Popular Mechanics articles from September 2006

Popular Mechanics archives from September 2006

Learning Curve.(Davin Coburn)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... EVERY DAY I learn something new," says Davin Coburn, POPULAR MECHANICS'S research editor. "That's what working at this magazine is all about for me." I hope that's what makes it interesting to read, as well. Many readers will recall...

Keeping it simple.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... Thanks for Jay Leno's article on car tech overload ("Driven to Distraction," July 2006). Manufacturers seem to have forgotten that the more systems they put into a product, the more likely it is to break. And you probably have no hope of fixing...

People on the phone or watching DVDs or playing with the radio while driving?(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... People on the phone or watching DVDs or playing with the radio while driving? They should not be on the road--period. Automakers are turning cars into roiling offices. The only problem is that people behind the wheel don't know the difference....

MPG in reverse.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... I read the gas mileage champs article ("Battle of the B-Cars," July 2006) to see how well technology has progressed in the nonhybrid car market. I'm not sure what happened, but we have lost some technology somewhere. My wife and I owned a 1986...

Look out below.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... Before we consider putting a larger portion of our population into the air ("Flying off the Drawing Board," July 2006), we need to consider more basic realities. Many people don't maintain their cars--or can't afford to. Look at any roadside in...

Longevity's costs.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... I read "Your Upgrade Is Ready" (May 2006) with great interest. The advances in medical science and engineering are astounding. There was one point, however, that the article failed to address. The sociological impact of the technology was not...

A new spin on power: the 7H turbine being built in GE's Greenville, S.C., gas turbine plant. Once completed, the turbine will travel to Southern California by land and sea, taking a trip through the Panama Canal.(TECH WATCH)
September 1, 2006... The construction of yet another emissions-belching turbine might not seem like cause for celebration. But like it or not, the world continues to run on fossil fuels-and General Electric's 7H turbine is a breakthrough in efficiency. Like its...

A car so safe, it saves itself.(AB Volvo demonstrates radar)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The next generation of Volvos may no longer depend on their drivers to keep them safe. A new prototype demonstrated by Volvo uses radar to detect obstacles in front of the car, If the driver fails to react to a buzzer and a red warning light,...

Leaning tower.(mini-skyscraper competition )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The winners of a mini-skyscraper competition at MIT took their cue from nature to produce a four-story tower that can flex up to 8 ft. in any direction. The team, composed of four MIT graduate students, was given $7000 to build its proposed...

Round salt.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Salt that clumps in the shaker is annoying, but "caking" is a major problem for paper mills, textile plants and other facilities that use lots of salt. So researchers in India have created salt crystals that are nearly round, instead of cube...

Deep impact down under.(meteorite hit causes break off )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Scientists at Ohio State University may have located the meteor impact that created Australia. The team found a 300-mile-wide crater buried under ice in the Antarctic by comparing gravity-fluctuation readings from satellites with airborne radar...

Run, cloned mules, run!(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... A pair of identical mules became the first professional clone athletes when they raced at the 20th Annual Winnemucca Mule Races in Nevada. Idaho Gem (below, in the center), the world's first equine clone, placed third, while its genetic double...

Labels for leftovers.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... A British company has developed adhesive labels that take the guesswork out of that jar of possibly ancient mayo. Once activated, Timestrips use capillary attraction to gradually suck a colored liquid along the strip, indicating how many days,...

Making Bones.(device helps to grow )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... THERE'S A WHIFF OF MAD science around a new invention from researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. The low-power device emits ultrasonic pulses that--somehow--induce mature bones and teeth to grow. The device was tested on human...

Time machine 1981.(International Business Machines Corp.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... SEPTEMBER MARKS THE 25TH anniversary of the PC, Introduced as IBM's 5150. "The new computer offers sound, color display and the eve-popular BASIC language," PM wrote. (MS-DOS was Introduced in August 1981.) The 5150's 4.77-MHz CPU and 256K of...

Number theory.(diesel emissions )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... AN ITEM'S CARBON FOOTPRINT is the sum of its direct and indirect emissions of C[O.sub.2]. For instance, a gallon of gasoline yields 19.6 POUNDS OF C[O.sub.2]; processing and shipping the gas pushes the total past 25 pounds. Beer's carbon...

