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Media Platforms Design TeamAround the world, the robot population is booming, as spy drones become cheap enough for local law enforcement and researchers take the first, tentative steps toward a true nonhuman workforce with models that teach English to Korean schoolkids, or that drive autonomously for thousands of miles, presumably better than many cabbies. Yet, here at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the robotic herd is thinning. In the space of five years, the Robotics Techzone, a section of the show floor grouping robotics companies together, has gone from a sad but expansive ghetto of Roomba-clones and toys, to a blink-and-you’ve-missed-it alley dominated by brochures about world-class bots and bot-making capacities in Japan....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt’s easy to mock North Korea for its lack of infrastructure—shoddy communications, electricity, and transportation. But one thing the nation has is a decent air defense system. Because military action of any size would require dominating the airspace over the rogue nation, the radar sites and antiaircraft missiles available to Kim Jong-un make the airspace over North Korea one of the world’s most dangerous.That’s not to say it’s impenetrable....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhile the major manufacturers are debuting, unveiling, and revealing concepts and new models today at the LA Auto Show, over in the Rhineland the Toyota Motorsports GmbH (TMG) just showed off a doozy: the TMG Sports 650, a twin-turbo monster based on a 2013 Lexus LS 460.TMG is mainly responsible for Toyota’s motorsport efforts, engineering the successful Toyota Celica GT-Four ST185 rally car and designing cars for the manufacturer’s eight-year stint in F1....

Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamA Palestinian man repairs a smuggling tunnel between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip. (Photograph by Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images) The extensive tunnel system Hamas has built in Gaza has been one of the prime issues—and targets—in the most recent Israel–Hamas war that has been underway since December. Yesterday, in response to a bombing that broke an informal truce, Israeli warplanes bombed areas thought to contain smuggling tunnels....

Media Platforms Design TeamMaliMali exports gold—it hast the third-highest gold production in Africa—yet it is one of the poorest countries in the world. Formerly a stable democracy, the country saw its president thrown out by the military last July. Then rebels called the Tuareg seized part of the northern part of the nation. They were joined, and later replaced, by Islamist rebels who have been making gains and imposing repressive Shariah law....

Media Platforms Design TeamNew York—NY Boutique bike maker MV Agusta has a storied history that infuses its motorcycles with undeniable charisma. The company started as an offshoot to the Italian Augusta aviation concern, and its inexpensive 100- to 150-cc daily runners spawned a rich tradition of GP-winning bikes in the ’60s and ‘70’s. Motorcycle production ceased in 1980, but Italian holding company Cagiva restarted the failing motorcycle business in 1991 with modest success....

On Sale Date: Fall 2013Base Price: $22,195Competitors: Mini Cooper S, Hyundai Veloster Turbo, Chevrolet Sonic RS, Fiat 500 AbarthPowertrains: Turbocharged 1.6-liter I-4, 197 hp, 214 lb-ft; six-speed manual, FWDEPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy, est.): 27/34What’s New: The 2014 Ford Fiesta ST, like the Focus ST, brings a bit of performance to one of Ford’s everyday lines. Developed in conjunction with Ford’s European RS and USA SVT teams, the Fiesta ST comes with the punchy 1....

When friends ask what smartwatch to get, the straight answer I give is to wait. The longer answer is that you should get either Apple’s Watch if you have an iPhone or a Pebble Time if you want an e-ink-style screen. But if there’s time for a full conversation, then worth addressing whether you do, in fact, really want a smartwatch at all.With Apple’s watch about to officially, finally drop on Monday, it’s time to take a look at the state of the smartwatch....

A team of European planet hunters has uncovered a bonanza of 32 new exoplanets, planets outside our solar system. Using a precise spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope in northern Chile, the astronomers spotted enough planets to bring the total number of known exoplanets up by nearly 10 percent—to 403. Most of these hundreds of exoplanets are gas giants, but in the mix there are also super-Earths, planets with masses that are up to 20 times that of Earth....

In a rare public announcement by China’s National Energy Administration, top official Zhang Guobao told a main Chinese newspaper last week that the government is using the low oil prices brought on by the economic slowdown to stock up. China has nearly completed a first wave of storage facilities capable of storing 102 million barrels of crude oil, Zhang told the People’s Daily, and is in the planning stages for a second wave of bases that could store 170 million barrels more....

