Bosch is well known for its industrial-duty power tools, but it’s less well known for a line of commercial-duty products that deliver tremendous bang for the buck.A case in point is the company’s new lightweight hammer drill. Weighing in at 5.8 lbs and costing $130, the HD18-2 drill is $30 to $100 less expensive than similar products. But don’t let weight or cost fool you into thinking this is a watered-down product....
Just two months after Burt Rutan and Richard Branson unveiled their model for Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, it looks like interstellar enthusiasts once again will have to redraw the odds for the first private space jet to take off for suborbital vacations. Rocket engine manufacturer XCOR Aerospace made a splash today by offering a first look at its Lynx spacecraft, a uniquely designed two-seat plane that the startup says should be able to make several trips per day to 200,000 ft....
Media Platforms Design TeamDuring this summer’s brutal wildfires in the American West, you might have seen a couple of ghosts from the past. Two converted DC-10s, which have been out of airliner service for years, are performing much of the aerial firefighting. And it’s thanks to a startup company that almost went belly-up.After its founding in 2002, 10 Tanker Air Carrier of Casper, Wyo., invested tens of millions of dollars to turn two former passenger planes—one that was once flown by American Airlines, the other by Continental—into air tankers capable of carrying 11,600 gallons of retardant in external tanks attached to their bellies....
Detroit Auto Show 1: Dodge Challenger Concept12:01 am, Jan. 8–Not just a two-door version of the Dodge Charger, this Challenger concept car makes no excuses for looking like something out of Dodge’s ponycar catalog from the 1970s. Design cues include “pure, minimal signature lines, an air-grabbing grille and bold colors.” Mechanicals are just as retro for the Dodge line: “mega horsepower” and rear-wheel drive. Physical differences of the new Challenger versus the original include a 6-in....
Dolby is gunning for a share of the mega-theater market with the announcement of Dolby Cinema, a new giant-screen theater technology meant to take on IMAX.Dolby knows sound, and Dolby Cinema will use the company’s Atmos sound system, which offers an immersive surround sound experience via 128 audio tracks and up to 64 speakers. For the visuals, it’s incorporating high dynamic range projection, which creates a wider range of colors, including deeper whites and blacks for a high-contrast experience....
When tornadoes start killing Boy Scouts, the world pays attention. But even as a deadly EF-4 tornado whipped through Little Sioux, Iowa, with 145-mph-plus winds last Wednesday night, federal climate scientists and a group of university researchers were in the early phases of testing high-tech replacements for an aging Doppler radar system. Twisters across the United States in 2008 are headed for a record-setting pace (February’s 148 nearly doubled a 37-year-old record); however, by 2013 a new network of satellites could be triangulating microfrequencies from the sky to Wi-Fi for real-time reactions to dangerously shape-shifting weather patterns....
The term “joystick” seems a bit frivolous for the device in front of me, but there it is, an interface that hearkens back to the days of Pac Man and Donkey Kong. Yet this joystick is special–a highly evolved example of a technology that is changing the way humans interact with machines. I’m in the Microdynamic Systems Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and the interface I’m looking at is properly called a magnetic levitation haptic device....
Media Platforms Design TeamSingle Lens Reflex (SLR) is a complicated term for a complicated machine. It refers to the prism and flip-up “reflex” mirror system that allows users to accurately focus and frame their shots directly through a camera’s optics, rather than through a separate viewfinder. Until recently, most SLRs were the province of pros, requiring experience and training to master. But the digital era has created a new, growing class of consumer-grade digital SLR (DSLR) cameras that are easier to learn and use, yet still deliver pro-level photos....
The line at the quick-lube goes around the building and nearly to the street. But the auto parts store parking lot is empty–now’s your chance to show the wife that it really is cheaper and easier to change your own oil. Especially after watching the grease-stained quick-lube mechanic through the bay doors for a couple of oil changes. Air wrenches on the oil-drain plug? Even though you realize that cars have changed since you got out of the habit of changing your own, they haven’t changed that much....
Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamQ: I have a 2003 Honda Accord with 80,000 miles, and it is out of warranty. Last week its radio display went blank. Everything still works – the buttons light up below the display – but there are no station numbers or CD track indicator lighting up. It’s completely dark. The dealership service manager said, “It happens.” He wants $1200 and some change to fix it; he says the whole radio/CD unit has to be replaced....
