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David Axelrod’s book ‘Believer’ has a little tidbit of information for tech fans: then Illinois Senator Barack Obama got a tour of Apple facilities with CEO Steve Jobs, and got to see something few outside Apple had seen to that point: the iPhone, now one of the company’s most ubiquitous devices. At the time, the then-flirting-with-running-for-president Senator was pretty impressed with what he saw, telling Axelrod that “This thing is going to be really big....

Media Platforms Design TeamLast night on Lost, Ben moved the island—presumably thousands of miles. Could he actually do that, without huge accelerations that would obliterate all structures and kill all the people on the island? The surprising answer, in physics, is yes … sort of. The trick is that you don’t really move the island. Rather, you change its space-time connection to the rest of the Earth. Space and time in relativity theory are quite flexible....

Words can’t really describe what makes the SpaceNavigator controller so exciting. Even its creators, the Logitech subsidiary 3Dconnexion, resort to simply hailing its “advanced six-degrees-of-freedom optical sensor.” To really grasp the innovation behind this revolutionary controller, you have to actually grasp it (or check out our video of the controller in action). Marketed as a tool for effortless navigation through 3D-modeled mountain ranges and urban canyons in the free-to-download Google Earth application, the SpaceNavigator feels like a rethink of the entire concept of simulated flight....

Media Platforms Design TeamA recent New York Times test drive of the Tesla Model S ended on a flatbed after the reporter ran the battery dry during a trip up and down the Eastern Seaboard using Tesla’s network of ultrafast Supercharger charging stations. But shortly after the story was published, Tesla chief Elon Musk took to Twitter, angrily venting that the Times story was “fake.“According to the story, Times writer John Broder topped off at the Newark Del....

Are sexy, powerful exotic cars really worth all the hassles of ownership? Not to me. Okay, before you climb all over my back, hear me out. Of course I love fast cars, and I most certainly appreciate brilliant engineering. But no civilian on a public road can safely probe the limits of a supercar. I’ve pushed quite a few high-horsepower exotics to serious speeds on racetracks. But driving them at triple-digit speeds on the street?...

The Environmental Protection Agency will set new rules to regulate emissions from the aviation industry, The New York Times reports today. It’s an expected move by the Obama Administration, and part of what could be a big year for setting up new environmental rules:The announcement represents the latest of Mr. Obama’s major initiatives to combat global warming. Next week, the agency is expected to propose new rules on emissions from heavy-duty trucks, and in August it is expected to announce new rules to rein in power plant pollution....

Media Platforms Design TeamAt Cerro Goyo, northwest of the Pedro Miguel Locks on the Panama Canal, a 1400-hp hydraulic shovel claws 22 cubic yards per swipe. Part of a $5.25 billion expansion, this excavation will connect a new set of locks to the existing waterway.Since its completion in 1914, the Panama Canal has been the crossroads of the Western Hemisphere. But the growing dominance of megaships threatened to turn the 50-mile-long passage between the Pacific and the Atlantic into a regional backwater....

Media Platforms Design TeamI’m a navigation-system junkie. I looked in a drawer this morning before leaving for the office. I counted three handheld units, one of them, a Trimble; dates back to the early ’90s when GPS first rose to American mainstream consciousness. But these, days I’m testing about five GPS systems–three portable ones, intended to be suction-cupped to the windscreen, plus a motorcycle-specific Garmin 660 and a DeLorme PN-40, designed to be good both for driving and hiking....

More information has emerged in this week’s shoot-down of a Russian jet by Turkish military forces, but Russia and Turkey have released conflicting narratives on the events, with Russia insisting the plane was in Syrian airspace. At least two Russian military personnel were killed. Related Story4 Ways Russia’s Military Is More Advanced Than You ThinkTurkish officials have claimed their country warned a Russian Su-24 bomber ten times before opening fire. Officials also released radar tracks that indicated the Su-24 briefly entered the NATO member’s airspace before it was shot down by American-made F-16C fighters....

Media Platforms Design TeamThis loggerhead turtle is about to become the envy of the sea.The little fellow was in dire straits when a boat propeller clipped his beak and shattered his jaw, leaving him unable to eat without assistance. But Turkish animal rescue volunteers from Pamukkale University saved the turtle from the ocean and used technology to give him an upgrade. Together with BTech Innovation, a company that specializes in 3D printing, researchers worked for two months to create a medical-grade titanium jaw for the 100-pound turtle, using CT scans to custom-fit the jaw around his mouth....