Clearing the air (of bird flu).(AeroClave's decontamination systems )
September 1, 2006... WITH DEATH TOLL estimates for a potential human bird flu pandemic starting in the millions, a climate of panic could spread if the disease were to gain traction. For companies such as AeroClave, in Orlando, Fla., that might represent a business...

The rise and stall of a police UAV.(unmanned aerial vehicles )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... THE LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT has unveiled a plan to expand its aerial reach, complementing its 18 helicopters with a small, stealthy unmanned aerial vehicle called SkySeer. Each 3.1-pound drone has a 6.5-ft. wingspan and flies at up to 23...

Battle bots: PM's resident roboticist scans the horizon for the next generation of autonomous fighting machines.(Robot Enhanced Detection Outpost with Lasers)
September 1, 2006... Robots are no strangers to the battlefield, but current droids rely on human control. The iRobot PackBot, a veteran model first deployed in Afghanistan in 2002, is less a robot than a rugged remote-control car. Other robots employ limited...

Foul-weather friend.(Stormtracker VEC136 )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... If and when the sky starts to fall the Weather Channel-branded Stormtracker VEC136 ($100) is our kind of all-in-one backup plan. Its black-and-white TV picks up VHF and UHF, and the radio gets digital AM, FM and NOAA Weather Radio. Its LCD...

Blu-ray test drive.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray has officially begun--whether you should care is another matter. We took the first HD-DVD player for a spin in the August issue. Up this month is Samsung's $1000 BD-P1000, the first dedicated Blu-ray...

Hardware issues.(blu-ray disc)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... It took nearly 30 seconds to load a Blu-ray disc, and up to 6 seconds to skip from one chapter to the next. If that doesn't sound like much, try counting to 30 while staring at a blank screen. Now imagine paying $1000 for that privilege.

Image quality.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... We watched scenes from Hitch, Memento and XXX at 1080p resolution, which only Blu-ray discs can currently deliver. But all three films looked surprisingly grainy. The only footage that lived up to Blu-ray's hype was a razor-sharp trailer for...

Bottom line.(UPGRADE: WISH LIST)
September 1, 2006... Don't bother enlisting in this format war yet--even early adopters should wait for reinforcements.

Saving soles.(UPGRADE: WISH LIST)
September 1, 2006... Timberland's PreciseFit shoes, which range from $130 to $140, sell themselves on one-size-fits-more versatility. Removable insoles plus removable inserts let you add a half-size of room to each shoe, to fit, say, a wider left foot or thick...

BFK-200 Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard.(Anycom Inc.'s )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... It won't make the tiny screen on your Blackberry any easier to read, but ANYCOM's BFK-200 Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard ($150) is a full-size keyboard that takes the thumb-blistering sting out of long e-mails. It's sturdier than other folding...

Playing for keeps: whether you love them, hate them or couldn't care less, video games are on the march. Three powerful game consoles will do battle this holiday season for home entertainment supremacy--here's our report from the front.(UPGRADE PREVIEW)
September 1, 2006... MICROSOFT XBOX 360 AVAILABLE: Now PRICE: $300 to $400 RESOLUTION: Up to 1080i xbox.com HARDWARE: With nine months and some 80 games under its belt, the 360 is the next-generation console to beat. But now the 360 is in danger of...

Some like it Quad.(UPGRADE WISH LIST)
September 1, 2006... What's more fun than an 1150cc sportbike? Perhaps an 1150cc sportbike with the stability and handling of a formula race car. The 880-pound, 95-hp GG Quad hits 60 mph in under 5 seconds. It's big, it's weird and we're dying to try it. But it has...

MP3s from heaven.(UPGRADE WISH LIST)
September 1, 2006... Someday we'll Look back and laugh at MP3 players that downloaded music from a PC through a cable, We'll be plucking our tunes from thin air. For now, the MusicGremlin ($299, plus 99 cents per song or $15 per month for unlimited songs) Lets you...

Screen dream.(UPGRADE WISH LIST)
September 1, 2006... It isn't groundbreaking, but Creative's Zen Vision W ($399 for 30GB, $499 for 60GB) has the best screen we've seen on a portable media player, and it plays every format we've thrown at it, from MPEG and AVI to various types of DivX. Eve...

