Popular Mechanics (January 2006)

COV E R CO M P O S I T I N G BY A N T H O N Y V E R D U CC I H O M E I M P R OV E M E N T COV E R BY M A R K W E I S S...

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COV E R CO M P O S I T I N G BY A N T H O N Y V E R D U CC I

H O M E I M P R OV E M E N T COV E R BY M A R K W E I S S

V O L U M E

1 8 3

N O .

1

BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS, NEAR WENDOVER, UTAH Under the hood of grass-roots racer Jim Rotta’s gas modified roadster. 62

56 The Rebirth of Rail Already three times more Cover illustration by S O U L P I X . D E

Popular Mechanics (ISSN 0032-4558) is published monthly by Hearst Communications, Inc., a unit of the Hearst Corporation, 959 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10019, U.S.A. Victor F. Ganzi, President, Chief Executive Officer; George R. Hearst Jr., Chairman; Frank A. Bennack Jr., Vice Chairman; Catherine A. Bostron, Secretary; Ronald J. Doerfler, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Hearst Magazines Division: Cathleen Black, President; John P. Loughlin, Executive Vice President; George J. Green, Executive Vice President; Raymond J. Petersen, Executive Vice President; John A. Rohan Jr., Vice President and Group Controller. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Canada Post International Publications Mail Product (Canadian Distribution) Sales Agreement No. 40012499. Send returns to Quebecor World, P.O. Box 875, Windsor, ON N9A 6P2. CANADA BN NBR 10231 0943 RT. Registered as second-matter at the Post Office at Mexico D.F., Mexico, June 20, 1950, © 2006 by Hearst Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Popular Mechanics, P.O. Box 7170, Red Oak, IA 51591. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE: Popular Mechanics will, upon receipt from its reader of a completely new or renewal subscription order, undertake fulfillment of that order so as to provide the first-copy delivery either to the Postal Service or alternate carriers within 6 to 12 weeks. If for some reason this cannot be done, you will be notified promptly of the issue date that will begin your subscription, with a request for any further instructions you may have concerning your order. Please address all such orders to us at Popular Mechanics, P.O. Box 7170, Red Oak, IA 51591. •Should you have any problem with your subscription, please write Joan Harris, Customer Service Department, Pop ular Mechanics, P.O. Box 7170, Red Oak, IA 51591 or call toll-free 1-800-333-4948. Please enclose your mailing label when writing to us or renewing your subscription. •Subscription prices: United States and possessions, $24.00 for one year; $42.00 for two years. Canada and all other countries add $16.00 for each year. MAILING LISTS: From time to time we make our subscriber list available to companies who sell goods and services by mail that we believe would interest our readers. If you would rather not receive such mailings, please send your current mailing label or exact copy to: Popular Mechanics, Mail Preference Service, P.O. Box 7024, Red Oak, IA 51591-0024. We cannot be responsible for loss of unsolicited queries, manuscripts or photos. For return, they must be accompanied by adequate postage. AS A SERVICE TO READERS, Popular Mechanics publishes newsworthy products, techniques and scientific and technological developments. Due to possible variance in the quality and condition of materials and workmanship, Popular Mechanics cannot assume responsibility for proper application of techniques or proper and safe functioning of manufactured products or reader-built projects resulting from information published in this magazine.

fuel-efficient than trucks (and safer), freight trains are getting even faster, bigger, cleaner and smarter. Welcome to the American revolution in cargo transport. BY JOSH DEAN

62 Salt Flat Dreams Every year Speed Week beckons backyard racers to Utah’s Bonnneville Salt Flats, where they compete in 500-plus car categories—not for prize money, but for the sheer love of going as fast as possible. BY JEFF WISE

68

Sun City Rain doused the Solar Decathlon, but the 18 student-designed, solar-powered homes generated plenty of ideas for combating high fuel prices. BY JENNIFER WEEKS

74 15 Tech Concepts You Need to Know IPTV, FiOS, SPIT … Never heard of them? You will. Meet the big-impact technologies of ’06. BY ALEX HUTCHINSON

76 Don’t Try This at Home The MythBusters, TV’s mad scientists, are pro craftsmen with some strange ideas about power tools. BY JAMIE HYNEMAN AND ADAM SAVAGE

P H OTO G RA P H BY P E T E R F U N C H

POPULARMECHANICS.COM • JANUARY 2006

3

N E W S , T O O L S , C A R S , H O M E + H O W-T O

Columns 32 Hi-Def Made Easy With HDTV prices dropping, here’s a guide to decoding tricky jargon and getting your money’s worth.

36 How It Works: DARPA Grand Winner Under the hood and in the brain of Stanley, the car that drives itself. 40 “We Don’t Have Any Engines” PM investigates a crash that didn’t have to happen.

52 Jay Leno’s Garage An ordinary guy goes extraordinarily fast at Talladega in a Carrera GT.

Home Journal 81 Smooth Operators Picking the right power sander for you.

MENTIONED ON

THE COVER London’s new stadium. 14 Leno pushes 200 mph. 52

Building a column-free stadium. Plus: NASA’s autonomous robot; diagnosing bird flu; inner workings of a Striker helmet; decoding quake magnitudes; and citywide Wi-Fi.

Upgrade 21 Electric Company A trio of essentials for the home electrician. Plus: WD-40’s sturdier straw; a propane-powered paintball gun; an icy winter boot test; and VoIP cellphones.

4

New Cars 45 All the RAV A roomier Toyota RAV4. Plus: fuel cell and hybrid Spy Reports; economy cars get respect; and more.

JANUARY 2006 • POPULARMECHANICS.COM

Top Solar Homes Super Trains Hi-Def TV Robot SUV “We’re Not Gonna Make It”: Flight 3701 84 Build a Dresser 104 Upgrade Your CPU 88 Attic Heat Leaks 95 Fix Fender Dents 52 Jay Leno 74 Tech Ideas 81 Power Sanders 62 Speed Freaks at Bonneville

M O N T H LY EDITOR’S NOTES

10

LET TERS

12

READER PROJECT 93 KEEP IN TOUCH

98

THIS IS MY JOB

116

88 Homeowners Clinic Fixing sticky doors and sealing energy leaks. Car Care 95 Saturday Mechanic Hammering out dents, deductible-free.

99 Auto Clinic Curing wobbly wheels, rearview mirrors and more.

Technology 103 Tech Clinic Laptop plug converters; USB 2.0 upgrades; home networking (and file security) explained; brain surgery for your PC.

P H O T O G R A P H B Y E PA / M AT T H E W F E R N / N E W S C O M ( S TA D I U M )

Tech Watch 14 Arch Support

68 56 32 36 40

84 Arts & Crafts Dresser Plans for a 20thcentury American classic that you can build today.

WHAT’S HOT THIS MONTH ON

Popular Mechanics.com AUTO

SCIENCE

TECH

HOME

DAILY BLOG

AU TO M OT I V E GAS/ELECTRIC VS. GAS Last time we tested hybrids against diesels. This time it’s the gas-powered Honda Civic and Toyota Highlander against the hybrid versions. Read our daily blog reports from the test site, and watch exclusive PM.com video, at popularmechanics.com/hybrid.

T E C H N O L O GY HANDS-ON WITH THE XBOX 360 Read our first-contact reactions to Microsoft’s new advanced gaming console, as well as readers’ thoughts at popularmechanics.com/xbox. The new Xbox represents more than an incremental improvement on past gaming consoles—it has the potential to revolutionize the industry. As always, the devil is in the details.

HOME JOURNAL PM SOLAR HOME PROJECT Last month, we told you how Ben Hewitt is fending for himself in Vermont—disconnected from the local electrical grid. Now, read his own progress reports as he adds more solar juice. popularmechanics.com/blog/energyfamily

SCIENCE LET’S GO TO MARS In our December cover story, Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin revealed his step-by-step plan to “commute” to the red planet. Join the debate on mankind’s next giant leap in space at popularmechanics.com/space.

James B. Meigs E d i to r- I n - C h i e f Executive Editor David Dunbar Design Director Michael Lawton AUTOMOTIVE Editor Don Chaikin Detroit Editor Jim Dunne Senior Editor Mike Allen West Coast Editor Ben Stewart Contr ibuting Editors Jay Leno, Joe Oldham, Jim McCraw HOME Senior Editors Roy Berendsohn, Thomas Klenck Contr ibuting Editors Neal Barrett, Norman Becker, Merle Henkenius, Fred Mackerodt, Joe Provey, Joe Truini SCIENCE

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P M

JOEL JOHNSON Gadget guru Joel Johnson, who regularly churns out advice in our Tech Clinic column, serves up a special guide this month: “HDTV Guidebook” (page 32). Johnson, whose experience includes a stint as a UNIX systems administrator, dodged personal questions about his plasma versus LCD preference. “At home, I’m not too picky,” he says. “As long as it has a big screen.”

Executive editor Dunbar (center) with ’busters Savage and Hyneman. JENNIFER WEEKS

W H O YO U G O N NA CA L L?

W

O U LD S H O OTIN G SO M EO N E

J i m

10

M e i g s


“Renewable energy isn’t sci-fi. And solar doesn’t have to mean strange-looking.” “Sun City,” page 68 H A RV E Y S Y M O N S The artist behind the pseudonym FlyingChilli.com, Harvey Symons, routinely helps PM illustrate the future—his credits include last May’s “America 2025” package. This month, the Cornwall, England, native illustrates the workings of new hybrid locomotives in “The Train” (page 56). Of his distinctively clean style, Symons says he just likes to get to the point. “It’s about ‘showing’ the story,” he says. “So it has to be clear.”

Editor-In-Chief

P H OTO G RA P H BY A RT ST R E I B E R

P H OTO G RA P H S BY ZAC H D E SA RT (J O E L J O H N S O N ) , B I L L D O N A L D S O N (J E N N I F E R W E E KS )

with ice bullets (which, the story goes, melt soon after dispatching the victim) really constitute the perfect crime? Does a sinking ship actually pull down swimming survivors behind it? Could you really blow yourself up by answering your cellphone while pumping gas? If those are the kinds of questions you find yourself pondering, you’re probably the kind of person who reads Popular Mechanics. And watches MythBusters. In more than 40 episodes, the Discovery Channel TV show has subjected dozens of urban legends like those above to hands-on reality checks. (The answers to the questions above, by the way, are no, no and no.) Along the way, MythBusters has become a bit of a cult phenomenon among tinkerers, skeptics and anyone who appreciates a good debunking. The show’s two cohosts came to television via roundabout careers. Jamie Hyneman has worked as a dive charter operator and as a special-effects model builder on such movies as Star Wars: Episodes I and II. His partner, Adam Savage, is also a modelmaker (Terminator 3), as well as a sculptor and toy builder. Now, they both add magazine writing to their résumés. In “Don’t Try This at Home” (page 76), the pair reveal a few trade secrets. PM’s executive editor, David Dunbar (pictured above, convincing the pair to get their article in on time), says, “Jamie and Adam represent the real spirit of PM: They love to build things, push all kinds of gear to the limit, and blow stuff up.” On a different note, about a year ago, PM published a story titled “Courage After Fire,” about National Guardsman Kevin Pannell who lost both legs in Iraq. The story detailed his brave effort to adjust to a new life with prosthetic legs. You might like to know that, on Nov. 6, Kevin successfully completed the New York City Marathon. Congratulations, Kevin.

P M

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT I S S U E

11/05 Breakthrough Awards, sport planes and rock stars

I was very interested in your article about the new Light-Sport Aircraft (“Planes for the People,” Nov. 2005). But as a flight instructor and pilot, I feel it would be irresponsible to certify a pilot in one week. There are too many variables that take longer to experience. I work with my students for at least a month before I endorse them to solo, much less certify them as pilots. CHRIS HEARD UNIONVILLE, TN

NEWS FROM THE FRONT Sophisticated devices are helping amputees.

