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View full post on YoutubeDARPA’s is upgrading its Robotics Challenge, putting millions in prizes at stake. The Department of Defense’s mad scientist arm also wants a running robot that can be controlled wirelessly, and to help teams meet that additional challenge, they’ll be using an upgraded version of the already-amazing ATLAS robot.PM traveled to the semi-finals of the DARPA Robotics Challenge in Miami in December 2013 and watched the humanoid robots try to drive a vehicle, climb a ladder, and perform other tasks people can do easily....

Q: My laptop gets very hot when I use it for any length of time. Is there any danger of the heat damaging my computer?A: Not really. Most laptops are built to regularly withstand temperatures of at least 95 degrees for years without any issues. And if the temperature does begin to approach a danger area, most modern laptops give you a warning or automatically shut off before any damage can be done....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe computer industry has been trying to sneak its way into the home theater since 2002. That’s when Microsoft first introduced Windows Media Center, a version of the company’s media player with a “10-foot” user interface—large type and simplified menus that could be read and operated easily from couch distance. Apple followed in 2005 with Front Row, a Jobsian take on the 10-foot UI that was also used in the Apple TV....

Instead of sitting in front of the fireplace on Christmas night, Maaike Maks and her family had the displeasure of driving through a wildfire inferno. The family was driving along a Southern California freeway they thought to be relatively far from the raging Solimar wildfire, and assumed they’d be stopped by law enforcement or emergency personnel should they wind up too close. But then, suddenly, they found themselves driving right through the blaze, complete with embers blasting the windshield....

Doug Hughes of Ruskin, FL, wanted to deliver a message to Congress against the notorious Citizens United ruling and in favor of campaign finance reform. So, naturally, he flew right in to the U.S. Capitol. And though he announced his intention to fly a small gyrocopter to the Capitol steps in D.C., apparently police and the Secret Service didn’t get the memo.Hughes’ plan was to hand-deliver letters to each member of Congress....

Media Platforms Design Team In last night’s episode of Fringe, “Bad Dreams,” FBI agent Olivia Dunham visits crime scenes in her dreams as the crimes are occurring. Even worse, it appears she is the one committing the murders—but she’s actually watching the work of Nick Lane, a former mental patient and current serial killer. Lane, a reverse empath, infects people with his emotions, causing them to take their own lives. As it turns out, Lane was part of an illegal drug trial run in the 1980s by Massive Dynamic CEO William Bell and, of course, Walter Bishop....

BAGHDAD, July 7 — Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq was a mostly secular society. From my conversations with Iraqis and U.S. Embassy workers, it seems evident that Saddam didn’t care about religion so much as total subservience and perfection. If you lived in some manner that disagreed with him enoughnot only would he kill you and your immediate family, but he’d kill your next seven closest relations and their immediate families. Sunni, Christian, Shia, Kurd—religion and sect didn’t matter to him....

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced a program to develop wearable technologies, similar to smartwatches, that can detect nuclear bomb threats and other radioactive material. The DHS plans to distribute the “Human Portable Tripwire” (HPT) device to Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, and Transportation Security Administration personnel.In a November 5 blog post, director of the DHS’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office Huban Gowadia wrote:“This device has the capability to identify the source of radiation and allow personnel to take appropriate action… These devices are a critical tool for personnel who operate in the maritime environment, at land and sea ports of entry, and within the United States....

Media Platforms Design TeamPrice: $200In 2010, Evolution Robotics introduced a new floor-cleaning robot called the Mint to compete with the popular Roomba and Scooba devices from iRobot. At the time it seemed like a compelling alternative (at least we thought so). At $250, the Mint was cheaper than iRobot’s robotic vacuums and mopping machines. It was simpler, too—no virtual walls, no special mopping solutions—and one machine could dust and mop the floor....

It’s been a while since Jaguar has taken a fresh design direction. For the past two decades or more, the luxury automaker has produced sedans and coupes that have looked very much like the cars that came before them. In other words, Jaguars have been retro for far too long. Well, that’s about to change. The C-XF concept sedan, set to take the stage in Detroit next week, is a clean-slate design for Jag....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt’s a question Lost fans have been asking themselves since the very first season: Who were Adam and Eve, the skeletons discovered by Jack and Kate in one of the Island’s caves? Last night’s episode, “Across the Sea”—which delved the relationship between Jacob and the Man in Black—finally gave us our answer. The skeletons are the remains of the Man in Black and his stepmother—the woman who raised him and Jacob after she delivered them and killed their biological mom....

