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

Yes, but where are the flying cars?

[Jin Wicked]

I want my flying car.

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.

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.

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 :)

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

[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

[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?

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.