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Apple’s keynote address came from the San Jose Convention Center this year to share new updates to existing tech and products at their annual World Wide Developer’s Conference, or WWDC.“We moved all of our software platforms forward,” said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, before announcing that all platforms are available in beta versions today. Here’s what you need to know. macOS CatalinaMusic and Apple Podcasts have been revamped for Macs, and now, Apple TV is available on your Mac, too....

All signs point to an iPhone 6S with a pressure sensitive screen. Rumors have already been swirling, the new version of iOS supports the feature, and now the ever-reliable Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple’s revving up to make up to 90 million of the new phones. A record number.According to the Journal, Apple is working with manufacturers to assemble 80-90 million of the new phones by year-end, in both 4....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhat started as an epic drama in the Gulf of Mexico—beginning with a rare, lethal oil rig explosion some six weeks ago and followed by a chain of never-before-attempted fixes to seal the underwater well—has settled into a sickening new reality. The 50,000- to-110,000-gallon-per-day leak could continue until August, BP has said, when a pair of relief wells will intersect with the damaged one and fill it with concrete....

Media Platforms Design TeamKourou, French Guiana—The truck lurches to a halt at the encampment, knocking over the FAMAS assault rifle leaning on the dashboard. Foulques De Samie, first lieutenant of the 1st platoon, 2nd company of the French Foreign Legion, grips it and gestures with his chin to open the door and dismount. His platoon is lounging among the ruins of a sounding rocket site in French Guiana. Around the soliders are wrecked buildings overgrown with vegetation, piles of bent tubes of massive rocket bodies, and the ever-present hum and buzz of the jungle....

Relectrify, an Australia-based electronics company, is working with American Electric Power and Nissan to give old electric car batteries a new life.The idea is to use old or second-life lithium-ion batteries to reduce the number of components needed to build parts of an industrial energy storage system.This method could lower overall systems costs by half and extend the life of a lithium-ion battery by about a third.Used electric car batteries are getting a second life—as cells on the power grid....

The U.S. Air Force’s C-17 Globemaster III strategic airlifter has made its first trip through the world famous “Mach Loop” low level flight training area. The “Buddha,” as it is known to Air Force flight crews, made the trip last week, threading its way through the Welsh valley and flying lower than the civilian observers on a nearby mountain.Named after the nearby Welsh town of Machynlleth, the “Mach Loop” is part of a training area used by NATO pilots to practice low-level flight....

It’s 2001: A Space Odyssey 17 years too late. A robot aboard the International Space Station appears to have a mind of its own. While that assessment may seem hyperbolic, whatever algorithms were strung together to make this robot tick are operating in a way that its designers didn’t quite expect. CIMON looks like the robot version of a severed head, without the gore. His visage (the European Space Agency describes the bot with male pronouns) is decidedly simple and nondescript....

Click to enlargeMedia Platforms Design TeamThe tank mounted speedo and a heavy dose of chrome accents contribute to this Honda cruiser’s looks.Honda’s new Shadow Spirit 750 C2 has a big 21-in. front wheel, a subtly tapered rear fender, and a low-slung stance — all of which make it appear larger and more expensive than it is. Since it has only a 745cc liquid-cooled V-twin, the Spirit C2 doesn’t rocket off the line, but it’s quick enough to hustle through typically uncruiser-friendly terrain — the prototypical serpentine two-lane road....

Scientists have confirmed that “ultrahot Jupiter” KELT-9b is the hottest exoplanet ever discovered.The planet, discovered in 2017, orbits KELT-9 670 light-years away from Earth and has a surface temperature of 7,800 degrees Fahrenheit.The planet is so hot on its dayside, it actually tears hydrogen molecules apart. KELT-9b is extremely hot. The exoplanet, first discovered in 2017, is hotter than some stars, and has a surface temperature of around 7,800 degrees Fahrenheit....

Horsepower is one of the most ironic units of measurement. Its abundance in mechanical form has all but eliminated actual horse power and, as a result, any real frame of reference. Imagine if we measured how long a lightbulb lasts in “candle hours.” But where exactly did the term come from, and how was it first derived? BBC Earth Lab explains what’s behind the metric.View full post on YoutubeThe inspiration for the steam engine came from the desire to replace horses, which as animals needed constant care and upkeep, as well as having physical limits on strength and mobility....

A Carnival Cruise Line ship accidentally spilling more than 7,000 gallons of wastewater in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef is a catastrophic event by any measure, but if you consider the full picture of human toll on this fragile ecosystem, it’s tragically unexceptional: A recent study found that half the corals in the reef had died over the last two years. Another found that the reef will likely disappear completely over the next few decades....

