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Media Platforms Design Team Wind power has undergone staggering transformations since farmers used windmills to pump well water at the turn of the 20th century. As the search persists for smart new ways to deliver alternative energy, engineers are continually striving to increase the efficiency of wind-capture devices. But even with so many different technologies being developed today—from Shawn Frayne’s Windbelt to underwater turbines and even gadget chargers—it’s difficult to gauge whether any of them will effectively address the modern-day energy crisis....

Media Platforms Design TeamOf the myriad engineering failures from the reckless period at the end of the 1970s and the dawn of the ’80s, the one with perhaps the longest-reaching effect on consumer preference was the unrelenting awfulness of the Oldsmobile diesels. While European nations and much of the rest of the world are embracing the excellence of modern small diesel engines, the oily film of failure from these hastily engineered lumps lingers on the American palate....

UPDATE: As of Monday morning, the death toll for the British air show disaster is up to 11. Seven people were killed in a fiery air crash in the U.K. today. A Hawker Hunter fighter jet flying the Shoreham Air Show appeared to be trying to complete a loop when it slammed into the A27 highway and hit four cars.View full post on TwitterFrom The Guardian:Dom Lawson was driving on the A27 when the jet crashed....

Flying insects are a pain this time of year, but Harvard researchers couldn’t be happier about the bug buzzing around their lab. A study published in Science today announced the world’s first controlled flight of an insect-size robot, the result of a decade-long project by the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard.Modeled after a housefly, the tiny robot weighs less than a tenth of a gram and is about half the size of a paperclip....

Media Platforms Design TeamBy the time my wife and I were nearly done with a year-long renovation of our home, sprucing the one-car garage took a back seat to more essential areas, deferring my dream of curating a mini-Garage Mahal. The 7.5’ x 17’ roll for my garage was shipped to my doorstep; though unwieldy, the 100+ pound tube came tightly wound around a stiff cardboard cylinder and wrapped in a Saran Wrap-like plastic....

Media Platforms Design TeamUnlike conventional diesel- and electric-powered trains, the motor for maglev trains is essentially embedded in the track. The track creates a traveling magnetic field beneath the train, which lifts the cars and propels them at 300-plus mph. The train’s on-board systems are powered by induction from the track. And only the section of track under the train is energized. (Illustration by Nathan Fariss)Nestled between the seaside bluffs of Southern California’s Torrey Pines and the concrete arteries of Interstate 5 is the low-profile campus of General Atomics, home to the only magnetic levitation, or maglev, train in the United States....

Media Platforms Design TeamSomewhere east of El Paso, Texas, a metal pavilion straddles the eastbound side of the highway, flanked by a single-story building. Cameras scan approaching cars. By the time a vehicle stops, its license plate has already run through a computer database.This is just one way U.S. Border Patrol agents are using tech to try to stem the flow of drugs and illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. Agents still rely on classic strategies, such as dogs, to sniff for hidden passengers or drugs but now their arsenal is growing....

Five months after the head administrator of the Transportation Security Administration was reassigned, the Department of Homeland Security has released an official report from Inspector General John Roth presented to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that details the shortcomings of TSA security checkpoints across the country. In June, ABC learned that TSA agents let investigators smuggle fake weapons through checkpoints in 95 percent of trials, though the results from Homeland Security’s covert testing are officially “classified at the Secret level....

Michael McDowell /// Texas /// 2008[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/v/8iQFoRoaKfs&hl=en_US&fs=1&[/youtube]During qualifying for April’s Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, McDowell slammed his Toyota Camry “Car of Tomorrow” (COT) into the SAFER barrier near turn one. The resulting impact and tumbling were the most severe tests thus far of both the new track walls and the COT. And McDowell walked away.The rookie’s near-fatal disaster is a testament to all the advances in safety that have been paid for over the decades with the lives of the racers that came and crashed before him....

A bright blue Subaru XV Crosstrek pulls up to the curb, and there’s little doubt that this is the one I’ve been waiting for. A massive LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensor sits on the roof, spinning a metallic probe to capture 3D mapping data in real-time. Four wide-angle lenses, like the black eyes of a bug, peer in all directions. There’s a flashy world map painted on the side of the car, along with the word “Here....

