The Future in Gear

devmanager writes "A PC Magazine column takes a quick look at some technologies that are ready to change the world. Ranging from practical improvements on existing concepts (a 100 GB removable disc) to brand new (a DNA detector), these devices are all at least at prototype status. There's also a nod to the standbys: a robot and VR glove are both included. The article is interesting mainly from the standpoint that it shows items that really are getting close to production."

Comments

Future of FP

[Anonymous Coward]

uhhuh

fp?

[Anonymous Coward]

fp?

Yes, but where are the flying cars?

[Jin Wicked]

I want my flying car.

Re:Yes, but where are the flying cars?

[Anonymous Coward]

You want a flying car? Go drive off a cliff.

Re:Yes, but where are the flying cars?

[Fenresulven]

How many times has this been posted?

Re:Yes, but where are the flying cars?

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree with this post. Slashdot is run by fascist homosexuals.

Re:Yes, but where are the flying cars?

[Goonie]

Aside from the Moller skycar (the ultimate in vapourware at this stage), Popular Science recently had an article about a personal helicopter that used two contra-rotating blades stacked on top of each other, so you don't need a tail rotor and the controls are *much* easier and simpler. Even better, they actually saw the prototype fly :)

Re:Yes, but where are the flying cars?

[crawling_chaos]

The Russians have used a similar design for one of their naval helicopters for years. They've had a lot of problems with it, though. The stacked rotors require a lot more maintenance than a traditional helo.

DNA Detector?

[Anonymous Coward]

What's that?

Re:DNA Detector?

[Anonymous Coward]

You put this, inside this.

Voila!

Where the FUCK are the KDE3 debs???

[Anonymous Coward]

What the FUCK is taking so GODDAMN LONG???

"Waiting for the first Table PCs...?"

[soupforare]

Zuh? Tablet PCs have been around for a quite a while. Fujitsu, IBM, and Compaq have all released pen pcs starting in the early/mid-90s.

Just because MS is releasing *their* first tablet pc doesn't mean that's it's *the* first tablet pc

Re:"Waiting for the first Table PCs...?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Its not MS's first tablet PC either. The did one for win 3.1

one general rule

[segmentation fault]

Devices that makes it hard or slow to switch context between computing and other doings are rarely successfull. I wanna go to my computer, press update on slashdot, go to my stereo and turn it off, then go to the owen and put in a frozen pizza, then read slashdot, then go put on the TV, take out the pizza, eat the pizza, watch TV, decide it sucks, read slashdot, eat pizza, read slashdot, eat pizza...

If I had to put on and off gloves and glasses 8 times just in the above sequence, they would soon evolve into dust magnets...

Blame science fiction.

[Busty Amateur]

Articles like this always bring out prostalgia. We all start longing for things that don't exist yet and cursing current technology - I know I do.

We've been promised so many things by science fiction and very few of them have become a reality. Where are our flying cars, our jetpacks, our teleporters, matter synthesizers, travel to other planets and video telephones? I curse the fact that I have to drive to work every day, sit in traffic, that my dentist still uses a drill, that I can't have my meal from a tube and that holographic 3d tv doesn't exist yet.

Science fiction spoiled us. It's time we accepted that we won't see the things I mentionned above in our lifetime, and got on with our lives using current technology.

Re:Blame science fiction.

[maxume]

Dude, they have food in a tube now. You can usually pick it up at your local taco bell.

Re:Future in gear

[Anonymous Coward]

Good to you see you back, The_Fire_Horse. Not that you missed anything. Slashdot is still run by fascist homosexuals.

Solar power rebates for home PV systems

[MobileDude]

The PCMag mentions solar power which I've been looking to add to my new home.

This website lists rebate options for installed systems per each state.

http://www.dsireusa.org/

Pennsylvania will rebate up to $8,000 for a system in PECO territory. Flying car is next on my list....

I'm dissapointed

[acehole]

They still havent invented things that *I* really need to change my life... for example :-

* Bottomless coffee cups

* A video card that will hug me back.

* A cigarette that's healthy and takes the place of food and sunlight (and leaves me smelling like a new car).

Until they're available on thinkgeek.com, I'll continue living with the pain.

Re:I'm dissapointed

[Em Emalb]

You *hug* your video card?

Ah, well, takes all kinds doesn't it?

I guess you put the "force" in Ge-Force :)

Re:I'm dissapointed

[segmentation fault]

What I really want is

Water that taste like Cola, but is still free
Liquour that makes you drunk, but doesn't kill brain cells and doesn't give hangovers
Pepperoni pizza with ananas and extra cheese that just gives you the nutrients of cooked cod with potatoes and broccoli
ZIP/gzip for real life objects

Re:I'm dissapointed

[ranulf]

Water that taste like Cola, but is still free

Water costs the same as Cola in most bars...