Media Platforms Design TeamCould a Sendai-size earthquake happen here in the U.S.? Experts say it’s not a matter of if, but of when. The areas most at risk are not, as you might expect, California’s cities. While they frequently suffer damaging quakes, their seismic woes are due to a relatively shallow phenomenon called a strike-slip fault, caused by two tectonic plates grinding against each other. The Sendai event, which struck Japan in March with a magnitude of 9....

Typhoon Soudelor made landfall in Taiwan with a fury this month, bringing with it sustained winds estimated at 120 mph with maximum gusts topping 145 mph by the time it reached Japan. This China Airlines cargo jet appears to be taking the brunt of the weather. These video clips captured it being repeatedly lifted off the ground while waiting out the storm in Taiwan.This isn’t the first time a massive plane has been caught on video being rocked by heavy winds, but a stripped down shell doesn’t nearly compare to seeing a storm pick up a flight-ready cargo Boeing 747 that could weigh upwards of 970,000 lbs....

Installing a ceiling fan is easy, according to how-to videos and breezy online tutorials. But these instructions assume that an electrical box rated to hang 70 pounds of fan is just sitting in the ceiling, mounted to a joist on bolts strong enough for chin-ups. Sorry, but unless you’re replacing an existing fan, that box isn’t in place yet. What is there, most likely, is a basic lighting fixture connected to someone else’s electrical work—a pile of wiry pigtails bearing a strong resemblance to a can of worms....

Pills have a pretty set number of shapes. There are the long ovally ones or flat-ish circular tablets. There are only so many ways to be pill-shaped. But with 3D printing, it doesn’t have to be that way. And as it turns out, there are could be some distinct advantages to a pyramid-shaped pill. Researchers at the UCL School of Pharmacy of University College London, along with folks at FabRx Ltd, have been toying with weird, 3D-printed pill shapes....

In 2010, a North Carolina woman was found on the side of a roadway, brutally murdered. At first the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department had no suspects, but they knew from witness testimony two key facts: that the victim was last seen with a man, and that a baby seat in the back of the car had been removed during a struggle.When they found the car seat and powdered it for fingerprints, there were prints all over it....

BEST SOUND MIXINGTHE NOMINEESThe Dark KnightSlumdog MillionaireWantedWALL-E The Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonTHE EXPERT Richard Van Dyke, who has has mixed sound in 3:10 to Yuma, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Body of Lies.THE CRITERIA"Action movies–where so much postproduction work is done–usually get highlighted because you have explosions and sounds created just for the movie," Van Dyke says. “That draws the attention of the sound community. I’m a production mixer and often what we feel should be rewarded is our seamless work of capturing dialogue, but that’s not all the Academy looks for....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn Sale Date: November 2012Price: $215,000 to, umm, infinity?Competitors: Aston Martin Vanquish, Mercedes-Benz SLSPowertrains: 6-liter W-12, 616-hp, 590 lb-ft; 8-speed automatic; AWD EPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 13/20 What’s New: It’s the fastest, most powerful Bentley ever. And, surprisingly, it’s the most efficient (a relative measure, admittedly, since we’re talking supercars). New close-ratio 8-speed ZF transmission gives the engine more headroom and adds mpg. Tech Tidbit: The ZF automatic transmission allows “block shifting”—drivers can jump directly from 8th to 3rd gear....

Although the Progressive Automotive X Prize qualifying race has been bumped back from fall of 2009 to May 2010, and the actual competition has moved to summer 2010, the Cornell team is still working around the clock to build and perfect its entry for the Auto X Prize competitors exhibition in New York City in September 2009.Rather than use a single car for the starting point, the team pulled together sections from several cars, Frankenstein-style, for optimum aerodynamics....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt is a curious Eden. Seas of drinkable water lap against shores of blood-orange soil as streams snake through the land, carrying with them all the vital . No, this isn’t Earth. This is Mars, about 3.9 billion years ago.ingredients for lifeAs the Curiosity rover beams back more and more information from the Red Planet, a peculiar picture of ancient Mars is taking shape, one that looks nothing like the blistered and barren world we see today....

Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamWith their average daily temperatures well below zero during the winter, it’s a wonder why Canadians even need electrical coolers for beer. Regardless, these aging iceboxes, a staple for one in three Canadian households, can consume up to five times as much energy as a modern-day refrigerator.Beer fridges are nothing more than extra refrigerators used to store non-essential items such as beer or soda, says Denise Young, an economics professor at the University of Alberta....