About Popular Mechanics - December 2009 (US):
Popular Mechanics is for people who have a passion to know how things work. It's about how the latest advances in science and technology will impact your home, your car, consumer electronics, computers, even your health. Popular Mechanics - answers for curious minds... Who Reads Popular Mechanics? The Popular Mechanics reader is curious. The reader is driven to explore, become knowledgeable and actively participate in a wide variety of interests, making him today's Go-to Guy that Main Street America goes to for advice. What You Can Expect in Each Issue: The Popular Mechanics reader has a curious mind - a hunger to know, an inquisitive interest, and a desire to investigate and learn. Every month, Popular Mechanics inspires, instructs and influences millions of curious minds - engaging them with breakthroughs in science and technology, how-to stories on digital technology, automotive advances and home upgrades. Tech Watch: Reporters dig deep to find new and exciting technological advances that will keep readers up-to-date with cutting-edge innovations – in aviation, computers, energy, environment, health, military, robotics, space and transportation. Upgrade: Reporters collect the best gear from the biggest trade shows – from new tools for the home and worksite to the most advanced digital gadgets – and provide no-nonsense comparison tests and monthly reviews. New Cars: Auto editors at Popular Mechanics give readers a comprehensive sneak-peak of the most exciting vehicles coming out of Detroit, Asia and Europe. DIY Auto: This section gives readers a place to go for all their automotive repair and maintenance questions and answers – allowing them to skip the trip to the local mechanic by providing them instructions on exactly how to diagnose and repair any number of auto problems. DIY Home: This section offers readers a column with a variety of step-by-step home improvement projects, including useful tips, advice and product reviews. DIY Tech: This gives readers hands on advice on all things tech – from cameras and computers to HDTV and surround sound – keeping them one step ahead of the curve. Feature Articles: Popular Mechanics tells you how the latest advances in science and technology will impact your home, your car, consumer electronics, computers, even your health. Features include: Tech Watch, Upgrade, New Cars, Saturday Mechanic, Car Clinic, Homeowners Clinic, and Jay Leno's Garage. Magazine Layout: Popular Mechanics is clean, crisp, fresh and cool. The magazine continuously delivers to curious minds every month - and even at 102 years young, continues to be a voice of authority on all things science, automotive, technology, home and outdoors.Comparisons to Other Magazines: Popular Mechanics is the essential source for the modern man. From installing windows in their home or on their computer, Popular Mechanics gives readers the information and tools they need to be confident and competent in today’s high-tech world. Advertising: Popular Mechanics has a wide variety of advertisers, from automobiles to retailers and tools to home and garden, and everything in between. Awards: Over the past 9 years, Popular Mechanics has won over 60 Art and Design Awards - ranging from Distinction in Editorial Design to Best Cover of the Year, to Best Table of Contents to Distinction in Photography. In 2008, Popular Mechanics won the American Society of Magazine Editors award for excellence in service journalism, for its 3 part series on the fast growing national anxiety - the degradation of the environment.With plenty of features on the latest high-tech cars, tools, sports gear, and military developments, Popular Mechanics is the source for discriminating gadget heads. Full-page ads for spark plugs, extrastrong glues, and manly cigarettes fuel the magazine's testosterone engine, and many of the how-to articles are designed to help today's male achieve maximum speed, efficiency, and style in his leisure activities. In-depth articles on the history of the baseball glove, comparison tests of mulching mowers, and a list of the cables you'll need to build a home network join brief news bites covering science, outdoors, and home improvement. With a copy of Popular Mechanics and a fat wallet, you could be the alpha male you've always wanted to be! --Therese Littleton Product DescriptionPopular Mechanics is for people who have a passion to know how things work. It's about how the latest advances in science and technology will impact your home, your car, consumer electronics, computers, even your health. Popular Mechanics - answers for curious minds.

Content issue:
72 Anatomy of a Plane Crash A jet flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris vanishes without a trace. How can investigators prevent a similar tragedy if the cause remains unknown? PM looks for answers. BY JEFF WISE 80 So You Want to Buy a Netbook is 2-pound wonder combines a desktop computer’s functionality with a laptop’s take-along convenience—at a fraction of the price. We dissect features to help you find the right mini machine. BY SETH PORGES 82 Run Silent, Run Sleek With its unprecedented speed and maneuverability, the Super Falcon submarine promises to reveal underwater worlds to scientists and amateur explorers alike. BY MARK SCHROPE 88 The Guerrilla Mechanic Our in-house MacGyver, auto editor Mike Allen, shares his 20 favorite quick-fix secrets, from making a fuel injector out of a Bic pen to a juryrigged fencepost remover. BY MIKE ALLEN 90 The New Wildcatters As America’s petroleum heartland, Texas isn’t known for being environmentally sensitive. But its oil-boom, get-’er-done attitude could make clean energy take off. BY JENNIFER BOGO 98 Are Green Jobs for Real? Green jobs have become known as the fix-it-now Band-Aid for some big economic quandaries. But will Earth-friendly careers stick around long enough to make a lasting impact? BY JOE P. HASLER 105 Bantamweight Slugfest PM puts some serious pressure on seven 12-volt lithium-ion drills in a test to crown the best portable powerhouse. 115 Saturday Mechanic Own a classic car? Keep its engine purring even longer by mastering a pair of age-old arts: replacing the ignition points and setting the timing. 125 Digital Sketchbook Put that pencil down—drawing on a PC is as easy as sketching on paper. With the right equipment and a little artistic skill, you can make a digital masterpiece Homeowners Clinic Using the right hardware to maximize the hang time of heavy wall art. Plus: proper way to install a snow fence; LEED-certified green remodeling. 118 Car Clinic Buyer beware— cheap, low-quality offshore brake discs. Plus: Ford’s Sync system deciphers Check Engine lights; dealing with a gasoline/ diesel mix-up at the pump. 128 Digital Clinic Can cellphones handle extreme cold? We lock six models in a subzero chamber and dip them in liquid nitrogen to find out. Plus: easy way to Auto-Tune. 13 Superman’s Velcro toughest hook-and-loop material on earth. Plus: NASA figures out how to levitate mice; can Bill Gates conquer hurricanes? 31 2010 Wish List Two dozen must-have toys, tools and tech items. Plus: Wireless sound systems endure our Abusive Lab Test; sci-fi-worthy tech that you can buy today. 70e New Machine Age Some experts say computers will soon surpass the intelligence of the human brain. Glenn Harlan Reynolds explores the implications. 110 Homeowners Clinic Using the right hardware to maximize the hang time of heavy wall art. Plus: proper way to install a snow fence; LEED-certified green remodeling. 118 Car Clinic Buyer beware— cheap, low-quality offshore brake discs. Plus: Ford’s Sync system deciphers Check Engine lights; dealing with a gasoline/ diesel mix-up at the pump. 128 Digital Clinic Can cellphones handle extreme cold? We lock six models in a subzero chamber and dip them in liquid nitrogen to find out. Plus: easy way to Auto-Tune. 105 Bantamweight Slugfest PM puts some serious pressure on seven 12-volt lithium-ion drills in a test to crown the best portable powerhouse. 115 Saturday Mechanic Own a classic car? Keep its engine purring even longer by mastering a pair of age-old arts: replacing the ignition points and setting the timing. 125 Digital Sketchbook Put that pencil down—drawing on a PC is as easy as sketching on paper. With the right equipment and a little artistic skill, you can make a digital masterpiece.