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Popular Science (March 2005) PDF

111 Pages·2005·13.422 MB·English
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THE TOP TECH CITIES IN AMERICA: HOW DOES YOUR TOWN RATE? WHAT’S NEW 32HOT ➤➤ PRODUCTS p.13 AA VVEEGGAASS MMOOGGUULL HHAASS GGRRAANNDD PPLLAANNSS FFOORR YYOOUURR NNEEXXTT BBIIGG VVAACCAATTIIOONN SSPPAACCEE HHOOTTEELL 22001100 ++ GGEEEEKKSS OONN TTHHEE RREEDD CCAARRPPEETT WWEE GGOO TTOO US$3.99 CAN $4.99 TTHHEE OOSSCCAARRSS!! MARCH 2005 POPSCI.COM IISS TTHHEERREE AA HHOOTT ZZOONNEE NNEEAARR YYOOUU?? TTHHEE IIFFFFYY BBIIOODDEEFFEENNSSEE BBOOOOMM T VOLUME 266 #3 CONTENTS MARCH2005 As the beefy guards wearing desert fatigues and .45s check your ID, maybe you’ll notice their black shoulder patches,which feature FOUNDED IN1872 a classically oval-eyed alien face outlined in silver and gold. tech THE FIVE-BILLION-STAR HOTEL,p.50 13|What’s New Volvo’s ultra-efficient boat engine. VoIP phones go cordless. Flight of the FanWing.Carbon-fiber laptops. Souped- up cars hit the showroom. 73|How2.0 GEEK GUIDEDisaster-proof your data. DIYBuild a portable game console. GRAY MATTER See subatomic particles. TECH SUPPORTEavesdrop on your engine. news and views 27|Headlines SPACENASA’s new prize patrol. ARCHITECTUREThe eco-friendly skyscraper. CHEMISTRYSlob-proof clothing. 50 DIY ASTRONOMYMake your own nebulae. 36|Soapbox PLUGGED INWhen ISPs secretly sort your e-mail,nobody wins. By Cory Doctorow SCIENCE FRICTIONPopular culture lauds the wrong Einstein. By Gregory Mone NETT (2); stories 41 AR 41|Technopolis Found POPSCIidenti- C B. fies the most high-tech U.S. cities. How N OH does yours rate? By Matthew Power OP: J M T 50|The Five-Billion-Star Hotel SE FRO Adenv eelxocpluesr iRveo bfierrstt Bgilgimelposwe’ sa t$ L50as0 -Vmeigllaison CKWI inflatable orbital retreat. By Michael Belfiore 64 14 O CL GE, 58|“And Finally,I’d Like to Thank A S P My High School Physics Teacher. . .” M; THIS An insider’s view of the movie tech- WN; INSET: HOLLY LINDENASA; BRENT HUMPHREY nT6shpei4ogeclhon|hB-gd sAiieienoccsgual on dr$igoet2iymm2c bayibnil ioA laWlttwieoeraandrrro fodfroan slr.ra geBbtehysTr i.J mshBa eymu r etUee assw. rSeV’isa.ll a lriS schtchhoi es-asned KENN BROCOURTESY deffeoprtst ms.ake us safer? By Jeffrey Rothfeder COVER: WTON; 6From the Editor 80FYI ON THE JOHN LA 170CLoenttterribsutors 104 Looking Back 27 POPULAR SCIENCE MARCH 2005 5 T FROM THE EDITOR Editorial Director Scott Mowbray EditorMark Jannot Art Director Nathalie Kirsheh Executive Editor, Features Emily Laber-Warren Science Editor Dawn Stover Senior Technology Editor Suzanne Kantra Kirschner Senior Editor, What’s New Eric Hagerman Aviation & Automotive Editor Eric Adams Senior Editors Michael Moyer, Kalee Thompson Managing Editor Jill C.Shomer Senior Associate Editor Nicole Dyer Copy Chief Rina Bander Associate Editors Jenny Everett, Mike Haney, Martha Harbison Assistant Editor Rena Marie Pacella Assistant Editor, Best of What’s New Joe Brown Designer April Bell Photo Editor Kristine LaManna Staff PhotographerJohn B.Carnett Editorial Assistant Barbara Caraher Taxicab Web Producer Peter Noah Contributing Design EditorChee Pearlman Contributing Automotive EditorStephan Wilkinson Contributing Editors Cory Doctorow, Theodore Gray, Joseph Confessions Hooper, Preston Lerner, Gregory Mone, Jeffrey Rothfeder, Jessica Snyder Sachs, Rebecca Skloot, Bill Sweetman, Phillip Torrone, James Vlahos, Charles Wardell, William Speed Weed Contributing TroubadourJonathan Coulton Contributing FuturistAndrew Zolli Contributing Artists Mika Grondahl, Jason Lee, John THE CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW IS AN OVERWHELMING EXPERIENCE MacNeill, Garry Marshall, Stephen Rountree, Bob Sauls for every one of the 140,000 engineers,marketers,buyers,journalists and Editorial InternSarah Goforth Art Intern Dana Stratton other tech-obsessed