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Technology News

Cobra XRS 9950 Tells You When Big Brother Is Watching: Tech Test

The XRS 9950 promises "total protection and peace of mind," but this clever gadget may have you stop looking for speed traps and start looking for hidden cameras instead.

GTA IV Baseball Bat Moves Gaming Violence From Couch to the Streets

Parents and lawmakers have been alarmed for years about the violent, lawless nature of the Grand Theft Auto series. Is game developer Rockstar giving them even more to fret about?

Why Pixar Is the Apple of Hollywood

Steve Jobs let the animators at his other little startup do what they do best with WALL*E: use breakthrough technology to bring a great idea to life, but don’t let it out of the lab until it’s perfect. Sound familiar?

10 Gonzo Machines From Rogue Inventor Buckminster Fuller

From super-efficient cars to encapsulated cities, Buckminster Fuller's works made Frank Lloyd Wright look positively normal, and his prescient engineering foreshadowed the current movement toward green design and prefabricated housing.

Taser Builds AXON Cop Headcams to Fend Off Abuse Allegations

Taser, a company better known for its (mostly) nonlethal weapons than for surveillance, has developed a product that takes the camera out of the squad car to where the action is, while worn by an officer.

How to Get the Best HDTV When Satellite Carriers Degrade Quality

Your cable or satellite company might be reducing the quality of your HD signal in order to cram more channels through their network bandwidth. Some tips from our tech guru for getting the clearest picture.

Novint Falcon Pistol Grip High on First-Person Shooter Haptics, Low on Titles: Hands-on First Look (With Video!)

This follow-up to the unique Novint Falcon promises enhanced realism in first-person shooters by producing haptic feedback every time you pull the trigger. Does it live up to the hype?

Shift on Future Combat Systems Will Rush High-Tech Gear to Iraq

Pentagon officials today announced big changes for its closely watched Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, aiming to bring combat sensors and robots to the battlefield more quickly.

The 10 Funniest Spy Gadgets in Movies ... Ever

Get Smart, with the return of the classic shoe phone, plus the addition of a tooth radio and what might be the most insane Swiss Army knife ever, represents the evolving combo of contraptions both ludicrous and hilarious.

10 Classic Games We Want on the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console

After a workout with the Wii Fit, you might want to kick back with Nintendo's Virtual Console. Cheap, instant downloads of the best retro video games from yesteryear. Here’s a handful that we’re still waiting for.

10 Awesome Gadgets You Should Grab for 2008: Midyear Roundup

A lot of gee-whiz products come through our doors here at PM. And a lot of them make us yawn. But during the six months since CES, some toys had us sitting up, smiling and paying attention. Here are the top gizmos we¹re excited about so far this year.

World’s Smallest Projector, TI Optoma Pico, Coming to U.S. Next Year

Texas Instruments is bringing the next generation of handheld displays to market with the Optoma Pico, a gadget it claims will be the tiniest projector commercially available. Traveling salesmen everywhere, rejoice!

Inside the High-Tech Art of Gaming's Realistic Car Crashes

While many racing games let you plow into walls scot-free, most purists would argue that crashes are an essential part of the sport. Here's what goes into making the most realistic race-game wrecks.

How to Stop Your Boss From Spying on Your Company E-mail

Is there any way for an employee to browse the Web anonymously on a company computer? Tips for secret surfing on the job from our tech guru.

Blueline Innovations' Real-Time PowerCost Monitor Guilts You Into Energy Bill Savings

The makers of this device claim you will "save up to 20 cents on every dollar you're spending right now on your electricity bill—without changing your lifestyle." Will this $150 investment actually pay off?

How to Save Your Wet Cellphone: Tech Clinic

Even if a wet cellphone seems dead, there's a good chance it can be resuscitated as long as you act fast. This is a DIY moment: Your phone's warranty probably doesn't cover water damage.

High-Speed Storm Radars to Track Tornadoes, Fend Off Tragedy

As a deadly EF-4 tornado whipped through Little Sioux, Iowa, with 145-mph-plus winds last Wednesday night, federal climate scientists and a group of university researchers were in the early phases of testing high-tech replacements for an aging Doppler radar system.

5 Brilliant Startup Ideas From MIT’s New Crop of Graduates

MIT is Division I in academia, and like their counterparts in sports, lots of students turn pro before graduation. As the Class of 2008 tosses their high-tech hats in the air, we look at projects with the potential to shake things up in the real world.

ICON A5 Folding Plane Looks Like Sportscar, Costs as Much as Maserati

Loaded with features like folding wings (so you can keep it in your garage) and seat belt-like parachutes (so you can ease the whole thing down to the ground), ICON Aircraft’s new light sport airplane (LSA), dubbed the A5, might just be the ultimate joyride.

High-End Samsung vs. Budget Vizio: LCD TV Lab Test

In recent years the quality of cut-rate flat screens has improved immensely. Are high-end sets still worth it? To find out, we put a new Samsung 1080p LCD—the followup to our highest-rated TV of last year—against a budget Vizio set with similar specs.

Nike Plus SportBand Down-Mods Web-Based Workouts

Studies show that logging workouts helps runners stick to a routine. The Nike Plus SportBand improves on their original Plus iPod training system—by removing the iPod.

