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New York’s Pier 57 will soon reopen as Superpier, home to Google’s new offices and a slew of places to shop and eat. There is one standout idea that has us excited for the floating barge of commerce: Anthony Bourdain wants to open a food market there, and he wants it to look like the futuristic dystopian Los Angeles market displayed in Blade Runner.Set to open in 2017, the market will include a butcher shop, an oyster bar, tapas, and bakeries (including a pastry counter), inspired by Tokyo, Blade Runner, and the hawker’s markets in Singapore—though Bourdain’s business partner Stephen Wether promises it will be a “little more chaotic....

If you never want to run out of space on your computer again—like, ever—Samsung has got your back. Its new 16 TB solid state drive is not just unfathomably huge, it’s the biggest hard drive you can get, full stop. Spotted by Golem.de, the new drive was announced at the Flash Memory Summit in California. Unlike other super high capacity hard drives—most of which still use spinning disks and top out around the 10 TB range—Samsung’s new PM1633a (great name!...

Media Platforms Design TeamIf you’re looking for a new way to keep tabs on Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, and Barack Obama, then Microsoft has you covered with its new celebrity news app, Snipp3t. Unveiled this weekend, the unfortunately spelled iOS app taps into Bing data, displaying the latest celebrity news in an infinite scrolling interface.There are two ways to use the app: with Facebook and without. Log in without Facebook and you’ll see all the latest celebrity news in an aesthetically pleasing form....

Will electric vehicles really lead to cleaner air and healthier people? Only if they are coupled with cleaner ways of generating electricity, scientists say in a new study today.It’s a familiar back-and-forth: Advocates alternative energy vehicles point to their positive environmental qualities, such as reducing carbon emissions from the tailpipe. Their opponents point out the hidden costs, such as the fact that the energy for electric cars comes largely from burning coal....

Media Platforms Design TeamUPDATE: Tesla, the company that brought us the electric Roadster, unveiled the Model S, a five-seat sedan, earlier today in California. With a base price just shy of $50,000, this electric car will be far more accessible than the company’s roaster, whose starting price is more than twice that amount. And the sedan should be one of the top Progressive Automotive X Prize contenders when the competition heats up later this year....

Roland Emmerich is no stranger to cinematic disaster. The director froze New York City in The Day After Tomorrow and blew the White House to bits in Independence Day. So he wasn’t sure about directing 2012. The movie is based on the idea that the end of the Mayan calendar on December 21, 2012, portends a global apocalypse. “When I realized how much disaster was involved, I got a case of cold feet because I’ve done that, you know?...

A new drug called Imlygic is the first infectious virus to garner approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in skin cancer treatments. The living virus infects and destroys cancer cells, which activates the patient’s immune system to respond and target cancerous cells that were previously let alone. It’s a potential double-whammy: The drug destroys cancer cells and stimulates the immune system to fight back.While the promise is amazing, Imlygic isn’t the end-all cure that researchers are working toward—on average, the $65,000 treatment extends melanoma patients’ lives by only 4....

Dave Masten stares at his computer screen, finger poised over the mouse button. He knows that opening this email, sent by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon’s advanced technology lab, will change his life. One way or the other.This email is the fulcrum of his future. It is either an acceptance letter or a rejection letter for his company’s proposal to build what DARPA calls XS-1: an experimental unmanned space plane that can fly ten times in ten days, reaching a speed of Mach 10–plus and lifting payloads greater than three thousand pounds to orbit, at a cost of no more than $5 million per flight....

Not even George Lucas had the opportunity to shoot ‘Star Wars’ on location.That’s what these two U.K. fans had in mind when they sent a weather balloon into the stratosphere (22.5 miles up—high enough to see Earth’s curve), carrying a model X-Wing to show their true dedication to the beloved franchise. In a plea to J.J. Abrams, director of the upcoming ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens,’ the duo writes in that familiar rolling credit:Hey JJ Abrams!...

Media Platforms Design TeamNothing sets gadget geeks into a frenzy like an Apple product launch. The drama! (Will Steve Jobs play nice?) The mystery! (Will he unveil a MacBook Touch?) The inevitable disappointment! (What, no iPhone Flip?) So when Apple holds its event in San Francisco today, the only thing we’re relatively sure about is that there will be a few new iPods (the company made this much clear with its “Let’s Rock” email invitations)....

Media Platforms Design TeamMy father, Richard E. Peck, has been writing science fiction novels since the late ’60s. And now that he’s downsizing and passing everything on to me, half my living room is covered in his old sci-fi books. There’s no doubt that these works had a huge impact on how I turned out.I remember in 1977, he was in full-writer mode and needed to have a study, but we didn’t have a very big house....

