Posts

Media Platforms Design TeamJeep’s reputation as the workingman’s Land Rover began nearly five decades ago with the 1963 Grand Wagoneer. Until 1991, the GW’s last year, it cemented Jeep’s credibility as a luxury 4WD manufacturer. Few know that better than Matt Liddane, the current Grand Cherokee’s vehicle line executive and the owner of the 1989 Wagoneer pictured here. With 90,000 miles on the clock, Liddane’s rig feels remarkably tight. For sure, the solid rear axles—suspended by leaf springs—ricochet off larger bumps, but overall it’s quite plush and the interior is luxurious....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe first 5.0 Mustang debuted over 30 years ago, with a V8 that actually displaced 4.948 liters. So while Ford used unconventional rounding back then, the ruse is no longer needed–the new aluminum V8 displaces 4.951 liters. Nitpicking aside, the new 5.0 has race-spec parts, like four-bolt main-bearing caps and oil-cooled pistons. Unlike the original pushrod motor, double overhead cams operate four valves per cylinder. The cams are offset to the exhaust side to make room for massive, nearly straight intake ports....

Researchers found that a black-box algorithm predicted patient death better than humans.They used ECG results to sort historical patient data into groups based on who would die within a year.Although the algorithm performed better, scientists don’t understand how or why it did.Albert Einstein’s famous expression “spooky action at a distance” refers to quantum entanglement, a phenomenon seen on the most micro of scales. But machine learning seems to grow more mysterious and powerful every day, and scientists don’t always understand how it works....

Be careful driving through Paradise Valley, AZ. The cacti are watching you. The town has installed a number of license plate cameras in the town, which isn’t all that unusual—cameras around the country are tracking our comings and goings. But Paradise Valley gets bonus points for creativity by hiding them in artificial cacti – which, as The Verge points out, are already commonly used there to disguise cell phone towers.City officials say these “cact-eye” cameras are there just to check license plate numbers against stolen vehicle reports....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe proof, to me, was irrefutable. I had bought a new iPod within weeks of my coworker: the same generation player, running on the same lithium-ion (li-ion) cobalt oxide battery. She plugged it into her computer every day to get to her music. That seemed like an astonishing mistake—obviously, her iPod’s battery would suffer, since it would cycle every day, multiple times during each 8, 10 or 12-hour workday....

Scientists, ocean explorers, and historians have found the Akagi, a Japanese aircraft carrier that sank during the Battle of Midway in World War II.The team found the ship at depths of 18,000 feet in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. This is the second Japanese aircraft carrier that the team has found in a week, and earlier this year, the crew discovered the sunken USS Hornet near the Solomon Islands. Intrepid scientists, ocean explorers, and historians aboard a research vessel have discovered a Japanese aircraft carrier that sank during the Battle of Midway in World War II....

Unless you’re replacing your car’s tires with the identical set that it came with, you’re going to face some decisions. What’s the story with treadwear? Can you replace a run-flat tire with something else? Are winter tires worth the investment? Here are some answers—and specific recommendations—to inform your search for a new set of rubber.Treadwear Rating: How Much Should I Pay Attention to That?Among the specs you confront when tire shopping, treadwear is one of the more mysterious....

LOS ANGELES — As a group, the most innovative games here at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles are PC games. The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii have the attention of mainstream media, and with good reason—console games rake in about twice the cash collectively as PC games. And while the deluxe PlayStation 3 will sell for a startling $600 when its released in November, a computer with enough processing power to run the newest games can run $3000 to $5000 for a new model, or as much as $1000 per year to keep an old machine sufficiently upgraded....

It’s not a good idea to leave certain things in your car on a hot day. Refrigerated goods, water bottles, and children are best kept out of the sun and the heat, lest they suffer or accidentally burn down your car. Thanks to a teacher at a San Francisco science museum, we can add one more to the list: giant parabolic mirrors. Don’t leave a giant parabolic mirror in your car....

A cop doesn’t have to tell you they’re a cop, but should a robot have to tell you they’re a robot? If you aren’t worried about it yet, maybe you should be. Today at its annual developer conference, Google showed off a jaw-dropping demo of “Google Duplex,” a feature where the AI-powered Google Assistant will call actual real humans at real businesses to do things like make appointments and schedule dinner reservations for you....

