lincoln

Can technology improve the sound of 300-year-old violins?

David Segal Violins is located just a few blocks from Lincoln Center and the Juilliard School in New York City. I stopped by the showroom to learn how the technology of violin making has changed, but that wasn't the main story. Today's violins may look similar to the ones made 300 years ago by Stradivarius or Guarneri, but they get used in different ways. Where before violins were only played in concerts, now they're also recorded. Segal tells me that a great concert violin might not work all that well to accompany a vocalist.

The "technology&… Read more

Top concept cars look production-ready

Before the recession, automakers at auto shows regularly showed off futuristic concept cars, which seemed more about keeping the design departments busy than developing future products. When resources became scarce, concept cars largely became prototypes brought out to gauge public reaction.

Such is still the case, given the assortment of concept cars we saw during the most recent international auto show cycle.… Read more

Abe Lincoln's patent for a river navigation device

On March 10, 1849, eight score and four years ago yesterday, a future president brought forth on this continent a new notion for improving river navigation.

That was the day Abraham Lincoln filed a patent application for his imaginative method of "Buoying Vessels Over Shoals."

At age 22, Lincoln had been a crewman on a flatboat that got stuck on a dam at New Salem, Ill., a bit of Lincoln folklore depicted in the 1940 film "Abe Lincoln in Illinois," with Raymond Massey in the starring role.

After another riverboat grounding incident in 1848 when he … Read more

Forty years ago, the Ohm F speaker was a game-changer; it still is

Lincoln Walsh died a year before his radically innovative speaker technology made its commercial debut in the Ohm Acoustics F in 1972. The speaker featured an omnidirectional Walsh driver that projected a massive stereo soundstage. At the time of its introduction the $900 per pair Ohm F was hailed as one of the greatest speakers of all time by the international press. It sounded like nothing else, and the single 12-inch, truncated cone driver produced bass, midrange and treble frequencies (37Hz to 17kHz). The driver had a titanium top section, aluminum midband and paper bottom, with a single voice-coil at … Read more

Hey, Times Square! I'm Google+. Please notice me

NEW YORK -- Google is the big cheese in online advertisement, but offline, the search company still has a few things to learn.

Last night, Google took to one of the many jumbo screens in Times Square to promote the upcoming biopic "Lincoln," as well as Google+ Hangout, the video-chat service.

Sadly for Google, not even Steven Spielberg, the director of "Lincoln" and America's premier storyteller, could get passers-by to take notice. After the trailer for "Lincoln" made its debut on Google+ online, Spielberg and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt took part in a video … Read more

The best-sounding club in NYC?

I recently dropped by Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center to talk with the sound engineer, and by chance met Sam Berkow, the club's sound designer. Berkow had one key advantage going into the project that most designers don't: the club was planned before construction started on the Time Warner Center in New York. Berkow was quick to point out he had one major hurdle to jump over, in that there would be a huge glass window behind the stage to give patrons a spectacular view of Central Park. The window would be a massive … Read more

The hybrid premium: How much more does a hybrid car cost?

Ever since hybrids became popular, with the second generation of the Toyota Prius, the question arose of whether the fuel savings justified a hybrid car's higher price. The extra expense for a hybrid car has been called the hybrid premium.

The extra cost for a hybrid car comes from the additional equipment in the driveline. Along with the gas engine, hybrid cars have an electric propulsion motor, a high-voltage battery pack, and a power control module, this latter component determining how to feed electric power into the drive system.

Now, with many automakers offering some type of hybrid car, … Read more

Prestige hybrids: Luxury cars with electric boost

The inherent frugality of a hybrid car might make you think of a no-frills driving experience. But luxury automakers have learned the win-win nature of an electric-assisted power train.

Infiniti, Porsche, and BMW devised their own takes on the hybrid car, fitting these fuel-efficient systems into full-size sedans and SUVs. Lincoln borrowed a hybrid system from sister brand Ford for its own midsize sedan, the MKZ. And Lexus even transferred the Prius hybrid power train into a luxury hatchback.… Read more

Crave 76: It's a trap! (podcast)

A special Valentine's Day episode of Crave featuring robots, champagne, littleBits circuit boards, and zombie chocolates. Plus, X-ray leggings, spider battle bots, hoverboards, Star Wars crafts, and a peek at the perfect date movie, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter."

Subscribe in iTunes SD Video | Subscribe in RSS SD Video … Read more

Lincoln MKZ sedan so hot it's smoking, literally

DETROIT--Sexy new cars should come with some sizzle, but when they start to smoke, caveat conceptor.

That was the case at the 2012 North American International Auto Show when the new Lincoln MKZ sedan concept began puffing away while on a tilted stage.

It happened while a lovely lady was posing for photos by the MKZ's driver-side door for a New York Times photographer. Tendrils of smoke suddenly began wafting up from the panel.

I hate to say cherchez la femme, but perhaps she was a little too lovely.

The smoke turned into a veritable column, and in moments Lincoln staff were all over the MKZ, ushering journalists away from the vehicle. … Read more