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Sorry, Bender. With each new breakthrough in soft robotics, it’s looking more and more like the robots of the future won’t be housed in hard, rigid bodies a la Futurama. That’s because plushy, pliable robots are more adaptable and resilient to damage than their stiff counterparts, and they’re also worlds safer when it comes to interacting with humans. But here’s the catch: Many of today’s soft robots are slow, expensive, difficult to connect to rigid parts like batteries and motors, and a total pain to fabricate....

Google.com is the most trafficked, most coveted URL on the internet. And ex-Googler Sanmay Ved owned it for one, beautiful minute. According to Ved, who documented the whole strange event in a post on LinkedIn, he was able to purchase the domain at 1:20 AM EST on September 29th. He’d been cruising around in Google Domains when he stumbled across Google.com which appeared for sale. He put it in his cart, and managed to go all the way through checkout, snagging the domain for just $12....

Media Platforms Design TeamI’ve always thought that for a multitool to be worth it, it has to be at least as good as the tools it combines into a single package. Who cares if you have a tool that can do three things but does all three of them poorly? For some tools, doing just one thing right is a struggle. The new Ridgid JobMax tool system has five functions—an ambitious repertoire....

After a busy, informative and celebratory day learning about space travel from Burt Rutan at yesterday’s 2006 Breakthrough Awards, we thought we’d get you caught up on what else scientists are finding out there—and back here on Earth.Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope announced yesterday that they had discovered a whopping 16 new planets—all about the size of Jupiter—orbiting shockingly close to their sun-like home star. While that kind of hot, short-rotation activity was otherwise unheard of in the Milky Way galaxy until now, scientists are holding out hope that the new extrasolar planets might have the conditions for alien life....

View full post on YoutubePerhaps no artificial voice is quite as recognizable as that of Stephen Hawking’s computer, which has spoken for the physicist for the past two decades. Now, Intel is helping Hawking get an upgrade, providing the first major changes to his system since it was first introduced.While Hawking’s computer system was once cutting edge, the physicist admits that even most smartphones today have surpassed its predictive text abilities....

Tour de France ComputingQ: I’ve read that Lance Armstrong’s workout data is saved to a tiny computer on his bike, then downloaded for monitoring and analysis. How different is his equipment from the simple computer on my bike, which tracks speed and distance?MATTHEW PARSEHILLSBORO, VAA: Armstrong and his team have used more than one system in recent years. In 2003 and 2004, they worked with a system that is much more sophisticated than yours, but available to anyone with $310 to spend....

At the National Championship Air Races in Reno, spectators get to watch low-altitude wingtip-to-wingtip racing action around a set racecourse. That’s the main event, but the 200,000 onlookers are also treated to fantastic military and civilian aerial demonstrations. When a group of highly modified WWII aircraft or high-performance kit-built airplanes aren’t furiously circling the course, a series of stunt pilots and aerobatic performers put on a show. This year, though, attendees got to see something a little different....

NASA is planning to build a lunar outpost by 2024, but the agency has a nitty-gritty problem to tackle first: jagged, ultraclingy moon dust, which could threaten the entire mission. Apollo astronauts discovered that the dust, with grains roughly the size of powdered glass, quickly jams spacesuit joints, clogs air filters and chokes radiators, causing the batteries of moon rovers to overheat. After a hard day taking giant leaps for mankind, astronauts tracked particles into their modules – and eventually their lungs – leaving the moonwalkers congested and dizzy....

This isn’t a typical DIYer’s product, but it’s just such a smart idea we had to cover it: telescoping and reusable concrete forms for sidewalks and other types of so-called flatwork.Anybody who’s ever built concrete forms will tell you that it’s tough. Just ask union carpenters that specialize in this work. It’s tough even on a small-scale DIY level. First, you cut your form lumber and stake it in place, all the while trying to keep it straight and level....

Media Platforms Design TeamYou can’t walk past a car without getting a creepy feeling of being watched. Headlights ogle at you like expressive eye balls, while the grille clenches like a mouth ready to snap.Lots of people see a human face when they look at the front of a car, and photographer William Anthony is one of them. The LeMay - America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, WA, taksed Anthony to come up with an exhibit that would attract people who aren’t car buffs to the museum....

