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Media Platforms Design TeamFirst we called it the Enzo, then it was dubbed the F150. But when Ferrari’s range-topping turned out to be named the LaFerrari, automotive enthusiasts let out a collective shoulder shrug and eye roll… that is, until they laid eyes on the smolderingly striking thing.When the red silk cover was whisked off this 1 million Euro ($1.3 million) übercar at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, the throngs of assembled motoring journalists and VIPs seemed genuinely thrilled to see these alien shapes carved in red....

Q: I heard recently that some hackers tried to take down the entire Internet. Is that possible?A: Hack the entire Internet? Hard to say. But yes, it has been tried. You may have experienced a pronounced sluggishness on the Web on Feb. 6 of this year. For several hours that day, a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack was directed at six of the 13 “root” servers that form the backbone of the Internet....

Relying on an obscure yet vital communications system, researchers have been able to demonstrate the chaos hackers could wreak by infiltrating SMS messaging and rendering many two-factory security systems worthless.You might be unfamiliar with Signaling System Number 7 (SS7), referred to in North America as the Common Channel Signaling System 7. Signaling here refers to the exchange of information between call components required to provide and maintain service. SS7, developed in 1975, is typically used by telecoms to determine when someone is roaming, and allows for transfers of information including texts and billing....

At 12:50 p.m. ET on July 24, 1969, the Columbia capsule splashed down 900 miles southwest of Hawaii, ending the historic Apollo 11 mission. This is how NASA got Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins home.On July 20, 1969, the U.S. won the space race. After a series of embarrassing defeats at the hands of the Soviets, the engineering marvel that was the Saturn V had captured victory through brute force, taking three Americans to lunar orbit, and successfully depositing two on the surface below....

There’s a phase college students go through where they decide cheap, clear liquor needs an upgrade. But what, really, can an aspiring dorm-room mixologist do with a non-discerning palate, limited funds, and not enough time? Ah yes. Infuse. Just throw Skittles or frozen blueberries or any other easily accessible sweet accoutrement into the plastic handle and wait. The resulting concoction is probably awful. It will be consumed anyway.Related FeatureWhy Your Brewer’s Favorite Beer Is a LagerDon’t be ashamed if you went through that phase....

Media Platforms Design TeamGetty ImagesYellowstone is one of our greatest national treasures, and many visitors make a point to check out the vivid geothermal springs. But the rainbow colors of Grand Prismatic Spring, Sapphire Pool, and Morning Glory Pool have a not-so-beautiful origin: trash.According to a team of researchers from Montana State University and Germany’s Brandenburg University of Applied Sciences, who studied the microbe colonies in the water, the pools would have been bright, clear blue a century and a half ago....

Every week seems to bring a new report of North Korea making wild missile threats or China flexing its muscles in the region. As a result, the Japanese government is planning to seek its largest ever peacetime defense budget. Tokyo is requesting a defense budget of $5.1 trillion yen for 2017, which translates to about $51 billion. The budget for Japan’s Self Defense Forces had been flat for decades, but starting in 2013 it began a slow uptick in response to China’s relentless military expansion....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe battle for decibel decimation is a seemingly sisyphean task– just when automotive engineers have quelled a significant amount of road noise, another sonic culprit is sure to muddy the aural experience.Intent on creating the quietest cabin possible, Lexus engineered a new wheel design for their redesigned LS model that reduces the road noise formed when heat generates audible frequencies through the rim.According to Bill Camp of Lexus College, “Our hollow spoke wheel can actually reduce the frequency that’s created when the tire hits an imperfection on the road....

Media Platforms Design TeamThere are lots of ways to listen to music, but Jawbone has just made it a little more social. Starting today via a new a firmware update, users will now be able to pair two Mini Jamboxes, creating what the company is calling “Multi Play.” When paired, the speakers will play in unison or in L/R stereo options. The free update will be available today at jawbone.com.In the office, we received early access to the update and paired two of our speakers to test the connection....

Media Platforms Design Team(Illustration by Jonathan Rosen)FIFTY MILES SOUTH OF the Chinese border lies the rural town of Chongju. Like many North Korean towns, it is a small, impoverished place where people scratch a bare existence from government-controlled farms. What photographs exist of Chongju reveal a brown landscape of depleted-looking fields and shanty-style houses. It is hard to believe anything of value grows here.But, according to intelligence reports, something precious to the North Korean regime may be under cultivation in Chongju....

