Still, rival manufacturers such as Sharp contend that short life spans, reliability issues and high production costs mean the tech isn’t quite ready for prime-time viewing....

MORE RAT ROD ACTION* TEST DRIVE: Old School Chevy-Powered Rat Rod Scares the NeighborsThrough ranks of cars painted matte black or primer gray rolls a pearlescent white ‘51 Ford, gleaming and glowing, turning heads. When it pulls into its spot, the owner hops out and slaps a “For Sale” sign under the windshield wiper. Onlookers shudder in shock: You don’t sell your baby at an event like this–at least not so openly....

From firing ranges to war zones, humans have pummeled the Earth with an enormous amount of explosive ordinance. In almost every bomb and artillery shell is the ubiquitous and volatile chemical TNT (trinitrotoluene). TNT’s danger lingers long after the boom. Labeled a class C carcinogen by the EPA, TNT pollution from partially-detonated explosives wreaks environmental havoc and can cause ailments like cataracts, hepatitis, and bone marrow cancer in animals. The U....

The Saturn V rockets were the biggest rockets ever launched, catapulting nine Apollo missions to the Moon (even if three of them didn’t make landfall.) Rocket launches, in and of themselves, are an impressive sight, but add in the largest rockets launched to date and slow them way, way down with some moody music, and you have the best way to celebrate humanity’s achievements in space. The video is nearly 45 minutes long, meaning that you can take some time to watch these massive beasts hurl astronauts toward another world....

I once spent months training a stubborn computer to recognize both my American-accented speech and that of my Australian housemate. The computer always failed because our speech patterns were so different. Clearly, speech isn’t the most efficient way to order around computers, much less robot servants. Brain waves, however, don’t have accents. Researchers at the University of Washington’s Laboratory for Neural Systems have built a humanoid robot, called Morpheus, that can be controlled by thought alone....

Why would anyone spend more than $6000 on a bicycle? That’s a bit like asking why someone would spend $150,000 on a car. No one needs to spend this kind of money to get from one place or another. But, apparently there are some people who care more about how they get somewhere—fast, and very much in style—than where they’re going.So when the folks at Guru bicycles offered to build one of their carbon-fiber Maestro bikes, customized to my particular dimensions, and let me borrow it for a few weeks, I jumped at the chance....

According to NASA Science, tonight’s the modern definition of a blue moon. You know, like the saying “once in a blue moon.” That’s actually a thing that happens, and it’s happening tonight.View full post on YoutubeThe modern definition of a “blue moon” is basically the second full moon in a calendar month. We had one on July 2nd, and now we’re getting one tonight. Voila. It’s not actually blue, and it’s not even what the old definition of “blue moon” represented, but it traces back to a 1946 Sky & Telescope article that’s become the common understanding since that time....

Forget what you might remember about the last Triumph Tiger. That dual-sport bike with knobby tires was pretty cool—but it’s history now. The all-new Tiger does keep the tall-in-the-saddle riding position. And that’s where the similarities end. Last night, Triumph unveiled the new Tiger to the motorcycling press at an evening reception at the Viceroy hotel in Santa Monica, Calif. The new Tiger 1050 is one of a new breed of bikes that claim to be all things to all people—like the Ducati Multistrada....

The Patriot looks like a Jeep. And with two levels of all-wheel drive and a standard five-speed manual transmission, the newest–and least expensive–vehicle in the seven-model lineup is qualified to wear the Jeep name. + Click to enlargeMedia Platforms Design TeamDespite its small size, the Jeep Patriot seats five comfortably. In addition, there are a variety of handy cargo/people handling options. In base price form, the Patriot has a 2.4-liter engine and front-wheel drive....

Media Platforms Design Team1) The Air Force still trains more pilots for manned airplanes than it trains UAV controllers.Col. Pete Gersten, the air wing’s commander, says that despite some media reports that give the edge to UAVs, the number of pilots the Air Force is training to fly manned aircraft remains at 51 percent. The Air Force wants to increase UAV combat air patrols (CAPs) from 34 to 50–that means having 50 UAVs in the air at one time–by the start of 2011....

SpikeIt’s the smallest guided missile in the world, but Spike (shown above)–which weighs just 5.3 pounds and measures 25 in. long–packs a big punch. The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division has pulled off four successful demonstrations of the weapon, including one hit through the passenger window of a remote-control truck (below). The weapon could soon be carried by unmanned aerial vehicles or infantry. Like several other small, high-tech armaments made possible by recent advances in microelectronics and materials science, Spike is easy to deploy....

Media Platforms Design TeamHow did the first Super Soaker come about? I was working on a heat pump that used water as a working fluid, and I made some jet pumps for it. I accidentally shot a stream of water across a bathroom where I was doing the experiment and thought to myself, “this would make a great gun.” The original one that I first made actually had the pressurized water and the air inside a Plexiglas body....

Media Platforms Design Team(Photograph by Glenn J. Asakawa/University of Colorado) Last May, when Patrick Mahaffy was digging in his yard in Boulder, Colo., his shovel struck archaeological gold—a cache of 83 shaped stones that turned out to be prehistoric tools. The tools dates back 13,000 years to the prehistoric Clovis people, according to Douglas Bamforth, a University of Colorado professor who spent nine months testing and studying the tools. Bamforth presented the find to an archaeological conference in the fall....