Media Platforms Design TeamView full post on YoutubePrice: $100The Switch Hitch is three trailer hitches in one, with 1 7/8-inch, 2-inch, and 2 5/8-inch balls mounted on three sides. There are already plenty of three-way hitches on the market, so that in itself is nothing new. What’s different about the Switch Hitch is that the section where the balls are mounted rotates on its own, independent of the rest of the hitch....
Every major metropolis in the country–from Boston to Miami, New York to Los Angeles–hosts its own car show. And though some may have longer histories, and some may have more people kicking tires, none is as important to the automotive industry as the Detroit show.Formally known as the North American International Automobile Show, the Detroit show remains this continent’s prime venue for major introductions and announcements from automakers doing business on these shores....
Media Platforms Design TeamFRANKFURT — Good news for sports-car lovers on a budget: The BMW 1 Series Coupe will finally hit dealership in the U.S. next spring, and it’ll come in two versions, the 128i and the 135i.The economical 128i will utilize a 230-hp 3.0-liter inline six to generate 200 lb.-ft. of torque, while the 135i coupe gets a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline six spitting out 300 hp and 300 lb.-ft. The 135i Coupe is expected to cover 0-62 mph in 5....
From behind the fat-rimmed steering wheel and upright windshield of the Mini Clubman, there is no suggestion that this Mini is anything other than, well, a conventional Mini. In fact, from the dashboard forward, the Clubman is identical to all other Minis. And everything about the way the car sounds, looks and steers is exactly what you’d expect from this successful reincarnation of the British classic. But this Clubman version of the Mini is about 9....
Media Platforms Design TeamOn Sale Date: November 2011Price: $17,495Competitors: Mazda 3, Volkswagen Jetta, Honda Civic, Ford Focus, Hyundai ElantraPowertrains: 2.0-liter 4-cylinder, 148 hp, 145 lb-ft; five-speed transmission, CVT, AWDEPA Fuel Economy (city/highway): 25/34 manual; 27/36 automatic with CVTWhat’s New: Subaru tinkered with just about everything on the Impreza: The body is redesigned, the wheelbase is an inch longer, the interior and trunk are more spacious, and there are new Sport and Limited models, to name just a few changes....
Media Platforms Design TeamWhen I look at the proposed 2011 budget, as someone who (like you) has long been an advocate of human expansion into space, it seems to be a vast improvement over the previous plan, which had seemed to go far astray from the original Bush vision of six years ago. The dreaded “gap” was widening and there seemed little prospect of getting back to the moon on the specified date....
Media Platforms Design Team(Photo Credit: University of Texas)A simple circuit could double data rates on most cell phones, opening up wider possibilities for sending and receiving information.Known as the “circulator,” the device invented at the University of Texas allows the device to send and receive information on the same channel at the same time. The circuit isolates the incoming from the outgoing messages, ensuring that they don’t become garbled despite being on the same frequency....
UPDATE: The Planetary Society was able to finally get the whole picture of the LightSail working:View full post on TwitterThe Planetary Society’s test craft, the LightSail, isn’t making life easy for its creators. First it lost contact with ground control. Then it wouldn’t budge open its sails. After it finally unfurled, LightSail sent back a picture as instructed. But as you can see here, just part of a complete picture came back to Earth, and it took some finessing by Society senior editor Emily Lakdawalla to reconstruct from garbled code....
Media Platforms Design TeamTo the miners, the fire came as no surprise. On Jan. 19, 2006, around 3:30 pm, Carl White saw haze near a conveyor belt inside Aracoma Alma Mine No. 1 in Logan County, W.Va. At 4:20, White’s replacement on the afternoon shift, Bryan Cabell, noticed the haze too. He found that the belt was misaligned, making it rub and smoke. Cabell was speaking to the foreman about the problem when, shortly after 5 o’clock, he saw red embers beneath the belt....
View full post on YoutubeYou’ve probably heard about 3D printing’s incredible potential to overhaul manufacturing. The same principles could upend building construction too.Contour crafting is the brainchild of Behrokh Khoshnevis of the University of Southern California. The process involves feeding data to a machine that sprays and smooths out walls and structural components using nozzles, arms, and other tools. Khoshnevis’ team imagines using this technology for commercial construction, low-income and emergency housing, and possibly space colony construction....
Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamAS SUBTLE AS A BIG DRUM To the thundering, rhythmic booming of a Japanese Taiko band, Mitsubishi pulled the covers off its new Eclipse Spyder and Concept-CT. For those of you who haven’t seen a Mitsu TV spot lately, a Taiko band is a collection of drums, including a big bass one hanging on a stand, being pounded faster and faster. Probably originally to help get Samurai warriors into a wild frenzy before battle or slave at the oars of a galley to row faster and faster....
BattleBots is back, and over. Last night was the season one finale that brought the fantastic resurrection of this robot deathmatch to a close. But if you didn’t have time to watch all the episodes, or even just all the fights, here’s the ultimate summary: All the robot KOs.Just like boxing or MMA, not every match in BattleBots ends spectacularly. Every so often—including this season’s final match-up—the two bots just glance off each other and the match ultimately (and boringly) ends with a decision from the judges....
Nowadays automatic wiper blades can be found in plenty of new cars, including the Buick Encore, which the GM brand is happy to tout in the video below. But wipers that activate themselves when it rains and adjust their speed when it gets heavier or lighter weren’t always commonplace—nor did they work as seamlessly as they do today.Buick, or at lest General Motors, has a historical link to the automatic wiper blade....
Media Platforms Design TeamEthanolMedia Platforms Design TeamThe EFuel100 MicroFueler home-brews ethanol by fermenting a mix of table sugar and nutrient-treated yeast in the system’s 250-gal. tank. The resulting fuel, which is 99.9 percent ethanol, can either be stored in the unit or pumped into a gas tank through the 50-ft. hose. It takes 10 to 14 pounds of sugar to produce 1 gal. of ethanol, so the cost of fuel is only as cheap as the feedstock....
Media Platforms Design TeamINO prototype magnet (Photo Credit: INO)India is gunning to become a science powerhouse. Last year the country launched a successful Mars orbiter, Mangalyaan, established itself as an interplanetary nation. Now India is taking on the world of particle physics, building the world’s largest magnet to hunt for one of the universe’s most elusive particles, the neutrino.Neutrinos are byproducts of radioactive decay and cosmic rays; they carry no charge, have only a sliver of mass, and can pass right through matter....
Media Platforms Design TeamI got a chance to watch Avatar on Blu-ray, and it looked beautiful. It looks great on Blu-ray doesn’t it? We mastered it with the same colorist who did the digital intermediate on the theatrical release. Same guy, same machine, same color, and we were just able to preserve everything that went into the digital master for the release in the Blu-ray. Did you make any other tweaks or adjustments?...
There was much hand-wringing at the MIT Emerging Technology Conference this morning over the future of America’s worldwide standing in the fields of Science and Technology. This morning’s keynote speech was by George M. Whitesides, a Harvard University professor of materials science and bioorganic and physical organic chemistry. He discussed the significance of the Report on U.S. Competitiveness from National Academy of Sciences. Whitesides began by qualifying the debate a bit, saying that the problem isn’t necessarily that the U....
Media Platforms Design TeamCIGARETTE AMERICAN MUSCLEA pair of deuces beats a full house? You betcha. Officially, a poker run winner is determined by the best hand. Unofficially, the winner is the person driving the best boat–best being the fastest, coolest-looking and most in-your-face. For 2004, Cigarette raises the bar for smoking on the water. Its American Muscle edition, heading PM’s highlights of the 2004 boating season, is based on Cigarette’s 46-ft....
One man’s failure is another’s partial success. The latter is how scientists described the premature release of a small capsule tethered to a satellite this past September. A collaboration between the European and Russian space agencies, it was the latest attempt to demonstrate the energy-saving potential of space tethers. The goal was to deliver an orbital payload to Earth without using rockets by reeling the capsule out on a 30-kilometer polymer line and dropping it into a targeted re-entry....
Media Platforms Design TeamBefore they send out their rovers and sensors to explore space and other planets, spacecraft engineers do what they can with tests and models to predict how their creations will handle these new environments. But it would be more informative if they could give new spacecraft a sampling of their destination before they leave the home world.Scientists in Spain are doing this with a test chamber, just announced Tuesday in the journal Review of Scientific Instruments, which simulates conditions on Mars with great accuracy....
