Milan, Italy—I know, here’s yet another tiny European-style rabbit hutch that sips fuel like it’s been to OPEC Anonymous, and it isn’t yet available in the U.S. Truth is, you are unlikely to see this little tyke on the freeway with a big blue Texas sky behind it. Cars like the iQ and the Smart are great city cars—designed for commuting more than a cross-country Cannonball Run. Would Dom DeLuise even fit in an iQ?...
Consumption Misconception No. 1: By Candle’s LightAbout six months into the impact-reduction experiment, Beavan cuts the electricity in his home, having the family navigate the night by candlelight. Everyone stumbles in darkness, searching for matches, and scenes of the apartment ablaze with candles resemble a church altar at Mass. PM interviewed No Impact Man’s co-director Justin Schein at the film’s Brooklyn premiere, but Schein was unable to provide an estimate of the number of matches and candles consumed in the name of conservation....
In the water gun arms race, Super Soaker was always the high-tech bruiser with powerful air compression technology and a Raytheon-like reputation to match. Its guns are still fearsome–but today they face tough competition. We enlisted the shock troops of Shepaug Valley Middle School, in Washington, Conn., to screen new weapons in the lab and in impromptu (hey! don’t shoot the writer!) war games. These guns were the best. 1)Water Warriors Motorized TarantulaChris Eckert>Price $20Range 30 ft....
Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design Team DETROIT — The waxy-white hood of China’s BYD F6DM glistened on the display floor under the bright lights. But onlookers from the red carpet beside the floor could not easily miss the half-deflated tire in the rear. This sagging tire brings memories from last year’s auto show, when the Chinese cars looked and felt like poorly copied 1980s-era Japanese cars. The memories stop there....
Be respectful and civil to other members, even if you disagree with them.Any unacceptable content (including but not limited to posts, user names, or subject lines) will be deleted.We do not allow harassing, threatening, racist, abusive, hateful, violent, vulgar, or obscene language or behavior.Participation in, encouragement, or suggestion of any illegal behavior is cause for immediate deletion and suspension of posting privileges, and may be reported to the appropriate authorities.No articles, news reports, or other copyrighted material may be posted without the permission of the relevant copyright owners....
Media Platforms Design TeamTheT3prop left behind from the setSegwaybicyclegolf cart looks like a film of a futuristic Hollywood cop movie. Yes, it’s strange looking—and maybe a little dorky too. But you really need to ride this thing to appreciate it. The 240-lb. T3 is an electric trike built for police and other security applications as a replacement for a , or .The mid-level model we rode last week was powered by twin 20-lb....
After his buddy traded a trained dog team for the services of an Alaskan bush pilot, photographer Ken Tape found himself following his friend’s progress in the 1000-mile Yukon Quest dog race—from the air. The mushers started out from Whitehorse, Canada, on Feb. 10, and have made their way to Fairbanks, Alaska. Tape has been filing reports here from checkpoints along the trail.FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Feb. 23 – In spite of an injury to the lead dog early in the race, and the loss of the wheel dog, Melville, after he ingested a piece of fabric, Brent and his team were upbeat leaving the Circle checkpoint....
Media Platforms Design TeamJerry Houck, Executive Program Officer for the Bridesburg Boys & Girls Club, with Keith Jones, director of maintenance, lots of happy kids, and Husqvarna’s RZ4623.After completing our recent test of zero-turn mowers, we began wheeling the machines out of storage and sending them off to outdoor power equipment dealers and trucking companies. But we love being able to donate the tools from our tests to worthy causes, and Husqvarna had a great idea for its RZ4623 (one of the test’s top performers, ranking at 4-1/2 stars)....
A team led by scientists at the University of Sheffield have come up with Fly-Bag, a lining consisting of multiple layers that’s designed to lessen the damage caused by a bomb blast within the cargo hold of a plane. Now, thanks to recent tests at Cotswold Airport in England, the lining’s been proven to successfully contain the force of blasts from varying amounts of explosive material.Similar measures have been created to protect against such attacks before, but what makes the Fly-Bag approach new is the flexibility provided by the combination of fabrics....
Media Platforms Design TeamWalter Cronkite holds up a copy of the July 20, 1969 edition of the New York Daily News. (Photograph by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)New This YearMedia Platforms Design Team*One Giant Leap: Apollo 11 Remembered by Piers Bizony *Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson (Jun 25, 2009) *Voices from the Moon: Apollo Astronauts Describe Their Lunar Experiences by Andrew Chaikin *Missions to the Moon by Rod Pyle *Spacesuits: Within the Collections of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum or Spacesuits: The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Collection by Amanda Young, Mark Avino (Photographer) (May 26, 2009) Apollo: Through the Eyes of the Astronauts by Robert Jacobs; Introduction by Michael Cabbage; Foreword by Stephen Hawking and Lucy Hawking (June 1, 2009) Books by Popular Mechanics ContributorsMedia Platforms Design TeamMagnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon by Buzz Aldrin (Jun 23, 2009) *Tom Sachs: Space Program by Buzz Aldrin, Tom Sachs, Louise Neri, and Arthur C....