Perhaps the silliest mistake in the history of space programs was NASA’s failed Mars Climate Orbiter mission in 1998. The satellite was supposed to enter a standard Mars orbit, and yet somehow managed to plunge into the atmosphere and disintegrate instead. An investigation found that guidance software built by Lockheed Martin made its calculations in pounds, while NASA’s software expected everything to be in metric units. This small error cost NASA hundreds of millions of dollars....

A $1 billion solar plant approved in 2011 never delivered what it promised and closed last year.Solar farms are the new frontier in energy, with falling costs and myriad benefits.A combination of terrible management and simple technological advancement turned the plant into a dinosaur.Bloomberg reports that a planned $1 billion solar plant was out of date and obsolete before it could even be completed. The Crescent Dunes plant opened outside of Las Vegas in 2015, when its technology was already behind, and the solar boom since then has completely eclipsed it....

Media Platforms Design TeamCall it the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s version of the Final Four. Scientists at the Pasadena, Calif.-based NASA research center will decide within the next two years where to send the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover after it launches in the fall of 2011. MSL’s mission is to scour the Red Planet for environments that may once have harbored, or may still harbor, microbial organisms. Such an environment would have to contain the basic ingredients of life–including water, organic carbon and a source of energy to sustain the microbes’ metabolism....

A high school sophomore in Japan has been crafting impressive full-scale replicas of military firearms. The replicas are carved from wood blocks and feature an impressive amount of detail, including working triggers and magazines.The Facebook group Komatsu Factory was first discovered by The Firearm Blog. The group is run by an unnamed high school student in Japan who uses it to show off the complex wooden models. Komatsu GroupKomatsu Factory group shows off several types of handguns, submachine guns, and pistols....

A Swedish-born engineer who campaigns for longer-lasting yellow traffic lights has won the attention of an important traffic organization.Red-light cameras have motivated cities to shorten yellow lights to barely legal standards that likely cause more accidents.Engineer Mats Järlström seeks to update the equation that many cities use to calculate yellow-light length.On Halloween 2013, I was driving home after an early release from my job at the time. At a major intersection here in Chicago, I was driving below the speed limit (Chicago traffic!...

Media Platforms Design TeamAt SXSW, dreams really do come true.
To promote the new natural gas-based PurePlus Technology motor oil, Pennzoil teamed up with Nintendo, who is about to release Mario Kart 8, to create real-life Mario Kart. It’s the realization of a fantasy I have held onto for nearly two decades.
Well, sort of. Mario Kart Reimangined didn’t let me shoot turtle shells or find secret passageways, but it was still more fun than a barrel of Donkey Kongs....

It’s a fact of physics that has confounded tire makers for years: Spinning bodies gain more weight while they’re spinning. So how do you make a tire durable enough to withstand extreme speeds when the tire itself is getting heavier the faster the car moves? This problem vexes the makers of hypercars like the Bugatti Chiron, and it especially vexes the team trying to build a 1,000-mph land speed record car....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe 2013 Honda CBR600RR doesn’t claim massive mechanical updates compared to its predecessor, but the sportbike’s seemingly nominal body redesign has a surprisingly significant effect on the motorcycle’s function. Sure, the streetbike happens to look a whole lot like Honda’s race-focused RC213V MotoGP machine, but the gains from the reworked body panels are functional– and measurably real.For starters, the revised shape (above, right), which was inspired by the RC213V’s predecessor, the RC212V (above, left), helped aid comfort through more effective wind deflection around the rider....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn-Sale Date: JuneBase Price: $25,580 to $35,860Competitors: Ford F-150, Ram 1500, Nissan Titan, Toyota Tundra Powertrains: 4.3-liter V-6, 285 hp, 305 lb-ft; 5.3-liter V-8, 355 hp, 383 lb-ft; 6-speed automatic; RWD or RWD/AWDEPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 16/23 (5.3-liter 2WD); 16/24 (5.3-liter 4WD)What’s New: The new 2014 Silverado brings plenty of new tech to Chevy’s full-size truck, but it doesn’t exactly shatter the mold. That’s no accident. Truck styling changes slowly; every new Chevy pickup design since 1988 has been evolutionary, not revolutionary....

7:177 || TABLE TODDLE:Media Platforms Design TeamMealtimes feel precarious as your table wobbles and shifts.THE QUICK FIXIf a trip to the hardware store is out of the question, turn the table over, put a blob of silicone sealant on the bottom of the offending leg, and let it dry. Then flip the table over and it should be stable. However, you can do a more formal fix by purchasing nail-in leg guides (small plastic feet)....