I N N OVAT I V E T H I N K I N G R LETTE E OF TH H MONT

As a bilateral below-the-knee amputee, the marvelous new computer-aided prosthetics featured in your “Breakthrough Awards 2005” article (Nov. 2005) are of particular interest to me. Advances in prosthetics are being made frequently these days. Unfortunately, such devices are so expensive that to most of us they are just a curiosity. N I C H A L L E T T COUPEVILLE, WA

It’s been a long time since I was an English teacher, but I don’t understand how you can give Sling Media a “breakthrough inventions of the year” award for its Slingbox. “Breakthrough” and “inventions” refer to the first of their kind. However, in 2003 I purchased TV2Me from my friend Kenny Schaffer, who devised “place shifting”— the ability to push great pictures across the world over little wires to allow people like me, who travel constantly, to maintain a sense of home. Because of TV2Me, I can watch my team, Newcastle United, from wherever I’m working or playing. And as you may imagine, it isn’t wise to come between an Englishman and his team. STING NEWCASTLE, ENGLAND

Editor’s Response:

You’re right. Kenny Schaffer’s TV2Me existed before the Slingbox. But its $4750 price tag puts it a little out of reach for most people. (Since 2001, Sony has also offered a similar, though highly specialized, product.) At $250, the Slingbox offers some of the same ingenuity that TV2Me pioneered, but is more accessible for the mass market. However, we share your interest in Schaffer and his product; stay tuned to PM for more on his work.

W H A T

D O YO U T H I N K

12


Thanks for your timely articles about the weaponry and technology being used by our soldiers. My son, Air Force Staff Sgt. Adam Dufford, has served in Oman, Afghanistan, and in the Iraq War, and he is getting ready for another deployment to Baghdad. My son is tight-lipped about what he does and what he uses. PM’s coverage has helped me gain some insight into how he is armored and, more important, how he is protected. JAM E S C . D U FFO RD SPRING LAKE, MI

EAGLE-EYED READERS

Many readers wrote us to say that the Chrysler we pictured Jay Leno driving (“Jay Leno’s Garage,” Nov. 2005) is actually an Imperial, not a 300. Sharp-eyed readers noted that the Boss Hoss’s carburetor pictured in the same story is not a Quadrajet. You’re right, it’s a Holley carb. And yes, we’re more than a little impressed.

W R I T E T O U S Include your full name, address and phone number, even if you correspond by e-mail. Send e-mail to [email protected]. All letters are subject to editing for length, style and format. S U B S C R I B E Please call 800-333-4948 or go to popularmechanics.com.

P H OTO G R A P H B Y M I C H A E L E D WA R D S

PM

TECHWATCH ROBOTIC ASTRONAUTS DIAGNOSING BIRD FLU ADVANCED DOGFIGHTING CITYWIDE WI-FI

Arch Support by L u k e O ’ N e i l

The builders of London’s new Wembley Stadium want to make sure everyone can see the game. So when the revolutionary venue reopens this May, it will have no support columns, which means unobstructed sightlines for all 90,000 seats. The key to the open design is a single massive arch. Composed of 504 steel tubes and 41 rings, the arch will bear 5432 tons of the roof’s weight, allowing part of it to retract. Visible from 13 miles away, the arch already dominates the city’s skyline, spanning 1033 ft. and towering 436 ft. above the ground at its apex. The new stadium will play a major role when London hosts the 2012 Olympic Games.

W E M B L E Y A R C H S T AT S Height: 436 ft. Length: 1033 ft. Weight: 1929 tons Roof weight it will bear: 5432 tons Construction: Thirteen modules were welded together on-site and attached to 70-ton hinges that helped raise the arch to a permanent angle of 68 degrees. Maintenance: The arch’s diameter is 23 ft.—wide enough to fit an access cart that will drive through it for inspections and repairs.

When Wembley Stadium is completed in May, most of the roof will be anchored to the arch by a network of support cables. The arch will bear 60 percent of the weight of the roof’s southern half, a portion of which is retractable, and 100 percent of its northern half.

POPULAR MECHANICS • JANUARY 2006

15

PM

TECHWATCH

NEWS BRIEFS BY ALEX HUTCHINSON

SLIVER SCREEN

Australian scientists have synthesized resilin, the rubber-like protein that allows some insects to float like a bumblebee and jump like a flea. Shown here as a pad on a flea’s leg, the material has a resilience–or the ability to recover its shape after deformation–of 97 percent, compared to just 80 percent for highresilience rubber, and it can be stretched to just over three times its length without breaking. Potential applications for the protein range from durable spinaldisc implants to really, really bouncy superballs.

Siemens has demonstrated a paper-thin black-and-white screen that can change text displays with the press of a button, powered by equally thin printable batteries. It’s not exactly e-paper, but expect to see product packaging and pill containers with embedded screens in 2008.

MYSTERY MOON New images from NASA’s Cassini probe of Hyperion, one of Saturn’s moons, have revealed a spongy, crater-scarred surface filled with an unidentified “dark material.” Scientists are stumped as to why the 165-mile-long object developed so differently from Saturn’s 33 other moons.

16

YOUR CUP RUNNETH UNDER German grad students have developed a beer mat with pressure sensors and a radio transmitter to alert bar staff when your glass is getting low. If that doesn’t work, a gravity sensor can detect when the mat is being waved frantically in the air. The prototype costs about $120 to make–a small price to pay for such an essential service.

PASTA’S PAST A 4000-year-old bowl of noodles found near China’s Yellow River bolsters the claim that the Chinese were the first noodle-eaters. The noodles were sealed in an overturned bowl in a settlement that probably was destroyed by a massive flood.

DINO BIPLANES One of the earliest flying dinosaurs used four wings in a biplanelike configuration, according to a new fossil analysis of Microraptor, a crow-size dinosaur that had flight feathers on its hands and feet. A computer simulation of Microraptor’s aerodynamics suggests that it could leap from treetops and glide to neighboring trees without flapping its wings. And, we should note, its unique construction predates the Wright brothers’ biplane by 125 million years.

JANUARY 2006 • POPULAR MECHANICS

TIME MACHINE

MARCH

1956

THE HURRICANE SEASON of 1955 was brutal, much like the one that just ended. The storms 50 years ago prompted PM to run a story titled “Why All These Hurricanes?” The article described the state of storm tracking (below) and ideas for hurricane prevention. One plan involved using oil slicks to drain a hurricane’s energy during formation, an idea that MIT researchers recently looked into (replacing oil with other materials). But, PM reported, “The most drastic suggestion is to blow up the storms with atom bombs.” —TRACY SAELINGER

PAGES 14 AND 15: PHOTOGRAPHS BY GRANT SMITH/ALAMY, NEWSCOM (INSET); THIS PAGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY CMSP (FLEA), NASA (HYPERION)

ANIMAL RUBBER

HOW DO THEY KNOW … That an illness is avian flu? BY DANIEL ENGBER THE SYMPTOMS OF highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) are familiar: cough, runny nose, sore throat and fever. So once a mucous sample tests positive

NASA’s Little Helper

for influenza antigens, lab workers can extract the virus genome and analyze its structure to confirm that the strain BY DANIEL H. WILSON

PHOTOGRAPHS BY NASA (ROBOT), AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS (AVIAN FLU)

Robonaut uses handgrips and a single leg that locks into place.

Astronauts heading to the moon and Mars will have a new kind of crew member: an autonomous robot with its own helmet and a mean kung fu grip.

is bird flu, rather than one of countless other flu strains. Less commonly used is a blood test that detects avian flu antibodies. Sick poul-

In the more than three decades since boot prints last crisscrossed the lunar surface, only trusty—and expendable—robots have explored the solar system. Now, with a manned visit to the moon scheduled for 2018, NASA is testing the Robonaut, a humanoid robot that will work literally hand in hand with flesh-and-blood astronauts. Able to use screwdrivers, squeeze through hatchways and clasp the handgrips necessary for moving around in zero gravity, the robot is designed to help with repairs. And though Robonaut can be operated remotely, it also follows basic verbal commands issued by radio. “The autonomous manipulation skills being developed are some of the best in the world,” says Robert Ambrose, chief of the Robotics Systems Technology Branch at NASA. Using cameras in its helmeted head and articulated hands covered in tactile sensors, the robot can thread a bolt, and screw it into place with a power drill that it locates and picks up. Robonaut’s unnerving resemblance to a human being ends below the waist, where the torso attaches to a single leg that can hook into a space arm or other interface, mimicking the foot restraint that astronauts typically use for extravehicular activities (such as repairing external systems on a shuttle or space station). Ambrose estimates that Robonaut will be fully operational in three years. For now, a tiny plastic version is available in toy stores for around $12. “It’s not a toy,” notes Ambrose. “It’s an action figure.”

try is tested similarly in the States with the macabre addition of the “chicken pathogenicity test,” where the virus is injected into eight healthy chickens. If six or more die within 10 days, it’s HPAI. If not, more tests are conducted to determine whether it’s merely a “low pathogenic” strain of bird flu.

A veterinarian collects chickens for avian flu testing in Romania.


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TECHWATCH

View To A Kill

BY BARRY ROSENBERG

Striker Helmet Visor Display Data and video projected onto a flipdown visor shifts as the pilot moves his head. Visual Acquisition The helmet lets pilots quickly designate and fire on targets at difficult angles, including over the shoulder. Night Vision Cameras Cameras on either side of the helmet send an enhanced stereoscopic video feed to the visor. Vocal Targeting Direct Voice Input enables lock-on through voice command.

N U M B E R T H EORY THE 1906 SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE, which killed 3400, registered 7.8 on the Richter scale. It created seismic waves nearly eight times larger than those of a 1989 Bay Area quake that registered 6.9, killing 63. But even that doesn’t express the real difference between the quakes. The 7.8 quake released 22.4 TIMES more energy than the 6.9 event.

The British-built Striker helmet, designed for use with the Eurofighter Typhoon jet, allows pilots to lock on to enemy aircraft by simply looking at them and then pushing a button or issuing a vocal command. Using input from the aircraft’s sensors, as well as helmet-mounted cameras, the system displays flight and target data on the visor. Trial sorties are still being conducted; within two years, the helmet is expected to be deployed with the Typhoon in Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. Lockheed’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program will adopt either the Striker or a helmet with similar features.

Sound of Silence

7.8

1906

ENERGY RELEASED

PM

6.9

1989

( The chances of a 7.5 or

greater quake in the Bay Area by 2032: 10 PERCENT.) SOURCE: USGS

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The Audio Spotlight system targets one listener at a time. THE PIE-IN-THE-SKY

used by museums, libraries

promise of directed sound,

and retailers around the

from military-issue sonic

world. Holosonics plans

cannons to billboards

to release a less expensive

that whisper to individual

home version later this

passersby, has finally

year (they’re currently

come down to earth. The

$2000 per system), aimed

Audio Spotlight is a 1⁄2-in.-

at anyone who wants to

thin, disc-shaped speaker

watch the game at full

that uses ultrasound to

blast without disturbing

deliver audible sound

their neighbors—or the

waves within a focused

spouse reading next to

beam. It is already being

them on the couch.

I L L U S T R A T I O N B Y C R A N E D I G I TA L . C O M

Outdoor transceivers will give wireless network access to police, individuals and public agencies.

Citywide Wi-Fi Philadelphia’s Wi-Fi plans are making headlines, but dozens of other U.S. cities are also developing metro-scale wireless networks. Here’s a sampling of what Wi-Fi has to offer.

