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Media Platforms Design TeamForty-nine people were killed when Comair Flight 5191, a 50-seat commuter jet, crashed just outside Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky. (Photo: AP/Wide World Photos)Transcripts from last summer’s deadly crash of Comair Flight 5191, released today by the National Transportation Safety Board, show that at least co-pilot James Polehinke knew something wasn’t right. Polehinke, the lone survivor of the crash that killed 49 people on Aug. 27, noted the airstrip was “weird with no lights” shortly before the plane went down....

Media Platforms Design TeamTo the nontuner type, that anyone would purchase a sport compact car (defined as a high-performance version of a compact) that’s less than top-of-the-line must be mind-boggling. For instance, why buy a 150-hp Mitsubishi Lancer, when there’s one available that pushes almost double that: the special-edition, 300-hp Lancer Evolution? Because it’s about the thrill of the build.Here’s how it all went down for the proud owner of a lime-green 1999 Volkswagen GTi, yours truly....

Media Platforms Design TeamDipul Patel was just trying to save some money for his wedding when he went around his house closing the heating vents. The problem came when he forgot to open them, accidentally leaving his poor mother to shiver through the night during a visit to his house.Never again. Today Patel is CEO of ecoVent, a startup creating a smart home heating/environmental system that regulates the temperatures of individual rooms according to customized preferences....

According to Reuters, the FAA is tentatively opening up the Moon for commercial development. The agency says that rules already in place for licensing for space launches allow for staking claim to lunar territory.The story cites a correspondence between the FAA and Bigelow Aerospace, the private company seeking to build space hotels, in which the FAA indicates existing launch regulations ensure “that commercial activities can be conducted on a non-interference basis” on the Moon’s surface....

View full post on YoutubePalm nailers are cool as heck and one of the most fun power tools you’ll ever use. If you’ve never experienced the sheer pleasure of simply pushing on a nail and having it sink into the wood like a hot knife through butter, then you haven’t lived.In addition to providing a toy-like thrill, palm nailers are also incredibly useful. They essentially replace a hammer in two situations: when the space surrounding the nail is too small or awkwardly shaped for swinging a hammer, and in situations that that require positive placement of nails, such as nailing hurricane straps or electrical boxes....

On January 12, around dinnertime, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, decimating the island nation and leaving hundreds of thousands presumed dead. A rescue effort is underway now, but as government officials and rescue agencies sort through the rubble, it is worth asking: Could this tragedy have been prevented? One group of scientists thinks so. Back in 2008, Eric Calais and Paul Mann, geophysicists who study fault lines in the Caribbean, predicted that Haiti would soon face such a devastating quake....

Media Platforms Design TeamJust like every other car component (and everything else in life), the batteries used in hybrid powertrains degrade and eventually wear out. But a buyer paying a premium for a hybrid wants the best possible information about just how long those components will last. To try and predict how these batteries will fare, Ford developed the Key Life Test, which is actually a batch of tests designed to put 150,000 miles and a decade’s worth of wear and tear on its lithium-ion batteries in just 10 months....

Media Platforms Design Team1. S-HooksS-hooks along the gate rails hang pots, pans, colanders and baskets. Spread out the hooks to avoid cookware clang.2. Wire RopesWire ropes at the corners suspend the rack from the ceiling. Four type-305 stainless-steel ropes with a 3/32-inch diameter, a 7 x 7 strand core and a 700-pound breaking strength—that’s plenty for Granny’s cast iron.Media Platforms Design Team3. ShacklesWire ropes fasten to the gate using horseshoe-shaped anchor shackles or forged D-shackles....

More than 30 years after its premiere (and with another edition coming this summer), Ghostbusters still holds up as one of our favorite ghost movies. Created in the days where special effects were made through puppets, models and animatronics instead of computers, Ghostbusters was one of the first comedies to feature a large special effects budget—over $5 million. The mastermind behind the effects was Richard Edlund, who at the time was also doing Academy Award-winning work on Return of the Jedi and had never worked on a comedy before....

Media Platforms Design TeamDETROIT—The Kia Soul, which we’ve recently test driven, is finally adding some uniqueness to Kia’s lineup. It’s a worthy Scion xB or Honda Fit competitor—two cars we admire for both space utilization and fuel economy. Well, at the Detroit Show this year, Kia will show the Soul’ster—a drop-top concept version of the Soul that looks, well, like it’s almost part Jeep. Okay, the Soul’ster isn’t four-wheel-drive. It’s not even all-wheel-drive....

