Media Platforms Design TeamThe unmarked box containing my gold iPhone 6 arrived at the apartment in the early afternoon on Friday, instantly sapping all productivity from the rest of the day. At long last, the filler phone I’d used to bridge the gap between my iPhone 4 failing in May and the iPhone 6 launch in September could be tossed in the gadget drawer and never heard from again.We’ll have an in-depth review of the 6 in the coming days....
April 3Public Viewing and Neutrino-Astronomy Presentation University of Alabama Observatory Tuscaloosa, ALLecture,Telescope viewingApril 3 - 4GRCO Observatory East Valley Astronomy Club Gilbert, AZTelescope viewingApril 3Stargazing For Everyone Spur Cross - Maricopa County Park Cave Creek, AZTelescope viewingApril 3 - 5Visitor Nights at the UCI ObservatoryUCI ObservatoryIrvine, CATelescope viewing ,LectureApril 3Public Star Party and More! Griffith Observatory Los Angeles, CAOther - Describe FullyApril 3 - 4Astronomy at the Mission Viejo Library Mission Viejo, CAOther - Describe Fully ,Film,Telescope viewingApril 3 - 4Public Telescope Viewing Chabot Space & Science Center Oakland, CATelescope viewingApril 3OPT 100 Hours of Astronomy Celebration Star Party Oceanside Photo and Telescope Oceanside, CATelescope viewingApril 3Pasadena Sidewalk Astronomy Pasadena, CATelescope viewingApril 3SSUO Public Viewing NightSonoma State University ObservatoryRohnert Park, CATelescope viewingApril 3SSUO Public Viewing NightSonoma State University ObservatoryRohnert Park, CATelescope viewingApril 3Burbank Sidewalk Astronomers Star Party Chandler Bike Path Burbank, CATelescope viewingApril 3Retirement Center Star Party Villa Scalabrini Retirement Center Sun Valley, CATelescope viewingApril 3Early Evening Sky Tour Scope City Sherman Oaks Sherman Oaks, CATelescope viewingApril 3 - 4Public Telescope Viewing Chabot Space & Science Center Oakland, CATelescope viewingApril 3 - 4Astronomy at the Mission Viejo Library Mission Viejo, CAOther - Describe Fully ,Film,Telescope viewingApril 3Public Star Party and More!...
Media Platforms Design TeamWork on our June and July issues came to a brief standstill this week when it was announced that had been nominated for a National Magazine Award (NMA) for General Excellence. The annual awards—administered by the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism—recognize magazines for superior quality in a variety of categories. Sometimes called the Oscars of the magazine industry, the NMAs are the highest form of recognition in the business....
Afraid of heights? If you aren’t yet, a new all-glass suspension bridge in China might change your mind. 984 feet long and 590 feet high, the “Haohan Qiao” or “Brave Man’s Bridge” in Shiniuzhai National Geological Park is the country’s first (and scariest) all-glass suspension bridge.The bridge wasn’t always all glass. It started out wooden (which is terrifying enough) before engineers tried replacing a small section with glass. The effect was so compelling, they decided to revamp the entire bridge....
We’re only just starting to figure out a lot about virtual reality. What kind of controllers it needs, how you can move around it, how to make movies in there, and how it’ll fit into day-to-day life if at all. But there are a view things VR is already great for, like exploring full 3D versions of your favorite fictional places. And if this incredible VR-ready version of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Enterprise-D doesn’t make your jaw drop, my condolences on the death of your soul....
If a mission goes according to plan, an Air Force pararescue airman doesn’t have much to do. But when things go sideways, the PJs (as they are known) jump into action, pulling out injured troops, administering aid, and getting the wounded into trauma surgery within what battlefield medics call “the Golden Hour,” and thus dramatically increasing an injured soldier’s chances for survival. There’s a reason former Air Force Chief of Staff General Norman Schwartz called the squad “the angels of the battlefield....
Media Platforms Design TeamSeen side by side, the the two tobacco plants appear identical. Peer deep inside the cells of those leaves, though, and you’ll see that one plant has powerful molecular machinery borrowed from bacteria. This feat of genetic engineering could turbocharge the natural process of photosynthesis, paving the way to faster-growing and higher-yielding crops.Geneticists and molecular biologists have long been trying to meld the photosynthetic abilities of cyanobacteria—single-celled creatures once known as blue-green algae—with plants....
Envy GoPro founder Nick Woodman. His ubiquitous cameras ($129 to $500) have documented major events – and yeah, there are the morons who carry them around tech conventions. But what started as a way to capture his surfing experiences has gone to space. NASA attached GoPros to astronauts conducting extra vehicular activities, as they float around the International Space Station. The shots here are from February, EVAs number 30 and 31....
Media Platforms Design TeamAfter more than two weeks, underwater searchers yesterday found the fuselage of AirAsia Flight 8501, just days after retrieving the plane’s black boxes from the floor of the Java Sea. The twin discoveries are sure to accelerate the investigation to the next, critical phase.As the recordings are analyzed in the coming weeks at a laboratory in Jakarta, salvage crews will be working to raise the bulk of the wreckage, which is expected to hold the bodies of more than 100 passengers still missing....