P R I V AT E RESIDENTS

Philadelphia, PA: The city’s plan to get all of its residents online is targeting the least plugged in—the poor. The monthly subscriber fee for the proposed 135-squaremile network will be $20 per household, or $10 for low-income residences. Participants will be able to access the Internet from anywhere in the network, whether at home or on a park bench, provided their desktop PC or laptop is Wi-Fi capable. To fully bridge the digital divide, the city is in the process of distributing free computers to its lowincome residents.

I L L U S T R A T I O N B Y F LY I N G - C H I L L I . C O M

M U N I C I PA L SERVICES

Corpus Christi, TX: What began as an automated meter reading (AMR) system—replacing manually inspected meters with Wi-Fi devices—has grown to include a host of pilot programs to streamline other municipal services. The experiment is paying off—though not all residents are pleased. Building inspectors can now access a property’s past violations and then update or revoke a building permit on the spot. The city expects to expand its network from 24 square miles to 147 by August.

BY JOHN GARTNER

EMERGENCY RESPONDERS

Hermiston, OR: One of the earliest adopters of Wi-Fi for public safety purposes isn’t a city at all, but a town in northeastern Oregon. Local police officers use laptops to search statewide databases and file reports from the field. The town’s Wi-Fi coverage is part of a huge 700-square-mile network that includes parts of Washington. Hermiston now plans to introduce cameras that stream live video to police headquarters, and 69 laptop-controllable message boards, similar to those used for AMBER Alerts.


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UPGRADE

POCKET MOVIE PLAYER BACK MASSAGER TITANIUM-COATED KNIVES WINTER BOOTS

F E A T U R E S RATCH-A-NUT SCREWDRIVER Not only is it a multibit ratchet screwdriver, but its handle also serves as a ratcheting driver for wire connectors. ($19) POCKETPRO DIGITAL MULTIMETER This pocket-size, 3.9-ounce gauge has an LCD screen. It stores its leads, wrapped up, behind a foldout test stand. ($25) KINETIC REFLEX T-STRIPPER Ergonomically designed and covered with nonslip Santoprene for maximum grip, the T-Stripper locks closed easily with a quick-slide thumblatch. ($22)

Electric Company

Okay, they’re each sold separately, but Ideal’s PocketPro digital multimeter, Ratch-A-Nut screwdriver and Kinetic Reflex T-Stripper wire strippers work so well together, we can’t imagine them apart. The perfect homeowner’s back-pocket electrical toolkit, this new trio delivers sturdy construction, good industrial design, affordability and innovative features. If you can’t handle the job with these tools, call an electrician.

P H O T O G R A P H B Y B U R C U AV S A R


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W i s h L i st

BETTER

Aren’t those massage chairs at the mall relaxing? Until the $800 price tag gets you on your feet quick enough to slip a disc. The HoMedics QRM-400 ($150) is the reasonable alternative, a cushion that fits over a chair, with four rollers that glow an eerie blue as they knead your back. The Spot Shiatsu feature lets you put the rollers where you need them. homedics.com

MOUSETRAP?

Key Grip Sometimes, all it takes to make a great design even better is one little tweak. Locking pliers were patented in 1924, and the technology is as useful today as it was then— just twist a screw knob to adjust the jaw, then clamp down. But the new pliers line from startup company LockJaw ($18 to $30) has eliminated the adjustment screw in favor of a spring-action cam that automatically adjusts the aperture of the jaws, which lock with consistent pressure. lockjawpliers.com

UPGRADE

Go Anywhere, Play Anything While Apple’s video iPod was busy hogging the spotlight, Creative’s Zen Vision ($400) portable media player slid in under everyone’s radar. It records FM radio, plays 4.5 hours of video on a 3.7-in. screen, has 30GB of storage and reads compact flash cards from most digital cameras. creative.com

E D I TO R ’ S C H O I C E AWA R D

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BURCU AVSAR

The Straw Saver After beer, WD-40 is the most beloved liquid-in-a-can around the house. The only thing more frustrating than not having it handy is not having its little red straw. So when we saw the new, impossible-to-lose, dual-position WD-40 Smart Straw at this year’s Specialty Equipment Market Association show, we had to give it an award. wd40.com

WD-40 is dispensed through the straw on the conventional spray nozzle.


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UPGRADE

W i s h L i st

Will It Break? With a class-action lawsuit over scratched screens now pending, we saw it as our civic duty to put the Apple iPod nano 2GB ($199) through our torture test.

Thumbthing New You can see them tapping away in restaurants and movie theaters across the land: BlackBerry addicts. For better or worse, these connected folks can send and receive e-mail anywhere. With the new RIM BlackBerry 8700c ($300 after rebate), they now have highspeed wireless Internet access over Cingular’s EDGE network and a brighter, better screen to draw their attention away from the rest of us. cingular.com

Master of All Media

WE DROPPED IT

A trip 4 ft. straight down onto concrete caused a nick and a few surface scratches, but no structural damage. The nano still worked fine. WE STEPPED ON IT

It would be nice if we could put movies on our PCs like we do with our music, but movie studios make it hard to rip DVDs. Sony’s VAIO XL1 Digital Living System ($2300) is a Media Center PC that works with a 200-disc DVD changer to digitally organize your collection—without breaking any laws. sonystyle.com

A firm footfall from our 175pound tester snapped the color screen with an audible “pop”— causing it to display a glowing fractal pattern. Nevertheless, the scroll wheel kept clicking away at unseen menus. W E D R OW N E D I T

Since it was still technically alive, we dropped it in our beaker of water. The screen filled with fluid, but stayed on. Eventually, it started blinking on and off, then shut down for good.

T H E R E S U LT

Some people might call a titanium-coated kitchen knife overkill. Exactly. That coating makes Kasumi Titanium Knives ($84 to $150) lightweight and extremely durable, while a molybdenum vanadium steel edge stays sharp, even after heavy use. But the lack of heft can turn sawing through a T-bone into a dicey maneuver. chefdepot.net/kasumi.htm 26


The iPod nano is indeed delicate. It survived the drop, but the LCD didn’t stand up to direct pressure. And don’t dare get the nano wet. We noticed water still trapped in the screen a week later. If you love this little machine as much as we do, buy a protective sleeve.

VELOCITY ADJUSTMENT SCREW Muzzle velocity can be set from 240 to 320 ft. per second.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BURCU AVSAR (BLACKBERRY, KNIVES, NANO, X-WORKHORSE, BBQ PIT)

PUMP-ACTION FOREARM GRIP Each pump loads a paintball, clears exhaust air from the combustion chamber and pulls more propane from the tank.

PAINTBALL FEED Accepts .68-caliber paintballs, which are fed from a topmounted hopper (not shown).

Paintball, Meet Propane Even if you don’t play paintball, there’s something irresistible about the Tippmann C3 Marker ($229), the first propane-powered paintball gun. It uses an internal-combustion process similar to that found in some nail guns. Fuel and air are pumped into a chamber, then ignited with a spark plug. The result is fuel cost savings—a 16-ounce propane tank costs $9 and fires 50,000 shots. Compare that to a 20-ounce CO2 tank that costs $20 and fires 1000 shots. tippmann.com

PROPANE REGULATOR Controls the air/ fuel ratio, which comes factory set, but may require adjustments later.

For a good portion of the country, January is a sad time as barbecue gear is covered with snow. But what if you could bring that slow-roasted goodness indoors? The Crock Pot BBQ Pit ($120) is an electric roaster built to subject meat to hours of low-heat cooking. Our test rack of ribs was fall-off-the-bone tender—although we missed the smoky wood flavor. crockpot.com

Horse of a Different Color Every work site needs a good, strong platform. Husky’s X-WorkHorse ($35) weighs only 15 pounds, but can support up to 750 pounds. It has a lock-on platform with mounting holes for a miter saw. Plus, like an old-school sawhorse, two X-WorkHorses can turn a piece of plywood into a worktable. And when not in use, it folds up for easy storage. homedepot.com

Release Your Inner Mogul As it turns out, what goes on behind the scenes in Hollywood is far more interesting than reading Us Weekly would lead you to believe. The Movies ($50) computer game lets you create and guide your own studio—managing everything from film directing to an actor’s mental breakdowns. the moviesgame.com


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UPGRADE

A b u s i ve L a b Te st

Cold Feet

Ice: 14 lb. Depth: 6.5 in.

We tested three pairs of boots—all labeled as waterproof and rated to -40 F or -50 F—by sticking our feet in ice water for a full hour. After three testers and three days, here are the cold, wet facts.

Duration: 60 minutes per day, over three days

These Army Boots Were Made for Walking … Painfully

SOREL CONQUEST

C H I P P E WA A R C T I C 5 0

Price: $50 Materials: Rubber, splitgrain leather, removable foam liner, Thinsulate Ultra insulation Claim: -50 F, waterproof

Price: $124 Materials: Rubber, suede, nubuck, EVA inserts, Thinsulate Ultra insulation Claim: -40 F, waterproof

Price: $235 Materials: Leather with waterproof membrane, polypropylene and lamb shearling insulation Claim: -50 F, waterproof

wet or dry?

These low-price underdogs stayed bone-dry until 55 minutes into Day 2, when we felt a trickle begin at the right instep. Day 3 was a hull-breach disaster—we collected over 20 ounces from inside the boots.

The Sorels held dry for Day 1, but quickly started leaking on Day 2. The liners weren’t removable, so they hadn’t dried at all by Day 3. It took real grit for the final tester to pull them on. Water collected: 18.6 ounces. Hoo-rah!

These classic leather beauties looked like a sure bet to let in water, unlike their rubber-andbad-attitude competitors. But when the last pair of feet emerged on Day 3, they were unscathed—by water, at least.

cold or warm?

Until ice water flooded in, these were the toastiest of the bunch—almost too warm, in fact.

Cold began penetrating the boots after 30 minutes on Day 1—long before the waterworks began.

It’s a dry cold. One tester reported numbness at 30 minutes—and nagging thoughts of frostbitten toes by 53 minutes.

last word

Our test favored dryness over warmth: Ice water is just above 32 F—at -50 F water is scarce and waterproofness barely matters. Sure, the boots leaked—but in frigid conditions, we’d still wear the Cabela’s.

The technical, featureladen look of these boots was cold comfort. In merely damp conditions and moderate cold they’d be fine—but that’s not the performance they claim.

In extreme cold, these boots might suffice for brief periods of fast walking. Maybe. But we think they would truly excel for hiking through slush and wet snow.

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The verdict: The massively thick soles and all-rubber construction added up to dry, fairly warm feet. But they score low in overall comfort. GI Mickey Mouse Boots $69.95 (prices vary); rubber, wool, nylon

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BURCU AVSAR

C A B E L A’ S S N OW PAC

For every boot owner extolling the latest technology, there’s an Army surplus aficionado who snobbishly swears by the battletested Army footwear of a bygone era. So we ran a pair of unissued GI Mickey Mouse boots through one day of our icewater regime. This model was used by U.S. troops on snow patrol in the Korean War.

Go Global, Call Local

PHOTOGRAPH BY BURCU AVSAR (VONAGE PHONE)

It may seem counterintuitive, but the next time you take a trip, you might want to bring your home phone with you and leave your cellphone behind. A new generation of Voice over BY JOHN R. QUAIN Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones can go cordless around your house by using the 802.11b Wi-Fi standard. And since VoIP phones are Internet-based, they can tap into almost any Wi-Fi hot spot around the world as well. Two of the first such handsets are Vonage’s $100 UTStarcom F1000 phone and Voiceglo’s $150 ZyXEL P-2000W phone. Both require monthly VoIP phone service. Unlimited local and long distance from Vonage starts at $24.99; one of ZyXEL’s partners, Voiceglo, charges just $15.99 for unlimited local and long-distance calls. Since the phone service is tied to the phone, rather than any particular location, you can use any open Wi-Fi network as if it were your home phone line—that means no international roaming charges when you travel abroad. So if you were to find yourself at a Wi-Fi hot spot in, say, Kabul, Afghanistan, a call to your mother in Albuquerque, N.M., would be free on Voiceglo, versus $3.99 per minute on Cingular. And VoIP calls sound as good as or better than typical cellphone calls. But don’t toss your cellphone yet. Logging in to foreign Wi-Fi networks can be tricky. We couldn’t log in to a hot spot in Tokyo without the security codes, which we could only obtain by—duh—speaking Japanese. Plus, VoIP over Wi-Fi phones can tap into hot spots, but the phones won’t let you leave the area where you first connected—at least, not yet. Companies such as Intel have shown prototypes of hybrid cellular/Wi-Fi phones that tap into whichever network can make the call most cheaply.

