Popular Mechanics is an American magazine first published January 11, 1902 by H. H. Windsor, and has been owned since 1958 by the Hearst Corporation. There are nine international editions, including a now-defunct Latin American version that had been published for decades and a newer South African edition.

Popular Mechanics features regular sections on automotive, home, outdoors, science, and technology topics. A recurring column is "Jay Leno's Garage" featuring observations by the famed late-night talk show host and vehicle enthusiast.

Popular Mechanics was originally self-published by the Popular Mechanics Company but in 1958 became a subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation. A near-complete archive of Popular Mechanics issues going back to 1905 is available through Google Books.

Popular Mechanics Show is the official weekly podcast of Popular Mechanics magazine.

James Franklin "Jamie" Hyneman (born September 25, 1956) is an American special effects expert, best known for being the co-host of the television series MythBusters. He is also the owner of M5 Industries, the special effects workshop where MythBusters is filmed. He is known among Robot Wars devotees for his robot entry, Blendo, which, for a time, was deemed too dangerous for entry in the competition. He is one of the designers of the aerial robotic camera system Wavecam, used in sports and entertainment events. On May 16, 2010, he delivered the commencement address and received an honorary Doctorate of Engineering, from Villanova University.

Hyneman was born in Marshall, Michigan and raised in Columbus, Indiana. Describing his early life, Hyneman said "I was a problematic kid, to be sure. I left home when I was 14 and hitchhiked all over the country."

He earned a degree in Russian linguistics from Indiana University. He also received an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from Villanova University. On November 25, 2011, Hyneman was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Twente (Enschede, Netherlands) for his role in the popularization of science and technology.

Ken Block (born November 21, 1967, in Long Beach, California) is a professional rally driver with the Monster World Rally Team. Block is also one of the co-founders and recently appointed Chief Brand Officer of DC Shoes. Block has also competed in many action sports events including skateboarding, snowboarding, and motocross.

In 2005, Ken Block began his national rallying career with the Vermont SportsCar team. Vermont SportsCar prepared a 2005 Subaru WRX STi for Block to compete. His first event of the rallying season was Sno*Drift, where he ended up finishing seventh overall and fifth in the Group N class. During the 2005 season, Block had five top five finishes and placed third overall in the Group N class and fourth overall in the Rally America National Championship. At the end of his first rallying year, Ken Block had won the Rally America Rookie of the Year award.

In 2006, Ken Block along with his DC rally teammate Travis Pastrana signed a new sponsorship deal with Subaru. Through this deal with Subaru, the teammates became known as "Subaru Rally Team USA." With the new rally season, Block also got a brand new Vermont SportsCar prepped 2006 Subaru WRX STi. He competed in the first ever X Games rally event at X Games XII. In the competition, Block ended up finishing third to take the bronze. He went on to compete in the 2006 Rally America National Championship, where he finished second overall.

Vaughn Donald Gittin, Jr. (born September 20, 1980), commonly known as JR, is an American self-taught professional drifter from Annapolis, Maryland who currently competes in the Formula D series in his 2011 Falken Tire Ford Racing Mustang. When he's not competing, Vaughn performs drifting demonstrations for Ford in his personal Ford Mustang RTR at events all over the nation. He also performs drifting demonstrations worldwide with his fellow members of Drift Alliance.

Vaughn appears in the racing game Shift 2: Unleashed, as he is guiding the player through his carrer and teaching the player how to make drifting. In the game, the most important thing that Vaughn wants is that the player reaches the FIA GT1 Championship.

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Chris Buck (born October 25, 1960) is a American film director known for directing Tarzan and Surf's Up. He also worked as supervising animator on Home on the Range and Chicken Little.

Buck's other credits at Disney include the 1995 animated feature Pocahontas, where he oversaw the animation of three central characters: Percy, Grandmother Willow and Wiggins. Buck also helped design characters for the 1989 animated blockbuster The Little Mermaid, performed experimental animation for The Rescuers Down Under and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and was an animator on The Fox and the Hound.

Buck helped develop several films at Hyperion Pictures and served as a directing animator on the feature Bebe's Kids. He storyboarded director Tim Burton's live-action featurette Frankenweenie and worked with Burton again as directing animator on the Brad Bird-directed "Family Dog" episode of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories and as director of the subsequent primetime animated series.

Buck's credits include a number of animated commercials (including some with the Keebler Elves) for such Los Angeles-based production entities as FilmFair, Kurtz & Friends, and Duck Soup^{[disambiguation needed ]}.