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For the past few months, NASA’s New Horizons has been sending us images of Pluto and its moons via the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) camera, sending back the best pics of Pluto ever taken. But with the spacecraft now beginning its close encounter with the faraway worlds, it’s now the Ralph camera’s time to shine.The name isn’t an acronym. The 22-pound camera sits next to New Horizons’ main ultraviolet imager, Alice, with both named after the Kramdens in “The Honeymooners....

Media Platforms Design TeamAn unmanned helicopter has crashed in Belize over the weekend during trial flights for U.S. Special Operations Command. The A160T Hummingbird was testing foliage-penetrating radar when it crashed. This marks the second Hummingbird lost this summer; in July another crashed in California. In all, this has been a bad summer for unmanned helicopter drones. In August, a Navy MQ-8B Fire Scout violated the airspace of Washington D.C. after controllers “lost link” with the craft....

It is difficult to miss Chevy’s presence at this year’s LA Auto Show, with the news surrounding the Volt and GM management. But VW created some alt-fuel buzz of its own by unveiling the Up Lite Concept–a plug-in diesel-electric hybrid that they say will hit 70 mpg. VW claimed “no other small car is more sustainable.” The company will launch a new range of subcompact cars beginning late in 2011. Could a version of this car be a part of that mix?...

Media Platforms Design TeamThe planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft’s main mission shut down after a mechanical malfunction on May 11, 2013. But two years later, the craft is still going strong, if not exactly at 100 percent capacity.Known as K2, the ongoing mission is still capable of finding some exoplanets and studying other celestial phenomenon, using solar energy to stay balanced. It’s also looking closer to home, at our own solar system It recently focused on the lonely eighth planet, Neptune, over a 70-day span, as you can see here....

Scientists at ETH Zurich have been working since July 2012 on aerial construction, which is basically exactly what it sounds like. The idea is to use small quadcopters to build structures that humans can then use. In this case, they made a rope bridge.View full post on YoutubeThis achievement may not sound terribly impressive until you learn what goes into making a rope bridge. First, the small drones must be able to control the tension on the spool of rope so they can create braids, links, and knots as necessary....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhen it comes to discussing Windows Mobile (a name Microsoft has ditched for the seemingly more marketable “Windows Phone”), let’s just say that it’s always been pretty difficult for me to hold my tongue. While other mobile operating systems such as Google’s Android, Apple’s iPhone OS and Palm’s webOS brought intuitive and user-friendly interfaces to smartphones, Microsoft’s mobile platform seemed stuck in the technological dark ages—cumbersome, unintuitive and apparently designed to frustrate....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhen the engines of a 19-story Atlas V ignite in April at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the liftoff will look like any other for the workhorse launch vehicle. After about 4 minutes, the engines will cut off and the rocket’s first stage will fall away, freeing the second stage to boost the upper section of the rocket into low Earth orbit.Away from prying eyes, the mission will cease to be ordinary....

It is a special kind of pride that compels a homeowner to enter a contest called The Ugliest Door in America. Sponsored by the fiberglass door manufacturer Therma-Tru, this year’s contest persuaded the owners of over 200 truly hideous doors to send in photos of their banged-up, beaten-down, bullet-holed thresholds, accompanied by a brief essay explaining why they should win the prize of a replacement door valued at up to $5000....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt’s a fact: Flare the fenders wide enough, and you can make any car look way cooler. That design element, often necessitated by engineering (fatter wheels and tires) has been used for decades on manufacturer’s top performance models. And it was the flared fenders, not the audacious rear wing or even the mailbox-size hood scoop, that made the last generation of Subaru’s WRX STI look so menacing. The design of the all-new WRX, from which the 2008 STI you see here is based, was not greeted with universal praise by the press or Subaru’s fiercely loyal fans—too plain and pedestrian looking, they said....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhite-water rafting can be a great summer escapade, and it’s easy to tailor a trip for your crew. For families with young children, a tame river might be the best option. To jolt the teens, rivers akin to crazy roller-coaster rides are the way to go. You can organize a trip to fit any time frame too: overnight outings, day trips, half-day trips, or just an easy float....

Media Platforms Design TeamAlan Eustace on his ascent to near the top of the stratosphere on Friday. (Photo Credit: J. Martin Harris Photography/PSDC)Remember when the world (PM included) trumpeted Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking dive from 128,000 feet up? A litany of feature stories, announcements, cancellations, and postponements lead up the much-hyped dive that was finally completed in October 2012.Well, an executive from Google just topped Baumgartner and barely bothered to tell anybody....