PRICE: $150 (aft er rebate) TECHNOLOGY: ZyXEL P-2000W PROVIDER: Voiceglo

PRICE: $100 (aft er rebate) TECHNOLOGY: UTStarcom F1000 PROVIDER: Vonage

VULPUT LUTPAT. Volore conulpute exer aciduisi tet, sum incil ipit, sum veliquis nostrud euis eummoles

BIGGEST EXTREME FREEBIE EVER! What could it be? Find out what we’re giving away—and how you can win it—in our February issue.


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TECHNOLOGY

HDTV Guidebook The world of high-definition television is a confusing place to visit, but you’ll definitely want to live there. BY JOEL JOHNSON

T

There is a magic time in the evolution of a consumer electronics product when it descends from the realm of fantasy into reality because of a new combination of price, availability and choice. For high-definition TV, that time is now. Great HDTVs can now be found for under $1000—and even many big, 42-in. sets are under $2000. There is finally plenty of content available to watch—popular prime time TV shows and many sporting events are broadcast in HD. But the terminology and specifications for highdefinition television are as confusing as ever. Wouldn’t it be great if someone explained all the jargon in plain English and gave you the information you need to find and set up a great HDTV? We thought so, too.

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WHAT IS HIGH-DEFINITION TELEVISION, REALLY? It’s important to remember that there are two sides to HDTV. There is such a rush these days to buy a highdefinition display that many people don’t consider where their hi-def content will come from. If you have one without the other, you aren’t getting a true HD experience. High-definition television is as much about the signal as it is the set. For years, analog standarddefinition television (SDTV) has been transmitted in a format known as 480i. This means that 480 horizontal lines of pixels (or picture elements—the tiny little dots that compose the image on your TV screen) are broadcast interlaced (odd-numbered lines painted in 1⁄60 second,


then even-numbered lines painted in the following 1⁄60 second). The alternating lines whiz by so fast that, to the human eye, they blend together. Computer monitors, on the other hand, paint their screens using progressive scan—every line is painted in every frame. Since modern HDTV is an evolution of both televisionbroadcast and monitor technology, we ended up with a multitude of broadcast standards including 1080i (interlaced), 720p (progressive) and the emerging 1080p. HD signals can be broadcast in any of these formats. Luckily, the signal’s format doesn’t matter much to the TV viewer because hi-def sets use digital processing and can adapt to most formats. What matters is the resolution that each set ends up displaying. And a true HDTV can display more lines of resolution than a conventional analog SDTV. That means more pixels, which means a more detailed picture—right down to the mud on the faces of NFL linemen and the crow’s-feet on the faces on Desperate Housewives. In fact, TVs that display video at the highest HD resolution (1080p) have over six times as many pixels as SDTV. So why don’t all the new-generation sets displayed in stores look spectacular? Usually, it’s for one of two reasons. First, not every fancy new TV displays a hi-def image. Enhanced-definition televisions (EDTVs) are the middle ground of the digital television world, displaying images that are superior to SDTV, but converting true HD signals down to a lower resolution. Second, many stores aren’t plugging their HDTVs into a hi-def source. Many sets are playing DVDs, which are only marginally better than standard definition. Which raises the question: How can I tell if a TV is an HDTV? Essentially, it needs to be able to display at

I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y F R A N S A A

least 720 progressive lines or 1080 interlaced lines of pixels. Many manufacturers have started to list the resolution of their sets in “width by height in pixels.” For instance: “WXGA (1366 x 768 pixels).” Most HDTVs have a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio (as opposed to the 4:3 screens common to SDTV), so the 1366 in the example above refers to the number of vertical rows of pixels, while the 768 refers to the horizontal lines. Since 768 is higher than 720, the set has more than enough lines to display HDTV “natively,” or without downconverting the signal. So if you have one question to ask yourself (or a salesperson), it’s this: Does the TV I want to buy display high-definition natively?

receivers also include a built-in terrestrial antenna. The cable industry has lately become very HD-friendly. If high-definition video is available in your area, many cable providers will upgrade you to an HD cable box for little or no extra cost. Many HD displays support Cablecard, a piece of hardware that eliminates the need for a separate tuner box from your cable provider. But the Cablecard standard is not without its own set of problems— like the inability to support Video On Demand or many electronic program guides. Often users find they end up getting a separate cable box (like an HD Digital Video Recorder) anyway. There are a number of HD-capable DVRs on the market. Models

NOW WHAT DO I WATCH? An HDTV without HD content is a big waste of money. Luckily, hidef content is becoming widely available. Satellite television providers such as DirecTV and DISH Network have HD offerings, although this can require extra monthly service fees and purchasing an HD receiver. Satellite providers are adding local HD broadcasts to their lineup, though for now you might need an over-the-air antenna to get the HD version of local network stations. The amount of local high-definition content available via an overthe-air broadcast varies depending on your location. To access overthe-air content, many satellite HD

How Much Screen Does Your High-Def Dollar Buy? We scanned the market and found beautiful sets in every size, for every budget. $5000 $4500 $4000 $3500 $3000

Panasonic Pioneer PDP-4360HD TH-50PX50U 1366 x 768 1024 x 768 43-in. Plasma 50-in. Plasma $3600 $4500

$2500 $2000 $1500

Syntax Olevia Sharp Philips LT26HVE LC-20B9U 23PF5320/28 1280 x 768 1020 x 768 1360 x 768 26-in. LCD 20-in. LCD 23-in. LCD $730 $700 $700

$1000

Westinghouse Samsung JVC LVM-37W1 HL-R5087W HD-52G886 1920 x 1080 1280 x 720 1280 x 720 37-in. LCD 50-in. DLP 52-in. D-ILA (LCoS) $1650 $2800 $2300

PRICE

$500

SCREEN SIZE

Sony Grand Wega KDS-R60XBR1 1920 x 1080 60-in. SXRD (LCoS) $4750

20 in.

25 in.

30 in.

35 in.

40 in.

45 in.

50 in.

55 in.

60 in.

The figures listed above are average street prices.


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TECHNOLOGY

H i g h - D ef i n i t i o n Te lev i s i o n G u i d e

Six Flavors of Hi-Def HDTVs come in all shapes and sizes. Here’s how to find the right one for your needs. PLASMA Plasma displays are some of the largest out there—top-end models can be up to 80 in. diagonally. Older plasmas used to have problems with “burn in,” but modern sets have largely solved that. Best for: Mounting a big screen on a wall. LCD Liquid-crystal displays tend to provide exceptionally crisp images, although their ability to reproduce the darkest blacks can be less than optimal. Because large LCD flat-panels are expensive and difficult to make, LCD panels top out around 65 in. Best for: Getting a slim set at a good price.

REAR-PROJECTION LCD These displays project light through a small LCD panel (or panels), which then projects the image onto the built-in screen. Some of the same limitations regarding black levels on LCD flat-panels affect rear-projection LCDs. Best for: Big-screen experience without “rainbow effect.” REAR-PROJECTION LCOS Sort of a hybrid of LCD and DLP, Liquid Crystal on Silicon TVs are very good at blending together pixels to avoid the “screen door” effect common to large-screen sets. Sony’s SXRD and JVC’s D-ILA are branded versions of LCoS. Best for: Seamless images that won’t look “pixely.”

REAR-PROJECTION DLP Digital Light Processing bounces images off an array of mirrors on a microchip through a spinning color wheel, which is then projected onto a screen. Some people complain of “rainbows” (strobing bands of color when these sets show bright colors on dark backgrounds). Best for: Good contrast and black reproduction.

CRT High-definition cathode ray tube TVs are generally thinner and have flatter screens than their analog counterparts. CRTs can provide stunning image quality, but need calibration to achieve the best results. Best for: Producing some of the finest images, though other technologies are catching up.

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Video Interface (DVI) or High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cables to interconnect and transmit video. (The pros and cons of each were discussed in last month’s Tech Clinic.) Our advice is to purchase gear that supports HDMI or DVI. These connectors provide digital signals and will support the High-Definition Content Protocol standard. It’s important to note that highdefinition TVs won’t look their best out of the box. You can hire an expert with professional calibration equipment for $250 to $1000. Or consider a do-it-yourself calibration DVD, such as Digital Video Essentials ($25). And don’t be ashamed to mine the experience of others. Your HDTV choice can be pretty subjective, and a recommendation from a friend who has owned a display for six months is worth a lot more than that of the salesman on PM the showroom floor.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ABC/COURTESY NEAL PETERS COLLECTION

from many major electronics venWHAT ELSE SHOULD I BUY TO dors, including TiVo, are available GO WITH MY HD DISPLAY? for lease from your cable or satellite Once you do get yourself an HDTV, company, so it’s worth asking their where do you put it? Some thinner customer service departments. models can be mounted on your But what about movies? By the wall, but you’ll need to make sure middle of this year, expect to see you have the proper mounting kit. two next-generation, high-defi(These cost anywhere from $25 to nition formats angling to replace $750.) Few models come with a your DVDs: HD-DVD and Blu-ray. stand, so you may want to consider Yes, there are two standards, and a piece of furniture for your display no, we don’t know which one will with shelves for your A/V gear. win out in the end. The safe bet is Surprise! The cables don’t necesto give them both a little time to sarily come with the set, either. HD duke it out and wait for electronics gear uses component video, Digital manufacturers to eventually produce a hybrid player that can support both. Meanwhile, the gaming industry is jumping into high-definition with both feet. Games developed for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console will display in HD, and Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 3 system should play both HD Many prime time shows, such as ABC’s Lost, are now broadcast in the 16:9 HD format. games and Blu-ray movies.

S TA N L E Y, S TA N F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y ’ S RO B O T C A R

O F F - R OA D AU TO N O M Y

DA R PA G r a n d W i n n e r b y

S T E V E

R U S S E L L

a

a

a c b Race Course

NO<MO ADIDNC

132 miles. 23 vehicles. 0 drivers. Stanley, a VW Touareg, wins the race of the century (so far).

B

Beer Bottle Pass is a 1.5-mile section of dirt road that snakes through the Lucy Gray Mountains of southwestern Nevada’s Mojave high desert. On one side of the narrow track is a rock face; on the other, a 100-ft. drop-off. The pass demands respect from off-road drivers navigating the twists, turns and hairpin switchbacks. But this past October a blue 2005 Volkswagen Touareg with a strange array of rooftop sensors showed no hesitation rolling into the first turn, and it wasn’t because the driver had nerves of steel. It was because the driver had “nerves” of silicon and the brain power of two laptops. A team of 65 students, professors, engineers, designers and programmers from Stanford University and its private-sector partners (Volkswagen, Intel and other companies) had spent a year transforming the Touareg, nicknamed Stanley, into a robot—a vehicle capable of driving itself without a human at the wheel or at a remote-control console. Stanley was one of 23 autonomous finalists entered in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge race, a 132-mile course laid out near Primm, Nev., 40 miles south of Las Vegas. The goal for the teams: $2 million, glory for their institution or company, maybe a defense contract. The goal for DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency: Spur development of unmanned vehicles to meet a congressional mandate to make

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The 131.6-mile DARPA race course snaked through Nevada’s Mojave Desert. Stanley’s gauntlet included cliffs, three tunnels (a) and Beer Bottle Pass (b), as well as competitors like Carnegie Mellon’s Hummer (c).

