Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2017 i Popular Mechanics South Africa

JAMIE HYNEMAN stood on a lawn in Fairfax, California, an hour north of San Francisco, staring at an overgrowth of French broom, a yellowflowered evergreen weed, and potato vine. At his feet: an off-the-shelf DJI Inspire quadcopter to which he has bolted a pair of automated pruning shears. Hyneman, of course, was, for 14 years, half of the MythBusters, two men of extraordinary resourcefulness who investigated various phenomena using their expertise in engineering, special effects, and physics. The show ended, but Hyneman kept building, which accounts for the drone before him. A couple of years ago, he noticed that the foliage behind his house in San Francisco was so overgrown that it compromised his view of the Golden Gate Bridge. But even he couldn’t see a way to prune it.…

A / SLOW U-235 is the enriched uranium isotope. It’s easily split by a neutron moving at slow speed. When the neutron hits the uranium atom, the atom divides into two fission products and releases two to three neutrons. One of those neutrons might be absorbed by unenriched uranium, U-238. One might hit another U-235 atom to continue the chain reaction. And most others will leak out and no longer contribute to the process. Enriched U-235 atoms must be added to continue the reaction. If too many U-238 atoms are present, the reaction will die. B / FAST Neutrons in fast reactions move much more quickly because they use liquid metal sodium as coolant instead of water. Sodium atoms are heavier than the atoms in water, so neutrons bounce off…

AISHA BAKER PARNELL is a fashion and lifestyle blogger, digital marketer and social influencer. She couldn’t choose a favourite, so we chatted to her about both her Lenovo laptop and iPhone 6. – LUMKA NOFEMELE LENOVO YOGA LAPTOP Q Why do you love your Lenovo Yoga so much? A Flexibility is really important to me, since my life is so packed with things to do. I love the Lenovo Yoga because it can easily transform from a laptop to a tablet. I use it for pretty much everything, especially cooking. since I can turn it into a teepee shape, which makes it way easier to read recipes from. As a writer/blogger, what about this laptop makes it ideal for your work? We spend a lot of time writing and corresponding…

BLUETOOTH SNEAKERS. Wi-Fi grills. We laughed, too. For a while. Then, over the last couple of years, wireless technology quietly improved. Designers created shapes that we would actually display in our house. Set-up time for speaker systems went from hours to minutes. Most importantly, inventors started making devices that connected to the Internet – and to each other – in meaningful ways. Ways that could make you and your everyday life more efficient. More capable. More powerful. And maybe even happier. But (of course there’s a but) there’s so much of this new smart stuff out there, it’s getting harder to know what you need and what’s just dumb. We tested a wide array of the items that make up the Internet of Things and we have some answers for…

SPRING, 2010: I’m driving a new Lincoln MKT EcoBoost in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighbourhood when I spy a parking spot. I pull past and put the car in reverse, initiating the familiar dance of the urban parallel park. Except now, for the first time in my life, my hands aren’t on the wheel. Ultrasonic sensors on the bumper measure the space and tell a computer, which calculates the angles for a perfect park. That data goes to the power-steering motor, which smoothly whipped the wheel to the right, then left, placing the big Lincoln snungly alongside the curb. A woman on the sidewalk, witnessing this sorcery, called out, “Did that car just park itself? That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!” Indeed, it seemed that way. A few years earlier,…

. . .REFRIGERATOR? You don’t need one that’s just a tablet stuck on the exterior. But interior cameras make sense. When you’re shopping for groceries, you can check your phone to see if you have eggs. That solves a real problem that hasn’t been solved in any other way. Someday, we’ll see a smart refrigerator that can track our food and warn about bacteria, or one that can use AI to move the oldest food to the front. – Sharon Franke . . .WASHING MACHINE? Right now, the functions are basic, like remote start or downloadable cycles. The newest ones order detergent when the dispenser is near empty, and run when household energy use is low. The most useful: remote diagnostics. Sensors and Internet connectivity means knowing when it’s broken…

The repairman’s advice: buy the dumbest appliances you can find. I attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 2011. It’s the world’s largest trade show, with hundreds of new products introduced each year. What I saw were booths stuffed with future landfill: docks, dashboard mounts, adaptors, robotic vacuum cleaners, 3D TVs. One afternoon, I attended a panel discussion about the rapidly approaching “connected home”, referred to nowadays as the Internet of Things. The panellists promised that household devices of all kinds would soon be connected to one another and to the Internet, thereby transforming the average home into a futuristic fortress of hyperefficiency. Many of the predictions sounded familiar, so while the panellists were talking I did a Google search on my phone and found this New York…