I’ve heard that if all the toilets in a high-rise like the Sears Tower were flushed at once, it could destroy the building. True?Couple of things: First, there is no Sears Tower anymore. The iconic 110-story building on Chicago’s Wacker Drive, for a time the world’s tallest, is now known as Willis Toweran enduring and richly deserved monument to the character portrayed by actor Todd Bridges on Diff’rent Strokes. As to the rest of it: No, a building-wide flush would not harm the structure....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn-Sale Date: June 2014Base Price: $135,700Competitors: Audi R8, Porsche 911, Tesla Model SPowertrains: Turbocharged 1.5-liter I-3, 228 hp, 236 lb-ft; 6-speed automatic; Synchronous electric motor, 129 hp, 369 lb-ft; 2-speed automatic; AWD (gasoline rear, electric front).EPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): TBDBMW has teased the i8 with concept cars and tech trickles going back to the 2009 Vision EfficientDyanmics Concept. In the years since then, Ferrari, McLaren, and Porsche have each developed their own hybrid hypercars—a new semantic classification owing to their extreme performance and seven-figure price tags....

Following the phenomenal success of games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, Ubisoft sensed an opportunity. If gamers went nuts for playing real rock songs on plastic guitars, why wouldn’t they swoon for a game that let them score fake points with a real axe? After years of development, in 2011, Rocksmith was born.Last fall, Ubisoft released a new version. But Rocksmith 2014 is considered a replacement rather than an update: The company is trying to rebrand the franchise not as a game but as a teaching tool....

Media Platforms Design TeamBehold, the ultimate in nerd street cred, the Excalibur of the huddled and anxious: a hand-built, custom-designed, ultradurable LED lightsaber. The polycarbonate rod lights up, the pommel-embedded speaker emits lightsaber noises, and the ornate steel hilt has a solid, satisfying, sword-like heft. And while it would look excellent encased in glass (right next to your life-size statue of the Predator), this is no museum piece. Unlike many custom sabers, Bob Iannaccone’s high-end dueling sabers look phenomenal and sound convincing—but can also take a beating....

On Monday, lawmakers sent an auto-industry bailout proposal to the White House. Dubbed the Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act, the plan calls for several concessions. Automakers who take part in the program must submit a detailed reorganization plan by March 31, 2009, and agree to drop any lawsuits relating to states’ efforts at regulating greenhouse gas emissions. Those pesky corporate planes will be permanently grounded and the top 25 highest paid executives won’t be receiving bonuses for as long as the companies owe the government money....

Media Platforms Design TeamUPDATE, November 18, 2011: This week we learned that Mark Stull, the pilot prominently profiled in this article, has died while flying an experimental aircraft near his home in Texas. .Here’s our full storyIt was a warm, clear morning in West Texas, a fine day for flying as Mark Stull cruised low over rocky, cactus-filled rangeland. With a popping sound, the control stick suddenly jerked and the plane’s nose tipped down....

Shining lasers at aircraft is dangerous and illegal, yet people still do it all the time. “Shooters” who flash commercial jets and other aircraft are routinely arrested, but there’s no way to get in handcuffs faster than by pointing your beam at apolice chopper. That is exactly what a not-so-bright Canadian man did in the city of City of Vaughan, Ontario. The copter he hit was Air2, a police chopper that was providing support for officers on the ground who were responding to an unrelated weapons call....

I’ve run out of capacity on my laptop’s 30GB hard drive and would like to install a new, larger one. I’m not sure how to get my operating system and data onto the new drive before I install it. Is there an easy way to do this?Define “easy.” It shouldn’t be too difficult since you’re putting the new drive back in the same machine. That means your settings, drivers and applications won’t need to be reconfigured and can be copied onto the new drive....

Media Platforms Design Team(Illustration by Dogo)Sky-High ShootersJames Ewen, Barry Sloan, Garrett Sloan; Edmonton, AlbertaA decade ago, a group of amateur radio enthusiasts picked up on the growing hobby of sending balloons into near space. Recently, they came back with a YouTube sensation. “We posted video of the flight online, and it went viral,” says 44-year-old James Ewen, who leads tracking operations for the group. This isn’t the first time they’ve made news: Three years ago, the friends sent a Nikon Coolpix to 117,597 feet, and it came back with photos of the upper atmosphere....

Media Platforms Design TeamBy Mike Allen The most secure and durable way to splice two wires together is to solder them. Period. Use nothing but 60-40 rosin-core solder intended for electrical wiring. You’ll also need some PVC shrink tube. If you’re not an old hand at soldering, practice for a dozen or so joints before you try to do it under the dash with hot solder dripping on your cheek. Here’s a quick how-to video:1) Strip the wires of about 1/2 in....