Get used to the wait.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll dump the shortlist of five things that I guarantee mankind will never see:

1. HDTV Fully-Deployed In U.S.
2. Flying Cars
3. Peace On Earth
4. Another Good Star Wars Movie
5. KDE3 debs Finally Fucking Released

IF I EVER MEET YOU I WILL KICK YOUR ASS!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

:q!

If Only

[fdiskne1]

I'm just wondering how many of these things will end up gathering dust. I've seen too many "real" technologies that corporations buy and intentionally bury because it would destroy their line of business. One perfect example is the Star Trek-style hypospray. The way I understand it, a medical syringe maker bought the patent and isn't doing a thing with it. In short, if half of these things happen, I'll be extatic.

Re:If Only

[G-funk]

There really aught to be a law against doing shit like that, don't you think?

Re:If Only

[traskjd]

The thing I want to see that has already been invented is cars running on water. It would do so much to save the planet yet it's not being used. From what I heard some guy invented it and a large car company brought it off him years ago. Any more info on this would be nice.

Re:If Only

[ranulf]

[...] has already been invented is cars running on water [...] some guy invented it and a large car company brought it off him years ago

I'd be less surprised if it was a large oil company that bought it, if the aim was to keep it under wraps.

That and the fact that this technique requires more energy than you get out of it, unless you believe thos cold fusion experiments a few years ago were true. You don't think it's strange that water is an end product of combustion engines.

Re:If Only

[Daniel Dvorkin]

No, they do make the hypospray-type things, or at least they used to; we used them to administer mass immunizations when I was a medic in the Air Force, because you can inject a lot of people a lot faster with them than you can with a needle. You know why they never caught on for general use? Because one thing Star Trek never showed you is how much the damn things hurt. I mean, a hell of a lot worse than a needle. And they leave nasty welts. And if you twitch, even a bit, while the injection is being given, you'll end up with a deep cut -- again, much worse than what you'd get from a needle. No fun at all.

Re:If Only

[blochsound]

I think that given our current economic climate, I would be surprised if any of these technologies were released without some "industrial" rights management. The bottom line is that companies feel like the should be the only one to profit from their inventions. imho the only way that we will have these kinds of niceties are if the big companies start to play nice nice with the consumer, or if this kind of stuff is GPL'ed

Re:If Only

[maxwell demon]

Yes.

Fo example, one could say that if someone owns a patent, and neither does use if for a certain time, nor does license it to others to use it, then the patent is automatically voided after some time. Either the patent is useless - then nobody is harmed by voiding it - or it is used in an progress-hindering way, which is quite the opposite of the intention of the patent system.

After all, one has to see that basically, patents are anti-competitive. They are accepted due to the assumption that the good they do (protect the inventors, and therefore stimulate invention) is better than the damage they cause. Therefore if in certain situations the damage they cause is larger than the good, the only logical thing is to void that patent in those situations.

Once a certain rule is abused too much, the rule must be changed to disallow that abuse.

Re:If Only

[thales]

"The bottom line is that companies feel like the should be the only one to profit from their inventions."

Oh those damn EVIL Companies!
After sinking hundreds of Millions into R&D that might or might not produce a viable product, they actually expect a return on the investment!

Do you really think they would spend one cent on R&D if they couldn't recover the costs?
Do you think some inventer in a garage will somehow come up with millions to spend on R&D?

Re:If Only

[AvitarX]

Good thing we'll both probably be alive in 15 years. Really, in the scheme of things burying a patent doesn't hurt anyone but the company that baught it. They spent money on this device, and now when it comes off patent they will still nead to compete against it, but lo and behold, not one manufacturer, but multiple. So as consumers we had to wait, but now when we here about the hypospray, we will simulteaniously be able to afford it. And for christ sake, we have had humanity with technology for at least 2500 years (grecco roman times?) what harm is 15 years of blocked progress?

It's not like they copyrighted them (that would be a disaster).

Re:If Only

[Corvus9]

The thing I want to see that has already been invented is cars running on water.

This scam has been around since the 1930s and has reappeared whenever a new generation of rubes arise. It's the same scheme as the "300 mpg carburetor".

Drain your gas tank, fuel line, and carburetor. Fill the carb or valve with acetone (a volatile, water-soluble chemical used in making plastics and explosives). The explosive vapors given off when it's dissolved will run the engine for a few blocks. Of course, after that the engine is a total write-off, but you don't let the mark drive it that long.

