Media Platforms Design Team(Photograph by Guy Bouchet)Q:We had a fine old trellis on the side of our house that rotted apart, caved in and damaged the climbing rose on it. The steel nails driven into our house’s brickwork were mostly rusted away as well. Where do we start this repair? Should we call a mason?A:First, prune away any damage to the rose. When you’re finished, there shouldn’t be any ragged stumps or twisted canes....
My Nano was loud lime green and engraved with “Don’t Panic” on the back. It came with a computer, one of those Apple deals where you’d buy a laptop for college and they’d throw an iPod Nano in the box. I still have the 10-year-old MacBook White, but the 2nd-generation iPod Nano is long gone. I wish it were the other way around.This week marked the official death of the iPod Nano and the iPod Shuffle....
I left home for the Army on my 18th birthday. Overnight I found myself in the middle of an Alabama summer. There were drill sergeants screaming in my ears and I was doing push-ups until my face was buried in the thick red mud that the state is famous for. These trials came as no surprise to me. The Humvee, however: a surprise. I’d never in my life driven anything larger than a coupe, so taking the wheel of an enormous vehicle I’d seen only in photographs was terrifying....
An airplane systems engineer, a shower designer and a biologist walk into a Costa Rican rain forest.“This is the neatest thing I’ve found this week,” says the airplane engineer, from Boeing, pointing to a cluster of daddy-longleg spiders gently oscillating on the trunk of a banana tree. “There must be some unique muscular elastic element in their legs sensing vibration and amplitude. There could be really important opportunities here for a low-energy sensor or mechanical actuator system....
Sometimes, everything lines up just right. Sometimes, you’re just an innocent local news person, and you get the best photo op of all time, so of course you take it. In preparation for President Barack Obama’s visit to Los Angeles, KTLA had taken to the skies in their news helicopter. Of course a presidential visit means, usually, that V-22 Ospreys will come along for the ride. That, in and of itself, is an amazing site—V-22s are imposing sky-beasts that can act as a helicopter or plane, depending on the needs of the mission....
Android’s next big update will reportedly come with a nice bit of added security. The new version, currently known as “Android P,” will apparently restrict background apps from accessing a user’s camera or microphone, according to XDA Developers.For years, Android developers have been aware of how malicious apps could take advantage of a phone’s camera. In 2014, developer Szymon Sidor said that “almost by accident” he discovered how a closed app could access a camera and take a photo at anytime....
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is fired up. In comments to the Russian media this month, Lavrov excoriated the United States for refusing to back the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS), a treaty to ban the placement of conventional weapons in space. “The United States continues nurturing plans to militarize outer space, I mean the deployment of weapons in outer space,” Lavrov said. “Which will, naturally, have very adverse consequences for problems of international security....
Just because it’s officially summer doesn’t mean you won’t need a cozy pullover to keep you warm on chilly summer nights by the fire. Good thing Backcountry has tons of Patagonia apparel on sale, including fleece jackets, vests, flannels, shorts, and more. Plus, a variety of duffel bags and backpacks are discounted too, so you’ll actually have space to transport the outdoor gear you buy for your next camping trip or summer vacation....
Video of what the Russian government claims is merely an “exercise” appears to show a submarine on fire. The video, shot in the Russian fear eastern city of Vladivostok, shows a large fire and thick, black smoke close to several moored Russian Navy submarines. The Russian government says the fire was part of a planned exercise, but the fire and smoke look way too close to the submarines for comfort.View full post on TwitterThe video emerged yesterday on Twitter....
Yet another theory has been developed to explain the mysteries of Tabby’s Star, one much more plausible than previous, eccentric theories of an “alien megastructure.” A new study from NASA and Belgian AstroLAB IRIS observatory suggests that the star’s odd behavior could be explained by an “uneven dust cloud.“This is not the most exciting explanation of the famous-in-astronomy-circles Tabby’s Star, also known as KIC 8462852. It’s been observed in the night sky since 1890, but in September 2015, Dr....
The Dash “personal Internet viewer” (available in April for about $200) is Sony’s answer to the Chumby. It brings the sparse functionality of apps that show weather, stocks and news to a slightly larger gadget with a tablet-style touchscreen. The Dash connects to Wi-Fi networks to run some 1500 apps that give access to social networks, news, Internet radio and YouTube-style video on its 7-inch color touchscreen. The Dash is truly a minimal device, with just a USB and headphone slot along with built-in stereo speakers....