PaintEater.(UPGRADE WISH LIST)
September 1, 2006... Sanders can do a fine job of removing paint--put they're better at, well, sanding wood. The 4.5-pound PaintEater ($75) is a paint specialist. It has a comfortable grip, and it uses disposable, easy-to-load spun-fiber, discs from 3M that tear...

Backup generators.
September 1, 2006... Power outages, whether due to hurricane-force winds or an aging national grid, can happen anytime. To make sure you don't get stuck with a water pump that won't pump and a fridge full of rotting food, consider a backup generator. After testing...

Sizing your generator.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Determining how much generator you need is a matter of simple addition. Decide what you want to keep running and add up the wattage. Keep an eye on surge wattage--some appliances require extra power to start, so you might have to turn other...

Campus tech test: what happens when you give a dorm full of college kids a truckload of electronics?
September 1, 2006... Kids these days. Your average 18-year-old college freshman is part of the first generation raised from the cradle in the era of the personal computer. These young men and women grew up to the tune of cellphones ringing and video games bleeping....

Seeking immunity: pathogens like West Nile virus show no respect for borders. But a new class of vaccines may soon keep them in check.
September 1, 2006... When Paul Loebach volunteered to have microscopic rings of foreign DNA injected into his body, his wife was none too pleased. That the genetic material came from the deadly Ebola virus might have had something to do with it. "My family thought...

Truth under attack: America has much to learn from the events of 9/11, but conspiracy mongering poisons the discourse and dishonors the victims of a national tragedy.
September 1, 2006... No American living today will forget what happened on September 11, 2001. Each of us will remember how the serenity of that bright morning was destroyed by a savage atrocity, an act so hostile we could scarcely imagine any human being capable...

Wheeled goddess: Eos splits the difference between Rabbit and Passat while offering what neither one does: a folding metal top.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Greece's Aegean coast is ideal for driving an open-top car. And VW's Eos is an excellent car for the task. Sharing mechanical bits with both the larger Passat and smaller Rabbit, the four-seater is admirably solid and shakefree, while the turbo...

Power switch: Subaru Legacy 2.5GT spec.B.(Subaru of America Inc.'s )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The newest Legacy, the 2.5 GT spec.B, provides three levels of performance at the twist of a knob. The car's SI-Drive offers the Intelligent setting for everyday driving. The Sport setting increases engine power and sharpens the accelerator...

Few, but fast: Audi RS 4.(Audi AG's )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... You may not see many RS 4s around because Audi figures to sell only a few thousand in the States. More's the pity. It's an astonishingly capable road-burning machine with more torque (317 lb.ft.) than many '60s musclecars--and 90 percent of...

We struck gold.(Chevrolet Motor Div.'s Chevrolet Silverado )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... 1. We struck gold when we captured the all-new Chevrolet Silverado completely unmasked at an ad shoot. The Chevy and its GMC Sierra sibling ride on the all-new GMT 900 architecture, like the current Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon. The pickup's...

Big grilles are in.(Detroit Spy REPORT)
September 1, 2006... 2. Big grilles are in. And the folks at Chevrolet try to keep with the times--witness this artist's concept of the next TrailBlazer. Other changes include a revised greenhouse and more slope to the windshield for better aero. [ILLUSTRATION...

Call it the Mercury.(Ford Motor Co.'s )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... 3. Call it the Mercury that never was. This midsize crossover shared its platform with the Ford Freestyle. It was planned at a time when Ford intended to drop the Free-style. But within months, the company did an about-face and canceled work on...

Benz's rising middle class: Mercedes-Benz E-Class.(Daimler-Benz AG's )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Take three laps around the outside of the newly freshened 2007 Mercedes-Benz E-Class and you'd be hard-pressed to pinpoint any changes. Aesthetically, it's a conservative makeover. But under the hood, you really get the goods. The E550 gets the...

BMW's 6 Series.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... 1. BMW's 6 Series has matured and is sprouting variations. Adding choices is BMW's method of keeping buyers' wallets in hand. Next up is the potent M6 convertible, which will be motivated by a 507-hp V10. That kind of power makes it a serious...

About the only complaints Mini owners have concern the car's lack of trunk space and rear headroom.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... 2. About the only complaints Mini owners have concern the car's lack of trunk space and rear headroom. The Traveler, seen as a concept at several auto shows, cures both. Hiding under this test mule's cladding aft of the door and ahead of the...

