ohio

Robert Howsare, a student from Ohio University, has built a rudimentary yet interesting drawing machine out of two old turntables and some wooden planks.

The home project, which cost a mere $50 to put together, is simply known as the "drawing apparatus." The drawings produced by the machine are surprisingly attractive, with random asymmetrical lines and patterns as shown in the below video. In fact, I personally found watching the rotating turntables and planks entertaining, and even therapeutic to some extent.

So before you throw out any outdated but still functional hi-fi components, you may want to consider the ways they could be repurposed first. … Read more

A Virginia Tech University engineering team on Thursday won first place in the EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge with an 82-mile-per-gallon, extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) using E85 (ethanol).

The results of the three-year EcoCAR competition were announced on L'Enfant Plaza, in Washington, D.C. United States Secretary of Energy Steven Chu congratulated the team at an award ceremony. A total of 16 teams participated in the competition that was co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors (GM).

A student team from Ohio State University took second place with an E85 EREV. Third place went to a … Read more

There's no whining about these dandelions; they may some day be used as a substitute for synthetic rubber in interior car products such as cupholders, floor mats, and interior trim.

Researchers at Ford and Ohio State University are growing a certain species of dandelion at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) to test it out as a source of sustainable material.

"We're always looking for new sustainable materials to use in our vehicles that have a smaller carbon footprint to produce and can be grown locally," said Angela Harris, Ford research engineer. "Synthetic … Read more

Google could find itself the target of two separate antitrust probes launched by Ohio and Wisconsin, according to a story published today by Bloomberg.

Concerned over the search giant's business practices, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is "evaluating the facts to determine if it's something we want to review," his spokesman Dan Tierney told Bloomberg.

Tierney confirmed the information to CNET, saying that the attorney general's office is "reviewing the facts regarding the matter to determine if there's any action that needs to be taken."

Asked if the attorney general is looking … Read more

Dear readers, while I am a current resident of the great state of California, I will always consider Dayton, Ohio, to be home sweet home. And while it's unfortunate that I am unable to make it home for the Thanksgiving holiday, I have this cute little Web video to remind me of the good-ol' Midwest as CarAndDriver.com takes the 2010 Porsche Panamera for a 24-hour tour of Dayton and its surrounding suburban Ohio neighbors.

The premise here is that the CarAndDriver.com guys are going to take turns driving the 2010 Porsche Panamera sport sedan all around the … Read more

They say that many people now get much of their news from satire. Which might make you wonder where they get their satire from.

However, researchers at the Ohio State University wanted to get into the bowels of the political satire phenomenon and were perhaps a little surprised at how it is all being digested.

They subjected 332 people of varying political bents to a three-minute clip of "The Colbert Report." They then produced their own report, fetchingly entitled "Political Ideology and The Motivation to See What You Want to See in the Colbert Report."

The … Read more

It's a crisis even worse than the Twitteresque redesign, even worse than the terms of service contretemps.

Yes, researchers at Ohio State University have delved deep into the habit that is Facebook and concluded that those who express their membership regularly do worse in school tests.

In fact, they say, the majority of those who Facebook daily do worse by as much as one whole grade.

Aryn Karpinski, one of the Ohio State education department researchers, was quoted in the Times of London as saying: "Our study shows people who spend more time on Facebook spend less time … Read more