Computers On race day, two Pentium M processor boards controlled driving, another handled vision systems and one logged data. Two more served as backups.

Automatic Transmission Electronically controlled hydraulic arm manipulates the automatic shift lever. Manual override safety switches are below, on center console.

Steering Mechanism Electric motor spins a sprocket, driving a motorcycle-chain linkage around the steering column at speeds up to one full wheel revolution per second.

P H O T O G R A P H S B Y N AT H A N I E L W E L C H

1

2

How Stanley’s Sensors See the Road Here, Stanford’s self-driving vehicle prepares to pass a robotic Hummer, represented by red and green lines on a 3D terrain map plotted by a light detection and ranging system (1). The Mapper program interprets the map as a grid (2): White cells mean driveable road; red cells, an obstacle; and gray cells, unknown conditions. The Planner then plots safe route options, marked by green lines, around the obstacle. A video camera (3) samples Mapper-defined “good” road (below blue line) and searches for similar-looking terrain ahead.

3

GPS Navigation Three GPS receivers provide data on position, pitch and heading.

Inertial Guidance Three gyroscopes and three accelerometers mounted above the rear axle provide detailed orientation data in “6D.”

Light Detection and Ranging Five LIDAR units at various angles bounce laser beams off rotating mirrors to create a 3D map of terrain up to about 100 ft. away.

Color Video A video camera scouts driveable road up to 160 ft. ahead, identifies distant obstacles.

Stanley looks simpler than it is. Over 100,000 lines of code make robo-driving possible.

D I AGRAMS

BY

R A Z . R O

one-third of the military’s land vehicles autonomous by 2015. During the first Grand Challenge, in March 2004, which Stanford did not enter, none of the vehicles made it beyond Mile 8. This time around, Stanley was one of five robot vehicles to cross the finish line. Stanley did it without a scratch, in a winning time of 6 hours, 53 minutes, with an average speed of 19.1 mph. (Not all its competitors finished within the 10-hour time limit.) How did Stanford’s designers get a bunch of silicon chips to pass a road test in a production SUV? By making ingenious use of hardware, certainly—some invented for the race, some borrowed from industrial robots and some already found in the Touareg. But the artificial intelligence at the heart of the navigation system made the biggest difference. “It’s all in the algorithms,” Stanford team co-leader Sebastian Thrun says. And learning from previous competitors’ mistakes. The Eyes: For Stanley to complete the course, it had to see the road—and understand it. While studying the 2004 race, the Stanford crew noticed that GPS units alone couldn’t handle all the offroad hazards. Additional guidance was needed. So the team installed five roof-rack-mounted light detection and ranging (LIDAR) units to reflect lasers off the ground. With data from LIDAR, computers created a 3D map of the terrain in front of the Touareg, pointing out obstacles to Stanley’s guidance program. The team also installed an inertial guidance system with three gyroscopes and three accelerometers to help Stanley determine its orientation. The system soon proved its worth. Before dawn on race day, the Stanford team uploaded 2935 DARPA-provided GPS way points into Stanley’s computers, providing

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No way to win $2 million: MonsterMoto’s JackBot kissed a barrier during a trial run. Below: Carnegie Mellon’s H1ghlander finished third, in 7 hours, 14 minutes.

rough driving directions. But when the Touareg wheeled out of the starting gates, the GPS stopped receiving data. The VW swerved to the left. For a moment, it looked like a quick “game over” for Stanford. But the guidance system responded, and the VW turned gently to the right. “If we used GPS alone,” Thrun says, “we would have driven off a cliff.” The GPS soon came back online. The Wheels: Early in the design stage, Stanford joined forces with Palo Alto-based Volkswagen of America Electronics Research Lab, which provided a European-model diesel Touareg. “We didn’t want to build a car from scratch,” Thrun says. “And the Touareg is as good offroad as it is on the highway.” Since drive-by-wire comes standard on the SUV (the gas pedal is merely a sensor that controls the engine electronically), VW designed computer-controlled circuits that


mimicked throttle and brake sensor inputs. “Essentially, we just hacked into the system,” says Thrun’s coleader, Mike Montemerlo. Under the dash, VW bolted a DC motor that turned the steering column with a motorcycle chain. An electronically controlled hydraulic piston dropped the shifter into gear. Now Stanley had to learn to drive. The Brain: Stanley’s software, designed by the Stanford School of

Engineering, consists of 100,000 lines of code—“a medium-size software project,” Montemerlo says. DARPA Grand Challenge manager Ron Kurjanowicz called it “the secret sauce.” The programs used a common robot hierarchy: Low-level modules fed raw data from LIDAR, the camera, GPS sets and inertial sensors into software programs that controlled the vehicle’s speed, direction and decision making. Stanley’s optical cortex was the Mapper program, which interpreted the 3D LIDAR map and compressed it into a manageable 2D map divided into a grid of 30 x 30-centimeter cells. The cells were designated as free (driveable), occupied (obstacle) or unknown. At first, Stanley interpreted shadows and other harmless features as obstacles, causing false positives at a rate of 12 percent. “Every 20 miles something catastrophic would occur,” Montemerlo says. “Stanley would see an obstacle that wasn’t there and drive into the bushes.”

The team helped Stanley learn how to tell good roads from bad by creating a computer log of the reactions and decisions made by human drivers. The data was fed into a learning algorithm and incorporated into Stanley’s control programs. This cut false positives to 0.00002 percent, allowing the VW to drive hundreds of miles between errors. But Stanley was still slow. The LIDAR’s short 100-ft. range meant the Touareg couldn’t top 25 mph safely—not fast enough to win the race. A color video camera, however, could recognize features up to 160 ft. away. By comparing the road to samples of video the LIDAR map defined as driveable, Stanley saw far enough ahead to boost top speed to 40 mph. The Navigator: Early in testing, Stanley’s Planner program, which plotted routes for the robot, proved especially buggy. Planner wanted to keep Stanley a uniform distance from every obstacle, creating erratic steering. “We called that Planner the

Drunken Squirrel,” Montemerlo says. The solution: Round out sharp corners in Planner’s route, and redesign the program to generate optional, parallel paths in case of obstacles. At Mile 102, the program smoothly guided the VW around Carnegie Mellon University’s H1ghlander. Stanford’s Thrun was following the leader board in the race tent when he heard the announcement: Stanley had just moved into first place. A short time later, Thrun joined other roboticists crowding around a live video feed from Beer Bottle Pass. “The moment Stanley left the pass I knew the race was history,” Thrun says. A few minutes later, he saw two helicopters tracking a dust cloud. Out of it emerged a familiar shape: a blue Touareg driving itself confidently across the finish line— PM and into the robot pantheon. Additional reporting by Benjamin Chertoff. FOR ONLINE REPORTS AND VIDEO OF GRAND CHALLENGE VEHICLES, VISIT popularmechanics.com/darpa

Biggest ’bot: The 15-ton TerraMax, a modified Oshkosh truck, finished fifth.


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L O C A T I O N /// J E F F E R S O N C I T Y, M I S S O U R I E V E N T /// R E G I O N A L J E T C R A S H D A T E /// O C T O B E R 14 , 2 0 0 4

Engines dead, Flight 3701 glided to within sight of the Jefferson City, Mo., airport, then crashed behind a row of houses.

‘We don’t have any engines’

F 40

Two joyriding pilots took a jet to its 41,000-ft. ceiling—and paid for the stunt with their lives. PM investigates the crash of Flight 3701. BY JIM GORMAN

“Are you a RJ [regional jet] 200?” inquired an air traffic controller in Olathe, Kan. “I’ve never seen you guys up at forty-one there.” “Yeah ... we don’t have any passengers on board so we decided to have a little fun and come on up here,” Rhodes replied.


PHOTOGRAPH BY STEPHEN BROOKS

For three and a half minutes on the night of Oct. 14, 2004, Capt. Jesse Rhodes and First Officer Peter Cesarz were on top of the world. The two Pinnacle Airlines pilots had pushed their twin-engine, 50-seat regional jet to its maximum altitude and were now proud members of the “410 club,” an unofficial society of Pinnacle airmen who’ve attained 41,000 ft. in a Bombardier CRJ200. Rhodes went to the galley to grab cold Pepsis to celebrate. He was barely settled back in the cockpit when the plane’s radio crackled.

The fun was short-lived. Moments later, both engines flamed out. The fate of Flight 3701 is the subject of an intensive investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is expected to issue a final report on the accident in the next few months. Until then, neither Pinnacle Airlines, which operates connecting flights for Northwest Airlines, nor Bombardier and General Electric—the airplane and engine manufacturers—can comment on the cause of the accident. However, the pilots’ taped cockpit conversations and preliminary hearings last June suggest a scenario involving poor judgment, insufficient training and the complications that can occur when a plane is pushed beyond its capabilities.

Anatomy of a Flameout

ILLUSTRATION BY FLYING-CHILLI.COM

Air usually flows smoothly over a wing. If a plane’s airspeed is too low, or the nose is angled too steeply upward, the air becomes turbulent. This “dirty air” reduces lift, ultimately leading to a wing stall. It also can interfere with airflow into the engines and extinguish combustion—a condition known as a flameout.

TO THE LIMIT Rhodes, 31, and Cesarz, 23, were on what pilots call a deadhead, transferring an empty plane overnight from Little Rock, Ark., to Minneapolis so it could be ready for a morning flight. The Canadian-built CRJ200 is Pinnacle’s workhorse, making short and midrange hops mostly in the Midwest. From wheels-up, it was clear that Rhodes and Cesarz intended to see what the CRJ200 could do. Four seconds after takeoff at 9:21 pm, the two pilots did a “pitch up” maneuver that pinned them in their seats with 1.8 g’s of force and momentarily triggered an alert from the airplane’s stall warning system. Minutes later, Rhodes and Cesarz again yanked back on the control column, rocketing the plane upward and generating over 2.3 g’s of force before they eased off the flight controls. After briefly leveling off at 37,000 ft., the crew set the autopilot to climb at 500 ft. per minute—more than twice the fastest recommended rate—to the airplane’s maximum altitude of 41,000 ft. As the plane rose, it succumbed to the physics of high-altitude flight: Thin atmosphere offers less lift and robs the engine of air. Stuck in an aggressive climbing mode, Flight 3701’s speed began to drop. To maintain the rate of climb, the autopilot angled the nose of the aircraft up, slowing it further. By the time the aircraft reached 41,000 ft. and leveled off, it was flying slowly, at 150 knots indicated airspeed, and was perilously close to losing aerodynamic lift—or stalling. “This thing ain’t gonna [expletive] hold altitude,” Cesarz said. “It can’t man,” Rhodes replied. “We [cruised/greased] up here but it won’t stay.” The combination of high alti-

Smooth Airflow at Level Flight

Turbulent Airflow From High Angle of Attack

TURBULENT AIRFLOW

SEPARATION POINT

“DIRTY AIR” IMPEDES LIFT AND CAN ALSO CAUSE ENGINE FLAMEOUT

SEPARATION POINT

HIGH-PRESSURE TURBINE HIGH-PRESSURE COMPRESSOR

Inside the Engine

COMBUSTOR FAN

EXHAUST LOWPRESSURE TURBINE

In Case of Flameout

1 Initiate a windmill restart using airspeed gained in a rapid dive to spin crucial engine parts. 2 Attempt an auxiliary power unit restart—usually below 15,000 ft.—relying on pneumatic pressure to restart the engine. 3 Prepare for a forced landing at the nearest airport.

tude and low speed once again triggered the Bombardier’s stall warning system. First, “stick shakers” rattled the control columns and disengaged the autopilot to alert the crew of an imminent stall. When the crew didn’t lower the plane’s nose to gain speed, “stick pushers” forced the control columns forward. The flight data recorder shows that Rhodes and Cesarz overrode the stick pushers three times and forced the plane’s nose back up. At 9:55 pm, as they pulled up for the last time, both engines flamed out. “We don’t have any engines,” one of the pilots said.

