QR codes get a bad rap. Yes they are ugly. Yes they are kind of a pain to scan. But they are a pretty good way of encoding text into an image that you can slurp up at a glance with just a camera. And Hank Green of the vlogbrothers, had a fantastic question: Could you fit all of Wikipedia into a scannable QR code?The short answer is yes, although with a bunch of caveats....
The Claim: Stick N Click is the “cordless, battery-operated LED light that you just stick and click.” It goes anywhere, instantly illuminating cabinets, pantries and drawers with a multidirectional ambient light. Lights can be mounted or carried as flashlights. There’s no wiring to worry about—“just stick, click, and you’ve got light. When nature calls in the middle of the night, don’t fumble for a light switch and wake everyone up.” In the basement, shed, garage, trunk or back patio, “let Stick N Click be your quick, safe, easy guide when you need to see in the dark....
If you thought brick walks were just for the rich and famous, it may be time to re-evaluate your status in life. A modest brick paving project is a great way to add character to your home–without breaking the bank or calling in a landscape professional. The work is not particularly complicated, and careful preparation will ensure a job that is beautiful and long lasting. In fact, brick walks have been known to last for more than a hundred years....
The debris piled up on a Long Island, N.Y., lawn reveals how much backyard deck construction has changed in the past 20 years. Jay Oliver, who is here to build the home’s new deck, points out the rotten cedar planks, pressure-treated lumber and ring-shank nails used to fasten the two together. The nails in particular are signs that the structure was built back around the time he got started in the business....
When homeowners hoist a wrench to install or repair sinks, tubs and toilets, they risk more than leaks. They risk their sanity, finances and general mechanical disaster. Here are 10 essential principles to avoid plumbing disaster.1. Don’t go galvanic.You often see copper and galvanized steel plumbing mixed in residential water systems with nothing separating them other than a little thread sealant or Teflon plumbing tape. The galvanic connection (copper to steel) can be trouble-free for years or the steel plumbing can begin to corrode almost as soon as the connection is tight....
Wait for Bad Weather A blustery, rainy day will tell you more about a car than you’ll learn on a 75-degree summer afternoon. Is the highest windshield-wiper setting fast enough for you? Can the car get off the line at a stoplight without triggering the traction control? With the decreased grip, you might also learn a thing or two about the chassis, like whether it’s tail-happy, or if a mid-corner bump wants to bounce you into the ditch....
An unconfirmed report from Syria suggests that ISIS has started using small drones packed with explosives as weapons. The first attack was a failure, but if the report is accurate, then it signals a dangerous new terror threat.The report showed pictures of the remains of a homemade attack drone. It was apparently shot down, along with a second drone that exploded, by Kurdish YPF (“People’s Defence Units”) fighters in Syria. The caption says that both drones carried explosives, and that no YPF fighters were injured in the incident....
HOW IT WORKS /// The main unit in this aftermarket-to-OEM radio interface is installed somewhere in the car and then interfaced to the stock sound system via an adapter box. The unit tosses the supplants the OE interface with its own more user-friendly icon based GUI.WHY IT MATTERS /// Trying to add functionality to most factory radios is like pulling a bad tooth; the process is painful, but the results much appreciated....
Media Platforms Design TeamThis is Mercury, but not as our eyes can see it. The striking image is one of many to come from the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft, or MESSENGER. We covered the craft as it entered orbit of the solar system’s first planet one year ago, on March 17, 2011. In its first Earth year of work, MESSENGER sent home an incredible amount of data to help scientists understand what this scalding world is made of and how it has changed over a few billion years....
Media Platforms Design TeamBig Brother used to to just watch you. Now some people in Oregon are worrying that he might start taxing you, too. Oregon’s Governor, Ted Kulongoski, wants the legislature to authorize a mileage tax on Oregon vehicles, one that would be levied—as experimented with in a pilot program—via special GPS devices that would track the vehicles’ mileage, but that would, it is promised, not keep track of where they were driven....