The genius of the plan is that it really does run on water! You can let the mark examine the engine, fuel, even try it out on their own vehicle. You have to be fast though, to get out of town with their money before they check out what's left of their engine after the demonstration.

The old "the oil companies are trying to shut me down" is the most common excuse used for why the mark hasn't heard of it before, and why you have to conduct the deal quickly, in secret. Though I did hear of it being used in the 1940s where it was supposed to be a government secret to prevent the Nazis, who had limited petroleum reserves, from getting hold of it.

It hasn't been used much since the advent of modern engines; though there must be some way of doctoring a fuel injector.

Re:If Only

[blochsound]

Not at all, but I think that profiting from an invention, and having a state sanctioned monopoly on that invention are two different things. I agree that it is expensive, but I think that there has to be another way for a company to profit other than strict control of the IP

expectations

[Alien54]

I wonder how many of these are things that will flop, to the surprise and frustration of everyone tryng to make monoey on it.

I am thinking of the classicc example of HDTV, for example.

doubtless there are many that will just be implemented, but those that need wide spread consumer purchase to succeed might not meet expectations.

The future is now

[pandemonia]

At least it seems so, since the articles will be written on September 3, 2002.

Go figure...

Ease of prediction depends on product

[Goonie]

Some of these gadgets do essentially the same task as existing products, but promise to be better and more cost-effective - for instance, the solar cells and the micro-fuel cell. In each case, they are pretty much a direct replacement for existing gadgets for which there is a known demand (existing solar cells and batteries respectively) and, if they work, are virtually guaranteed to at least take over large parts of the existing market if they deliver technically.

Others, say the robots, are not direct replacements of existing technology, and it's predicting their success or failure is not just a matter of their technical success.

At least, that's my understanding.

Vapor or not?

[travail_jgd]

The best way to figure it out is to follow the money... At a consumer level, low price, convenience, and (to a lesser degree) "gee-whiz" factor are the major things to consider. (I should probably mention that I'm talking about Joe Sixpack, not the average /. reader.) The fuel-cell battery may have a greater life, but it's not "easy-to-use": you can't just plug it in and forget it, and consumers have years of conditioning to not mix liquids and electronics. The "add-on" screen for the cellphone is also nice, but for most people it's another part to lose.

At the business level, the question is whether the inventions save money, make money, or enable new strategies. Fuel-cell laptops would make a lot of sense, because users can work a lot longer without being plugged in to AC power. Selling pre-packaged fuel-cells for cellphones would be a major moneymaker (think inkjet cartridges)! Visual text-to-speech could eliminate a lot of Tier 1 phone workers (the receptionists and script readers). The DNA probe would be hard to justify at a physician level in overly-litigious areas.

Finally there's the military level, where you have to ask yourself if the technology is useful at any price. The DNA probe would definitely be suitable for troops in the field, and the humanoid robot might be useful for information gathering in dangerous and difficult terrain. (Then again, non-humanoid robots seem to do that job well enough.)

OTOH, there are things that seem destined to remain vaporware. I've heard about 3D/holographic storage, humanoid robots, and smart homes for years now, but they don't seem any closer despite new research. Maybe this time the creators will find a market?

Rounding up the eyeballs again

[Howling Loon]

The site tells me I'm an early adopter instead of asking me if I am. I guess that makes it easier to sell my cookies to marketeers wanting to reach that highly prized demographic. ("Will pay anything for 15 minutes' egoboo"). Bah. Oh well, all my demographics are countermeasures anyway.

Is Philips behind the curve?

[Comrade Pikachu]

3D lenticular displays without glasses? Wasn't this done last year?

I sure hope cool technology like this doesn't get held up in a struggle over who owns the patent.

michael, did you not mean:

[llamalicious]

from the mona-lisa-overdrive dept. ??

Fluff

[Catskul]

Wow what a piece of fluff.

Not only is it fluff, but Im getting really sick of the format:
"Imagine.. you are--- bla bla bla bla---... all thanks to your hickymadoodle, your DIGITAL hickymadoodle!

Holographic storage?

[Anonymous Coward]

Even if the holographic storage works, I don't see how they can make a justifiable business case for it. The article said the price would be $7000 to $10000 a piece for a 100 gig unit. Contrast that to to under $150 for a similar sized hard drive, or a little more for a removable one (USB or FireWire and it's hard to see a reason to buy this, no matter how gee-wiz it is. Sure, it might give you much faster access time, but not that much faster to justify paying 100X as much.