FAILED EFFORTS While the altimeter spun downward, the crew hurriedly reviewed their options for restarting the engines. At that altitude, there were six suitable airports within reach for a forced landing. Despite the serious nature of their predicament, the pilots did not notify air traffic control (ATC) of their situation or request emergency landing clearance. First, they tried a “windmill restart” by diving to increase airspeed. The maneuver is intended to force air into the engine housing, spinning the rotors and creating enough compression for ignition.


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The procedure requires at least 300 knots of airspeed. But at 20,000 ft. and only 236 knots, the crew pulled up, and decided instead to try a second option: Drop to 13,000 ft. and attempt to relight the engines using the plane’s auxiliary power unit (APU), which generates pneumatic pressure to spin the engine’s core. Rhodes and Cesarz tried at least four times to jumpstart the engines using the APU. On each attempt the engine cores recorded no rotation. At 10:03 pm, the crew radioed ATC that they had a single engine failure. Five minutes later, at an altitude of 10,000 ft., and descending at 1500 ft. per minute, Rhodes and Cesarz were running out of options for restarting the engines. Finally, 12 minutes after the twin flameout, they revealed to ATC that they had a double engine failure. The plane’s landing choices were now limited to two airports. With the runway lights of Jefferson City airport in sight, but altitude slipping away, Rhodes and Cesarz realized they were in big trouble. “Dude, we’re not going to make this,” Rhodes said. “We’re gonna hit houses, dude.” They crashed 21⁄2 miles shy of the runway—behind a row of houses. On impact, the plane split apart, flipped over and caught fire. Rhodes and Cesarz were killed. Miraculously, no one on the ground was injured. THE INVESTIGATION An area of contention during the NTSB hearings about Flight 3701 has been whether a condition called “core lock” contributed to the fatal crash. Under normal conditions, the rotating parts inside a General Electric CF34-3B1 turbofan engine slip by each other in a finely tuned choreography. However, when an engine is shut down suddenly at high torque, high

42

altitude, and it isn’t restarted immediately, metal parts inside the engine begin to cool and contract at different rates. In rare cases, metal can contact metal and prevent the core from rotating freely—core lock. The Air Line Pilots Association suggests that core lock, rather than pilot error, might have been the primary cause of the accident. But, a review of the flight data recorder makes clear that the pilots made a series of poor, and potentially fatal, decisions irrespective of whether the engines experienced core lock.

•

THE OBJECT LESSON The data recorder shows that the pilots failed to follow proper procedures for restarting a flamed-out engine when they pulled out of their dive before reaching the necessary speed to spin the core. Whether the

When investigators pulled apart the right engine, they found that the ends of the high-pressure turbine blades had liquefied.

The Bombardier has a 41,000-ft. service ceiling. However, according to the climb profiles in the crew’s flight manual, the maximum altitude for the 500-ft.-per-minute climb the pilots set was only 38,700 ft., based on the atmospheric conditions and the aircraft’s weight that night. By operating outside the airplane’s performance envelope, Rhodes and Cesarz subjected the engines to tremendous stress. The flight data recorder shows that soon after the crew ignored the fourth stall warning, the core temperature of the right engine reached 2200 degrees— almost 600 degrees above redline. When investigators pulled apart the right engine, they found that the ends of the high-pressure turbine blades had liquefied, resolidifying on the low-pressure blades behind them. This leads some industry experts to question if the right engine ever could have restarted. Whether the left engine locked up


is still being investigated. GE helped the NTSB disassemble Flight 3701’s engines. Edward Orear, GE’s former program manager for the CF34-3B1 engine, testified to the NTSB that neither engine showed evidence of core lock.

apparently undamaged left engine could have restarted if they had windmilled correctly may never be known. It’s also unresolved why the left engine didn’t restart when the pilots used the APU. Since the crash, Pinnacle has set a ceiling of 37,000 ft. for all CRJ200 flights. It has also added detailed climb profiles to the pilots’ quick reference guides. And the airline has modified its simulator training program, incorporating dual engine failure and stall recovery scenarios. Although Flight 3701 ended tragically, it illustrates how many safety features protect commercial passengers. The crew misused the autopilot, took the plane outside its envelope and repeatedly overrode the safety system. As one pilot told PM: “It’s an object lesson in how many things you have to get wrong PM in order to crash your plane.” Read the CVR transcript online at popularmechanics.com/flight3701.

NEWCARS FAMILY SEDANS SUVS MOTORCYCLES SPORTS CARS

T O Y O T A R AV 4

PRICE RANGE: About $20,000-$25,000

All the RAV The new RAV4 is 14 in. longer than the old one, which means lots more space for people. And now there’s an optional third-row seat.

If you want an SUV but don’t want to go bankrupt feeding it, you’ll think Toyota has the right idea with its completely new RAV4. With styling that mimics Toyota’s larger SUVs, the RAV4 offers a choice of two engines: a standard 2.4-liter four-cylinder that makes 166 hp and an optional 269-hp 3.5-liter V6. Coupled with four- and five-speed automatic transmissions, respectively, the engines deliver real-world fuel economy in the mid-20 mpg range. The limiting factor is the 15.9-gal. tank, which means frequent trips to the fuel pumps. During our drives in California’s Santa Barbara foothills, we found the main difference between the engines was performance, not economy. For many, the Four should be perfectly capable. But, besides being much stronger, the V6 is smoother, quieter and needs fewer gear changes than the Four. The price paid was about 1 or 2 mpg. As before, both front-drive and awd versions and three trim levels are available. — jim dunne


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Spy

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'%(

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Grind off the old paint with a sander and

PLASTIC SPREADER BODY FILLER

coarse (36-grit) paper to give the plastic filler a “toothy” surface to stick to.

> Spread plastic body filler over the “CHEESE GRATER”

bumped-out area with a plastic spreader in a thin layer that overlaps the repaired area. It will cure in 10 minutes or so, depending on the temperature in the shop.

> Carve the partially cured filler with

AIR SANDER

a cheese-grater tool to remove high spots before the plastic fully cures and gets too hard. You may need a second thin coat.

> Sand the filler with 80-grit paper on a straight-line air sander or a long rubber block to achieve a smooth finish that follows the original contour. > Wetsand the repaired area with successively finer waterproof sandpaper to remove any imperfections. WATERPROOF SANDPAPER

96


SECRETS TO A GREAT BODY To remove a dent, you’ll need to gain access to the back side of the body panel. Do this by removing items like headlight buckets, inner fenders, door panels and interior trim. Once you have access, place a dolly on the outside of the dent and then hammer on the inside of the dent, striking the metal against the dolly. The key here is to go slowly and work around the circumference of the dent, banging it out until it lies just below the undamaged area. After the dent is out, put the dolly on the inside of the dent, then tap the area surrounding the outside of the dent to knock in any high spots. When you’re sure all the sheetmetal is just slightly below the surface of the surrounding area, use a disc sander with 36-grit paper to remove all paint and primer from the dent and surrounding area. This will give the body filler a rough surface (called tooth) to hang on to once it has hardened. After thoroughly mixing the filler with hardener, smooth it on the damaged area with a plastic filler applicator. The filler semihardens in 10 to 15 minutes to the consistency of cheddar cheese. At this point it’s easy to smooth with a body file. Use the file to knock the filler down so it is slightly higher than the finished repair will be. After about 15 to 30 minutes, the filler becomes hard. At this point you can use a hand or air-powered stroke sander with

BLACK LACQUER

SPRAY GUN

> Spray primer over the repair to provide adhesion to bare metal and to hide any imperfections. >

Lightly coat the primer with a dusting of black lacquer to help visualize high and low spots as you continue wetsanding.

clearcoat. Don’t sand in between.

BUFFING WHEEL

> After it dries, you can sand out tiny imperfections and dust with 1500-grit paper, and buff the surface to high gloss.

PERFECTION Before painting, you have to decide whether you’re going to paint just the damaged spot or the whole panel. In either case, you’ll need to clean and prepare the surface surrounding

the repair to accept paint. Begin by wiping the entire panel with a solvent-based wax remover. Next, wetsand the area to be painted with 600-grit waterproof sandpaper. If you’re going to blend the paint into the original paint, make sure to

Can’t bang it? Pull it.

>

Two-part primer/surfacers, consisting of the primer and a hardening agent, allow a thick layer to be applied over the repair in only one or two coats. After a half-hour of drying the primer is ready for sanding. But before you sand, apply a light mist of black lacquer from a spray can over the repaired area. This contrast PRIMER/SURFACERS Before the repaired area can be paintcoating will reveal imperfections ed, scratches, pits and waves must be that will disappear as you sand. completely removed or they’ll show Warning! Before applying any up as reflections. A primer/surfacer primer or paint, be sure to wear a forms a thick layer of material over respirator rated for organic solvents. the area, which is then sanded down Make sure there is adequate ventilato make the repair smooth and level. tion, and also make sure that pilot lights and other flame sources in the general > Wetsand area are turned off. again to remove To sand, use a rubber imperfections, sanding block and 400including sanding grit waterproof sandscratches. There paper. The trick is to sand should be no bare metal showing. lightly while frequently dipping the paper in a bucket of water to keep > Spray the it clean. When all of the color basecoat black contrast coat has in two coats a few disappeared, the repaired minutes apart, followed by the area is finished. 80-grit paper to bring the filler down to the level of the body. If you see any bright, shiny metal spots in or around the filler, those areas are high. Use the pointed (pick) end of a body hammer to tap them in slightly, then refill and resand.

WHEN YOU CAN’T get to the back side of a dent to bang it out, pull it out. We used to drill holes in the panel and use a slide hammer, which required welding up the holes afterward, which in turn made the metal warp from heat. A newer and less invasive technique is to use a stud welder. It works by electrically spot welding 2mm-dia. copper-plated studs to the body surface. A slide hammer firmly grasps each stud and after a couple of sharp raps, the dent is out. Then, you twist off the studs and grind the surface flat. These welders cost about $250 to $300, and are sold at auto parts stores that carry body and paint supplies.


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sand an area larger than the area where you will be applying the paint. Thoroughly rinse the area, let it dry and then wipe again with wax remover. Mask off adjacent panels, then cover nearby wheels and major portions of the car with painter’s plastic sheeting to shield it from overspray. Mix the basecoat with the appropriate amount and type of solvent according to the maker’s instructions. Before spraying, gently wipe the area to be painted with a tack rag, then spray the panel or repaired area. If you are blending, apply only enough basecoat to cover the repaired area, then taper off as you move away from the repair. After the basecoat has dried thoroughly, you’ll notice its finish is quite dull. This is so the clearcoat will adhere tightly. Do not sand the basecoat before applying the clearcoat. After mixing the clearcoat with hardener, according to the manufacturer’s instructions, apply a medium wet coat and let it flash dry 5 minutes or so before applying a second coat. After letting the clearcoat dry for an hour, remove all masking tape. Then wait one day before polishing.

SPIT AND POLISH Chances are the finish already looks pretty good. But to make it flawless, it pays to colorsand and polish the entire repair. We used 1500-grit sandpaper to flatten the finish, followed by rubbing compound to remove the scratches left by the sandpaper. We finished up with polishing compound to make the finish flawless. After polishing, wait one month to PM apply wax.