Media Platforms Design TeamThe BasicsFirst you need to know how your toilet works. It consists of two parts: the tank and the bowl. Your house has a supply line that brings water into the tank, where a float stops it from filling past a certain point. When the toilet flushes, a flapper opens up between the tank and the bowl, allowing the water to flood into the bowl, flushing the contents of the toilet....
Media Platforms Design TeamOn Sale Date: NowPrice: $499 (Off-Contract)With shareholders approving Microsoft’s decision to acquire Nokia’s Devices and Services unit this week, consumers are seeing what could be the future of this union. Earlier this week the tech world was flooded with reviews of Nokia’s new 6-inch phablet phone, the Lumia 1520, and now the Finnish gadget makers are entering the tablet space with the all-new Lumia 2520. Nokia is no newbie when it comes to building high-quality gadgets....
Media Platforms Design TeamUpdate: After about three hours of delay caused by stuck fuel valves, the Delta IV Heavy rocket boosted by the new RS-68A rocket engine made a successful maiden flight this morning at 9:15 Eastern. “It was a great day. It was a thrill to see it get off,” said Steve Bouley, vice president of Launch Vehicle and Hypersonic Systems for PWR. The holds in the countdown that delayed the launch had nothing to do with the engines, he said, which appeared to perform flawlessly....
Researchers at Nanjing University in China have created a one-way sound tunnel using special linings. The tunnel, which is four inches wide, takes in sound from both sides, but only lets it escape from one.It’s all thanks to special 3D-printed acoustic metamaterials that line the inside of the tube. Made from the usual ABS plastic found in 3D printers, the metamaterials form differently sized grooves depending on which end of the tunnel they’re on, the exit side or the no-exit side....
Media Platforms Design TeamSmallville: The Complete Eighth Season Six-Disc Set (2008)Media Platforms Design TeamSmallville, based on DC Comics Superman, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, follows the adventures of a young Clark Kent (Tom Welling). Pitched for television as “no tights, no flights,” the show’s creators vowed to keep Clark out of his familiar red and blue costume as long as possible. True to their word, Clark has yet to take to the skies, and with the introduction of his flying cousin Kara last season, that couldn’t have been easy....
Media Platforms Design TeamThere’s something about fishing that goes beyond the primal urge to whup something lower than you on the evolutionary ladder. Maybe it’s the challenge of outsmarting your scaly opponent, although on paper comparing a human brain to a fish’s makes the contest appear one-sided.Maybe it’s the strike, that exquisite moment when the line snaps taut and all the neurons in your body jump to attention. To an avid angler, it’s a rush second to none....
Media Platforms Design TeamEvery spring, my gardens look terrible and the lawn comes up patchy, with green tufts and shaggy sections. I read your article last year on making a house look good over the winter, but you should have gone all the way through to spring. Can you pick up where you left off last fall?Sure thing. There are two problem seasons for many homeowners: fall and spring. Of the two, I think spring is the tougher challenge, frankly....
Media Platforms Design Team(Photo Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)Sprint, the third-largest wireless carrier, has decided against buying T-Mobile U.S., the fourth-largest carrier, according to the Wall Street Journal.This might seem a little strange considering how much time and effort the company has put into the acquisition; Engadget says Sprint was willing to spend about $40 billion. However, it seems the obstacles Sprint would have to overcome—put up mostly by the government, fearful of ever more concentration in the carrier market—were too much for the deal to go through....
The United States Air Force is the most capable, best trained and most expensively equipped in the world. They can reach across the globe to deliver humanitarian supplies or a 2000-pound bomb, defeating any enemy airplane or radar system that stands in the way. So what is there to worry about? Plenty, says David Deptula, the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, who briefed attendees of a recent conference on the dangers facing American warplanes....
It’s been only six months since the Netherlands made headlines with the world’s first bike path covered in solar panels. But already the green idea is reaping higher-than-expected energy dividends, raising the chances that the idea could take off elsewhere.The 230-foot test track is located in Krommenie, north of Amsterdam. The path is already producing more than 3,000 kilowatt-hours, or enough to power a home for a year.Says Science Alert:The solar panels used on the Dutch bike path are sandwiched between glass, silicon rubber and concrete, and are strong enough to support 12-tonne fire trucks without any damage....