When Russia deployed troops and weapons systems to Syria, government officials said it was to help fight the Islamic State. Secretary of State John Kerry even said the Obama administration supported a role for Russian forces. “So to the degree that Russia wants to focus its efforts against ISIL, we welcome that,” he said at a recent press conference. But the diplomatic speak was wafer-thin. The weapons systems that the Russians have moved into Syria speak to another purpose—propping up the regime of Bashar Assad so he can withstand Syria’s civil war (or, if Assad is removed from power,make sure his replacement is suitable to Russia)....
When I’m fixing something, building something, or renovating some part of my 65-year-old house, my default mode is that everything should look as if it’s been freshly built. I like flat surfaces, square corners, tight miters, everything plumb and level. Well, when I remodeled a bathroom last year, that way of thinking—that obsessiveness—cost me a summer. What should have taken weeks dragged on for months. I confused a gut remodel with an exercise in craftsmanship....
PM Predicts PAD Well, the results are in from the Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge. At a press conference yesterday featuring controversial BMW design boss, Chris Bangle, the nod for best concept went to GM for the GMC PAD concept. We told you about the PAD along with four other concepts we liked back in November. The PAD is certainly the most intricate of those concepts: a complete home and office on wheels....
Media Platforms Design TeamGoogle senior vice president Sundar Pichai opens the Google I/O keynote. Credit: Stephen Lam/Getty ImagesDuring Google’s achingly long keynote today, the company made one thing clear: Android isn’t a choice, it’s a lifestyle. It’s not just the open-source software that powers your smartphone or tablet anymore. It’s now the interface for your car, the entertainment navigation for your television, and the power behind your contextually aware smartwatch. Your phone is the mothership controlling a multitude of devices that carry you through the day....
The new M3 isn’t the quickest or fastest performance car you can buy. Cars like the 600-hp Dodge Viper will likely beat it in a drag race. So why is this Bavarian hustler our performance pick for ‘08? Because nothing can touch BMW’s mastery of refining and redefining the entire performance envelope. This is one of the few performance cars that can triumph at weekend track days and still carry four friends in perfect comfort and luxury to an evening movie....
Media Platforms Design TeamPLAN YOUR ATTACK If you can’t burn, mulch or compost leaves, the only option is to bag ’em–a laborious task. To make the chore easier, build a sack rack using 27 feet of ¾-inch PVC pipe, eight ¾-inch elbows and 14 ¾-inch tees. The bottom end anchors a tapered rectangular prism. Spring clamps hold open a 39-gallon bag. Tip it over and stakes keep the rack steady for raking....
Media Platforms Design TeamThe details: H1N1 is a new strain of flu, and it includes parts of four other flu strains: human flu and avian flu, as well as both North American and Eurasian swine flu. Some theories circulating online argue that this combination of strains is so unlikely that the new virus must have been created by humans in a lab and then either accidentally or deliberately released. The facts: “There’s absolutely no evidence that this was created by a human hand,” says William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University....
Media Platforms Design TeamIt’s Nikola Tesla’s 158th birthday today, and Elon Musk gave the gift of cold, hard cash.It was back in May that Matthew Inman—The Oatmeal cartoonist, Tesla Model S driver, and Nikola Tesla enthusiast—asked Musk to help him on his plan to build a museum dedicated to the inventor. After all, who better than the super-rich entrepreneur who named his electric car company after the man? Today Musk followed through, saying he would donate $1 million to the effort....
Airport Holdups Worsen Independence Day aside, the FAA’s flight delay woes don’t look like they’re ending anytime soon. New statistics for the month of May show that airline tardiness worsened for the fifth month in a row, to the point where nearly one out of four flights suffered delays of 15 minutes or more.TECH WATCH: GPS Could Cut Airline Flight DelaysPODCAST: Fighting Summer Travel Headaches Hortibot Hunts Down Weeds Farmers won’t be trading in their tractors any time soon, but a new machine could be joining them in the field—and it only has a brain....
Plastic Bag Covers Paint TrayGlue ApplicatorHacksaw Blade CoverHelping Hands Long-Distance Level Reading changes in landscape elevation by eye alone can be very misleading. Even professionals with years of experience are frequently fooled by gentle slopes that look gradual but turn out to be much steeper. If you’re dealing with a small area–for example, something that’s 15 or 20 ft. in diameter–a 16-ft.-long straight board with a 4-ft. level on its top edge will do the trick....
Media Platforms Design TeamAt the recent New York International Auto Show there was one consistent theme: fuel economy. Whether it was Hyundai, Honda, VW or GM, every automaker seemed to claim fuel-economy superiority in some category: city car, sport sedan or sports car. But the absence of one vehicle class from those discussions got us wondering: What about compact trucks? Around the world, automakers are selling high-mileage smaller trucks. Ford’s most fuel-efficient new truck is not the F-150, but the Global Ranger, which has two diesel motor options (both are said to get better than 30 mpg highway)....
