Here’s something you missed while dissecting every frame of the new trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens: A jet that looks like R2-D2 is a thing now. Amid today’s hubbub from a galaxy far, far away, the Japanese airline ANA revealed a Boeing 787 Dreamliner painted to faithfully resemble the droid.Just look at this thing:View full post on YoutubeAnd then try to tell me you’d ever settle for a non-R2-themed jet plane again....
Over the weekend, Lockheed Martin launched the USS Little Rock, the Navy’s ninth littoral combat ship (a smallish ship, designed for combat close to shore). And with its launch came a big ol’ splash. While “ninth littoral combat ship” might not sound like a huge distinction, the USS Little Rock is a ship with a heritage. As Foxtrot Alpha points out, its predecessor was a light cruiser that served valiantly in WWII before being decommissioned and then recommissioned for service as a guided missile cruiser....
• LOCATION /// NEW YORK, NEW YORK• EVENT /// TRAM MALFUNCTION• DATE /// APRIL 18, 2006When passengers boarded New York City’s aerial tram late one balmy afternoon in April, conditions seemed ideal for enjoying one of the country’s most scenic commutes. The crowd was light, the sky was clear and a warm breeze drifted through the open windows. The tram’s two cars rolled out of their stations, 3100 ft. apart in Manhattan and on Roosevelt Island, just after 4:30 pm....
Media Platforms Design TeamWii MotionPlus /// $20 The Promise: When it hit stores in 2006, the Nintendo Wii’s motion-sensing capabilities were revolutionary. But they really aren’t that sophisticated or precise—most in-game actions involve broad swipes, with little room for the nuance necessary for actions such as sword (or lightsaber) fighting.The Wii MotionPlus attachment clips to the bottom of the Wii controller and, when paired with compatible games, boosts its motion-sensing capability and precision (Nintendo claims it offers true one-to-one sensing)....
Media Platforms Design Team EIVISSA, Spain — At less than 4000 units moved, Audi’s A4 Avant (wagon) model accounts for only 10 percent of the company’s A4 sales in the United States. That probably explains why the model lineup at the recent Avant introduction here in the Mediterranean included exactly one U.S.-spec car: a 3.2-liter V6 model with Quattro all-wheel drive and a six-speed automatic transmission. In spite of those relatively tepid sales, the A4 Avant has always been one of our favorite small wagons, and this all-new one—loaded with fresh tech and higher levels of refinement—only reinforces the sentiment....
Media Platforms Design TeamIf the 2013 GT version of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG had you thinking the wizards of Merc’s AMG performance arm couldn’t squeeze any more from the naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V-8 you would be incorrect.Announced today and arriving next summer, the 2014 SLS AMG Black Series adds another 39 horses to the stable, bringing the total power of Mercedes’s flagship supercar to 622 hp. In addition to reaching even more ludicrous power numbers, the AMG engineers replaced the aluminum exhaust system with one made of titanium, substituted aluminum body parts for carbon fiber, and even replaced the standard lead acid battery with a lithium ion one for a total weight savings of 154 pounds....
What was the genesis of Project Daniel?In July 2013 Mick [Ebeling, Not Impossible founder] was at a dinner with Matt Keller, one of the guys who runs XPRIZEthe initiative of Peter Diamandis, Elon Musk, and others that offers $15 million in prizes for solving big-issue problems, kind of like a Nobel Prize on steroids. And Matt suggested that Mick read this article in Time. The article was about this doctor, Tom Catena, at the Mother of Mercy Hospital in the Nuba Mountains [in Sudan]....
It’s been happening for years now: A company foregoes the cost of physical shops and sends the goods from the factory floor right to the consumer, cutting prices by saving money on rent and dealers. There’s Warby Parker for glasses (though it has some retail locations), Dollar Shave Club for razors, Everlane for clothing staples, and more.Brilliant is doing the same for bicycles. Scan through the website, pick some trim options, and a ready-to-assemble bike comes from their factory in Taiwan....
Halloween might have been a night of innocent pranks for most people, but for patrons of a landmark hotel in downtown Reno, Nev., the night of Oct. 31 turned frightful fast when a fire raged through their residence with a whopping level of combustion that new technology is just learning to predict and that homeowners need to know. Eleven deaths and approximately 30 injuries are being attributed to the blaze, which severely damaged the Mizpah, a residential hotel built in 1922....
View full post on YoutubeEarlier this morning, a news helicopter, reportedly joint-operated by local news affiliates KOMO and KING 5, crashed on top of two cars on Broad Street in Seattle, only 50 yards from the Space Needle, according to KOMO News. Two were reported killed in the crash and another was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition. More details are still coming in on what exactly caused the crash, though witnesses say the helicopter plummeted after lifting off from Fisher Plaza, a building across the street from the Space Needle....
