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Deco

Entertainment & Gaming

Pop Music Mystery Solved

By Posted on 4.2.2009 9 Comments
The opening chord to “A Hard Day’s Night” has reached an almost mythical status. For years, no one knew what it actually was. People would come close, through trial and error, watching Ed Sullivan performances, and studying advanced music theory, but no attempts ever quite captured the exact chord.

1.16.2009 at 10:32am - Comment by Deco

Very very VERY cool. I had read about people trying to figure out that chord and so much arguing about it.
Entertainment & Gaming

The Physics of Surfing (Part Two: Tubes and Barrels)

By Adam Weiner Posted on 4.2.2009 2 Comments
Probably the most sought-after surfing experience is the tube ride (a.k.a. "getting barreled"). A tube ride occurs when the top of the wave pitches over the surfer so that he or she is completely enclosed in an oval space behind the curtain of falling water. Inside the "green room," you are hurtling through a tunnel of water and the only way out (without wiping out) is straight through the opening in front of you. Hollow waves are foot-for-foot the most powerful variety of breaking wave, and good tube riding is really difficult. It requires timing, experience, and skill. The video shows us some world-class surfers making it look easy!

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11.6.2008 at 06:57am - Comment by Deco

Very well written. Great stuff.
Entertainment & Gaming

Michael Crichton, Dead at 66

By Stuart Fox Posted on 4.2.2009 3 Comments
Michael Crichton, best known as the author of such books like Jurassic Park and movies like Westworld, died last night from cancer at his home in Los Angeles, California at the age of 66. He is survived by his wife Sherri and his daughter Taylor. A medical doctor with a degree from Harvard, Crichton’s works and movies brought science to a mainstream audience, introducing readers to concepts like cloning and chaos theory.

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11.6.2008 at 06:06am - Comment by Deco

I'm gonna miss his books...
Gadgets

Megagoods and Beyond

By PopSci Staff Posted on 10.28.2008 1 Comments
Every month in Popular Science we feature 12 must-have products. The goods might range from skateboards to dental floss to laser televisions, but they all share one thing—a tech innovation that's never been used in such a way before. Here, we've collected over 100 of our top picks.
Launch the gallery for a look at . . . The Goods.

10.31.2008 at 06:33am - Comment by Deco

Didn't work for me.
DIY

Polish the AppleTV

By Mike Haney Posted on 10.30.2008 7 Comments
Like its more popular cousin the iPhone, the AppleTV is a beacon of simplicity in a category—set-top boxes that download and stream video from a computer or other device to your TV—crowded with wonky and complex options. Also like the iPhone, the AppleTV has its needless limitations: It plays video only in iTunes formats or from YouTube. No home movies or video (legally) downloaded from other sites are playable unless they’ve been specially converted.

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10.31.2008 at 06:30am - Comment by Deco

Sadly that's not how it looks like it's going to happen. But it's a simple matter os Math (since we're PoPSci fans): Apple has what, 500 engineers working on this? (Make it a thousand) The web has a million kids with spare time and curiosity. It's just a matter of time until those kids find out how to disable these locks. What Apple (and Sony) should do is: spend less time finding ways to lock your devices and spend more time fixing bugs, including features (copy and paste on iPhone anyone?). They make an ad of "the PC" putting all his money into advertising and no money in fixing Vista. How about this ad: Mac: Hi I'm a Mac! PC: Hi I'm a PC! Mac: Hey PC, I've learned from you. PC: Oh really? Mac: Yes, I saw you sending all your money for marketing and no money for fixing (BEEEP) PC: Ah well that's how it goes...it's working. Heard of Windows 7? Mac: Yeah we noticed, here's the Mac take on the subject: We spend less money on marketing, but we spend more money on locking our customers in our products so we can have their money for a longer period of time. PC: Uhh, that's cool. Then I'd have more money for ads! And Marketing! Thanks Mac. PC grabs his phone and you can hear: Transfer 50% of our engineers to locking our products. Yes take some of the task force to fix Vi(BEEP). This ad would be by us, customers.
Science

Tech's Top 10 Election Lows

By Tom Conlon Posted on 10.30.2008 12 Comments
Just as the 1960 election was the first to be truly shaped by the television medium, this year's presidential throwdown will go down as the first that was undeniably shaped, and perhaps even decided, by technology. From the very beginning, the news media, the pundits, the public, and the candidates themselves have engaged tech in ways and to levels that simply weren't possible before now. As a technology enthusiast, it's been thrilling to see things like blogs, widgets, Twitter feeds, Facebook, and text messaging enter the mainstream political lexicon.

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10.31.2008 at 06:16am - Comment by Deco

Great story. Funny and informative. A++.
Cars

The Gas Bug

By Posted on 11.17.2008 10 Comments
E. coli has earned a nasty reputation for upsetting stomachs and killing people. But now scientists at LS9, a start-up in South San Francisco, are putting the bad bug to good use, genetically engineering it to excrete biodiesel. The fuel "burns just like diesel," says Greg Pal, the senior director at LS9 [see Breeding the Oil Bug, about the rise of microbial biofuels].

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10.30.2008 at 11:06am - Comment by Deco

Very nice and very important to have all these different technologies coming up so in that in the future we can choose from many options (electric, biodiesel, ethanol, etc) what fits each os us best.
Science

The Physics of Surfing (Part One: Dropping In)

By Adam Weiner Posted on 10.29.2008 3 Comments
There are few things more impressive than watching a big-wave surfer dropping into a monstrous "bomb" 60 or 70 feet high. Actually doing it must be quite an adrenaline rush. (I've been out in waves maybe a fifth that size and even then the energy of the wave can be, well... terrifying!) In the video we can see that the surfer gets towed into the wave with the aid of a jet ski. If you're familiar with surfing you might be aware that once waves get big enough (wave faces larger than 40 or 50 feet) it's impossible to paddle into them in the "traditional" way: you have to be towed in. Why is this? Not surprisingly, it all has to do with some basic principles of physics.

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10.30.2008 at 10:48am - Comment by Deco

Great stuff!
Science

First, Let's Synchronize Our Watches

By PopSci Staff Posted on 10.24.2008 6 Comments
Leonard Monroe wonders: "What would happen if everyone in the world were to jump and land at the same time?" Post your answer in the comments. Submit your science and technology questions to fyi@popsci.com.

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10.26.2008 at 06:36am - Comment by Deco

Here's my take on this: If you got every human to jump at the same time it would be a great sign. If you got every single human to do something as simple as jumping up at the same time, you could ask them to do other stuff like helping the guy next to you, or sharing a meal. This by far would have more implications than the simple act of jumping. So my answer is, you wouldn't phisically move planet Earth but you would surely move the world in a new direction.
Cars

Less Time Stuck in Traffic, Thanks to New MIT Program

By John Brandon Posted on 10.23.2008 1 Comments
Traffic delays are the bane of any commuter—even those who use a GPS, which warns you about traffic jams on your route to work. The reason: getting real-time data is difficult as the traffic information is routed from the scene to a massive database that only feeds GPS units on regular intervals.

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10.24.2008 at 05:55am - Comment by Deco

Good idea but I'm not sure that all people will be ok with their cars sending information about their location to a server.