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Media Platforms Design TeamDon’t worry, you haven’t slept through an upgrade cycle. Microsoft really is skipping straight over Windows 9 and naming its next operating system Windows 10.The official, Microsoftian explanation is that the upgrade is too significant to move ahead by only one version number. But the name could also be Microsoft’s way of separating itself from Windows 8–an artificial attempt at making the memory of that debacle seem a little hazier....

When the very first issue of POPULAR MECHANICS hit the stands, just about everyone already knew how to swing a hammer and saw to a line. Now, with 100 years of PM under our collective belt, we’re happy to report that making things out of wood is just as popular as ever. While we can’t take complete credit for the success of every home workshop in the country, we know that our regular furniture projects and yearly woodworking guide have played an important role in keeping woodworking alive well into the 21st century....

Media Platforms Design TeamKia is attacking the mid-size SUV market with their new Borrego, and the company’s got the iconic domestic nameplates like the Ford Explorer squarely in its sights. The Borrego will offer Kia’s first-ever V8 engine, a kissing cousin to the one in the new Hyundai Genesis sedan. The 4.6-liter powerplant will be mated to six-speed automatic transmission and is expected to produce more than 300 hp. And that will make the Borrego, Kia’s most powerful engine ever....

Media Platforms Design TeamCondensation Forms Along the Bottom or Corners of the GlassYour window is trying to tell you: The house is not adequately ventilated, or there is a high moisture level in the home. This is less of a window problem and more of a moisture issue, but your window provides the telltale sign.The moisture forms as condensation or frost on the windows when the temperature dips below freezing. This can lead to mold, mildew, or rotting wood sills....

So far, SpaceX has had no luck landing its reusable rocket on a barge. Airbus, meanwhile, has a different idea for how to reuse rocket parts: Build your rocket engine inside a tiny twin-prop drone that can land on a runway.Instead of using extra rocket fuel in an attempt to hover down vertically, Airbus’s reusable rocket engine has wings that let it fly like a conventional plane on re-entry, as well as twin propellers that pop out once the engine is in atmosphere, to help guide it to the runway....

Skidding AirbagsMedia Platforms Design TeamThe Mercedes-Benz Braking Bag recognizes that the limit to a car’s ability to brake in an emergency is the available friction of the scant few square inches of tire contact patch at each corner of the car. What if more area could be available to slow the car in case of an emergency?That’s the thinking behind the Braking Bag. If the car’s on-board computer concludes a collision is imminent, it will fire an airbag located under the front axle that will press a high-friction surface against the ground....

Media Platforms Design Team(Photograph by Dan Saelinger)THE CANS1. Scepter Eco ($11)2. Blitz Enviro-Flo Plus ($13)3. Tuff Jug Gasoline ($43)THE TESTSPOUR TESTTo gauge how the design of the can provokes spills, we took turns pouring gas into various vehicles and containers.Scepter: The cumbersome dispenser was difficult to use. We eventually ditched it. Blitz: A “Store/Pour” switch effectively sealed the can when not in use. Trigger-controlled pouring was easy and accurate. Tuff Jug: While the nozzle is designed to fit into some vehicles, making it do so required holding 5 gallons of heavy gasoline upside down....

Media Platforms Design TeamQualifying lap times tend to build pre-race buzz, but there’s more to speed at the racetrack than on-the-throttle power. You’ve got to go slow to go fast, or so the old cliché goes, and braking late is one of the crucial ways to boost lap times on the track.Brembo, ubiquitous supplier of braking systems in two and four-wheeled competition, has published a “Best of the Late Brakers” for the 2012 Red Bull U....

Media Platforms Design TeamMotorcycle purists might want to look away: the two-wheeled realm, once a pure environment of wind and road noise, has been slowly but surely become inundated with technology.In-helmet bluetooth devices are no longer novel, but Cardo’s scala rider G9 adds a new “One+8” feature that uses voice tags to identify different riders. Full duplex conversations can be held between motorcycles up to one mile apart, and a conference feature enables four-way conversations between two drivers and two passengers, three-way dialogues among three separate riders, and two-way rider-to-rider discussions....

Media Platforms Design TeamMonuments of Imperial Rome have survived for more than a thousand years, despite repeated floods and earthquakes. Now researchers have a new clue as to why—the use of volcanic rock in their cement.Researchers looked at Trajan’s Market and several other Imperial Roman structures to analyze the remarkable resilience of the concrete. They then reproduced a standard Imperial-age mortar—a simple mix of lime, water, and a specific kind of volcanic ash from an area now known as Pozzuoli....

