museum

Harley-Davidson Museum opens its bizarre archives

MILWAUKEE--Even Harley-Davidson has its secrets. Inside the recesses of the company's archives and housed near the Harley-Davidson Museum complex here, a sort of motorcycle "X-Files" hides away. The collection includes a varied array of strange and iconic items connected to both the company and overall biker culture.

Some of those odd items have been assembled into Collection X, an exhibit on display through August 22. During a recent trip to both the Powertrain Operations factory and the Harley-Davidson Museum, CNET got to spy on Collection X, which offers insights into extreme machines that scored incredible achievements and bizarre creations forged out of a love for motorcycles.

Displays include the 1985 FXRP "Transamazon" motorcycle that Charles Peet raced 9,000 miles in 26 days across the width of South America, and the 1970 Land Speed Streamliner that Cal Rayborn piloted to the then land-speed record of more than 265 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. … Read more

Harley-Davidson Museum rolls into the future

MILWAUKEE--There's no better time to visit the Harley-Davidson Museum here than the July 4th weekend. The often brutal Great Lakes weather smiles on you with blue skies reflecting on the nearby riverfront. The huge Summerfest music festival roars not too far away. And the rebellious, proud image of America's oldest active motorcycle manufacturer fits the patriotic mood.

But museums generally look back at history, the minds behind Harley-Davidson looked to use the 3-year-old attraction to promote the company's push to modernize its image.

Built on waterfront property that was once a Morton Salt factory, the $70 million-plus complex documents the engineering history of Harley-Davidson and the development of the uniquely American motorcycle culture that developed throughout the 20th century. Founded in 1903, Harley-Davidson was the only surviving American motorcycle company until a British firm begin making a small number of Indian motorcycles in the U.S. around 2006. … Read more

Getty museum gets Google-Goggled

Here's one that's sure to make art lovers go googly-eyed. Google has teamed with the Getty museum in Los Angeles to bring its Google Goggles visual search feature to museum-goers.

This means Getty-goers with the Google Goggles app on their Android or iOS device can just point their gadget at any painting in the Getty museum's permanent collection to snap a picture and instantly access mobile-optimized versions of the work from around the Web.

They'll also be able to get audio commentary from curators and conservators and biographical information about the artist, and locate other works by the creator at the Getty. We're betting Google Goggles for Getty (try saying that 10 times fast) will also make a great tool for those who get museum overload and want to further reflect on the "Adoration of the Magi" once they've escaped the crowds.

Google first launched its search-by-site tool for Android phones in late 2009 and made it available for the iPhone about a year later. It can recognize books, album covers, artwork, landmarks, product logos, and more, and can also instantly translate text that has been captured by your phone's camera. Google refers to its Goggles search method as "computer vision."

The Getty says it's the first museum to work with Google to make its entire collection of paintings available virtually via Google Goggles. We'd love to see Goggles pop up at more museums, as long as people remember to turn their flashes off and look up while they're Google Goggling. … Read more

Classic wheels salute 'Cars 2' in Hollywood exhibit

HOLLYWOOD--To mark the opening of Pixar's animated "Cars 2," the Petersen Automotive Museum is showing off some rare and notable real-world vehicles in a special exhibit here.

"Cars 2" parks in theaters this weekend, pretty much guaranteeing that another fleet of Brinks trucks will pull up to Pixar when the movie likely makes another mint for the Oscar-machine animation studio.

Pixar and Disney are celebrating by buddying with Kodak, Goodyear, and other sponsors to build a temporary "Cars 2"-themed amusement park behind the historic El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, the movie's Los Angeles headquarters.

The El Capitan traditionally hosts Disney's biggest releases, and the theater often presents a live stage show before screening its animated features. Since you can't have cars thumping around the footlights, the "Cars 2" World Grand Prix Attraction will give families and car lovers a little extra mpg for their El Capitan ticket money.

The park sits on the grounds of Hollywood High School, immediately behind the movie palace. The attraction is open until the end of August.

