Few vehicles capture the classic midcentury spirit like the Italian Vespa, a time-honored mode of transport that has maintained its stylish and practical design even into the 21st century.

If my circumstances permitted, I'd get my hands on a classic model myself and use it as my primary source of transportation. Unfortunately, the sprawling layout of Texas just doesn't accommodate the use of such a practical vehicle.

Still, that won't stop me from enjoying Huro Kitty's collection of vintage Vespa imagery as recently featured on D+R. Read More »

Sure, you can rely on the motel wake-up call if you want to, but I personally prefer a backup. If I oversleep and miss the golden hour because some lobby jockey didn't set the time right, the rest of my day is shot.

The problem is, nearly all travel alarm clocks are either too gimmicky or just plain junk. But I may have found the perfect bedside buzzer in Industrial Facility's Jetlag. Read More »

For years I've assumed that one of mankind's greatest fantasies has been to develop a practical, personal jetpack. But if the covers of Popular Science serve as any measure for this sort of thing, then it seems that for the past few decades man's been dreaming less about rocketing through the sky than he has about riding in some kind of giant wheel.

The revelation struck me as I was skimming Google's new archive of Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines for interesting cover art. As I quickly realized, the magazines' covers featured some crazy new vehicle every few years eschewing the apparently pesky and cumbersome multiwheel concept in favor of one enormous gyre. Read More »

If you live in the vicinity of Lake Erie and you're tired of the usual holiday outing to see yards full of wireframe deer covered in Christmas lights, you might think about heading into Cleveland for a different sort of yuletide day trip. Right near the junction of interstates 90, 71 and 490 lies the house Ralphie grew up in in the seasonal hit A Christmas Story, and it's open to the public! Read More »

Technology geeks, especially those like me who are fascinated by retrofuturism, aren't going to be getting much done lately, seeing as Google has recently made available as part of its Google Book Search entire issues of Popular Mechanics dating back to 1905 Popular Science reaching all the way back to 1872!

And when I say entire issues, I mean every page in full color, including the ads (which can be quite fascinating in themselves). Plus, each issue appears to be searchable. Read More »