I can divide my life into two distinct segments: the time before I owned a welder, and every day since. When I bought my first truck, a 20-year-old Tacoma with a rusty frame, my welder made it roadworthy. When I started my blacksmith business out of my grandparents’ garage, I used my welder to build a forge out of scrap metal. And when a neighbor needs a railing fixed, it’s my welder he wants me to use to fix it—usually for free....

Colin Furze is one of our favorite YouTube madmen, and for the past few months, he’s been building his own bunker for if some other, even madder person decides to just go and off the world. SkyTV, a British broadcaster, asked Furze to put together the bunker as a promotion for something or another, but the documentation he’s put on his YouTube channel makes it hard to mind. In the first video, he lays out his basic plan: Build a shed—a quite unassuming one—and build a tunnel down to his bunker....

Media Platforms Design TeamAs year-end sales figures trickle in, it looks like 2012 was a strong year for the U.S. automaker. General Motors reports sales of over 1 million vehicles with 30 mpg or more, and Ford moved more than 2 million cars. But the best 2012 might have been at the Chrysler Group, which saw a 21 percent boost in 2012, selling 1.6 million vehicles by Fiat, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, and Ram....

Media Platforms Design TeamAlan Magee, WWII Air Force gunner20,000 feet through a glass roofWith legions of high altitude bombers filling the skies over Europe and the Pacific, and no shortage of fighter planes and flak attempting to bring them down, World War II is full of stories of young airman falling from extreme heights–and improbably living to tell about it. One of the most sensational stories is about American Staff Sargeant Alan Magee’s fall from 20,000 feet....

Media Platforms Design TeamIf you don’t typically follow the debate on planetary defense, you could be forgiven for thinking Earth-crushing asteroids are more the stock in trade of big-budget action filmmakers than an actual concern for the taxpaying American. It might surprise you to learn that John Holdren, director of the White House’s Office for Science and Technology Policy, recently wrote Congressional leaders to recommend that NASA spearhead a multi-agency effort to assess asteroid-deflection technologies....

Media Platforms Design TeamBosch PS21 Micro Driver /// $130The PromiseSome tools have it. Some don’t. A lot of Bosch tools do, and the tiny 1.9-pound PS21 micro driver had it in spades. We’re talking about cool factor. This diminutive 12-volt driver looks like something out of a spy thriller. You could see some sleek guy pull it out of his cargo pants while using it to break into an enemy compound....

Media Platforms Design TeamYou’ve built bikes for celebrities such as Mickey Rourke, Shawn White, and Travis Pastrana. Who’s been the most technically demanding?Not as technically demanding but opinionated, Mickey really knew what he wanted as far as the finishes and colors and things like thatthe details, the jewelry. On a technical side, he just kind of let me do what I needed to do. We know what it takes to build a bike that’s going to work well, is fun to ride, and kind of sit a certain way people want, so they definitely trust us to do that....

Media Platforms Design Team cellspacing=“0” cellpadding=“0”>AndroidBlackBerry OSiPhone OSPalm webOSWindows PhoneYOU’VE SEEN IT ON:Motorola Droid, Google Nexus One, HTC Hero All BlackBerry phones Apple iPhone 3G, Apple iPhone 3GSPalm Pre, Palm Pixi Samsung Omnia II, HTC Imagio WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT IT: The Google-­developed Android OS has a plethora of apps (free auto navigation!) that are absent on the iPhone. Android is available on many different phones, and on all major carriers....

Here at PM’s automotive department, we’ve debunked most of the devices on the market today that claim to increase your fuel economy. They simply don’t work. And in some cases we’ve found they can actually make your vehicle run worse. But what about a free mileage booster? We’ve heard folks claim mileage gains by running their tire pressure above the manufacturer’s recommendations. In theory, that makes sense: With more inflation pressure, the tire bulges in the center of the tread and creates a smaller, skinnier contact patch with the road....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe scenario goes like this: Its 1996; you’re an astronaut and you’re looking at a UFO. This is quite possibly the biggest, most game-changing scientific discovery in the history of mankind. And here you are, gliding through space in low Earth orbit, watching this alien craft dance around your video camera’s viewfinder. You are not alone–there are other astronauts onboard the space shuttle, and mission control is watching the live feed from Houston....