“It’s better to ask for forgiveness than for permission,” says Josua Blom when we meet at a rugby field in Stellenbosch. Much like skateboarders, drone racers don’t have many fans in the establishment. There’s nobody here besides us, the photographer, his assistant and a couple of maintenance workers busy at the building about 300 metres from where are flying. Oh, and there’s a lady walking her Afghan off leash around the boundary of the cricket field. The dog rushed up to get to know us during the interview, but Blom’s quadcopter is considered a greater threat to safety. Even though it’s being piloted by this country’s top racer. Go figure. “It’s too fast, I can’t get focus!” exclaims the photographer. We’ve asked Blom to weave his drone through rugby poles.…

MINING When computers with specialised hardware solve complex algorithms that are used to validate transactions, the process is called mining. Once the problem is solved, the transaction is complete and the mining computers are issued Bitcoin as a reward. TRANSACTING Wallets are the bank accounts to Bitcoin. This is where you can send, receive and store Bitcoin. Like banks, a variety of companies provide wallet services including storage, transfer and purchasing. They all have websites; most also have specially developed apps for Android and iOS. SECURITY The protocol and the cryptography (ie the technology) behind Bitcoin have a good track record. The risk lies in the wallet used and the owner’s own security. EARNING There are four ways to earn Bitcoin: Mining: as described above Purchasing: through an exchange Earning:…

A revolution in car safety will take place within the next five years as a wave of mass-market models that can predict and automatically respond to danger arrive in showrooms. That’s the prediction of Mike Song, head of Hyundai in Africa and the Middle East. Despite the rapid rollout of advanced technology such as anti-lock braking and electronic stability control to mass-market cars, driver reaction time still has to be factored in, he says. To take driver aids to the next level will require overcoming the human factor. Hyundai’s most recent new models combine a package of innovations into “Smart Sense”, which includes aids such as smart cruise control and lanekeeping assistance. The company’s research and development of driverless vehicles also feeds into the concept. With autonomous emergency braking already…

MAZDA BT-50 3,2L 4X4 SLE 6AT YESTERDAY’S HERO I have an irrational love for 4x4s that I have passed on to my immediate family and so bringing home a bakkie to test is a special occasion, especially if we have it for a long weekend. That said: when the conclusion is that a bakkie is underwhelming, it really is. For R555 700 in 2017, you’d expect more than a modified version of Ford’s original SYNC infotainment system and a functional interior. To be fair to Mazda, the seats are wrapped in leather. But still, competing products from Toyota, Nissan, Ford and even the new Mitsubishi Triton and Fiat Fullback have surpassed it in terms of occupant and driver comfort. The 3,2-litre diesel engine it shares with the top tier of…

THE SUBJECT: ARMIN ALAEDINI THE JOB: Assistant professor of medicine, Lyme disease immunology researcher THE LOCATION: Columbia University Medical Centre, New York City THE IMMUNE SYSTEM is kind of like a diary. You can take the blood of a Lyme disease patient two, five, or maybe even ten years down the road and find antibodies against the disease. An issue surrounding Lyme disease is the persistence of symptoms following an infection, called post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome. My lab compares immune responses of patients without symptoms to those who do not recover fully. We take blood samples and map which parts of proteins from the disease-causing bacteria antibodies bind to. One test is called a protein/ peptide microarray (1). We print 1 000 protein segments on to a small metallic chip…

Rubber band stops ceiling-fan woes It’s a real hassle when the vibrations of a ceiling fan shake loose the screws that hold the globe of the fan’s light fixture in place. Reader Maxine Cutshall came up with a clever solution: she wrapped a rubber band around the groove that receives the screws. The rubber absorbs the vibrations and introduces just enough friction to keep the screws in place. SCRAP MAKES BETTER WEDGE If you’re ripping a large board with a handsaw, the cut can close up and bind the blade. One option to keep it wedged open is to place a large nail in the cut (say, 16d). A better option: drive that same nail through a small piece of scrap before wedging it in place. It’s easier to move…