Media Platforms Design TeamCan you tell me a little about the Marbel Board?Sure. The Marbel Board is an electric, motorized skateboard. All the electronics and batteries are integrated into the deck, and its made of carbon fiber and Kevlar and weighs 9 lbsjust about a single pound heavier than a normal skateboard of its size. It looks just like a regular long board too, except theres a small motor on the bottom that powers the rear wheels....

Media Platforms Design Team (Photo Credit: Bionic Bird XTIM) A smartphone-controlled “bionic bird” is taking to the skies, and it’s fooling a few real birds in the process. The crowdfunded Bionic Bird project is a Bluetooth-enabled, carbon-wing drone toy. It can sustain about 80 total minutes (10 flights of about eight minutes each) of flying time per charge. The bot has a 100-meter range, and engineer and creator Edwin Van Ruymbeke is working on installing on-board video to capture the point of view of the Bionic Bird as it swoops through the air....

This 3-million-acre wildfire set the agenda for the newly formed Nation Forest Service, but the agency’s methods of fighting fire were hardly set in stone. Jamie Lewis, a historian at the Forest History Society in Durham, N.C., and the author of The Forest Service and the Greatest Good: A Centennial History, explains the reasoning behind constantly shifting attitudes toward battling forest fires.A lot of men died fighting the 1910 fire. Has the strategy for how wildfires are fought changed significantly since then?...

Media Platforms Design Team SANTA BARBARA, CALIF.–While its thrilling brothers the Z06 and ZR1 have hogged most of the Corvette glory over the past few years, one could argue that the plain, old base-model Corvette has the greatest range of talents. It’s blisteringly quick (0 to 60 mph in about 4.5 seconds), mild-mannered around town (quiet and reliably untemperamental in traffic), rides pretty well (stiff, not painful), and starts at a modest (for a 436-hp sports car) $48,565....

Update, 3:30 Eastern: We’re hearing the blimp is down. WCVB is now confirming that NORAD has lassoed the JLENS and brought it to the ground.View full post on TwitterUpdate: Things could be going better. According to the AP, about 20,000 people in the area were left without power because of the aerostat’s spree.View full post on TwitterView full post on TwitterEarlier today a U.S. Army aerostat became untethered and, as of this writing, is floating out of control over Pennsylvania....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe touchscreen, that humble interface of ATMs and tourist information kiosks, is on the verge of greatness. A new technology called multitouch, which responds to multiple inputs by multiple fingers—even multiple users—at the same time, could transform the way we interact with computers. Why? Because simultaneous finger inputs allow more complex gestures than simple pointing and clicking, such as rotating or resizing a photo by grabbing two corners and pulling or navigating a map by pulling and twisting the image with your fingers....

I come by my nickname, “the 2-by-Guy,” honestly. Whenever I’m scoping out new tools as an editor for HGTVPro, in the back of my mind I’m imagining how they will advance my first interest: building projects with 2 x 4s, 2 x 6s and so on. Typically, this lumber is used for decks and framing walls, but there’s nothing like it for experimenting and honing your basic woodworking skills–without investing a lot on materials or devoting too much time to a single project....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn-Sale Date: July (CA, CT, ME, MD, MA, NJ, NY, OR, RI, VT); early 2015 nationwideBase Price: $41,450Competitors: BMW i3, Audi A3 e-tronPowertrains: electric motor, 177 hp, 251 lb-ft; 28 kWh lithium-ion battery; direct drive; FWDRange (est.): 80 milesSometimes the future looks so much like the present, the view takes a while to sharpen into focus. That’s especially true when you’re in Silicon Valley, where Mercedes chose to launch its new B-Class Electric....

Media Platforms Design TeamBologna, Italy—The new Monster 796 is a long-awaited middleweight for Ducatisti dissuaded by the wide disparity in naked-bike options. Bookended by the entry-level Monster 696 and the big-bore 1100, the new 796 model is priced at $9995, only $1000 more than the smallest Monster. The Monster lineup has been an unqualified success for Ducati, moving more than 225,000 units and sustaining the Italian manufacturer through one of the most challenging retail landscapes of the last century....

There are some terrains too dangerous for humans to explore. That’s especially true at NASA. While it’s developing an ATLAS-like robot called Robonaut to handle some of the most dangerous work, the agency is also turning to another technology to pave the way for a Robonautic future: virtual reality. One of the potential uses for Robonaut is as a sort of robotic avatar, with NASA personnel controlling the robot and seeing through its eyes....