Rayman Raving Rabbits TV PartyIt isn’t easy for third-party Wii titles to distinguish themselves, but the original Rayman title for the console held its own against Nintendo’s best. The latest edition is more of the same, and it’s just as stupidly fun. The game consists of about 60 minigames (a third of which involve the Balance Board), with a four-player, Saturday Night Fever-style dance party as one of the highlights. Another minigame has you surfing through space on the Balance Board, but the only playable level here that included the board as well as the controllers was a downhill snowsled course, where you sit on the board, and lean to steer....

The tech world is misunderstanding the concept of appropriate technology for developing nations as “low-tech,” leaders in the growing field of practical invention said today at the 2007 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Conference. In fact, the panelists agreed, it’s likely more difficult to design these technologies for rich, technologically-developed countries, which don’t have to worry about limited resources.“They’re not low-tech in the sense of dumbed-down,” said Ashok Gadgil, a senior staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who won a Breakthrough Award this year for co-design a super-efficent cookstove refugees in the Darfur region of Sudan....

Media Platforms Design TeamScientists have built robots that mimic cockroaches and even implanted electronics to remote-control these bugs. Now researchers have devised DNA nano-robots that prowl around inside cockroaches, the first time such DNA robots have found use in living animals.DNA origami nano robots could one day carry out complex computer programs in the human body, helping to deliver cancer-killing toxins only to cancer cells while leaving the rest of the patient unharmed, according to their paper in Nature Nanotechnology....

Media Platforms Design Team(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)If you’re afraid George R.R. Martin might die before he finishes his massively popular A Song of Ice and Fire saga, you’re not alone. So many people have openly wondered about the 65-year-old author’s age and slow pace that he’s getting a little testy, and has a few choice words for all of us.Interviewed by Swiss newspaper Tagesanzeiger over the weekend, Martin said “so f*ck you to those people” who claim he will kick the bucket before finishing the series....

Media Platforms Design Team(Photo Credit: David Becker/Getty Images)According to reports from the Wall Street Journal, rugged camera maker GoPro is developing a new line of drones equipped with the companys high-definition cameras.The drone will retail somewhere between $500 to $1000. While countless GoPro enthusiasts attach the lightweight devices to drones, this would be the first time GoPro will build their own drone with a built-in camera. It’s meant to compete with companies like SZ DJI Technology Co....

HBO turned the sound of TV static into a cultural institution. Introduced in 1993, the network’s famed bumper that mimicks the sound of a TV being turned on and then the hum of a celestial choir still precedes the network’s original offerings like Game of Thrones, Girls, or Silicon Valley. Playboy (sfw) has the story of what went in to making the iconic bumper. Like The Larry Sanders Show, the bumper delights and titillates us, all while making us feel vaguely unsettled....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn October 7, 2005, Google engineer Chris Wetherell launched Google Reader and changed the way we consume news. A stripped-down, simple design with infinite news customizability quickly made Reader the king of the RSS world. For years, though, the company has shown signs of forsaking its RSS application. In 2008, Google’s new web browser, Chrome, didn’t render RSS feeds, and in 2011 the company removed Reader’s social functions entirely in an attempt to lure users to Google Plus....

Media Platforms Design TeamLaw Abiding Citizen (2009)Media Platforms Design TeamF. Gary Gray first started out directing videos for some of hip-hop’s biggest stars and he has since developed a reputation for slick, urban thrillers. Gray’s latest, Law Abiding Citizen, is set in crime-ridden Philadelphia, PA and was shot on location in and around the city of Brotherly Love. In an interesting bit of casting trivia, Gerard Butler, whose Evil Twins production company developed the film, was originally committed to play the role of District Attorney Nick Rice with Jamie Foxx cast as the vengeful father Clyde Shelton, but the two decided to switch roles at the last minute....

Media Platforms Design Team(C.C. Sabathia surrounded by some nicely manicured grass. Credit: Flickr / Keith Allison)CC Sabathia wasn’t always a star pitcher for the New York Yankees. As a 10-year-old growing up in Vallejo, Calif., circa 1990, he made money mowing his neighbors’ lawns with an older cousin. “I mostly just pushed the mower on to the next house,” Sabathia told Popular Mechanics when we ran into him at a launch party for the incredibly realistic new PS3 game MLB 2012: The Show....