Next Wednesday, SpaceX will launch a crew capsule with a special passenger. Riding along will be a dummy named Buster who’s there to test its new escape system intended to safely deploy astronauts in case of an emergency, reports the Associated Press.The pad abort test will blast Buster a mile into the sky from Cape Canaveral, Florida over the Atlantic Ocean and then parachute down. He’ll be strapped to a test version of the Dragon, the spacecraft built by SpaceX to one day carry NASA astronauts to orbit, which will eject with via the escape system....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn a warm late-summer evening, a crowd gathers in the parking lot of the Susan B. Anthony Middle School in Minneapolis, Minn., to watch a man in a navy blue jumpsuit as he prepares to fire his catapult. He pivots the 800-pound machine by its fir and oak beams, aiming it at a grassy slope about 80 yards away. Passing dog walkers pause, kids lean bikes on kickstands, and a security guard strolls over from the school to get a closer look....

The Isle of Man is a small piece of land between Great Britain and Ireland, and every year, the baddest motorcycle riders in the world gather to race. It’s called the Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) and it’s been running for more than a cenutry. This is where you’ll see the highest level of two-wheel speeding.The track brings riders going 150 mph-plus down two-lane roads, coming within inches of brick walls and quaint cottages....

Dodge Circuit EVMedia Platforms Design Team Chrysler and its ENVI electric vehicle organization have produced new and improved electric drive packages in four different vehicles, including the Dodge Circuit, shown here. Chrysler said it will soon select one of these electric vehicles to be produced in 2010 for consumers.>CLICK FOR MOREDetroit Auto Show –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> align=“center” style=“padding:1px; background-color:#333333; font-size:8pt; font-weight:bold;"> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> align=“center” style=“padding:1px; background-color:#333333; font-size:8pt; font-weight:bold;"> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> align=“center” style=“padding:1px; background-color:#333333; font-size:8pt; font-weight:bold;"> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> align=“center” style=“padding:1px; background-color:#333333; font-size:8pt; font-weight:bold;"> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> align=“center” style=“padding:1px; background-color:#333333; font-size:8pt; font-weight:bold;"> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> align=“center” style=“padding:1px; background-color:#333333; font-size:8pt; font-weight:bold;"> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> align=“center” style=“padding:1px; background-color:#333333; font-size:8pt; font-weight:bold;"> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> align=“center” style=“padding:1px; background-color:#333333; font-size:8pt; font-weight:bold;"> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> align=“center” style=“padding:1px; background-color:#333333; font-size:8pt; font-weight:bold;"> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –>Cadillac ConverjMedia Platforms Design Team Two years before the Chevy Volt reaches showrooms, it’s already spawned a variant–the Cadillac Converj....

Media Platforms Design Team MUSKOKA, Ontario—We traveled two and a half hours north of Toronto for an advanced look at Ski-Doo’s 2009 models. And after a recent midwestern U.S. snowfall and cold snap that had PM’s automotive team shivering at the 2009 Detroit auto show, we suspect more folks might be considering a snowmobile purchase this year. Luckily, Ski-Doo has several new products for cold-climate dwellers hoping to shake off cabin fever....

The residential tractor market became a lot more fun a few months back when Cub Cadet introduced its XT Enduro Series. We were struck by the machines’ bold industrial design, a rare thing in this quiet product category. The overtly mechanical-looking nose and yellow-black graphics appeal to those of us who like tough-looking machines.But toughness is about more than looks, and these machines have a five-year warranty for the chassis and front axle, plus a three-year limited warranty on the powertrain....

Swollen by melting snowpack and heavy spring rains, the Mississippi River has overflowed its banks in several states, causing widespread flooding and forcing the evacuation of thousands of residences. Ahead of the deluge, some intrepid homeowners tried to save their houses by building makeshift earthen levees. In a number of fortunate cases, these mounds apparently worked. Jaw-dropping photos have emerged of pockets of dry land ringed by floodwaters, where homemade levees created islands with houses smack in the middle....

Media Platforms Design Team Ford Motor Company will reveal the Verve small-car concept vehicle at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, marking the second time that a Verve concept has been shown to the public. A three-door coupe version was shown at Frankfurt in 2007 to great acclaim, and it will reappear in Detroit when Ford shows the four-door sedan version. Ford says the Verve points the way to a new global family of small cars to debut in Europe and Asia later this year and coming to North America by 2010....

Media Platforms Design TeamFive million years ago, near what is now the Mexican border, magma surged up from inside the Earth. As it cooled, gas bubbles in the magma created hollows in the rock. These depressions—or in Spanish—caught rainwater, drawing birds and other animals to the area. About 10,000 years ago, people followed. And by 6000 years ago, Archaic-era hunters seeking shelter under the rocky overhangs began to adorn the rock with pictographs representing deities and important events....