Posts

Media Platforms Design TeamHard drive manufacturer Iomega introduced one of the cleverest products we’re likely to see at this year’s CES. The company’s new v.Clone software is a free, downloadable program that works on any of the company’s drives, includes ones that have already been purchased. It uses a fascinating twist on the concept of virtualization–where a computer can run a virtualized operating system on a computer running another OS (the tactic is often used to run Windows within a Macintosh OS)....

IKEA, meet your competition: Nanyang Technological University. Its teams are using computer assisted design to create flat-pack furniture that snaps into place, no tools required. That means that this condescending jerk will no longer loom over you:Media Platforms Design TeamGo home, IKEA man. No one likes you.The project is called Computational Interlocking Furniture Assembly, and the no-screws, no-nails ethos behind it are as old as furniture-making, which is really old [citation needed]....

Media Platforms Design TeamIf there’s a massive load that needs to be moved in this country, few vehicles can handle the job better than a heavy-duty diesel pickup. These trucks are built specifically—and unapologetically—for work. And, unlike every other segment in today’s automotive landscape, heavy-duty pickups are the sole domain of American automakers. The capability curve for heavy pickups has steepened in recent years, fueled largely by a booming fifth-wheel RV trailer market....

Media Platforms Design TeamRon Fedkiw stood there, far away from the glitz and glamour of Oscar night, following every geek’s annual routine for his brief encounter with the Scientific and Technological Academy Awards: stare at the gorgeous host. Only Fedkiw, an associate professor at Stanford University and a senior software engineer for Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), was actually accepting an award from Jessica Alba—not watching the montage you’ll see on ABC later this month....

Media Platforms Design TeamThroughout your book you say that biology is in a “digital age.” What does that mean?We have been digitizing DNA sequences in genomes. I call that digitizing biology. When we want to create synthetic life, we start with that digital informationthe DNA and the chromosomeand create synthetic life forms from it, which we can then recapitulate. In fact, as the title says, we can send all of this digital information at the speed of light....

Out of the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, we find a tale of two auto industries—The guardedly optimistic executives doing the introductions on stage, and doom and gloom coming from those who are in the trenches. Whose message is more accurate? Our analysis, live from Detroit. Media Platforms Design Team DETROIT— The landscape has changed since the L.A. Auto Show. The single adjective I can think of to describe the L.A. show is funereal....

Q: If I have a 100-watt bulb controlled by a dimmer switch, will I use less electricity if the switch is at a lower setting? If so, that would imply that the switch would pay for itself, eventually. Is that true?A: Yes, modern electronic dimmers save energy. Furthermore, a dimmer that’s used to control a frequently used light will almost certainly pay its own way.Dimmer switches save energy by switching the light on and off 120 times per second, which reduces the energy moving through the circuit....

Media Platforms Design TeamMy dad just got a new computer and keeps calling me for tech help. Is there any way I can control his computer from my own? Remote access makes explaining how to, say, set up email ports a lot easier than telling the person on the other end of the line to drag the mouse to the upper right… no, there… no, over a littleand so on. It used to be the case that linking computers on different networks required setting up a virtual private network (VPN), connecting to that, and then connecting to the remote computer using built-in system software....

Media Platforms Design TeamRegular Thanksgiving turkey is tired… and it’s not because of the tryptophan. Instead of doing the same old dry bird, lots of people are trying turducken—a turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken. This unsettling but juicy combo is actually relatively easy to make, and it’s not nearly as risky as trying to your turkey. It is time-consuming, though: If it’s your first time, expect to spend at least 4 hours assembling it, and then 8 hours cooking it in the oven....

Media Platforms Design TeamWere interested in how NASA and private space are going to go forward as we go from cargo to crew contracts. Will there will be any sort of differences in the approach? I grabbed the draft request for proposal (RFP), and it seems like things will be done a little bit differently.Yeah. Theres some big differences in the way were going about doing the crew part as opposed to the cargo part ....

Media Platforms Design TeamSometimes it feels good to get down and dirty. But gutters? Sometimes that’s just pushing it. Now homeowners can squeak off the rubber gloves and rejoice: iRobot, the innovative company that brought the Jetsons’s Rosie to real life with the Roomba, unveiled a reach-around, remote-controlled ‘bot today at DigitalLife.Unlike the circular Roomba, the $100 iRobot Looj is long and short, perfect for navigating through those copper or aluminum pathways....