individuals who throng the Las Vegas Convention Center in early January—but the editor of POPULARSCIENCEexperiences a different POPULAR SCIENCE PROPERTIES Publisher Gregg R. Hano brand of overwhelm. Not for me the standard overload brought on by prowl- Advertising Director John Tebeau ing 1.5 million square feet of exhibit space occupied by 2,550 companies un- General Manager Robert Novick Executive Assistant Chandra Dwhaj veiling thousands of new products and technologies. No,in my case,CES is Northeast Advertising Office: Manager Howard S. Mittman (212) 779-5112, Jill Schiffman (212) 779-5007, mostly an extended opportunity to bounce from booth to booth handing out Mike Schoenbrun (212) 779-5148, Missy Dye Radin EL prizes to the richly deserving winners of our annual Best of What’s New (212) 779-5030 ART Ad Assistant Christopher Graves M awards. When making my rounds,I relish the chance to chat with the engineers Midwest Advertising Office: ManagerJohn Marquardt D N who created the technology,because they really get it—these innovators are con- (312) 832-0626, Megan Williams (312) 832-0624 A Ad AssistantSindy Sonshine KL tinually telling their marketing people that thisis the award that truly matters. Los Angeles Advertising Office: ManagerDana Hess OC As you might expect,hearing that sort of thing a dozen times or more a (310) 268-7484, Ad AssistantMary Infantino ST Detroit Advertising Office: ManagerDonna Christensen R day is a mighty fine way to spend a trade show. But my happy bubble was (248) 988-7723,Ad AssistantDiane Pahl FO burst one night when,riding in a taxi,I heard this bit of devil’s advocacy San Francisco Advertising Office: ManagerAmy EL Cacciatore (415) 434-5276,Ad AssistantCarly Petrone H C from one of my cabmates: “Has anyone here seen a single thing at this Southern Regional Advertising Office: ManagerDave E show that is really going to change the world for the better?” HClaadsys if(4ie0d4 A) 3d6ve4r-4ti0si9n0g, SAadle As sJosaisnta Ontr thC (h2ri1st2y ) C7h7a9p-5m5a5n 5 A RU This was just after the Indian Ocean tsunami took well over 150,000 lives, Direct Response SalesMarie Isabelle (800) 280-2069 AIL Business ManagerJacqueline L. Pappas N a great many of whom might have been saved if early-warning technology were Director of Brand & Business Development L. Dennett BY bseeetmters ad irsetarsibountaebdle. Ipnr otvhoec actoinonte. xMt yo fr etthoer tm woams seonmt,emthyin cgo tmo pthaen ieoffne’cs t rtehmata hrke RSDoaablneeiser tlDs Voeanvueglohpamnent Managers Mike Saperstein, YLING Senior Manager, Events and Promotions Christy Chapin ST was at the wrong trade show. No one,after all,is making grand claims of social Ellinger P; U relevance for remote-access TiVo or the latest flat-panel television. However eye- Creative Services Designer MaryMcGann O popping and awe-inspiring,this stuff represents just a slice of the spectrum of MAdavrekrettiisningg C CoooordrdininaatotorrEsEhvoenlydna N Ceagrraownay R iGR what technology can and should do,and it ought to be judged accordingly. Consumer Marketing DirectorBarbara Venturelli O thaItn f athllsis s iosmsueew,wheer aet bteemtwpete tno tihlleu mlifiensaatvei nthga itn anroevaa otifo tnhse a snodc itahl/et etechch s pcaenctdryu—m SCSeeonnniisoourrm PPelraor ndMnuaicnrtgiko enMt iDnagnir aeMgctaeornraMLgaaeurrrgesel ArKitduara nCmida eFtwseiefellr, Kristen Shue EGLIA F stop ebceif ihcaigllhy,-ttehcaht ?t”erOriutorr tye dchef-ciniteyd rbayn tkhine gqsu edsoti otank,e“W inhtaot adcoceosu int tm tehaen efxotre an ct ittoy PPPrrroeeppdrrueecsstisso DMn iarAenscastiogsretarRnoJotbsSyéhn aM Kweonde piGnpaleelnn HELLE C Publicity ManagerHallie Deaktor C which a population embraces technology. But we’ve gone much further by MI Y quantifying the extent to which a city’s policymakers and private sector use tech- G B nology to improve quality of life—from innovative traffic systems to