road trip 2012

Attacking the highways of the west in BMW's 650i

Returning to my hotel in Las Vegas one night this summer, I discovered that the parking garage was completely full. Not sure what else to do -- and with time running out before a show I had tickets to -- I drove my BMW 650i Coupe up to the hotel's valet. "That's a really nice car," the guy said. "Do you mind if we keep it out in front?"

He was right. The 650i -- which I was road-testing as part of Road Trip 2012 -- is a really nice car, and now I … Read more

Road Trip Pic of the Day: The secrets of perfection

If you ever have a mystery image you need identified, Phil Yao's your man.

For the last nine weeks, I ran CNET's Picture of the Day challenge, posting a new photograph each day and tasking readers with writing in and guessing what they thought it was. I offered one weekly prize for people who got at least one right answer, and a grand prize -- a complete GoPro camera package -- for the person that got the most right throughout.

And may I tip my hat to Yao: over the nine weeks -- 63 mystery photos in all … Read more

High-tech imaging helps usher in record-setting panda birth

SAN DIEGO -- For hundreds of thousands of passionate panda watchers, the birth at the San Diego Zoo today of a new panda cub is an event well worth celebrating, especially given that the mother is probably the second-oldest known panda ever to successfully deliver. And thanks to some high-tech imaging, the zoo was able to monitor the pregnancy every step of the way.

For weeks, the panda team at the zoo here has been on tenterhooks, hoping against hope that the 20-year-old mother, Bai Yun, would carry to term what they were nearly certain was a healthy cub. But … Read more

In Mojave, the world's most exciting planes take flight

MOJAVE DESERT, Calif.--It's hard to imagine a more complete -- and impressive -- collection of aviation facilities and aircraft anywhere on the planet than the one in this vast, arid, wide-open wasteland northeast of Los Angeles.

Thanks to its endless amounts of dry, flat terrain, useless to most people, and the fact that there are only a few ways in -- vital for security -- the Mojave is, and has long been, the beating heart of the aviation world. It's here that Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier. And where Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne ushered in … Read more

At Getty Museum, revelations of art via tech

LOS ANGELES -- Walking through gallery after gallery of classical European paintings, sculptures, and other antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum here, it's easy to get lost in the history and beauty of the often centuries-old art. Especially if you're toting today's latest mobile technology.

Home to some of the most celebrated European artwork in the world -- and one of the most visited museums in the United States -- the Getty has also become one of the museums most devoted to adopting technology aimed at enhancing guests' experience, as well as at using high-tech tools … Read more

Scientists hack ocean-buoy tech to aid Marines in Afghanistan

LA JOLLA, Calif. -- If you want to know how U.S. Marines stationed deep in the desert of Afghanistan get highly accurate real-time weather reports, you have only to look to this stunning seaside town and some of its leading ocean scientists.

What started as a Marine's random comment about needing better weather forecasting because of the dangers of flying in extreme desert conditions quickly led to the development of a tool that can be set up just about anywhere by a couple of Marines in minutes. … Read more

Step aside, steampunks. 'Steam nerds' run real locomotives

JAMESTOWN, Calif.--Stephanie Tadlock is a steam nerd.

For years, Tadlock has been a volunteer at Railtown 1897 State Historic Park here in California's Gold Country, the country's longest continuously-operating steam locomotive repair and maintenance facility.

Now, as a hostler at Railtown -- someone responsible for keeping the locomotives ready, as well as bringing them up to steam and moving them around a rail yard -- she has an engine to get started.

I've come to Railtown as part of CNET Road Trip 2012, eager to see how these classic machines have been operated since well before … Read more

Navy's new ship sails the seas on half the gas

SAN DIEGO -- The U.S. Navy spends a fortune every year on energy, so for a ship to complete a deployment having burned through just half the cash it had available for fuel is a very good sign of things to come.

For some time, the Navy has been saying many of the right things about its plans to go green, starting with a major biofuels initiative. And though a recent Wired report claims that the servicewide efforts have lost steam, the performance of the USS Makin Island could well be a bright spot.

As part of Road Trip 2012, … Read more

San Diego's own Mystery Spot: 'Fallen Star'

LA JOLLA, Calif.--Cottages shouldn't stick out way over the edge of buildings, but when they've been picked up by mysterious forces and dropped out of the sky, that's exactly what can happen.

Welcome to Korean artist Do Ho Suh's "Fallen Star," a small, New England-style house that was unveiled in June atop -- and well out beyond the roof of -- the Jacobs Engineering School building at the University of California at San Diego here.

I've come to explore "Fallen Star" as part of Road Trip 2012, and though I'… Read more

How tech protects the world's busiest border crossing

SAN YSIDRO, Calif.--They were hidden in the gas tank -- 17 tightly-wrapped packages of marijuana weighing in at 38.44 pounds.

The car was nondescript, a green 1999 Mazda 626. The driver was a male 50-year-old Mexican national, a resident of Tijuana who had presumably been hoping to make it into California without being stopped.

Instead, the man got caught with the massive haul of pot, snared by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers here at the world's busiest border crossing using several tools in their arsenal -- some high-tech, some very low-tech -- to find … Read more