MATERIALS LIST • 25 x 150 x 300 pine board • 10 x 1 200 round wood dowel • Wire coat hanger • 70 mm pan-head wood screws • 2 x 200 x 250 clear acrylic sheet • Nerf Rival refill-pack foam balls • 10 golf tees (two colours) • Sandpaper TOOLS • Mitre saw • hand mitre saw • drill • 10 mm, 5 mm, 1,5 mm, 6 mm twist drill bits • 20 mm spade bit • jigsaw • wire-cutting pliers • tape measure • wood glue • pencil • marker 1. Use a mitre saw to cut the 25 x 150 x 300 into lengths of 115 mm, 100 mm and 30 mm. Knock off any rough edges with sandpaper. 2. The 115 mm section forms the…

I REFER TO G BUTTON’s “Keep it Local” in your April issue, in which the writer discusses our railway system and local construction of rolling stock. Union Carriage and Wagon was established in 1957 and was a proudly South African company. For many years, UCW provided traction locomotives as well as quality passenger coaches and other rolling stock. I was involved with UCW one way or another for many years and saw its rise to a respected and trusted manufacturer of rolling stock. The highlight in UCW’s existence must be when the first of many hundreds of Class 5E1 Series 2 electrical locomotives were delivered to the South African Railways (SAR) in 1964. This was a class-leading locomotive that became the workhorse when freight or passengers needed to be moved.…

ALTHOUGH ONLY Letgo seems to be active locally (letgo.co.za), given South Africa’s haste to adopt tech early – and the rapidity with which online sales platforms such as Gumtree and OLX have overtaken traditional sales methods such as the daily newspaper classifieds and the shopping mall bulletin board – others are likely to soon follow. Here’s a comparison chart to show you what to expect. HOW YOU SELL Software automatically scans the first photo of your item and categorises it. Add more photos and a description, and you’re done. Post photos and a detailed description, then wait for the offers to pour in. As with the others, emphasis is on good photography and quick descriptions. Electronics are appraised based on a photo and specs. If you agree to the suggested…

I want to be in my car, on the way home, and be able to say, “Put my AC back at 20, heat the kettle, and turn on ESPN.” This is what I’ve always dreamed about, and it’s finally happening. I’ve had an Amazon Echo, the voice-assistant speaker, since it first came out in 2014. I started out just asking it for weather and sports scores. Now, companies are designing hardware that lets you control it by talking to the Echo. It’s so much more natural than unlocking your phone, opening an app, and sliding a switch just to turn on your reading light. With the Philips Hue lightbulbs, I can tell the Echo to turn the lights on and off, or turn on a scene: Bright, Relax, Energise, Arctic…

ATHOS These nylon shorts (and optional shirt) have sensors that act like a nanny cam for your muscles, tracking when they’re working and exactly how hard. If one side of your body is stronger and more engaged during an exercise, you’ll see it in the app and be able to account for it. If you’re not working hard enough, the app will suggest an increase in weight. Be warned: If you’re skinny, your arms and legs may not fill out the clothing to make contact with all of the sensors. You’ll get a lot of prompts to work harder. SMART ROPE PURE A jump rope that counts reps for you. Since most jump-rope training involves timed intervals or small sets, this won’t replace your rope if you’re already using one.…

Here is the introduction to Bitcoin as published in the white paper: Commerce on the Internet has come to rely almost exclusively on financial institutions serving as trusted third parties to process electronic payments. While the system works well enough for most transactions, it still suffers from the inherent weaknesses of the trustbased model. Completely non-reversible transactions are not really possible; financial institutions can’t avoid mediating disputes. The cost of mediation increases transaction costs, limiting the minimum practical transaction size and cutting off the possibility for small casual transactions, and there is a broader cost in the loss of ability to make nonreversible payments for nonreversible services. With the possibility of reversal, the need for trust spreads. Merchants should be wary of their customers hassling them for more information than…

When I was 16 – six long years ago – I dragged up a record player I found in my parents’ basement along with a collection that had a few too many Doobie Brothers albums to have me believe my father had truly never tried pot. It smelled weird and some of the records were scratched, but damned if I didn’t sit there listening for the next three hours. Pulling a record out of its battered sleeve, I could interact with an unimaginable version of my father, a young one. I felt like I was reading his old letters, or anyone’s letters, back when people kept letters. (The Internet has made communication faster, but how many love emails do you have in a box under your bed?) And yet “nostalgic”…