My dad was handy, and it’s a good thing, too. As soon as my electric lime green RC car came out of the box, I whipped it across the driveway and started and smashing it into things. Lots of people probably have the same childhood memory: Old-fashioned metal-and-plastic remote-controlled cars that were fun, loud, and easy to break.That’s why we like the Raceya, a different kind of RC car made by entrepreneur Abigail Edgecliff-Johnson that is in the midst of its Kickstarter campaign....
Wind power may be a key part of a renewable energy future, but any given wind farm faces its own possible hurdles, from upset people living near them, to birds dying, to political opposition to investment in renewable energy. Now in Sweden, there’s one more obstacle wind turbines have to face: the Swedish Air Force, which is restricting airspace that was going to go to wind farms. The Swedish Air Force has expanded the amount of airspace restricted to its pilots, labeling these areas as ‘low-fly zones’ to protect its operations....
A man suffering a pulmonary embolism while behind the wheel of his Tesla Model X was able to activate the car’s semiautonomous Autopilot feature. And then his car drove itself to the hospital.Joshua Neally recounted his story fully to Slate, but in a nutshell: Last month, Neally was driving on the highway near Springfield, Missouri when he began to feel intense pain in his chest and abdomen. He was able to quickly call his wife, and the two agreed he should go to the hospital....
The U.S. Air Force wants a drone that can fly out the back of an air transport, land, pick up a soldier, airman, or Marine trapped behind enemy lines, and whisk them to safety. The Personnel Recovery/Transport Vehicle would leverage technology being developed to support the emerging air taxi industry to develop a new, autonomous, search and rescue vehicle.Related StoryWhy the C-130 Is Such a Badass PlaneThe concept would work like this: a U....
This photo collection of abandoned tanks from around the world is strangely compelling. The list spans locations from the South Pacific to Middle East, while the tanks appear to be from a number of conflicts. Most appear to have been knocked out decades ago, and in some cases, the shot that did in the tank is visible—a small dot on the armor. Some appear to have suffered catastrophic damage, while others were used for target practice....
We’ve got all kinds of electric cars and trucks, but one instantly recognizable vehicle has yet to be electrified: the school bus. No longer, as Daimler’s Thomas Built Buses has announced Jouley, the electric school bus.View full post on YoutubeNamed after the joule unit of energy, the Jouley is an attempt to enter a market more or less ignored so far but a large and vital one nonetheless. The American School Bus Council estimates that the average school bus drives 12,000 miles a year and school buses and uses 1,714 gallons of diesel fuel a year, with totals estimated at 822,857,143 gallons across the country with a cost of $3,184,457,143 nationally....
View full post on YoutubeA new $199 home test kit could allow users to diagnose the flu, inflammation, and other medical conditions without going to the doctor. Cue, a San Diego-based startup, just received $7.5 million from a group of investors to build the next step in at-home medical tech.Using a sample of a person’s saliva, blood, or nasal fluid, Cue’s device can screen for a variety of ailments and even be used as a barometer of fertility....
Media Platforms Design TeamOn Friday the 165-foot-diameter asteroid 2012 DA14 will just 18,000 miles above the atmosphere. The near miss of Earth is a dramatic reminder of the threat posed by its rogue relatives. Planetary scientists estimate there are close to a million near-earth asteroids the size of DA14 or larger. A cousin of DA14 probably strikes Earth every 1000 years or so, and does so with the explosive force of several megatons—enough kinetic energy to destroy a city....
Minor spoilers for season two of Westworld follow. Last night, as our heroes finally traveled deep into the wilds of Shogun World, Westworld watchers were treated to all manner of samurai badassery. One of the most menacing bits was a weapon wielded by the Shogun-officer-turned-ronin Musashi, who first brandishes it at the captured Hector, and then uses it to brutally murder an opponent in town. What was that thing?This weapon is called a sodegarami, as Musashi notes before he straight-up murks a guy with it, but it was actually designed as non-lethal police weapon during Japan’s Edo period (1603 - 1868)....