pioneer- MIN ing medical care to energy-efficient building codes. When we crunched all the President Mark P. Ford OO data,our top technopolis turned out to be . . . well,turn to page 41 to find out. Senior Vice Presidents James F. Else, GR As for me,I’m just happy that I get to deliver another award. VEdicittoorr iMal. DSiareucetrohro fSf,c oSttte Mveonw Sbhruarye UX; Director, Corporate Communications Samara Farber Mormar ED R CUSTOMERSERVICEANDSUBSCRIPTIONS R/ MARK JANNOT For 24/7 service, please use our Web site: popsci.com/ KE [email protected] customerservice BA You can also call: 800-289-9399or write to: N Popular Science P.O. Box 62456 Tampa, FL 33662-4568 BE 6 POPULAR SCIENCE MARCH 2005 T CONTRIBUTORS If hotelier Robert Bigelow has his way, well-heeled adventurers will be able to see the world in comfort—and from a distance. He wants to rocket them up to a $1-million-a-night,Earth- orbiting space hotel. Writer MICHAEL BELFIORE[left] was one of the first journalists to visit the top-secret Bigelow Aerospace hangar in Las Vegas, which houses the inflatable space modules that are to become Bigelow’s otherworldly resort. A space junkie, Belfiore has written a children’s book about life on the International Space Station, wire stories for Reuters about last fall’s Ansari X Prize flights, and a one-man play about alien abductions. Whereas Belfiore traces his extraterrestrial enthusiasms to the science fiction he read as a kid, artist KRIS HOLLAND[right] got his start in science-related illustration when, as a university student majoring in physics and geology, he entered a computer-modeling contest and won third place. Holland’s science background helps him create realistic images like the one on page 55 that shows how a rocket will get tourists to habitations situated in low- Earth orbit. “I know what a launch profile is supposed to look like,” he explains. RN We sent photographer BRENT HUMPHREYSto Galveston, Texas, E ST to capture the essence of daily work in a new high-security Bio- G U Safety Level 4 laboratory, where the most lethal and intractable O Y D diseases, such as Ebola, can be studied in safety [page 64]. D B “The suits were the most difficult element to deal with, hot and E H cumbersome,” says Humphreys, adding, “I tried to convey the P A GR isolation of the researchers while they were wearing them.” O HOT To experience the glories of the city anointed by POPSCIas the most P E high-tech in the U.S., writer MATTHEW POWERpacked his bags E NTR and traveled to. . . What, you think we’re going to give it away OU here? [See page 41.] Power was impressed by the city in question’s R N embrace of environmentally sustainable technologies and its “intel- E PH lectual ferment.” Not to mention the multilingual ticket machines. E ST Power’s work has also appeared in Harper’sand Discover. ; ETT N Contributing editor JAMES VLAHOStraveled to L.A. to get the low- R CA down on the special Academy Awards given to recognize technical N B. achievement [page 58]. While investigating the digital cloning used OH to render vampires in Blade: Trinity, he had his own face scanned. Y J Innocuous, but the research scarred him in other ways: He has be- B ED come an effects pedant, scrutinizing CG hair and skin for realism. H AP “I’ve become annoying to go to the movies with,” he acknowledges. R G OTO Longtime POPSCIcontributor STEPHEN ROUNTREEis a film buff, H so he was happy to create images of the Oscar statuette in various P RE poses for Vlahos’s story on the Sci-Tech Oscars. As an illustrator O FI who renders objects in 3-D, is he envious of the guys who work EL EL B with the latest CG effects? “I wish I had their equipment,” he HA says. “But I don’t have the animation chops to do what they do.” C MI Rountree is the graphics director at U.S. News and World Report. POPULAR SCIENCE MARCH 2005 7

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