WINNING TIP SAVEWATER Problem: We bought an oldish house with plenty of leaking taps. One particularly troublesome one was on the hand wash basin in the guest toilet. On removing the original tap, I could not find a suitable replacement, as the spindle and washer seat was significantly shorter (see fig A). This resulted in an ever dripping tap, with very uncomfortable guests. Advice from the plumbing fraternity ranged from disheartened solidarity to hand-engineering a new tap. Solution: make own extension using 5 mm machine screw Parts used: Standard Cobra ½ inch with 5 mm thread. 5 mm machine screw Washer and seat washer 5 mm female to female sleeve. How: Simply remove seat washer nut and extend with sleeve. Adjust to desired length by using play on thread inside…

Yes. I chose to make biscuits because they are a good neutral product that lets me judge the performance and flavour of the cricket flour against plain wheat flour. Also, you can call them “criscuits”, which is awesome. Cricket flour (premixed with wheat flour) can be used cup for cup to replace all-purpose flour. If you are using concentrated cricket powder, substitute it for 10 to 15 percent of the total flour by weight. DIRECTIONS 1 Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Line a baking sheet with baking paper. 2 To make the dough: in a big bowl, mix the first five ingredients well. Start tearing off chunks of lard and massage them into the flour; you want the flour to become sandy, with small chunks of lard. Pour in…

Criminals out there are looking to exploit smart thermostats and Wi-Fi cameras. Hackers can remotely disable a thermostat and demand a ransom to return it to working order, or gather sensitive information about its owner. It’s the risk of anything wireless and convenient. Cybersecurity researchers fight back by dissecting smart hardware and finding weaknesses for manufacturers to fix before the bad guys get wise. We asked a few of these researchers to assess whether some common smart appliances left their figurative doors unlocked. Ryan Speers and Gene Chorba work at Ionic Security in Atlanta. The company specialises in encryption, intelligently scrambling data so that only the intended recipient can see the information. Its clients include the USA’s Department of Homeland Security, making Speers and Chorba overqualified but enthusiastic about assessing…

THE INEXORABLE FLOW towards cities is putting pressure on living space. It’s no surprise that designers the world over are spending time trying to make the most of the limited available room. From multi-purpose spaces to smart compact living, they have come to the party with ideas that give almost everything a multitude of purposes. Portland-based design studio Los Osos took on that exact challenge when they designed this smart space. The challenge: Coroflot, an online design services directory, needed an ultrasmart office space for its staff that would change and adapt with the company. The space also had to live inside a working warehouse where other things were happening all the time. The trailer’s structure comprises a Douglas Fir (we call it Oregon Pine) post-and-beam frame and polycarbonate walls…

Some are calling it early adoption. Others say it’s pre-adoption. In fact, some experts have specific names for those who have already adopted it. Commentator, technologist and serial entrepreneur Andreas Antonopoulos calls its users “the lunatic fringe”. But regardless of what its users are called, Bitcoin is gaining a steadier foothold in the world as globalisation increases, earning power decreases and more people than ever before start mistrusting traditional financial institutions. Do we blame them? Many don’t. With average citizens having a low stake in the overall health of their country’s economies and financial wealth, understandably many reach for alternatives. Some examples of alternative tender to ensure survival can be found in countries where political and economical instability have affected average citizens the most. Think Greece after the national debt…

Riyaad Daniels, 26, willingly put up his hand when Popular Mechanics was looking for a volunteer. Part of the attraction, no doubt, was that Del Rocca himself would be doing the work. But even though it was not Daniels’s first tattoo, he was definitely enduring discomfort, in spite of having the new tattoo done on a less sensitive area of the body. Stick a needle into your skin and you will notice. But some areas on the skin and some areas of the body are more sensitive than others. Daniels had Del Rocca tattoo on his leg, a less sensitive area. Where the bones are closer to the surface of the skin (your foot, ankle, knee, ribs, whatever) is often more unpleasant than getting a tattoo in more meatier areas…

In some drought-stricken parts of the country the rainy season might have begun setting in, but water conservation remains very much on everyone’s minds. Not surprisingly, many of the hints readers send in to our Do It Your Way section have reflected concerns about how to harvest and save water. Of course, once you have managed to gather water, be it rain, grey or spring, there’s the question of how to make it fit for the purpose required; whether human consumption, keeping a pool topped up and sparkling or maintaining a garden. Contributions from clearly inventive readers Harry Lewis and Nick Long were simply too complex to feature as mere hints, so we’ve de-cided instead to present them as DIY approaches to water conservation. Water separator – Nick Long, Table…