Firefighters and police rushed to a field near Redmere this morning after an American FA-18 fighter jet crashed there. There is still no explanation for why the plane went down. The pilot was killed.The crash site is just a few miles from RAF Lakenheath, one of the British air bases still run by American forces. According toThe Guardian, the Hornet was one of six American fighters stopping off in the U....
Up until about six months ago, Howard Freilich bought his coffee like the rest of us, preground and preroasted, off the grocery-store shelf. Then the former industrial electrician, who now runs his own saw-blade sales business out of his home in Richardson, Texas, learned that your typical canister of coffee is at optimal flavor for only two weeks after roasting. So he set about roasting his own beans. Two prototypes later (the first ones weren’t sturdy enough), he combined a heat gun—with its casing stripped off so as not to imbue the beans with a plastic flavor—and a rotating canister on a twelve-volt gearbox....
Micro fuel cells, solid-state hydrogen storage, quantum-dot lighting—these were just a few of the esoteric, futuristic topics PM discussed with Al Romig, the executive vice president for nonweapons R&D at Sandia National Laboratories, and Nigel Hey, Sandia’s media relations honcho, when they dropped by our offices this week. Sandia is a vast multiprogram lab south of Albuquerque, N.M., that was established in 1945 to design, produce and test the non-nuclear components of the atomic bomb....
Media Platforms Design TeamPrice: $49The design of the Zippo Wallet gives a new user reasons to doubt it. Made of two sheets of stainless steel bolted to a rubber strap, the wallet has connective material that looks like it would be prone to tear and slots for credit cards that seem to invite slippage. As it turns out, the wallet’s construction is just fine— none of those problems manifested themselves in our two-week test....
View full post on YoutubeThe leak of 5 million Gmail passwords was your weekly reminder of the terrible insecurity of the current password system. And until somebody comes up with the next great way to do security, experts will keep warning us to follow the password best practices.But don’t forget: Your PIN might be terrible, too.We all know people tend to choose 1234, their birth year, or their kid’s birthday as an easy-to-remember but utterly obvious four-number combination....
Media Platforms Design Team(Photo Credit: Ben Goldstein)Everyone, or at least some people, has wanted to be a DJ. Not a radio jock or a sweaty guy in a vest who spins vinyl at bar mitzvahs but a turntablist, wearing giant headphones and spinning records as a throng of beautiful people dance. A scratcher who puts the needle on the record and flicks it with his fingertips to make that cool wickawicka sound....
Airstreamer by West Coast CustomsMedia Platforms Design TeamBuilt to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Airstream (the company responsible for those sleek aluminum-skin trailers), this custom chopper with sidecar was built by West Coast Customs. Inspired by the 1936 Clipper-model trailer, the Airstreamer is powered by a 113-cu in. S&S V-twin and stopped by triple Brembo brakes. Its coolest feature, though, might be the polished aluminum sidecar, which houses 5 gal of fuel in its tail....
Media Platforms Design TeamLAS VEGAS — It’s the night before the Consumer Electronics Show, and the exhibitors are hard at work putting the finishing touches on their booths. In a matter of hours, the electronics world builds a small city from the ground up, only to tear it down just a few days later. We were lucky enough to catch an exclusive glimpse of the convention center floor a day before the gates are open to the press....
Media Platforms Design TeamA mile and a half northeast of Copenhagen’s city center, beyond the stone walkways, gargoyle fountains and slate-roof housing flats, lies the Kastellet, a 343-year-old fort overlooking the lush shoreline of Oresund (Danish for “The Sound”). Standing motionless on the bunker’s edge is a 30-ft.-tall windmill, once used to grind and store grain for soldiers, now sustained for nothing but tourism and history, by nothing but a new coat of red paint....
Equal parts motorsport and performance art, drifting is like high-horsepower ballet, and Ken Gushi, 25, is a rock star in the drifting world. On a recent sun-soaked day at the Spring Mountain Motor Resort near Las Vegas, Gushi made the new Scion FR-S dance on the water-soaked asphalt of a figure-eight course. I was in the passenger seat, marveling at the performance. Afterward, I took a shot at drifting the FR-S—and spun out like a Zamboni run amok....