Related links • New technology revs up Pixar's 'Cars 2' • Tech explodes in Pixar's 'Cars 2' (images) • With 'Cars 2' game, Pixar's DNA is abundant

While the kids are building Lego race cars or tooling around the park's pedal-power go-kart track, car-loving adults can steal away to the large, air-conditioned tent housing the Petersen Museum contributions. From the sublime to the ridiculous, visitors can enjoy an up-close look at elite period performance cars like the 140 mph 1968 Lamborghini Espada and perennial flops like the 1976 AMC Pacer.

See images from the special collection in our gallery.

… Read more

The long, great history of zeppelins

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany--It's one of the most famous photographs ever--the Hindenburg exploding on its mast, lives instantly lost, the romance of a modern way of travel forever tainted.

That is probably true nowhere more than this modest city on the northern shore of Lake Constance, a place where zeppelins were invented and the Hindenburg called home.

Of course, that disaster took place in 1937, but here in Friedrichshafen, the memory of that famous airship, and its many German cousins, lives on every day at the Zeppelin Museum, an homage to an age long before jumbo jets, when flying across the Atlantic meant three days, but three luxurious days for sure.

The Zeppelin Museum is part history lesson, part cheerleader. Visitors--about 250,000 a year these days--are treated both to an education in the origins of the zeppelin as an aircraft, and to a bit of a love affair with the Hindenburg and its famous predecessor, the Graf Zeppelin.… Read more

Porsche Museum showcases company's great history

STUTTGART-ZUFFENHAUSEN, Germany--If you don't think a car museum can be a stunning work of art, you need to get yourself here and check out the Porsche Museum.

Being Porsche, I expected it to be interesting and full of beautiful cars, but I wasn't prepared for the scale and scope of the building itself, a giant architectural masterpiece by Vienna's Delugan Meissl Associated Architects that also happens to be artfully full of some of the most interesting and important cars in the company's storied history.

If you were in Stuttgart before 2009 and visited the Porsche Museum, … Read more

The 404 833: Where we're burning up the quarter-mile (podcast)

On today's show, we have CBS' own Morgan Seal, who recently came to the company from Clicker.com, along with CBS Interactive's new president, Jim Lanzone. She joins us today to chat about her history with Clicker.com, as well as Intel's strange new Museum of Me app on Facebook, Malaysia's Twitter punishment, a war between The Oatmeal and FunkyJunk, Shaq's retirement announcement on Twitter, and more!

The 404 Digest for Episode 833

Intel's Facebook 'Museum of Me' is a must-try. Malaysia defamation case: 100 apologies on Twitter. The Oatmeal vs. FunkyJunk: a war for copyrights. Shaq chooses Twitter to announce retirement.

Episode 833 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Intel's Facebook 'Museum of Me' is a must-try

Facebook users who want an interesting (and perhaps creepy) visualization of their activity on the world's largest social network can get it with the help of Intel's new Museum of Me application.

When users surf to the Museum of Me page, they'll find an image asking them to connect the service to Facebook. After no more than a minute of waiting, a video tour takes users through a "visual archive of your social life."

"This exhibition is a journey of visualization that explores who I am," the video reads as users start taking … Read more

Devil's Rope: Barbed wire snags Route 66 travelers

MCLEAN, Texas--Most people don't think twice about barbed wire, unless they happen to be cattle ranchers, farmers, or junkyard owners. You don't have to be any of those to step into the Devil's Rope Museum on Route 66 here in McLean, Texas, and immerse yourself in the history and lore of the pointy fencing material.

I'll admit that at first, I thought the idea of a museum dedicated to barbed wire was pretty weird and possibly a little dull. How many types of barbed wire can there really be? As it turns out, thousands. Some of them have some real personality to them, too. One looks like a series of miniature spurs. Another comes in a cheerful shade of red. Some look like wicked ribbons. Festive, but dangerous.

One surprise is the level of ingenuity surrounding the cult of barbed wire. Do-it-yourselfers have adapted the material into sculptures, crows have woven it into nests, and inventors have dedicated countless hours to one-upping each other on barbed wire design and technology. Barbed wire should make it onto every serious maker's materials list. … Read more