MORE NEWS ON CERN’S LARGE HADRON COLLIDER* PLUS: 5 Things You Need to Know About the Large Hadron Collider* PM NEWS: LHC Turns on Sept. 10, Tests Beam on Weekend* VIDEO: Large Hadron Collider Rap Teaches Particle Physics* EARLIER: Surprise Heat of a Light Bulb Could Shut Down LHCLARGE HADRON COLLIDERLocation: Border of France and SwitzerlandPrice Tag: $4 billionCompletion Date: 2007Circumference: 17 milesThe realms of the inconceivably huge and the unimaginably tiny will be united later this year in the countryside near Geneva, when the world’s most massive physics experiment gets under way within a 17-mile ring spanning the French-Swiss border....

Media Platforms Design TeamFor as long as motorcyclists have been trying to stay out of the way of cars, they’ve done everything within their power to be seen whlie they’re riding: from reflective jackets to pulsating headlights, no trick is too unusual for a rider seeking optimum visibility on the road.A product called Lunasee adds another way to stand out at night by using glow-in-the-dark strips that adhere to both sides of a motorcycles wheels and is “energized” by what the company calls LEDpods, small light sources wired into the bike’s battery....

Media Platforms Design TeamBy the time I gunned halfway up the 30-degree dirt slope and got stuck, deep in Washington’s Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, I’d learned that recreational off-highway vehicles can carry enough camping gear and bourbon to keep eight guys supplied for three days. I’d learned that our ROVs could hit close-to-highway speeds on straightaways but probably shouldn’t. And I’d learned that when you’re driving an open-air half-ton vehicle uphill, with little more than a roll bar and some netting for protection, the last thing you want is to rock back with your front tires in the air....

Media Platforms Design TeamJust one week after news broke that Ridley Scott was to produce a new AMC miniseries on rocket genius Jack Parsons, the veteran producer is back to make a series sequel of the Stanley Kubrick sci-fi classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Named after the novel of the same name, 3001: The Final Odyssey will air on the Syfy Channel, and will be written by the same screenwriter behind Pirates of the Caribbean and Collateral....

Yesterday General Motors unveiled its all-new light duty full-size pickups. Today we have an exclusive look at what the heavy-duty models will look like. PM reader Mike Kilpatrick snapped these shots of the General’s newest and biggest pickups tow testing in Colorado’s I-70 between Idaho Springs and Leadville. And truth be told, it was his kids that actually fired off the shots for old pop. Good job boys.For the first time GM will have unique styling for its heavier pickups....

Q: I know the Service Pack 1 update is supposed to solve many of Windows Vista’s performance and security issues. Well, I installed it, I’m still having problems, and I don’t think I’m alone. Lay it out for me: What are some of the worst problems still affecting Vista?A: You certainly aren’t alone. When Microsoft released the Windows Vista operating system in early 2007, it was quickly criticized for its bloated feel and myriad performance and security problems....

There’s a reason that Asimo is the most famous robot in the world. And just like his contemporaries in the tabloids (here’s looking at you, Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag), it has little to do with talent. Honda’s 4-ft. 3-in.-tall humanoid robot has rung the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, met no less than four world leaders and, just last week–to just as much fanfare but just as little practical utility–conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra....

Your job is tough. But running a farm is probably tougher. For Ben, it’s about far more than just hard work; it’s about the reward— having time to go fishing and be outdoors. And in between focusing on crop yields and livestock, the job affords him time with his thoughts. Solitude comes with the gig. When he isn’t getting his hands dirty, motorcycle aficionado Ben hits the road to hit up new places and picks up new gear along the way....

The U.S. and its allies have used the Hydra 70 family of weapons for decades. The cheap, unguided rockets are typically volley-fired by helicopters and other aircraft against light armored vehicles, trucks, and troops and on the ground. Now, a new upgrade for the old rockets, the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) adds an inexpensive guidance system turning each rocket into a precision-guided weapon.Hydra 70 rockets cost approximately $1,500 each, and a rocket pod carries 7 to 19 rockets....