What is it? Find My Friends is an iOS app that will find a person (that is, a friend) for you using GPS, if you both have an Apple device (such as an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch) and have agreed to let the app track you. It was released in October 2011 and since the release of iOS 9 comes preinstalled. Popular MechanicsWhat it assumes: You wish to be found and you have friends....

Researchers at the University of Michigan have created a new sensor for the shoulders that can contour to their rounded shape.Real-time tracking of the shoulder joint and muscle behavior are possible thanks to the use of Japanese Kirigami-like structures that use cut-outs in a flat sheet to create a 3D structure when stretched.The study was published in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies. Max Shtein knows what it feels like to suffer from a painful injury....

Feast your eyes on the Model Y. At an event at the Tesla Design Studio in Los Angeles on March 14, Elon Musk finally revealed the Tesla Model Y, a small crossover based on the Model 3 that marks Tesla’s newest production vehicle. Musk had joked last May that he’d reveal the car on the Ides of March. With this Pi Day reveal, he was one day early.The BasicsThe Tesla Model Y is a small crossover SUV to fill out the cheap(er) end of Tesla’s lineup....

OFFICIAL RULES NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. THIS SWEEPSTAKES IS IN NO WAY SPONSORED, ENDORSED OR ADMINISTERED BY, OR OTHERWISE ASSOCIATED WITH, INSTAGRAM OR FACEBOOK. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE PROVIDING YOUR INFORMATION TO SPONSOR AND NOT TO INSTAGRAM OR FACEBOOK.1. HOW TO ENTER: The Popular Mechanics “How to Make Anything” Sweepstakes (the “Sweepstakes”): There are two (2) ways to enter beginning July 30, 2014 at 12:01 AM (ET) through September 10, 2014 at 11:59 PM (ET) (the “Entry Period”): (i) Entrant must follow Sponsor’s Instagram feed at @popmech (the “Instagram Feed”) and during the period that begins July 30, 2014 at 12:01 AM (ET) through September 10, 2013 at 11:59 PM (ET) (the “Entry Period”), submit a photograph reflecting your Do It Yourself project with hashtag #HTMASweeps; or (ii) enter your photo via email at HTMASweeps@PopularMechanics....

Rock Band 2Harmonix & EA /// Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 2 & 3 /// Holiday 2008While everyone loves strumming the bass or wailing on lead guitar while someone else screams into the mic, users frequently criticized the drums in the original Rock Band. As fun as they are, they’re too simple, not realistic enough and way too loud (not in a good way). But drums in music games like Rock Band pose a unique problem for developers: They can’t make them too complicated—no one would want to play except professional drummers—but developers need to find a way to make them more similar to the real thing....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhen Robert Hewson, of Jane’s Defence Weekly, saw the promotional video for a new missile system called Club-K, he must have known it was special. A Russian company called Morinformsistema-Agat is marketing a cruise missile that can hide inside and launch from inside a shipping container. The six-minute video depicts an invasion from a neighboring country, and the afflicted nation hiding the missile in a port setting, inside an innocuous grey shipping container....

Media Platforms Design TeamAn architect by training, with degrees from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture and the University of Maryland, Doug Fanning’s love of metalwork began while taking welding classes as an undergraduate. After spending years doing design at a number of architecture firms in New York, in 2001 Fanning set out to reconnect with his passion for metalwork by openingDYAD in Red Hook, Brooklynhis website. There, he designs and fabricates metal furniture, lighting and large installations for clients from Diesel Jeans to ReMAX....

Q: I want to avoid cluttering my living room with speakers. I love the idea of these new sound bars, but have no idea how they sound or where to place them.A: While no sound bar can perfectly emulate a properly tuned 5.1-channel surround-sound system, many of them do a surprisingly solid job. Sound bars generally integrate an amplifier and an array of speakers—from just over a dozen to nearly 50—into a single bar....

With the Grand Canyon reaching its 100th anniversary as a national park, what should be a celebration has taken a scandalous turn: Reports from The Arizona Republic show that for 18 years, anyone who walked by three paint buckets within the National Park’s museum collection building was exposed to unsafe levels of radiation.Park officials became aware of the radioactive buckets, located near a taxidermy exhibit, last year. However, in what’s described as a “rogue email,” the Park’s safety, health, and wellness manager alleges a “secrecy pact” to conceal the potential public-safety threat....