Media Platforms Design TeamEither I’m doing something wrong or my electric pressure washer doesn’t cut it. I pressure-wash my house every summer to remove dirt and mildew, but the results are less than sparkling. Can you tell me how to do this so I’m not wasting my time?Until they gain some experience with a pressure washer, homeowners tend to look upon one of these machines as if it were a magic wand....
Media Platforms Design TeamA California startup revealed an aircraft on Wednesday evening built for an increasingly popular new kind of pilot—the weekend aviator with a jones for expensive toys. Loaded with features like folding wings (so you can keep it in your garage) and seat belt-like parachutes (so you can ease the whole thing down to the ground), ICON Aircraft’s new light sport airplane (LSA), dubbed the A5, might just be the ultimate joyride....
Drooling Mac-o-philes, BlackBerry addicts and new fans of the Microsoft Surface alike can now make that big circle on their calendars: Apple’s iPhone has a release date, and it’s June 29 (at least that’s what the company’s sweet new ads would lead us to believe). We’ll pick up our own smartphone-on-steroids then (if not sooner), and walk you around with video. Meanwhile, Steve Jobs and Co. took streaming movies one step further by putting YouTube on Apple TV, though some users were less than pleased that their personal information was embedded in the latest DRM-free push from the iTunes Music Store....
Media Platforms Design TeamTo celebrate PM’s ultimate list of “100 Skills Every Man Should Know”–the full instructions for which are now live online–we quizzed your how-to aptitude, then asked four personalities who do-it-themselves every week on TV. So how did MythBuster Adam Savage, anti-whaling captain Paul Watson and their fellow know-it-alls stack up against you when tested on the first 10 questions of our Essential DIY Skills Quiz? Study up, take the plunge again, then read on for celebrity results (and reactions) that may surprise you....
Media Platforms Design TeamPrice: $4500Cub Cadet’s RZT-S Zero is an electric zero-turn mower that I took for a test drive last week in Jamison, Penn. at Star Lawn Mower, Inc. I’ve been cutting grass a long time—40 years or so—and I have to say that it’s a remarkable machine.The first thing you notice about this American-made machine is how quiet it is: The Cub Cadet is powered by four 48-volt absorbed glass mat batteries and four direct-drive brushless motors....
Pickup truck owners have lots of friends. My pickup is regularly borrowed to move everything from cordwood and college kids to upright pianos and snowblowers. When it was new I always rode shotgun to make sure my truck didn’t get banged up, but that grew old once I realized I would always be the mover’s helper.Then a friend accidentally ran the right-front corner into a low post–doing just enough damage to the fender to exceed his ability to pay for it, but not enough damage to exceed my deductible....
Q: I installed a new battery in my car, which is not driven at all during the week, and a week later it died. How can the battery drain even though it is parked all week? Could I have a faulty electric fuel pump that is draining the battery?A: The only way the fuel pump could be draining the battery is if the fuel pump is running full time. And it would drain the battery within a few hours, not a week....
Media Platforms Design TeamMORE NEWS ON CERN’S LARGE HADRON COLLIDER• PLUS: 5 Things You Need to Know About the Large Hadron Collider• HOW IT WORKS: Large Hadron Collider Aims to Unlock ‘God Particle’• PM NEWS: LHC Turns on Sept. 10, Tests Beam on Weekend• VIDEO: Large Hadron Collider Rap Teaches Particle Physics• EARLIER: Setbacks Force CERN to Push Back LHC Start DateTrouble sometimes seems to appear out of thin air, and a new experiment suggests that’s exactly what may happen to the world’s biggest science project when it’s scheduled to begin operation in Switzerland next May....
Media Platforms Design TeamWant to back up your iPod without using iTunes? Connect the iPod to your PC. Open any window and select Folder Options from the Tools menu. In the View tab, check “Show hidden files and folders.” Go to My Computer and double-click your iPod. Now you can see a folder called iPod_Control. Double-click it. Select the Music folder, and drag and drop it onto your hard drive. Make sure you have enough space on your drive to accommodate the files....
What We See: Volkswagen of America has released four videos (with hopefully more to come) featuring the Golden Sisters, three real-life senior siblings who found fame and fortune after a YouTube video of them watching the Kim Kardashian sex tape went viral in 2012.All the spots have essentially the same visual format: We see them, dressed in similar old-lady floral prints, in various diesel-powered Volkswagens where they first establish and then debunk popular “Old Wives’ Tales” about diesel engines....