This isn’t the kind of tool we’d cover. It’s some serious gear for the pros. But it’s so mechanically interesting we couldn’t resist.The M18 Force Logic 6T Utility Crimper is a cordless hand-held machine developed by Milwaukee Electric Tool. A crimper closes a metal connector, joining two or more pieces of wire or joining a wire to a fitting. In the case of this tool, we’re talking high-voltage connections—the kind that linesmen make when working on municipal and industrial power systems....

You’re looking forward to the chance to listen to the ballgame, having just dropped your purple-haired teenage daughter off at her first semester at college. A lot of ballgames, actually, now that you don’t have to listen to her headbanger music, with its shrieking vocals and droning guitars. But instead of the first inning, you hear what sounds like some awful guitar note–and it changes pitch as you speed up and slow down, turning to a maniacal rhythmic clicking as you wait for a traffic light to change....

Media Platforms Design TeamClick here to download a FREE pdf diagram to see how Stanley works.Beer Bottle Pass is a 1.5-mile section of dirt road that snakes through the Lucy Gray Mountains of southwestern Nevada’s Mojave high desert. On one side of the narrow track is a rock face; on the other, a 100-ft. drop-off. The pass demands respect from off-road drivers navigating the twists, turns and hairpin switchbacks. But this past October a blue 2005 Volkswagen Touareg with a strange array of rooftop sensors showed no hesitation rolling into the first turn, and it wasn’t because the driver had nerves of steel....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt’s far from an epidemic, but drug-resistant —the so-called superbug—is gaining ground. In the past two weeks, outbreaks have been reported in at least six states, and so far, three students have died. Coincidence or not, this apparent spike in cases of methicillin-resistant , or MRSA, follows the recent release of a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warning that MRSA probably kills more people per year than AIDS....

Media Platforms Design Team(Photograph courtesy NASA TV) After docking last night, astronauts start installation today on the latest of several new permanent fixtures aboard the International Space Station, but this one’s cooler: a massive, two-armed robot called the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, or Dextre for short. After four days of high-wire assembly, Dextre will be ready for action—loading and unloading different objects, manipulating and detaching cover panels outside the ISS. The robot’s “hands” come with feedback sensors that provide sensitivity during delicate operations....

Media Platforms Design TeamHow it Works1. A radio converts the electronic signals of a rescuer’s voice into magnetic waves.2. Magnetic waves pass easily through hundreds of yards of solid material.3. The receiver of a trapped miner converts the magnetic waves into electrical signals, which he hears as a voice, and he responds with his position. When first responders arrive at a mine disaster or a building collapse, communicating with victims or other rescuers is usually impossible because radio waves can be blocked by metal, earth and stone....

Media Platforms Design TeamGeneral Motors announced today that the company has updated the Volt’s design in response to the battery fire that occurred after a side-impact crash test. First, GM says, it will reinforce the battery’s support structure to keep the battery better protected during a severe accident. The Volt will also now be outfitted with a sensor that monitors the level of liquid coolant that’s used to maintain the battery pack’s temperature....

Media Platforms Design TeamPebble Beach, CA – Proving there’s something for literally everyone amidst the dizzying vehicular glitterati of Monterey Classic Car Week, Hagerty’s “Tour of LeMons” has been trundling through the sleepy coastal community of Seaside in celebration of oddball automotive outcasts.Led by “Sweetest LeMon” winner Mindy Kindelberger’s 1970 Subaru 360 Deluxe taxi, a curious string of nonconformist rides are stirring up the week’s otherwise posh proceedings which include the Quail Motorsports Gathering, the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, and of course the granddaddy of them all, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance....

Most robots need some sort of fuel to keep going but this little guy just needs a difference in temperature between the surface he’s on and the room he’s in. From there it’s an endless stroll. It’s all thanks to its special bimetal feet. Bimetal’s not like an alloy, where two metals are blended together, instead its two layers on top of each other, which is what gave researchers at the University of Tokyo the power to make this dude strut....

Hanging Out Your ShingleSome of the cedar shingles on one side of my house are damaged. Can a few be replaced, or will all of the shingles have to be torn off and the entire wall re-covered?Yes, individual cedar shingles on a side wall of a house can be replaced. But if there are large numbers in poor condition (more than a third or so of the wall surface), it may make more sense to strip the wall and reshingle it....