Further blurring the line between sedan and SUV is the BMW Luxury Sport Crossover, or LSC.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... 3. Further blurring the line between sedan and SUV is the BMW Luxury Sport Crossover, or LSC. Carefully sculptured to avoid any vestige of a hatchback or minivan profile, the LSC nonetheless sits higher than a sedan. It has BMW's typically...

Nissan is developing a crossover smaller than the Murano to compete with the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4.(Nissan Motor Company Ltd.'s P32K)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... 1. Nissan is developing a crossover smaller than the Murano to compete with the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. Internally code-named P32K, the new five-passenger compact will come only with a four-cylinder engine and a CVT transmission. And...

Based on a concept shown at New York's auto show last spring, the Honda Element SC hopes to take a bite out of the Scion xB's pie this fall.(Honda Motor Company Ltd.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... 2. Based on a concept shown at New York's auto show last spring, the Honda Element SC hopes to take a bite out of the Scion xB's pie this fall. The platform, which is based on the CR-V, is essentially unchanged. However, a mild 10-hp boost in...

Style sells, and Toyota continues pushing toward sportier design.(Toyota Motor Corp.'s Corolla )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... 3. Style sells, and Toyota continues pushing toward sportier design. Check out this prototype of the next-generation Corolla due in calendar year 2007. A hybrid version will likely deliver fuel economy close to that of today's Prius. This...

Betting big: Mitsubishi Outlander.(Mitsubishi Motors Corp.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... After a serious drop in sales last year, Mitsubishi is betting its bank on the '07 Outlander. After spending a day hammering Outlanders at Mitsu's Okazaki proving grounds near Nagoya, Japan, we think it's a good gamble. Sitting on the same...

Clutchless commuting: Yamaha FJR 1300.(motorcycles )(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Working a motorcycle's clutch in traffic is no fun. The Yamaha '06 FJR 1300 with Chip Controlled Shift System moves the clutch for you. Just twist the throttle--that's it. We sampled the system in San Diego traffic and on nearby snaky mountain...

Remembering a man I never met: once, a 17-year-old could build a three-wheeled car and drive it around the country.(Bob Shotwell )
September 1, 2006... Ten years ago, I received a letter from a man named Bob Shotwell who lived in a small town in Minnesota. He knew that I liked old cars from watching me on television. And he wanted to give me one. He recalled that he asked his father for a...

Inventing the future: the next 20 years of American innovation will be shaped by these 10 cutting-edge science and engineering programs. But before they change the world, these undergraduates will have to finish their homework.
September 1, 2006... Beyond Book Learning Engineering OLIN COLLEGE What's the best way to learn about robotics and agricultural engineering? (a) Read about it in a textbook; or (b) build a robot tractor? If you answered (b), then you're thinking like an...

Scientists are finding life in earth's coldest, hottest, weirdest places. Next up: Mars, Titan & beyond: how five big questions about life on our planet are shaping the search for it on other worlds.
September 1, 2006... THERE ARE MANY STRANGE landscapes in the solar system, but perhaps none stranger than that of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Deserts blanket Titan for hundreds of miles, rippling with wind-sculpted dunes that rise more than 300 ft. Images taken...

How it works: Boeing 787 Dreamliner: with the new 787, Boeing radically rethinks commercial aircraft design.
September 1, 2006... The company that ushered in the age of affordable commercial flight with the 707 in 1957 is trying to revolutionize the industry again. Boeing's 787 Dreamliner combines lightweight materials with advanced communications systems and thrifty...

Shed nation: with a few tools and a pile of lumber, a pioneering homeowner can lay claim to the territory out the back door. Building a barn--or heck, a log-cabin sauna-is the ultimate hands-on project. get inspired, and get started.
September 1, 2006... 1 CONNECTICUT Backyard Barn If you have kids around, you may be familiar with the Tractor Mac series of children's books, which follows the adventures of an antique farm tractor. In real life, Tractor Mac is a 1948 Farmall Cub that's owned...

Canyon riders: want to make the hawks jealous? All it takes are canyons, empty airspace--and some high-flying ultralights.
September 1, 2006... WE'RE OFF THE GROUND EARLY, seven ultralight kite wings climbing from an airstrip outside Tucson, Ariz., and banking into the sunrise. There are no canopies on our aircraft, Which are basically just go-karts bolted to hang gliders with engines...