So, last week my wife and I are driving around in a late-model car, one of the many I need to drive for evaluation. She’s behind the wheel, and I’ve got the MapQuest printout with directions to our destination. It’s dark–so while she focuses her attention on keeping the car between the striped line and the curb, I navigate, with the help of the handy map light built into the headliner....

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a go. NASA engineers subjected the spacecraft to hot, cold vibrations and electromagnetic radiation during vacuum testing at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. After a few slight changes to its radiators to even out the temperature, the LRO passed with flying colors, says Goddard engineer Dave Everett, paving the way to its launch aboard an Atlas V rocket in about four months. The orbiter is more than just another satellite looking at moon rocks–this mission is one of the first steps in NASA’s mission to return humans to the moon, and use the moon as a springboard to reach beyond....

The car I’m sitting in is so futuristic and so technically advanced that it would cost nearly a million dollars to duplicate. Yet this Jet Propulsion Lab on wheels lacks the basic features of even the humblest sedan: a radio, roll-down windows, a heater. I had to slither between the rails of a roll cage to access a cockpit so cramped that it feels as though I’m sitting upright in a Niagara Falls barrel....

Designed and built in the early 1940’s, the supremely advanced B-29 Superfortress first flew over 70 years ago in September of 1944. Built by Boeing and based on the highly successful platform of the B-17 bomber, the B-29 became the largest aircraft operational during World War II, a combination of bleeding-edge tech and devastating firepower. In addition to unprecedented features like a pressurized cabin and a dual-wheeled tricycle landing gear, the B-29 was equipped with a state of the art, computer-controlled remote fire system that operated five machine gun turrets....

Industrial robots have revolutionized manufacturing by pumping out more goods with more precision at a faster rate than any human worker could ever hope to achieve. But up to this point, programing a robot to do anything other than repeat a specific task has been a major challenge. Madeline Gannon, a researcher and educator at Carnegie Mellon University, is leading an effort with her design collective MADLAB.CC to develop robotic systems that can analyze a person’s movements and respond accordingly....

Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamThere’s one thing you need to know about Toshiba’s Portege R500 laptop: Its 12.1-in. screen is backlit with LEDs—those low-power, ultra-durable little balls of magic that are constantly right about to change the world. And an LED-backlit display means the R500 squeezes 8 to 10 hours of runtime out of a tiny, 0.4-pound, six-cell battery. That bears repeating: This laptop runs for 10 hours. The pre-production model we’ve been testing doesn’t get anything close to 10 hours—on Power Saver mode it limps in just sort of 4 hours—but Toshiba claims our model is lacking some key software tweaks....

View full post on YoutubeOne day, fighting drones may replace manned fighter jets. But before that happens, drones will have to live alongside manned planes as the Pentagon integrates autonomous aircraft into the fleets.It’s already begun. This weekend the U.S. Navy released footage of the X-47B unmanned aircraft taking off and landing on the USS Theodore Roosevelt. That we’ve seen before: The drone became the first to complete that feat in May 2013....

Media Platforms Design TeamWatching the Indianapolis 500 this weekend, you’ll no doubt notice all the brightly colored corporate logos plastered on the cars. But don’t forget the helmets. Drivers are taking a page from NHL goaltenders and getting wild custom paint jobs on their racing helmets.Michael Corby estimates he’s created more than 1000 custom-painted helmets over the years for drivers in most major motorsports. When I visit Corby’s immaculate paint shop on the outskirts of Indianapolis, one side is lined with row after row of helmets, each primed for paint....

A humiliating silence filled the Nokia Theater yesterday after Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata took the stage during the company E3 keynote to announce Nintendo’s latest peripheral, the Wii Vitality Sensor.The sensor could not look less attractive. It’s a white, finger-size plastic device similar to the sort of heart monitor you might find in an ER. The sensor promises to connect games to its player’s vital stats, allowing the two to work together in some way that, well, is still unclear....