Posts

May 03, 2013

+

12:15 PM | Watch Live As This Solar-Powered Plane Embarks On A Flight Across The U.S.

Solar Impulse will attempt to fly across the United States using nothing but sunlight for fuel. A solar-powered airplane is set to embark on a historic flight across the United States this morning. Weather permitting, Solar Impulse will leave the Bay Area at 6 a.m. PST, and arrive in New York about two months later, after stopovers in Phoenix, Dallas, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. With 12,000 solar cells built into the wings, the plane is designed to fly on sunlight alone. Check out the […]

March 29, 2013

+

Land Robots V. Flying Drones, winner Katie Peek and Colin Lecher After five nail-biting rounds, we have a winner! The people have spoken. The greatest landbot/ sky drone in all the internet is.... the X-47B! The X-47B, the world's first autonomous warplane, crushed BigDog, Boston Dynamics's robotic pack mule, 63 percent to 37 percent, in the final round of our Land Robots Vs. Flying Drones March Madness bracket. Check out our 2012 magazine feature on the X-47B, and go here to review earlier […]

March 27, 2013

+

Land robots vs. flying drones, final round Who's going to be crowned the greatest bot in all the internet? Vote now! The poll closes Friday, March 29, at 9 a.m. Welcome to the final round of the world's nerdiest bracket! To recap: we've compiled a list of some of the strongest, fastest, and strangest landbots and sky drones around. Your job: vote for your favorites. We're down to the last matchup, pitting BigDog, DARPA's robotic pack mule, against the X-47B, the world's first autonomous […]

March 26, 2013

+

Land robots vs. flying drones, round 4 Katie PeekRound four polls close Wednesday, March 26, at 9 a.m. Cast your votes in the penultimate matchup! Welcome to round four of the world's nerdiest bracket! To recap: we've compiled a list of some of the strongest, fastest, and strangest landbots and sky drones around. Your job: vote for your favorites. We're down to the penultimate matchup. If you need a quick guide to what's what, go here. Polls close Wednesday, March 27, at 9 a.m. Check back […]

March 25, 2013

+

Land robots vs. flying drones, round 3 Katie Peek Welcome to round three of the world's nerdiest bracket! To recap: we've compiled a list of some of the strongest, fastest, and strangest landbots and sky drones around. Your job: vote for your favorites. Round two got pretty heated, with a neck and neck race between CHARLI-L, America's first true humanoid robot, and BigDog, DARPA's galumphing pack-mule robot. BigDog ultimately triumphed, as did the eerily realistic android Geminoid DK over a […]

March 22, 2013

+

Land robots vs. flying drones, round 2 Katie PeekRound 2 polls close Monday, March 25, at 9 a.m. Happy March Madness! Welcome to round two of the world's nerdiest bracket! To recap: we've compiled a list of some of the strongest, fastest, and strangest landbots and sky drones around. Your job: vote for your favorites. After a lively first round, in which you threw your voting power behind the likes of BigDog and the X-47B, (but shockingly managed to eliminate a taxidermied […]

March 21, 2013

+

March Madness, Popular Science-style Katie Peek Happy March Madness! Love, us. Welcome to the Popular Science March Madness bracket! We don't know much about sports--is that where you toss around a ball for a few years then strap on an orange vest and help kids across sidewalks?--but we felt left out watching our friends have all the fun. So we decided to build our own bracket out of something we do know a bit about: robots and drones. Below you'll find 16 of the strongest, fastest, and […]

March 09, 2013

+

9:30 PM | SXSW 2013: Al Gore On The Future [Live]

WSJ reporter Walter Mossberg interviews Al Gore at SXSW. Live broadcast by Ustream

+

8:03 PM | SXSW 2013: Watch Elon Musk's Keynote Speech Live

SpaceX's Elon Musk is giving the keynote speech at SXSW this year. Watch it here. Live Video app for Facebook by Ustream

February 27, 2013

+

3:30 PM | Someone Bothered To Look Up The Science Of Hating Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway Wikimedia CommonsUgh. Anne Hathaway is the most despicable actress in Hollywood, according to the Internet, which used to hate Katherine Heigl and Shia Labeouf and every last Kardashian in pretty much the same way. The reasons for hating Hathaway are all over the map, but mostly they center on the notion that in public life she behaves like nothing so much as a robot built from scratch by the world's most insufferable high school theater class. Hating celebrities is something of a […]