KEEP IN TOUCH What’s going on at Popular Mechanics, and how to reach us.

Letters While it’s not possible to print or respond to all the mail we receive, we do read every piece of it. You can send us letters in three ways. E-MAIL [email protected] MAIL Popular Mechanics 810 Seventh Ave., 6th Floor New York, NY 10019 FA X 212-586-5562 Please include your name, address and a daytime phone number. Letters may be edited.

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VISIT US ONLINE POPULARMECHANICS.COM Browse 10 years’ worth of stories, plus our daily blog. Highlights include: Exclusive PM video. See video of our hybrid versus gas car comparison test. popularmechanics.com/hybrid How to power your home after a storm safely with a generator to prevent carbon monoxide intrusion. popularmechanics.com/co Our New Cars & Trucks Buyers Guide featuring Black Book pricing. Calculate the price of any model, equipped how you want it. popularmechanics .com/carguide

CARCARE

AUTOCLINIC Q A simple pointer next to the wheel can pinpoint any out-of-true areas caused by road damage.

BY MIKE ALLEN

+A

Going Wobbly whacked a pothole last week. I hit it pretty hard, actually. And, Q Iwell, okay—it wasn’t a pothole. It was a curb that I ran into in the rain because I was going too fast. My bad. Right away, the steering wheel started to shimmy. I figured I had damaged the tire, so I had my old spare, which was on a steel rim, remounted and balanced on my alloy wheel. But it still shimmies. The Neanderthal down at the feed-store-cum-gasstation hasn’t any idea what’s wrong, I live 40 miles from any decent garage, and I don’t want to order another $600 wheel over the phone unless I am pretty sure it’s bent. ED HENDERSON Espanola, NM

give the guy at the local A Don’t gas station a bad rap. He probably doesn’t have a spin balancer to check an out-of-true condition. And I bet he works mostly on trucks and farm equipment. Those wheels are harder to bend than your alloys.

P H OTO G RA P H S BY JA M ES W EST M A N

You can check the wheel yourself. Block the wheel on the opposite corner fore and aft with a couple of chunks of 2 x 4. Use a jack to lift the corner that you banged into the curb until the tire is about an inch clear of the pavement. Lay some-

thing long and skinny, like a pencil or a ruler, on a milk crate or a box or a support of some sort. Place your pointer so its end is just 1⁄32 in. or so from the rim. Now rotate the tire, slowly at first, until you’re sure you clear any high spots or balance weights. You should be able to see clearly any out-of-true parts on the rim. A small variance in the flange is okay, but the bead-seat surface deeper in should be pretty close. I can detect deviations as small as 0.020 in. this way. A variation of 1⁄16 in. or more would have me looking for a new wheel. You also can check a tire for out of round by doing the same thing to the center of the tread. If you find the rim is running true on the outer face, try the same thing


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TOOLKIT

on the inside face of the rim (though most rim damage, especially from curbs, is on the outside). Check with your local wheel and tire dealer or body repair shop to find a local company that specializes in repairing damaged alloy wheels. Understand that a really damaged rim is not salvageable, but minor dings and gouges can be straightened and the wheel refinished to a new appearance.

Stuck on You tried to reattach my rearQ Iview mirror to my windshield with a two-stage mounting adhesive for mirrors made by Permatex. Unfortunately, I glued the little tab onto the glass in exactly the right position, but upside down. I’ve tried a razor blade, but can’t get it under the tab. I’ve thought of just gluing another tab on top of the other one, but I was wondering if it would hold. CAROLYN HORVATH Via E-Mail

people write me A Usually, because they can’t get these things to stay on, not because they can’t get them off. Don’t just glue a second tab over the old one—the mirror won’t look right. I’d try some acetone (old-fashioned nail polish remover) or MEK (methyl ethyl ketone for you chemists out there) to

Tire Beautiful We wash our cars and within a few days the tire sidewalls are dull, and our expensive alloy wheels are covered in gray brake pad dust. Michelin is the first tire company to provide a wheel and tire cleaner, a tire shine product the company claims Water-based products are safe won’t damage tire sidewalls, and for tire rubber and all wheels. a repellent to keep brake pad dust from sticking to the wheels. (Petroleum-based products can leach oils from the tire sidewall, shortening tire life.) The Michelin products are sold at most automotive parts counters for $5 to $6.

soften the adhesive. Dribble a little into the gap (use an old toothbrush). Lather, rinse and repeat to keep the acetone on the job for a half-hour or so. This should soften the adhesive enough to get a single-edge razor blade behind there and pry it loose. It helps to do this in a warm area, but seeing as how it’s winter, working with flammable compounds inside the running, warmed-up car or a heated garage is not a good idea. Acetone is pretty flammable, and may be detrimental to your health unless used in a well-ventilated area. It may also be detrimental to your plastic dashboard, so cover that first with some newspaper. Once you have the tab free, clean all the adhesive from both the tab and the glass before you try to reassemble it.

SERVICE TIPS

Help From Vehicle Makers Tech Bulletins On those cold (20 degrees and less) mornings, does the steering on your 2005 Chrysler 300/Dodge Magnum stiffen up and then get freer? Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) 19-002-05 calls for a new steeringcolumn boot with a different type of grease to cure this. You ordered your new 2005 Chrysler Pacifica/300/Town and Country/Dodge Caravan/Jeep Grand Cherokee with Park Assist. But now you can’t hear the beeping noise it makes as you approach another vehicle in the parking lot because it’s not loud enough. TSB 08-020-05 shows a new Park Assist display module with a louder chime.

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Open … Please ’94 Buick Regal’s front Q My doors freeze shut several times each winter. Temperatures above 32 degrees or direct sun on them cures it, but I can never figure out where the problem spot is. The back doors work fine. My wife’s ’96 Regal—same body style—never does this maddening thing. I’m tired of climbing in through the back seat! JOHN O’CONNOR Via E-Mail

tell from your letter if A Ithecan’t issue is the door sticking to the gasket or if the lock mechanism is frozen. If the door latch works and the door is just frozen to the rubber gasket, try thoroughly cleaning the painted surface on the door that the rubber gasket mates to, and the gasket itself. Next, spray both with aerosol silicone spray. Then, any moisture in the area that freezes can’t stick the gasket to the door. If, on the other hand, the lock is freezing, it’s a bigger job. A quick work-around is to heat the key with a lighter until you can barely hold it and quickly insert it into the lock to melt any ice. If you have a metal key, just insert the key and heat the exposed end for 30 seconds or so. If the outside temps are near freezing,

this will often add enough heat to make the lock free up. As a last resort, really cold temps might require pouring a kettle of hot water over the door lock—but you’ll have to move quickly to keep the lock from refreezing. To permanently fix the problem, remove the inner door panels and check for moisture inside the door. There are drains along the bottom of the door to allow water to escape— be sure they are clear. Check all the gaskets on the glass to be sure they aren’t funneling water into the door interior. Remove the latch mechanism and remove any lubrication, corrosion, spider webs, or anything else that might either impede the mechanism or give water a place to cling. Thoroughly dry out the interior of the door, which may require parking

in a heated garage overnight. Lube the lock and latch mechanism liberally with white lithium grease. Follow up with a coating of silicone spray to repel any water. Button up the door panel, making sure the waterproofing panel is reinstalled properly, which may require some trim adhesive.

One at a Time when I hit the Q Sometimes brakes, my Nissan Altima feels like it’s trying to acclerate at the same time it’s slowing down. Nobody—including the dealer— could find anything wrong. I’m nervous that one day it won’t stop. I. GOLDSTEIN Via E-Mail

the trouble is probA Actually, ably not with your car. More

likely it’s with your feet. The accelerator and brake pedals in this car are a little closer together, more similar in shape and on a more level plane than you may be accustomed to—especially if you’re coming from a large domestic car. So when you go to step on the brake pedal, the edge of your shoe is catching the accelerator as well. As you’re hitting the brakes, you’re giving it a little gas at the same time.

All Night Long a driving instructor and Q I’m I use my own car, a 2001 Toyota Camry, as the school car. Since this car is my livelihood and my only means of transportation, I keep it in the best shape possible. Lately, however, I’ve been finding it with a dead battery. I replaced

(Please turn to page XX)

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the original battery about six months ago when it failed to start the car several mornings in a row. Now that the weather’s getting cold, I’m finding it sluggish to crank over—even with the new battery. I’ve had the entire electrical system thoroughly checked out by two different electrical system repair shops. Nothing seems wrong. The alternator and regulator are putting out as advertised and there doesn’t seem to be any real power drain. What can you suggest that may have been overlooked? I can’t be getting a battery boost every day. JOHN SCHIEFELE Queens, NY

A

If everything in the electrical system is charging as it should be, and I have to assume that at least

one (if not both) of these shops is competent, clearly there is a parasitic drain that’s running down the battery overnight. If you’ve had the electrical system checked with everything disconnected—alarm, interior lights, etc.—and nothing has surfaced, it’s clearly not one of the usual suspects. Since this car is used for a driving school, I’m assuming that you’ve got redundant controls. Certainly you’ve a second brake pedal on the passenger side—unless you’re a whole lot braver than most driving instructors. I wouldn’t be surprised if the weight of that second brake pedal and its necessary linkage to the driver’s pedal were enough to gradually overcome the tension of the return spring on the regular brake pedal. That sagging pedal could drop just

enough to close the contacts on the brake light switch, turning on the brake lights. The power needed to keep those brake lights burning all night would certainly be enough to prematurely kill a battery. Sneak up on your car tonight after it’s been sitting for a few hours and see. If so, try a stronger return spring on the PM second brake pedal. LET US KNOW GOT A HIGH-MILEAGE CAR? We’re looking for readers who have managed to maintain their vehicles so well that they don’t ever seem to wear out. Forever is a long time, but if your favorite ride has rolled the odometer over a couple of times, please share it with us. Just use the addresses below.

DO YOU HAVE A CAR PROBLEM? Just ask Mike about it. Send your questions to Auto Clinic, Popular Mechanics, 810 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10019 or to pmautoclinic@hearst .com. While letters, faxes, phone calls or e-mail cannot be answered individually, problems of general interest will be discussed in the column.

TECHNOLOGY

TECHCLINIC Q

BY JOEL JOHNSON

+A

Power Struggle

Q A

Someone told me that the power adapter for my laptop can automatically adjust its voltage for both 120 and 240 volts. Is this true? Have I been carrying a voltage converter on vacation for years for no good reason?

POWER SUPPLY

JASON FEINMAN Woodbury, CT

Varying voltages and strangely shaped outlets are the bane of every world traveler. Some countries, such as Germany, provide 220-volt power at 50 hertz (cycles per second), while others follow the American model with a 120-volt plug providing juice at around 60 Hz. (Voltage within a socket varies not only from country to country, but from moment to moment.) But here’s a surprise: Many electronics power supplies, like the one for your laptop (or even your camcorder or digital camera), can handle voltage variations from outlets around the world with no risk. Of course, plugs are a different story. Some electronics manufacturers offer their own adapter kits. An Apple iBook power supply can handle different mains voltages from 100 to 240 volts at 50 or 60 Hz— pretty much any sort of power from around the world—but you need a product such as Apple’s World Travel Adapter Kit to actually plug into the different sockets. There’s an easy way to determine the range of voltages your laptop can

I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y H E A D C A S E D E S I G N

TRAVEL SURGE PROTECTOR

handle. Look right on the power supply itself. You should see a label that says something like “Input: 100V240V 50/60Hz.” If the voltage of the country you’re traveling to falls within the range of the power supply, then all you’ll need is a small plug adapter, which can be purchased in most travel stores in airports around the world for a few dollars, as well as at nearly every electronics retailer.

