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… Then Erik Buell and company might have what you’re looking for in the 2007 Buell XBRR, a limited-edition production racing bike designed exclusively for closed-course competition. A spiritual successor to Buell’s first motorcycle, the 1983 RW750, the XBRR is intended to change the face of privateer racing with this professional-level, race-ready, production-based platform. The Buell XBRR features a modified XB Thunderstorm 1339cc (103.6mm bore x 79.4mm stroke) air/oil-cooled V-Twin rated at a whopping 150 hp (measured at the crankshaft)....

Uwe Boll is mad as hell, and he’s still gonna take it some more. A little background, for the uninitiated few left out of the rebellion sweeping the Web over the past month: Uwe Boll (pronounced you-vuh ball) is the reason that films based on video games get such a bad wrap. The 43-year-old German B-movie writer and director is the (somewhat addled) mind behind big-screen adaptations of Alone in the Dark, House of the Dead, BloodRayne and Postal, due out May 23....

Media Platforms Design TeamBedbugs, the scourge of renters, were once nearly unheard of in the developed world. Thanks to a team at Simon Fraser University, that could be the case again. Regine Gries and her team are testing out the use of pheromones – airborne hormones – in attracting bedbugs. By rigging the pheromones up to traps, they’ve managed to lead the bedbugs in and keep them there. Their trials in Vancouver have been successful thus far, and if wider testing proves fruitful, it could be a huge breakthrough in managing the hard-to-control pests....

Media Platforms Design TeamIf you’ve ever thought to yourself, “Dang, I wish I could build my own Game Boy” the Pi-Boy Classic is for you.Over at Thingiverse, maker Jooxoe3i has built said custom case around some components that successfully recreates the image of a slightly smaller Nintendo Game Boy. The button layouts should be familiar to most, though the new colorful buttons take a page out of the SNES’ playbook.Media Platforms Design TeamThe top portion of the Pi-Boy Classic contains an Adafruit PiTFT 2....

Senior Editor Mike Allen answers readers’ car questions.Q: I have a 1988 Dodge Eagle Premier with a 3.0 V6 Renault engine and a 4-speed water cooled transmission. The car has approximately 210,000 miles on it, but I replaced the entire dash twice, so I’m not sure of the exact mileage. I started with 69,000-odometer that broke at 149,000. The second odometer started at 56,000 and broke at 141,899. I have driven the car for over 6 years....

For most of us, the wail of the Lamborghini Veneno Roadster’s 750 horsepower V12 is enough.But for that infinitesimal remainder of the earth’s population who can afford one of the four remaining Veneno Roadsters (which run €3.3 million, or approximately $4.6 million apiece) and crave musical accompaniment for their on-road antics, there’s a ray of auditory hope.Media Platforms Design TeamIt took a thorough review of the car’s engineering intricacies, the assistance of several technicians from the Lamborghini factory, and over two weeks of installation time, but a multimedia-enabled version of the previously stereo-less Veneno is now a reality thanks to the dudes at Monster Audio– specifically, head honcho Noel Lee, a colorful character who scoots around on a gold-plated Segway, wears a Jaeger LeCoultre tourbillon, and yes, owns one of the 9 ultra-rare steeds....

Media Platforms Design TeamEditor’s Note: This story was originally published on August 13, 2013.Before Edward Snowden came along, it was easier to upload files to the cloud with abandon, ignoring the security risks. But thanks to the news about PRISM, that situation has been turned inside out: Instead of worrying that some data are compromised sometimes, we know for certain that vast amounts of private data are vulnerable all the time....

Media Platforms Design TeamElon Musk gets more press for being the head of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, but in addition to overhauling the car and launch businesses, he’s trying to revolutionize solar energy, too. Now Musk’s solar company SolarCity wants to build a gigantic solar panel manufacturing plant in New York intended to build enough plans to meet what he hopes will be rapidly rising demand.Just yesterday, SolarCity officially acquired solar panel manufacturing company Silevo....

Media Platforms Design TeamConservative radio and television talk show host Glenn Beck has some bad news for his adoring audience: He may be going blind. Beck told fans he went to the doctor because he was having trouble focusing his eyes and that the doctor “did all kinds of tests” before settling on a diagnosis of macular dystrophy.So what exactly is macular dystrophy? Well, that depends, says Shantan Reddy, a retinal specialist at New York University School of Medicine....

Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design Team Sports science has seen a stunning progression in recent years. But for PM’s July 1996 coverage leading up to the Olympic Games in Atlanta, technology was the big news for the international sports competition. American team cyclists were excited by the Superbike II, which boasted a special kind of carbon-fiber frame, a second set of handlebars for added leverage and, like similar track bikes, no brakes....

Things sure slow down in the winter, but now that cold season is drawing to a close, it’s time to get cracking, especially on outdoor projects. But get your heaviest work out of the way first, well in advance of the hot weather. —Roy BerendsohnOUTDOORS1. Dig out and remove rotted or damaged fence posts, mailbox posts, overgrown shrubs or damaged shrubs.2. Remove winter-worn branches from trees and shrubs.3. Make your first application of spring fertilizer....

Media Platforms Design TeamWind power has come a long way since the days of old mills dotting the Dutch countryside. Sure, this endlessly blowing fuel is far from a panacea for worldwide energy concerns, but as engineers propel through its problems, it has become a more and more compelling source of energy—even if the United States has a long way to go.Wind’s future took another step toward energy prominence (if not dominance) this week when the United Kingdom unveiled a plan for what could be one of the most ambitious expansions of wind power the world has ever seen....

Media Platforms Design TeamWelcome to PM/AM, Popular Mechanics’ morning briefing on the top science and tech stories for today.View full post on YoutubeRemember when the future promised us jetpacks? Well, now the present is finally catching up—sort of. At “The Future is Here” festival in Washington D.C., one man flew around the Ronald Reagan Building for almost 20 seconds as he lived the envious dream of anyone who’s ever seen the movie The Rocketeer....

Media Platforms Design TeamRIDLEY SCOTTOn his creative process: “My editorial process is simply drawing. I’m a paper-and-pencil man. I love to draw, and I use it as a means of seeing a story from its beginning to its end. I just draw panel after panel, until I can start to see the place and the character set against it. I tried to draw each problem Watney was faced with, until I could really see the planet in front of him, the technology he lives in, and see him set within the incredible isolation of both....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe world’s largest collection of microcars will soon be no more. Following a 22-year streak of amassing a broad variety of Lilliputian cars, collector Bruce Weiner is divesting himself of over 200 tiny vehicles at an RM auction to be held at his Madison, GA museum on February 15th and 16th, 2013.Why the change in heart? Weiner relayed to Hemmings Daily that, “My interests have moved to a different place....

Crispy Gamer: When Harmonix’s Beatles game was first announced, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos promised, “This game is not just a Rock Band song expansion pack.” How exactly is this not a Rock Band expansion pack?Chris Foster: It’s interesting; at the time, we knew … the decision to acknowledge that it was a Rock Band game was one that came from both [the Beatles’] Apple [Corp.] and MTV. For the core gameplay, clearly there are significant changes, most notably the vocal harmony....

Media Platforms Design TeamBase Price: $28,270Crossovers today have a tough job. Drivers expect them to haul passengers like a minivan, tow like an SUV, and deliver the fuel economy of a smaller passenger car. It’s a tall order, but the all-new Nissan Pathfinder hits those marks, and with a dollop of innovation too. The Pathfinder leads the pack of seven-seat crossovers by delivering 26 mpg highway, thanks in large part to moving from body-on-frame to unibody construction, which saves 500 pounds....

MotorStorm: Pacific RiftMedia Platforms Design Team>Platform PlayStation 3Developer Evolution StudiosPublisher Sony Computer EntertainmentRelease October 2008For us, the biggest surprises at E3 were from Sony. We expected a lackluster hands-on demo of Pacific Rift, and walked away impressed by how much tighter and more intuitive the controls were compared to the original. While we played, a crowd suddenly gathered, and cheesy “oohs” and “aahs” began, particularly when an early, brutally random collision sent me rocketing off my bike and into a ravine....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe new iPhone 3G is here, but perhaps more importantly, Apple’s new Apps Store is here. Usable on the iPod Touch (for an upgrade fee—natch!) and both first- and second-generation iPhones, the fruits of the iPhone SDK transform the way that these devices work, giving them true pocket computer functionality. One caveat: Our tests have found that the newer, more powerful OS tends to strain the processor of the original iPhones....

More than 60 high school teams flocked to the Javits Center in Manhattan on Sunday for the New York regional competition of FIRST Robotics. Just one, however, had the Popular Mechanics logo emblazoned on its basketball-playing robot. We were proud to support the Lehman Lionics—Team 1230 from Lehman High School in the Bronx, N.Y. We covered their progress during the 2011 competition, and this year we supplied the team with some tools to help them build their machine....