How the PS3 Helped Build the World's Fastest Supercomputer

The military isn’t the only branch of U.S. government that relies on gaming companies for its R&D. Pentagon geeks may use Xbox 360 controllers, but government-funded scientists went straight for the hardware.

What the iPhone 3G Needs to Put Garmin and TomTom Out of the GPS Business: Instant Analysis

If Steve Jobs’ demo today was any indication, stand-alone nav unit makers like Magellan and TomTom really do have every reason to be “scared [expletive-]less.”

4 Reasons Early Adopters Don't Need a 3G iPhone Upgrade

The die-hards out there are already hawking their first-generation iPhones and preparing to line up for the new model. But fear not: Steve Jobs' keynote won't just be about the new iPhone, it'll be about what's new for your iPhone.

Creative's Vado Pocket Video Cam Is Cheap, Fun Alternative to Popular Flip

Rather than differentiating itself from the competition by stuffing in more features, the Vado simply gives you a slightly larger video screen (2 in.instead of the Flip's 1.5) in a smaller body, and for less money.

As 3G iPhone Awaits, Testing Apple’s Headphone vs. Third Parties

Until recently, most headphone plugs didn't fit iPhone's recessed jack, leaving owners with one option: the bundled set. Now, other companies have stepped up. Here's how their products compare.

New Microsoft OS to Strip Down Surface for the Living Room, but Will Multitouch Really Be Ubiquitous?

The multitouch action demonstrated in Windows 7 earned Microsoft the lion's share of buzz at this week's All Things Digital conference. But are we really ready to give up our mice and keyboards?

Surround Sound Sans Space-Hogging Speakers: Tech Clinic

Looking to build a home theater system without filling your room with speakers? Though they do have their shortcomings, a sound bar will do a surprisingly solid job in an extremely compact package.

Motorola's ROKR T505 Turns Your Cellphone Into a Car Stereo

To save the iPhone-less cellphone user's songs from pocket purgatory, this gadget that clips on to your car’s sun visor and wirelessly streams to its sound system. Plus, if a call comes in, it pauses the current track and turns your stereo into a giant speakerphone.

Reviews


10 Midyear Gadgets

Some came out within the last few months, and others you'll have to wait until later in the year. All are on our wish lists for birthdays, holidays, tax-return sprees and everything in between.

Is Asimo Tuned Out?

Sure, Honda's robot conducted a symphony. But PM's resident geek wonders if this is a leader in our unmanned future—or just a hype machine.

America's Robot Army

Unmanned fighters now come armed to the threads. But are they really ready for combat in the Iraq war?

Best of CES

Hands-on videos, analysis and roundups on the 2008 tech you need to know.

iPhone Made Jobs Nice?

Was Steve Jobs planning the price drop all along? Live from WWDC 2008, PM's guest Apple geek unearths the landscape for the turtlenecked titan that Silicon Valley loves to hate.

MIT Week

At the breakthrough university, PM's resident geek finds a window into new research, from robotics to race cars.

MacWorld Mania

Up close and personal with MacBook Air, plus analysis on iPhone updates and Apple TV.

Health and Medicine

health breakthroughs
10 High-Tech Health Breakthroughs
Medicine of the future will make even today's broad-based therapies obsolete. New technologies have begun to usher in a new era of targeted treatment.

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Breakthrough Awards

Big Ideas, Better World

For PM's third annual innovation celebration, we honor eight inventors (with video from the lab) and 10 products with one IQ-packed party and three discussions for our future.

Technology News

Buzzword: Bi-weekly Tech Trends

Senior tech editor Glenn Derene forecasts next-gen tech you haven't heard of yet but that's ready to be part of your everyday life.

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Gaming Central

The Web's smartest analysis of the video-game industry starts here with regular coverage of the latest from Nerdville.

Digital Hollywood

Movies 2.0

Keep up to date with sci-fi news, digital F/X and more with PM's silver screen coverage.

Military & Law Enforcement

War Tech 2.0

Breaking news, photos and analysis on the high-tech defense technology shaping America's battlegrounds.

Robotics

It's a Bot, Bot World

There's never a dull moment in the world of automated machines, and we cover it bit by bit.

Technology News

MythBusters

TV's top geeks write a regular column for PM on the gonzo side of the science world.

Industry

10 Tech Terms for 2008

Machines are getting smaller, handier, and much smarter. Here's what you need to know.

Featured

You're Being Watched

Inside America's looming high-tech surveillance society. Have new cameras gone too far?

Research

The Top 50 Inventions of the Past 50 Years

In the past half-century, scientific and tech advances have transformed our world. PM convened a panel of 25 experts to identify innovations that have made the biggest impact.

The Popular Mechanics Show

Bi-weekly Podcast!

Leading experts and PM editors analyze the science, tech, home and car news you need to know now in a half-hour of brain power.

9-11 Myths

9/11: Debunking the Myths

PM's investigation, greatly expanded in book form. Plus, new myths debunked.

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Technology


PM Gadget of the Week

Cobra XRS 9950
"It works as advertised, blurting out a voice warning whenever red-light or speed-enforcing cameras are in your path."

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Tech How-To Central


DIY Tech

Browse PM's database of tech support for your every car need!

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Your Cellphone Rights

Congress is trying to empower the consumer in the tug-of-war with mobile carriers. How much freedom do you want?

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