gadget.X : Future

gadget. Magnetic Propelled Car Concept

Zach — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:00:00 GMT

This concept vehicle is designed by Phillipp Siebourg, and it is not designed for the average consumer, but for vehicles that can’t afford to be stopped by traffic. It uses a magnetic track to guide the vehicle, which can be controlled by a cellular phone.

That’s right, if you are a specialty vehicle in the future, you might be able to just dial up your location and sit back and enjoy the ride. It certainly beats the heck out of a GPS. Hey, just think of how easy FedEx and UPS drivers will have it if this process ever gets going.

You know it really should be in place now. You remember that Jean-Claude Van Damme movie Timecop? What year did that future world take place in, 2004? As I recall, the cars drove themselves, and looked really weird. So at the end of the movie, where the main character says he wants to go home, the car brings him to his location.

Yeah, I don’t see this type of technology becoming a reality anytime soon. But in its defense, Seattle just put in a new Light Rail that has been under development for several years. These things take time.

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gadget. PUMA

Zach — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

This is probably one of those stories that might be getting too much press, but I’m covering it anyway for those who haven’t heard. Essentially, General Motors and Segway have teamed up to create Project PUMA.

PUMA stands for Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility, and it is essentially the next step up for Segway. The PUMA can hold two or more passengers, and everyone always asks how in the world a third person could ride this without being dragged.

Is anyone still amazed at the perfect balance? I admire that they figured out how to put two people on it. Anyway, the PUMA can reach speeds of up to 35 miles an hour, at a cost of 35 cents per charge.

A recent press release has stated that this versatile vehicle will be good for “social networking”. Man, everyone wants to dip into that Kool-Aid these days, don’t they? PUMA drivers may not be able to update their Facebook sites as they go, but the OnStar system will inform the PUMA drivers or other PUMA drivers in the vicinity.

PUMA will be on display at the New York Auto Show this week, and is certain to draw a crowd. As far as my sources are concerned, there doesn’t seem to be any word about a price or availability.

gadget.A Glimpse of the Future

Zach — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This YouTube video that you see here reminds me why I love the tech and gadget business. It shows what the world could look like in 2019, and it has been made better with technology.

As you can see, ten years has given us much progress including giant touch-screen displays for communication, tickets on e-paper that guide us to our next location, and completely interactive newspapers.

So who has provided us with this vision of the future? Would you believe Microsoft? This clip was given by Microsoft’s Business Division president Stephen Elop at the Wharton Business Technology Conference.

Even though this video uses a lot of special effects, you have to ask yourself if it paints a realistic depiction of where technology is headed. If you ask me, then I would say “yes”. Most of this technology demonstrated in the video clip is just an amplification of technologies that we already have now, such as the Surface and e-paper.

Let us all hope that ten years from now, the future will look like this. Then all those dreary science fiction writers will be wrong, and the future won’t be dystopian like 1984. Hopefully Microsoft will not be Big Brother.

So what do you think? Is this video clip another cog in the Microsoft propaganda machine, or is really what the future will be like? Drop me a comment with your answer.