Vaporware report

[Animats]

The depressing thing about this is that the near-term stuff is old vaporware. It's all stuff we've heard about before, often on Slashdot, and has been at Real Soon Now for a while.

You can categorize vaporware:

• It's going to be Really Cheap Real Soon.
  Stuff in this category can be prototyped, but expensively, and needs some huge breakthrough in production technology to be economically useful. In this category we have eInk, and polymer photocells.
• It's going to be Really Kewl, but Not Too Useful.
  Here we have the house with every lightbulb on the Internet, stereoscopic displays, and the pocket sign translator.
• Batteries.
  Or, in this case, fuel cells. Little fuel cells have been Real Soon Now for a while. Disposable prototypes have been made, but there are production problems. Fuel cells that make commercial sense will probably appear first in larger sizes, where pumps can be used, like the Ballard units. The fact that fuel cells haven't even taken over the electric forklift market yet indicates where we are now. Incidentally, when you see battery capacity specs for disposable fuel cells, remember to compare them with disposable batteries, which have higher capacities than rechargables.
• AI
  Every time somebody has a halfway decent idea in AI, it seems to get hyped into Strong AI Is Right Around the Corner. Talking to a synthesized face with the smarts of Eliza is not tech support via AI. It's more like Ask Jeeves, or "Claire, your virtual customer representative" used by some cell phone companies.

None of these are the Next Big Thing. This is unfortunate, because we in Silicon Valley need a Next Big Thing.

Re:Vaporware report

[RealUlli]

* It's going to be Really Cheap Real Soon.
Stuff in this category can be prototyped, but expensively, and needs some huge breakthrough in production technology to be economically useful. In this category we have eInk, and polymer photocells.

Well, these polymer photocells appear to be cheap already, but not efficient enough. This time it's the other wa around.. :-)

Cheers, Ulli

The Future of Security?

[Hoeken]

From the article on security:

ISS's RealSecure platform will evolve to use software agents that apply patches automatically to both servers and clients as new vulnerabilities appear. Today, administrators need to apply patches manually. ISS plans to manage the platform centrally, drawing on the terabyte of attack data that it gathers every month. It will behave in much the same way as the human immune system: When an attack is sensed, "antibodies" will deploy to meet the threat. Perhaps this cue from nature will work as effectively on network data.

lets see here....applys patches automatically, located on a central server. Hmm...sounds *Real*Secure. All you'd have to do is hack the central server, and have it apply your patch to 1000's of servers. Duh!

The Future in Gear

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, I'm impressed. Even the article is from the future:

Sept 3, 2002 ;)

~Blake

Solar Cells on the ROOF, not in the desert

[spage]

I love this sort of gee-whiz Popular Science stuff, but this typical comment about solar always irks me:

Imagine a barren, sunlit chunk of the Sahara the size of Sicily. Now imagine you've covered that area with solar cells. If you used your average off-the-shelf photovoltaic technology, which can convert 10 to 20 percent of the sun's energy into electrical output, you'd be able to supply the entire world's electrical needs.

If solar cells get cheap, you won't stick them in the middle of the desert, you'll stick them on the roof! Presumably if the sun is beating down enough to power the solar cells, it's frying your building, so you run the air conditioner harder to cool the place, consuming even more electricity, generating even more heat. So turn some of that energy into electricity instead of heat. It's not like there's anything useful on the roof.

I've heard the USA needs 75 square miles of PV cells for its energy needs. Does anyone know how many square miles of roofs there are on top of Walmarts, Costcos, hospitals, prisons, and other huge flat structures in the USA in the Sun belt?

I don't have air conditioning and when it's really hot I dream of erecting an external screen or window blind covered in solar cells to kill two birds with one stone.

Re:Solar Cells on the ROOF, not in the desert

[Fixer]

It's all about the wattage. If you take all light from the sun, you get about a kilowatt per square meter (sunny day, equator). Then check that full-spectrum photocells are %12 efficeint at best.

But, look into a research company named Borealis, they had those Cool Chips mentioned a while back. They are also working on something called a Photon Chip, which promises to be a more efficeint converter of light to power.

Juke Boxes

[Slashamatic]

We have robots for tapes and for CDs, because somebody at sometime may want data this is n years old. CDs have to low a capacity and tapes are much too slow. If I can get for $100K a unit that allows me to store and retrieve 100 platters with a drive or two, I would be very happy.

There are a lot of industries where vast quantities of data can be collected and archived. Think financial, think scientific, think engineering.

Affordable Broadband

[El Micko]

I just want Affordable Broadband...