Media Platforms Design TeamInvasions are tricky things. It’s not always shock and awe—waves of precision bombs pounding targets or foreign troops flooding into cities. Russia’s intervention—no matter what blatant violation of sovereignty it might represent, has so far been well-run and strategically intelligent.Think about it: On Thursday, the Ukrainian Parliament formed a government. By the end of the next day, they had lost control over a vital 10,000-square mile-province with nearly 2 million people in it....

Media Platforms Design TeamMaking your own picture frames can be a fun and rewarding project, and one that saves you some dough compared to paying for custom framing. But there are a few tips to keep in mind that will make the end result worth hanging on the wall.Because frame stores can be so pricey, give thrift stores a change. They usually have an art section with plenty of unique frames with beautiful moldings to choose from....

Media Platforms Design Team On Monday, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, also known more simply as the JOBS Act, became law throughout the United States. This piece of legislation ends the 80-year-old ban of general solicitation, meaning that entrepreneurs can raise investment funding publicly. Back in 1933, Congress put a limit on general solicitation due to growing concerns of consumer fraud. But these restrictions had an adverse effect for budding businesses, as the avenues for funding grew sparse....

Media Platforms Design TeamPopular Mechanics has just snagged a General Excellence nomination from the magazine world’s major awards program. The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) presents awards each spring for reporting, feature writing, photography, and more, but the biggest deal is General Excellence. This award is bestowed in several categories; PopMech was nominated in the “active and special interest” section, alongside Men’s Health, Field & Stream, Inc., and The Fader....

Bruce Maccabee traces his involvement with UFOlogy to a lecture he attended by an UFO hunting organization called the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena. At the time, he was earning his doctorate in physics at American University in Washington, D.C., and soon after the lecture, he signed up to volunteer for the Committee’s office. Maccabee has since gone on to investigate dozens of UFO incidents including the Trent Farm incident of 1950, and he has written more than a hundred papers as one of the preeminent voices in the formal science of removing the “un” from “unidentified flying objects....

Media Platforms Design TeamGreenland’s waters could hold billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Additionally, scientists say the Northwest Passage could open up to regular shipping by 2050. (Photograph by Slim Allagui/AFP/Getty Images) In a few months, Greenland self-government official Mininnguaq Kleist will help welcome the queen of Denmark and other world dignitaries to mark the dawn of self-government for the world’s largest island, a step along the road to full independence from Denmark....

Media Platforms Design TeamLately we’ve been watching Tesla Motors play a long game of legal hopscotch, fighting it out in state after state for the right to sell its cars directly to consumers rather than through franchised dealerships—which, thanks to decades of built-up laws and regulations, are the only legal means to sell an automobile in most states. Clearly the feds have been watching, too.Yesterday, three officials with the Federal Trade Commission penned a blog post on the FTC site that hammers the old way of doing things....

Media Platforms Design TeamSince the early aughts, Cadillac’s highly successful art and science design philosophy, which emphasizes sharp lines and advanced technology, has defined modern Cadillacs inside and out. In his eight years as Cadillac’s interior design director, Eric Clough has worked to seamlessly integrate this ethos into cabins across the American carmaker’s portfolio, from the Escalade to the ATS. With the 2014 ELR Cadillac’s first plug-in hybrid Clough’s mission was twofold: to define the luxury niche in the EV market and further raise the bar for future Caddy interiors....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhile you’re preparing to make the hors d’oeuvres and stock the beer fridge for the big game, Fox, which will be airing Super Bowl XLVIII on Feb. 2, is preparing for its most technologically advanced football broadcast ever.Fox will have 52 cameras dedicated to the Super Bowl. While most will be trained on the field, one will survey Times Square, another will be attached to a blimp, and still more will cover the team tunnels and the stadium exterior....

Media Platforms Design TeamRussian Soyuz-FG rocket with the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft and a crew of US astronaut Steven Swanson, Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev aboard, blasts off from a launch pad at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, early on March 26, 2014. Image: AFP / Getty Images.A month ago, as tensions escalated between Russia and Ukraine, we wondered about the fallout for the American space program—what would happen if the diplomatic crisis got so bad that Russia refused to fly American astronauts?...