Here’s a tasty morsel of future news: The first 3-D scanning apps are making their way to an iPhone near you. 3-D modeling software has been around for years, but it’s generally been complicated, and expensive, enough that only professionals ever bothered. Now that design firm Autodesk is making their “123D Catch” app available for … Continue reading
Category Archives: Future Bites
What Twitter Reveals About the Political Landscape
Do you talk about politics? Do you share opinions on Twitter? If your answer to both questions is “yes”, then your tweets are helping to drive analysis of the political landscape. Twitter is calling their new project the Twitter Political Index, or Twindex. It works by searching out all the public tweets about each candidate, … Continue reading
The Real iPhone 5
I’ve been wondering why my post about the alleged iPhone 5 has been getting so many hits lately. It’s always the most-Googled article I’ve ever posted, but the past few weeks it’s been getting clicked through the roof. Now I know why – check out The Chic Gadget: iPhone 5 Announcement on September 12 On … Continue reading
Japan Builds 4-Ton Mecha Robot (Customized for You)
Where else but Japan would such a dream come true? Thanks to company Suidobashi, for the relatively bargain-basement price of around $1.5 million, you can own and pilot a real-life Mecha like the one below. Click here for another video, which, as a bonus, demonstrates some sort of hovering drone as well. The little flying … Continue reading
Spray-On Batteries
Everything these days needs a battery. Phones, cars, pacemakers, solar panels. They all need portable electricity storage, but because of the different sizes, shapes and functions, they each need a specially designed battery. What if there was some kind of flexible, modular power storage that could be made to fit any shape? Enter the paintable … Continue reading
Translation Goggles, Virtual Dressing Rooms
This is Future Bites, your weekly update on the future, now in bite-size format. Check back on Wednesday for your usual Cosmic Revolutions essay. This week, the digital world continues to seep into the real one, with two novel applications of augmented reality. First up, via Singularity Hub, a prototype translator that works in near … Continue reading
Biometric ATMs Debut in Japan
Welcome to Future Bites, the quick-updates department of Cosmic Revolutions. This week, we have biometric ID systems being deployed – futuristic hand-scanners, to be precise. Regular readers will remember I wrote (here) about the promise of biometric scanners. They can reduce friction in our everyday lives, making basic transactions as effortless and secure as possible. … Continue reading
New Media Continues to Eclipse the Old
Two news items for you today, both about the constantly shifting media landscape. First, a short piece from the Atlantic on the approaching end of cable TV. It’s a sharp observation of the internet’s ability to empower consumers and demolish traditional revenue models. As a consumer, I say the useless and overpriced “cable bundle” can’t … Continue reading
Traffic Control? There’s an App for That
This is Future Bites, a clearinghouse for bite-sized morsels of future news. Offered every Monday. To get a mix of Future Bites and future-focused essays delivered to your inbox, click “subscribe” at the right. This week, I offer you the latest in navigation apps. This one can not only route you around traffic jams, it … Continue reading
Burritos of the Future
Cosmic Revolutions is trying out a new feature this week: a quick wrap-up of future-related news and development. Two things have inspired me to do this. One, I only have time to do one in-depth article a week, so due to information overload I end up with a ton of stories and news bits that … Continue reading