The beauty of Android is that there are like a billion phones to choose from. The downside of Android is that there are like a billion phones to choose from. And if you don’t know where to start, Google’s got a new site that’s designed to help you out, and it looks pretty decent!The site, which reaaally leans into Google’s newest ad campaign and style, asks you a series of questions about what you want in a phone and then spits out examples based on restrictions like size, price, and carrier....

The X-61A drone program passed a key test with first flight of a Gremlin reusable drone.Gremlins are multi-use systems, capable of being fitted with different payloads to accomplish different missions. The drones are designed to be launched and recovered from larger aircraft, a tactic first explored during the age of airships.The Pentagon’s leading research and development agency conducted the first flight of the X-61A drone system. Known as the Gremlin, the X-61A would be launched by large aircraft near the battlefield, fly a pre-assigned mission, and then be recovered in midair without the need to land....

View full post on YoutubeThe Northrop Grumman MQ-8C Fire Scout, a drone helicopter based on the Bell 407 airframe, completed its sea tests this month. Here it is taking its first flight from the destroyer USS Jason Dunham, on Dec. 16.This MQ-8C is the next-generation Fire Scout. The first generation, the B model, was based on the smaller Schweizer 333 and entered service with the U.S. Navy in 2009; it’s been used in Afghanistan and Libya....

In the days and weeks to come, we’re bound to learn more about the incredible and heroic rescue of all 12 members of a Thai soccer team and their coach who were trapped in a cave. One understated detail: U.S. troops participated early on in the rescue operation, lending support to a situation that at times seemed all but impossible.The 12 boys of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach entered the Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai province on June 23, only to become trapped by rising waters inside the cave system....

Media Platforms Design TeamMicrosoft Corporate Vice President Panos Panay introduces the Surface Pro 3 at an NYC press event on Tuesday.“It starts with dreaming the impossible,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said earlier today at the company’s Surface press event at NYC. “Can we design and build a device that takes the best of the tablet and the laptop?“It’s a dream that PC OEMs have been promising consumers ever since tablets hit the market more than five years ago, and it’s a dream that, despite amazing technology and innovation, remains unrealized....

The newest Navy Marine Corps UAV can take off and land from a small area on the battlefield, where its customizable payload of sensors will give Marines the best real-time tactical picture they’ve ever had.The RQ-21A Blackjack has a 16-foot wingspan and can take off and land in a 40- by 40-foot area. Built by Insitu, the Blackjack can carry larger, more diverse intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) payloads than its predecessors....

Media Platforms Design TeamDirector Steven Soderbergh recut his own version of Stanley Kubrick’s space classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey to a shorter runtime of 1 hour and 50 minutes. It’s not the first time he’s done something like this — last September he converted Raiders of the Lost Ark to black and white, he’s previously edited Heaven’s Gate. It’s not just a trim — the colors in the new cut are much brighter, with Soderbergh saying he believes Kubrick would have embraced digital were he around today....

If you’re looking for your next DIY project, consider swinging by your local junkyard. In the seas of junk and garbage you could find a few gems, maybe even a whole car. YouTuber William Foster shows us just how much fun you can have with a beaten-down old car and a little ingenuity. View full post on YoutubeUsing a standard RC transmitter and receiver, Foster controls the car with a remote controller connect to two Arduino computers mounted in the center console of the car....

As Typhoon Hagibis approached Japan on October 11, the country’s skies took an odd purple tint. Known as scattering, such coloring is common before a storm due to water droplets fracturing light.After the color show, a very hard storm hit Japan. Typhoon Hagibis hit Japan hard this past weekend, with 35 inches of rain dropping in some areas leading to a death toll over 50, according to Japanese news service NHK....

Media Platforms Design TeamSometime in the next 12 months, Chevy will introduce the Spark, a 12-foot-long car that, along with the Fiat 500, looks like a rolling suitcase compared with the SUVs that populate our highways. Logically, you’d think that the main reason to drive such a small car would be: (a) that it’s cheap and (b) that it gets great fuel economy. You’d be right about the first part, but a little off the mark about the latter....