Weekend Beyond Cars Roundup February 24, 2024

If you’ve got a bike, there’s a good chance it’s set up with a derailleur at the rear and a bunch of gears to help you cycle more efficiently. And while that derailleur might be controlled by cables, hydraulics or even electronics, it’s usually down to you to set it in the right place. However, there was once a push to bring automatic gear shifting to bikes. - Owen Bellwood Read More

When you’re on a long flight, there’s nothing better than gazing aimlessly out the window at the clouds rushing by. When you’re gazing out the window, I image this serenity is somewhat shattered if you see chunks of the very plane you’re sitting on breaking off, as passengers on one Boston-bound flight witnessed this week. - Owen Bellwood Read More

It’s always exciting when there’s something fiery to observe in the night sky, whether it’s an influx of shooting stars or the possible demise of the International Space Station. Now, there’s a new extra terrestrial object to look out for, as the European Space Agency is preparing to crash a satellite the size of a Tesla back to Earth. - Owen Bellwood Read More

Few things in travel are worse than a tight airport connection. You’re either sprinting through ATL, fast enough to lose your neck pillow off your bag in the fray, or sleeping in the airport after watching the last plane to America take off without you. Luckily, Delta now has a solution for those mad dashes through the terminal: 518 horsepower of Porsche people-moving. - Steve DaSilva Read More

In a magical time called the 20th century, there were supersonic passenger jets that could fly rich people from New York to London in less than three hours. These days, numerous startups are promising to replicate that feat, but it turns out that if you want to fly faster than the speed of sound you just need to book your flight on a particularly windy day. - Owen Bellwood Read More

We’re only a couple of months away from the 2024 total solar eclipse crossing the U.S., and Delta Airlines is offering a special flight so you can see it from the air when the big day comes on Monday, April 8. Delta’s eclipse flight will take off from Austin, Texas and land in Detroit, Michigan, and it will allow passengers to see the eclipse in its totality, according to a press release put out by the airline. - Andy Kalmowitz Read More

Snow may be pretty to look at when it’s freshly fallen, but when you actually need to do anything in it, it quickly becomes a giant hassle. Even just shoveling a short driveway can be a chore, but if you have an especially long driveway or live at the end of a road that doesn’t get plowed, you’re going to want some form of snow plow. That solves the labor problem but still requires you to drive the plow yourself. Unless it’s remote-controlled, that is. - Collin Woodard Read More

Would you like to be stuck in a box with three other strangers for a year, pretending to be on Mars? Yeah? OK, weirdo, I’ve got good news for you. NASA is looking for a handful of people to do just that. - Andy Kalmowitz Read More

President John F. Kennedy, in June 1963, walked out to a podium at Falcon Stadium, the football stadium at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. While addressing the graduating class of cadets, he announced that the United States would embark on the challenge of constructing the world’s first supersonic commercial airliner. It was the declared start of a three-way race between the U.S., the Concorde and the Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-144. America would place worse than last — the nation wouldn’t even cross the finish line. - Ryan Erik King Read More

The robots are coming for our jobs, there are now machines that assemble cars, robots for packaging your favorite Tequila and even devices that can write blogs for you. But now, a piece of artificial intelligence has landed Air Canada in hot water after writing checks the airline couldn’t cash. - Owen Bellwood Read More