February 18, 2013

+

3:30 PM | Obama Expected To Launch Massive Study Of The Human Brain

Neurons Patrick Hoesly on Flickr President Obama is planning an exhaustive study of the human brain that could help researchers gain insight into everything from Alzheimer's to mental illness to artificial intelligence, the New York Times reports: The Obama administration is planning a decade-long scientific effort to examine the workings of the human brain and build a comprehensive map of its activity, seeking to do for the brain what the Human Genome Project did for genetics. The Brain […]

February 13, 2013

+

8:00 PM | Toy Fair 2013: Watch This Guy Bounce A Bubble Made With Soap And Dry Ice

Watch it bounce, then vanish in a puff of smoke! Playing with bubbles is fun and all, but you know what's more fun? Playing with smoke bubbles. Even more fun: Playing with smoke bubbles, then bouncing them off your hand like a rubber ball. Showcased at the Toy Fair this week and available for $24.99 in June, the Epic Bubbles science kit lets you create your own fog-filled bouncy bubbles using dry ice (purchased […]

January 21, 2013

+

5:30 PM | Obama's Inaugural Address: "We Will Respond To The Threat Of Climate Change"

Obama's inaugural address President Obama vowed to tackle climate change in his second inaugural address today. "We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations," he said. "Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes […]

January 14, 2013

+

8:30 PM | Buzzing Fork Annoys You Into Losing Weight

Hapifork HapilabsThe sensor-equipped Hapifork buzzes and lights up when you eat too fast, reminding you to slow down. A Hong Kong-based company has introduced what's either the most annoying or the most brilliant eating utensil ever: a sensor-equipped fork that buzzes and lights up when you eat too fast, effectively irritating you into slowing down. The slower you eat, the less you eat, or so the theory goes. One fatal flaw: Hapifork is available in fork form only. So there's nothing to stop […]

January 09, 2013

+

1:20 AM | CES 2013: Canon's New PowerShot N Is Button-Cute, And Button-Free

Canon is showcasing a new version of the PowerShot N at CES, and it is ahhhh-dorable. The refreshed compact camera has a squarish form with rounded edges and checks in at about 3 inches by 2.4 inches by 1.2 inches, making it almost smartphone-sized. The best part: It's button-free. You control it using a 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen and a pair of rings around the camera's lens. It'll be available for $300 in February. More at Pop Photo.

January 08, 2013

+

1:55 AM | CES 2013: Ford Wants You To Design Its Next App

Ford at CES 2013 Suzanne LaBarreFord launches the car industry's first open mobile app developer program. Inching us ever closer to the connected car of the future, Ford today announced plans to crowdsource the next generation of driver-friendly apps. The 150-year-old company is opening its code libraries and other resources to developers worldwide. The idea? Consumers know what they want, so let them design the apps that'll keep them entertained--and safe--on the road. Ford already has a […]

January 07, 2013

+

10:24 PM | CES 2013: Fujifilm's X-Series Cameras Get A Speed Boost

Via our pals at Pop Photo: Fujifilm released two new lightning-fast versions of the X-series advanced compact cameras at CES today. The X100 and the X10 come equipped with X-Trans CMOS II sensors that feature phase-detection autofocus pixels on-board. That makes the cameras' autofocus substantially faster--the "world's fastest," Fujifilm claims. Pop Photo will test it out to make sure.

+

8:30 PM | CES 2013: Lexus Unveils Autonomous 'Safety Research' Car

Lexus integrated safety Suzanne LaBarre Lexus's Mark Templin: "Our goal is to eliminate future traffic fatalities and injuries." At CES today, Lexus showcased an "Advanced Active Safety Research Vehicle," a souped-up LS being used as a testbed for autonomous car technology. "Our goal is to eliminate future traffic fatalities and injuries," Lexus's Mark Templin said, standing in a press conference room lit like a Virgin cabin. And he believes autonomous--if not fully self-driving--cars are an […]