By now you may have heard that the European Space Agency’s Philae comet lander, which has been asleep and unable to contact Earth since November, is waking up! Day by day, Philae’s comet—67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, or C-G for short—is getting closer to the Sun, reaching its closest pass by mid-August. That means more power for Philae, and more options and opportunities for the many relieved scientists at ESA.What comes next? Here are some of Philae’s upcoming moves and options....
In the movie Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood’s character hands a novice tool user a roll of duct tape, a can of WD-40 and a pair of Vise-Grips. He tells the youngster that any man worth his salt “can do half his household jobs with these three things.“Well, Clint was right on the money, as Vise-Grip manufacturer Irwin proved in a recent contest called “Tell Us Your Vise-Grip Story.” Over the course of four months last year, Irwin received 845 entries from regular folks using Vise-Grips for everything from ad hoc auto fixes to emergency bovine surgery to-perhaps most surprising-marriages whose very existence hinged on a special pair of pliers....
Media Platforms Design Team(Photo Credit: David McNew/Getty Images)Three Delta Airlines planes have suffered laser strikes at Los Angeles International Airport this week, though no injuries are reported. Of the three strikes, the lowest altitude strike took place at 2,500 feet, while the highest was a plane at 14,000 feet. Handheld laser pointers may not seem like much of a nuisance for full-sized jet planes, but laser strikes are a serious problem....
It’s been very cold and windy AND sunny. In other words, perfect conditions for all of our systems. Our batteries are fully charged, and our cold box is really, really cold (there was a skim of ice on the milk a couple of mornings ago when the thermometer read 12 below). We went to a potluck gathering yesterday afternoon at a neighboring friend’s home, and I was astonished to realize that out of the six families gathered, four rely on some sort of alternative energy....
Media Platforms Design TeamSTOCKING UP: The new design of the Nextel Cup’s “car of tomorrow,” like this Dodge Avenger unveiled at the 2008 Detroit auto show, will eventually yield safer, more competitive–and less expensive–racing. (Photograph by Jim Dunne)This season, astute race fans are noticing something different about champion Jimmie Johnson’s Nextel Cup car. Aside from the paint, headlights, grille and number decals, his Chevy looks exactly the same as Matt Kenseth’s Ford, Juan Pablo Montoya’s Dodge–even Michael Waltrip’s Toyota....
Media Platforms Design TeamOff in the Bisti-De-Na-Zin Wilderness of New Mexico, paleontologists made an incredible find: the nearly complete remains of an infant pentaceratops. Faced with getting the fragile fossils out of dangerous terrain, they took the patriotic route: called in the National Guard, who airlifted the skeleton off to a waiting museum.Though adult remains of pentaceratops are found in the region, this is the first fully-intact infant found. But this infant is the size of a rhino or hippo, and no vehicles are allowed in the pristine wilderness area, so carrying it out wasn’t going to work....
When Isaac Newton computed pi to 15 decimal places in the 17th century, he wrote, “I am ashamed to tell you to how many figures I carried these computations, having no other business at the time.” Interestingly enough, that is about as accurate as anyone needs to get for practical purposes, as NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory uses exactly 15 decimal places for pi, 3.141592653589793, in all of its “highest accuracy calculations, which are for interplanetary navigation....
That little taillight next to your bike seat helps you be seen at night, sure. But here’s a big flashing “I’m here” that cars cannot miss: A bike helmet with its own headlights, brake lights, and turn signals.Lumos, by Jeff Chen and Eu-wen Ding, has already blown by its $125,000 Kickstarter goal with 29 days to go. The helmet syncs with a handlebar attachment via RF, which is how the cyclist can activate the turn signals....
COST At $700 million, the LCS is cheap—when compared with larger Navy ships. But that is more than triple what the Navy projected, and the lifetime cost to support the first two LCSs is rising faster than anticipated.CREW The LCS was to have a core crew of 40. However, open-water testing increased the need to 60. It’s still a lean staff: A Navy frigate, by comparison, has a crew of over 200....
Facebook Messenger is no longer relegated to your tiny phone.The social network launched a Web version of the messaging app that’s available today at Messenger.com. It’s loaded with many of the same features the app has like those overly expressive emoji, the ability to make calls and, of course, instant messaging.But all of those features are already included in the desktop version of Facebook.com, so what’s the point? Well, the stripped-down service focuses solely on messaging without the other distractions (say, judging your friend’s tiny engagement ring) that makes Facebook the time suck it is....
