futurism

WWW2008 - Social media in 2020 to be pervasive, ambient

A panel of social media experts believe that in 2020, social media will be far more pervasive, interlinked, and location-aware than they are now. Here are my comments as published on Twitter, with some comments following. (Reverse chronological order)

David Shamma brings up what I've been wondering: What about security? Questioner answers vegetarian question by calling for show of hands. Old tech, hurrah! Marc Davis thinks in 2020, we'll have ambient data about stuff like who around us is vegetarian when we travel And David Shamma thinks it's more problematic: we need to manage different audiences. Marc … Read more

Reality check for the Army's high-tech makeover

The Pentagon is no stranger to overpriced equipment and cost overruns, but it may never have seen a program quite like the U.S. Army's long-running and hugely ambitious Future Combat Systems initiative.

For this fiscal year alone, Congress has allocated some $3.5 billion in funding for FCS, en route to what is expected to be a total tab of $160 billion or so by the middle of the next decade. But $160 billion doesn't buy what it used to: the Government Accountability Office has been lamenting recently that the overall estimated FCS tab remains at that … Read more

Philippe Starck and "design is dead"

Philippe Starck had an epiphany, after all these years: "Everything I have designed is absolutely unnecessary," the French star designer admitted in a recent interview with the German weekly DIE ZEIT. I had the dubious pleasure of hanging out in the Starck-designed Volar club in Shanghai last weekend, and my initial reaction to his statement was: yeah, right! I've never really liked his pompose celebrity design. But then I read his quote again in the context of the whole interview and realized: he is right, actually. In fact, his thoughts are so poignant and humbling that it … Read more

How Donald Trump might install a 'Surface'

It's probably safe to say that, even when Microsoft eventually ships its "Surface" touch-screen tabletop computer, it won't be destined for the average household. In fact, if the "Interactive Media Wall" is any indication, it might be seen only in mansions for awhile. That's why we think the insufferably named "_able" multimedia table from Kufner Futures would be an appropriate complement: Not only can it accommodate various sizes of screens and computers, but it can be made of "any material of your choice: glass enameled, printed, stone, wood"--including … Read more

Where the topics of the day are rarely the topics of the day

EPISODE 43

Today we wax reminiscent as we always do, talking about the 15 most annoying video game characters. Jenkem... it's awful. Speaking of awful, some of us don't want to see "Bourne Legacy," and Seth Rogan has a new stoner comedy coming out. Shocker.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

The future is here, and all I got were these awful little speakers

When I was a kid in the 1960s I was obsessed with the future. The space program was in all its glory, the moon landing was within our grasp, and that, combined with rock music being at its creative peak, what more could a teenage boy ask for? The future looked bright, science would soon feed the starving, cure all disease, and technology would bring prosperity to the entire world. Once those humdrum needs were satisfied we could get to the fun stuff and develop personal flying gear, teleportation machines, and start colonizing other worlds. For kids, at least nerdy … Read more

Tech predictions: 25 years

Biometric access points, nanolaptops, gestural interfaces, and ambient intelligence--you can expect these to be ubiquitous in the near future. At least that's what PC World says. Don't forget toilet seats that measure body fat, 'cause that's just what you've been waiting for, right?

Check out the whole PC World list: "The next 25 years in tech"

DOE scraps FutureGen 'clean coal' project for new tack

The Department of Energy announced on Wednesday that it has pulled out of a carbon-capture technology project in favor of a restructured funding mechanism.

The DOE last year signed an agreement with the FutureGen Alliance, a coalition of coal and oil companies, to spend about $950 million on a demonstration coal-fired power plant that injects carbon dioxide emissions underground. Last December, a site for the FutureGen project in Matoon, Ill., was announced by the Alliance.

On Wednesday, the DOE said that it has scrapped that agreement and issued a new request for information, which will solicit proposals for demonstration plants … Read more

FutureGen Stalled?

FutureGen is the major US Department of Energy backed effort to pilot a technological solution to prove that carbon capture and sequestration from coal fired power plants is possible. At a slated price tag of $1.5 Billion ($1 Bil estimated originally, now estimated at $1.8 Billion), it is one heck of a science project - but one that sorely needs to be done.

Now that project appears to have hit a snag. While the site the consortium picked to build the project was selected in December as Mattoon, Illinois, after a short delay in responding, the DOE is … Read more