Kind of blue: creating some visual jazz with DIY bluestone walkway.(HOME JOURNAL: BUILD A FOYER BENCH//REPAIR CEDAR SHINGLES//INSTALL FLOORING )
September 1, 2006... Nearly 400 million years ago, during the Devonian geologic period, there was a mountain range scientists call the Acadians. It was thrust up where New York City now stands and then slowly washed away by ancient, nameless rivers. The eroded...

Boot camp: clean up front-hall clutter with a bench that doubles as a storage chest.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... A home's entryway is more than just a door. It's the interface between outdoors and in, sort of an air lock on spaceship home--but instead of oxygen and helmets, it's filled with coats, hats, umbrellas and boots. To keep things organized,...

Foyer bench.(Tools & Hardware)
September 1, 2006... (1) The bench is composed of four panel assemblies, a 3/4-in.-thick plywood bottom and a lid made of oak boards tied together with cross cleats. The bottom is held in place by support cleats screwed to the inside of the panels. Keep in mind...

Hanging out your shingle.
September 1, 2006... Q Some of the cedar shingles on one side of my house are damaged. Can a few be replaced, or will all of the shingles have to be torn off and the entire wall re-covered? A Yes, individual cedar shingles on a side wall of a house can be...

Tap and die.(SHORT COURSE THREADING METAL)
September 1, 2006... Tap and Die: Threading metal is an important skill because fasteners get damaged and need repair, or you may need to cut (tap) threads in a hole. On rare occasions, you may also want to make a specialized fastener. The 41-piece tap and die kit...

Drill taps.(SHORT COURSE THREADING METAL)
September 1, 2006... Drill Taps These high-speed steel bits drill, tap and bevel a hole's edge in one step. Their 1/4-in. hex shank allows them to rapidly pop in and out of a sliding-sleeve chuck. The seven-piece set includes the chuck and 6-32, 8-32, 10-32, 10-24,...

Triple tap times two.(SHORT COURSE THREADING METAL)
September 1, 2006... The Six-in-One Tapping Tool is a compact means to repair damaged or blocked holes for small electrical screws. On one end of its shaft are graduated machine screw taps: 6-32, 8-32 and 10-32. On the other end are three larger taps: 10-24, 12-24...

Our father made "The Racer" for us in 1952.(READER PROJECT)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Ronny, Kenny and Donny Pylant Houston, TX Our father made "The Racer" for us in 1952. After we grew up, the go-kart sat in a barn until May 2004, when we started to restore it. Even though it was covered in rust and was lying in...

Replacing a sealed wheel bearing.
September 1, 2006... The squeal coming from the front end of your high-end German sport sedan is embarrassing. Not only do passersby do double takes, but when you recently gave your boss a ride across town, he couldn't hear his cellphone ring. So you drop a handful...

They all do that.(automobile maintainence)
September 1, 2006... My pickup often makes a loud clanging noise when I'm starting up from a traffic light or a stop sign. Sometimes it's really loud. Last year I took the vehicle to the dealership and they did something under warranty that made the noise go...

Caught flat-not.(tire repair )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... I'm usually pretty skeptical of flat-fix products. When there's a puncture in one of my tires, I feel it should be removed from the rim and inspected for internal damage, rather than just filled with sticky goo to keep air in. I still feel that...

Shrink to fit.(data compression)
September 1, 2006... Q You've mentioned using zipped and compressed files in many of your columns. How do the various compression programs shrink your data and how does the process affect a file? A Without getting into the down-and-dirty math, one can lump file...

Three things you need to know about DivX.
September 1, 2006... 1 DivX is the MP3 of video Although it got its start as the Internet video format of choice for the, ahem, adult entertainment industry, DivX is now showing up in a surprising number of places. Everything from portable media players to the...

Powerline networking.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Powerline networking has played second fiddle to wireless networking for years. In true plug-and-play form, powerline devices use your existing electrical outlets and wiring to extend your Ethernet network. Although easy to use, older powerline...

Sound engineer.(John Cooper)(Interview)
September 1, 2006... JOHN COOPER Knoxville, Tenn. Years on Job: 30 "Bruce will often say, 'We're going to do four bars of a solo. But if we get out there and the crowd is liking it, we may do 12 or 16. So just watch me.' I have to act like an extra band...