Wired magazine looks at what makes an image memorable and what makes it forgettable.
It has always been assumed what was memorable for one person, was not necessarily memorable for the next, and so these new findings seem to fly in the face of the idea that beauty lay in the .Read more...
The Los Angeles Times looks at new ideas in airport security from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The IATA proposal would funnel fliers through one of three checkpoint lanes based on their perceived security risk. Many fliers might be able to walk quickly through a tunnel while being automatically screened .Read more...
Now that ‘Carmageddon’ is over in Southern California, how bad was the traffic? Freakonomics blogger Eric A. Morris weighs in on the results.
In fact, Carmageddon saw stunningly low traffic levels, with many who did venture out reporting they had never driven at such speeds in LA in their lifetimes. Moreover, .Read more...
Walt Disney expected monorails to be the public transportation of the future. Or are they a relic of the past?
The Wall Street Journal looks at monorails.
Although monorails have been around since the 19th century, they have mainly been short-line systems, limited to moving visitors around amusement parks or between airport .Read more...
Google has been in the new with their robot car that uses software and a set of cameras to act as the driver. Fast Company looks at “How Google’s Robot Cars will Revive Sprawl”.
Google’s test cars had traveled 140,000 miles with only one accident. (A car was rear-ended while stopped .Read more...
Daniel Machalaba looks at the developments in train technology in the Wall Street Journal:
Major railroads are installing digital communications, global positioning receivers, sensors and computerized controls on their trains and tracks. New systems can gather intelligence on locations, size and speeds of trains and make automated decisions about when the .Read more...
Popular Mechanics magazine looks at automotive light bulb technology.
We already use LEDs for taillights, a practice started by Cadillac on the 2000 DeVille. Aside from giving engineers the ability to design lights with substantially different styling, LEDs consume very little energy and illuminate 400 to 500 milliseconds faster than an .Read more...
Wolfram Alpha, the self-proclaimed ‘computational knowledge engine’, is developing a loyal following among users looking for answers instead of a list of links from Google.com.
Wired magazine takes stock as the company turns two years old (and reports that it is ‘slightly profitable):
Stephen Wolfram, the man behind computing-application Mathematica and the .Read more...
Gerry Burrows has taken a childhood interest in Legos to an extreme. His current Lego creation, based on ‘The Lord of the Rings’, stands 28 feet long with a depth ranging between 24 inches and 59 inches and rises 12 feet tall. He estimates between 200,000 and 250,000 Lego bricks have .Read more...
Guest Post by Eve Hinman, Hinman Consulting Engineers
Sometime in 2009 I decided that I wanted to have a greater impact on influencing policy at a high governmental level. I wrote down my thoughts and did some planning around it. I had no idea how it was going to manifest itself .Read more...
William Yardley and the New York Times examines the common themes of politics, development, city planning, the environment, traffic, and how to move forward. The issue at hand: the Alaskan Way Viaduct:
For a decade, since a 2001 earthquake exposed the viaduct’s vulnerability, this ambitious but frequently indecisive city has been .Read more...
Patrick Smith at Salon.com examines that treacherous trek from your seat on the plane to where you want to be.
In a way, choosing a favorite airport is akin to choosing a favorite hospital: Conveniences and accouterments aside, nobody really wants to be there in the first place, and the easier and faster .Read more...