PLUG ADAPTER

If you don’t see that label on your power supply, call your laptop’s manufacturer. While it’s likely any modern power supply will support the wide range in voltages, you don’t want to take a chance with something as valuable as your data. Bonus tip: Get yourself a oneplug travel surge protector because you never know when (or where) power spikes may occur.


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Brain Surgery for Your PC

The Mouse That Roars

Q

I went to buy a new computer mouse the other day and in addition to the optical mice, I saw “laser” mice. Is there a difference and, if so, does it matter to me? DAN SKORICH Duluth, MN

A

There is a difference, although unless you need incredibly precise tracking, you might be just fine with the cheaper optical options. Laser technology allows you to use a mouse on an even greater variety of surfaces, and it probably won’t be too long before lasers subsume the LED illumination used in current opticals. While optical mice have made mouse pads optional, many people find they don’t track well on glossy surfaces—including mouse pads, which many folks still use for comfort’s sake. “The laser beam is coherent light that creates interference by hitting the microstructure of a surface,” explains Yves Karcher, director of Logitech’s Retail Pointing Devices unit. “Even a very glossy surface, like a white board or a photograph, always has some microstructure. The laser reveals things that the LED doesn’t reveal.” Even though the cameralike sensors in laser mice are similar to those in optical LED mice, they are able to see more of the tiny pits and dimples on the mousing surface. That makes it easier to detect movement—in fact, laser mice are reported to have 20 times the tracking performance of optical mice.

NEED TO KNOW

Text Utilities 104

FIND YOUR CPU

Purchase an upgrade chip that matches your motherboard. Prep by cleaning your hands with alcohol and putting on a grounding strap 1 to prevent static shocks. Open your computer and find the heat sink (the big fan). Release the fasteners and/or clips that secure it to the motherboard. RELEASE THE OLD CHIP Once you

remove the heat sink, you’ll see the CPU. A lever locks the CPU to the motherboard. To release the chip, 2 push it down slightly, then pull out and up. Before you remove it, note its orientation and look for a notch that should match a mark on the socket. Remove gently.

Complexity and Risk: Moderate

But even laser mice won’t work on every surface. Glass and mirrors, for instance, don’t have a rough microstructure unless they are dirty. So should you get one? Sure, if you

I

Materials: Retail CPU, antistatic

can afford it and spend a lot of time using your mouse on glossy (but not glass) surfaces. If you haven’t had a problem with optical mice on your desk in the past, however, there’s

If you have trouble reading tiny text in Windows or on the Web, Windows XP has two functions that may help. The first is Magnifier. This bar at the top of your screen gives you a zoomed-in view that can follow either your mouse or keyboard. The second is a text-to-speech program called Narrator, which can read aloud menu commands or text on Web pages. You can access these functions by pushing the Windows logo key and the letter “U.”


P H O T O G R A P H S B Y B U R C U AV S A R

Your computer’s central processing unit (CPU) is its most vital organ, and so it may seem untouchable. But unlike you and me, your PC isn’t stuck with the brain it was born with. Upgrading the chip in your computer is easier than you might think. Here’s how to do it. b y A n t h o n y V e r d u c c i

Mode options. I haven’t touched it since. What should I do? ERIC BRANDNER Towson, MD

PREP THE CPU

Thermal grease aids the transfer of heat from chip to heat sink. Some heat sinks are prepasted, but you may need to apply it yourself. 3 To do so, hold the CPU between your thumb and forefinger, apply grease evenly, then use a razor blade like a trowel to spread a thin layer across the top of the chip. INSERT NEW CPU AND FAN Find the

notch on the chip and “key” it into the socket. Lock in the chip by closing the lever. Place the heat sink over the chip, 4 and clamp it down or click in the fasteners. Then plug its power cord into the “CPU fan” socket. If your BIOS is up to date, your PC will auto-recognize the chip on boot-up.

grounding strap, 99% isopropyl alcohol, thermal grease, razor blade

no reason to abandon the technology, especially when waiting another year or two will almost certainly see the laser sensors become standard—and cheaper. The most obvious difference between optical and laser mice is that the laser in a laser mouse looks less laserlike than the beam of its LED progenitors. In fact, the laser of laser mice is invisible. “We wanted it to look different than the classical optical mouse,” Karcher says. “It’s also more efficient to use an infrared

laser than a visible light laser.” The invisibility of the infrared laser helps encourage safety. “Even though we are far below the [FDA’s Laser] Class 1 margin, we didn’t want people looking into the hole for the laser.”

Boot Camp

Q

My computer crashed recently and when I rebooted, I was offered a variety of ways to boot, including: Last Known Good Configuration; Start Windows Normally; and multiple Safe

A

Windows is trying to tell you that it knows something caused your machine to crash, but it doesn’t know exactly what. You, I hope, will have a better idea. And, that idea will help you decide what your next step should be. Safe Mode is a way to get Windows to start up normally, but without loading anything except the most basic drivers and applications. That way, if the crash was precipitated by a program behaving badly or a piece of glitchy hardware, you have the chance to uninstall the offending item before it crashes your system again. If you’re fairly certain that the problem wasn’t related to your network connection, choose the Safe Mode (with Networking) option so that you can access the Internet. If you think you know what caused the crash—running a buggy program, for instance—and can avoid doing it again, feel free to select Start Windows Normally. Windows will automatically take care of any necessary post-crash maintenance. Occasionally you’ll install hardware or software that can screw up Windows so royally that even Safe Mode won’t work as it should. That’s when the Last Known Good Configuration alternative can come in handy. Choosing this option reloads some of the basic system settings from a constantly updated hardware configuration profile. Unfortunately, unlike Windows’ System Restore points (which, incidentally, can often be accessed from Safe Mode), this setting is limited to a smaller subset of hardware options, and won’t always take you back to a time before you broke your PC. But, it may undo some of the damage that caused your crash.


105

PM

TECHNOLOGY

A CLOSER LOOK: SERENITI HOME NETWORKING The Need for Speed

Q

I have an older computer that I’m used to working on and it’s in perfect condition. But it only has a USB 1.0 connection and my digital camera and MP3 player are USB 2.0. Is there any way to upgrade my hookup without buying a new computer? LEO CROWLEY Boston, MA

A

There most definitely is—and it’s worth the trouble. You should purchase one of the many Hi-Speed USB 2.0 PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) cards that are available from a variety of vendors, including Adaptec, Belkin and Keyspan. (Since the hardware is pretty standard these days, even off-brand cards should work well.) As with any aftermarket PCI card, you’ll have to open up your computer and install the card in a free expansion slot. These are the direct connections to your motherboard that are typically used for hardware additions such as graphics, television tuner and network cards. If your PC doesn’t have any free PCI slots, you may be in a bit of trouble since the other common way to add additional hardware these days is by plugging into—you guessed it— a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port. While you’re in there upgrading,

you might consider purchasing one of the combo cards that provides both USB 2.0 and FireWire (aka IEEE 1394). While USB 2.0 is much more common than FireWire in consumer gadgetry, FireWire is a better solution for things like permanently attached hard drives. The data throughput of USB 2.0 is slightly faster (480 megabits per second versus 400Mbps), but FireWire devices tend to put less “load,” computationally, on your PC than USB 2.0 devices because FireWire controllers include some circuitry that USB 2.0 does not. Since FireWire devices require less CPU processing power, everything works faster all around. That said, USB 2.0 is a valuable option and you should add both standards to your PC if possible. Bear in mind that you won’t be able to get full USB 2.0 speeds on older Macintosh computers running OS 8 or 9, even if you add the additional hardware, because there are no system-level drivers for the faster standard. In that case, you’ll have to upgrade to a new machine—every new Apple desktop or laptop these days comes standard with USB 2.0 and FireWire. And if your laptop doesn’t have USB 2.0 (or FireWire), you can purchase a PC Card (PCMCIA) that adds in the functionality, as well.

What’s the big idea? Having a home network is great. Taking care of your home network and keeping it secure, however, can be maddening and confusing. Wouldn’t it be nice if network maintenance was somebody else’s problem? That’s the theory behind Sereniti, a $15-per-month service that promises to simplify network setup, then protect all of your data against outside threats and equipment failure.

How does it work? The software walks you through setup and password-protects your network. Virus and spyware protection is included and updates automatically. (Sereniti gives users $25,000 worth of identity theft and $1000 of virus protection insurance as well.) One of the smartest features is the 80GB hard drive integrated into the Smart Home Server ($300). The SHS works as both a wired and wireless router, and can be set to back up the data of any computer on the network. If your PC fails, Sereniti’s tech support can access the SHS remotely to retrieve your data.

Will it catch on? Treating NEED TO KNOW

106


networking as a service rather than a product has roots in the corporate world, but the overall price probably will have to come down if this is to be the way of the future for home users. Nevertheless, the idea is solid, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see this sort of service become an option from Internet providers.

PHOTOGRAPH BY BURCU AVSAR

Firmware Updates

Just as your computer programs require periodic software updates to fix glitches and add functionality, your hardware needs “firmware” updates to keep it running in tiptop shape. A DVD burner that runs at 8X speed may be able to operate at 16X with new firmware. So check the manufacturer’s Web site for your hardware and peripherals, and have your model number on hand to make sure it matches the upgrade.

T H E T R A I N (Continued from page 61)

The train struck the unoccupied truck, which burst into flames. (One person, a passenger, suffered minor injuries.) “If you can see it, it’s gone,” says Bryan McLaughlin of New York Air Brake, a leading manufacturer. “All you’re doing [by applying the brakes] is making the cleanup easier.” Railroads have to do better if they are going to dramatically increase the number of trains riding the rails—and there is a better way to stop. Today’s airbrakes rely on a long pipe that “charges” each train car’s brakes with air. To slow the train, the engineer releases air from the front; the air moves sequentially from car to car, triggering the valves to open and to apply pressure to the brake shoes. The process takes up to a second per car—and some trains have 150 cars. New York Air Brake is one of several companies that offer electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes, which change the brake pipe’s role. The pipe still charges the cars’ brakes, but the valves are activated electronically, via a pair of wires. By letting engineers apply all the brakes simultaneously, the technology can slash stopping distances—by nearly 70 percent in some cases. Unfortunately, implementing ECP will be a major challenge. The locomotive and all cars on a train must be outfitted with ECP; if even a single car lacks the hardware, the chain is broken and cars behind it will be unable to brake (although a crude work-around is possible). Since cars are continually swapped among trains, companies will have to convert much of North America’s fleet of 1.5 million railcars at the same time. So far, only Quebec Cartier Mining in Canada and South Africa’s Spoornet, also a mining

outfit, are using ECP in day-today operations. The technology is a natural fit for those companies because they rely on unit trains— the cars are never switched, but simply move from point to point and back again.

B E YO N D EN GIN EERS? ITH SO MANY functions getting high-tech makeovers, what’s to stop the railroads from building fully automated trains? After all, some airplanes already can take off, fly long distances and land without the assistance of pilots. In fact, remote control locomotives (RCL) are at work in a limited role: switching cars in railyards. This is a dangerous job. Before remote control, yard workers coordinated by radio with an engineer in the cab— and everyone sweated to ensure that no miscommunication led to someone getting crushed. In the new system, the workers doing the switching operate the locomotives themselves, using wearable remote-control units. The Federal Railroad Administration has begun allowing remote operation, under strict rules, on certain sections of open track. However, there may be too many grade crossings and stretches of dark, unsignaled territory throughout the country to make the technology widespread. Perhaps that’s a good thing. America’s rails are destined to become more crowded, with powerful locomotives roaring along hauling the longest, heaviest loads anyone has ever seen. The next generation of trains will help drive the nation’s business while combating energy shortages. Their sophisticated new technology will be welcome—but it’s comforting to know a human PM will still be at the controls.

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