This weeks TOTW highlights an advance in the slickness and speed of automobiles and HUDs(Heads-Up Displays) in vehicles other than jets.
Maserati’s Birdcage 75th was unveiled as a concept car at the 2005 Geneva Auto Show. Just like the Silver Lightning concept car from Mercedes Benz, it was named after an old line of Maserati cars also called Birdcages. They added the 75th because it was the 75th anniversary of Pininfarina, the team who designed it.
Other than being really thin, the Birdcage 75th doesn’t look that much different than nowadays race cars. But look at it carefully. Anything missing? Yep, IT HAS NO DOORS. To get in and out of the car, the front and back of the roof can open up, as pictured below.
Also, the Birdcage has a high-tech HUD system, mounted where a dashboard would otherwise be. Unfamiliar with HUDs? In movies, when the jet fighter pilot has a screen display that tracks the other planes and helps him target them – well that’s a HUD.
Fortunately, the HUD in the car will not shoot at enemies, but will more or less be just like a regular dashboard with a clock, tachometer and speedometer. Besides the HUD, the interior appears similar to today’s sports cars. The steering wheel does also have a screen, to show gas levels, mileage and mph.
Sadly, this car is just a concept, and not even a concept ultimately destined for the market. Maserati simply designed it as a birthday present to themselves for the original team’s 75th anniversary. Still, it shows that integrating things mostly found other places would be a good idea for making the next high-tech supercar.
Raspberry Pi is a hand-sized computer developed by University Of Cambridge Computer Lab.
Oops. Wrong pi.
I bet you’re wondering,”That doesn’t look like my computer!” But is one nonetheless. It has a USB port, Ethernet, headphone jack, RCA video port, SD card slot and a power adapter, along with all the necessary chips to make it a basic computer.
Raspberry Pi is not meant to be your personal laptop. It’s meant to be used for designing robots, tracking devices, clocks or anything you want that could use a “computer” for a brain. But when you do hook it up with a keyboard, mouse, ethernet, power and a monitor to program it, it will bring up a normal desktop.
Once you get on the desktop, there are a couple apps already downloaded for you. Midori is the web browser they give you. It is good for downloading apps to help you, but not so good at just surfing the web, because it can be slow.
Scratch is another app they give you. It is a very basic computer programming app, more added on for fun. And of course, they give you Idle, an app for programing in Python. This is the app you will most likely be using the most for programming whatever you are trying to build.
There are some cons to Raspberry Pi. As I said before, surfing the web can be extremely slow (at least for me), so don’t go buying it thinking it will be your browsing computer. Also, I recommend buying a cheap USB keyboard instead of using you old Mac Keyboard(if you even kept it), since that’s what I tried and it I couldn’t write a word without it stretching the words oooooouuuuuuttttttttt.
Still, if you are an entrepreneur and you need a easy and cheap(25$) way of putting a brain into your product, or a kid trying to learn Python, or just anyone trying to learn Python, Raspberry Pi could be for you. I will follow up with my RPi experiences in future posts.
Transparent smartphones: the thing of the future. Anyone who has seen any sci-movies has seen transparent phones which are basically a piece of glass. That will come farther in the future. But if you are impatient like most of us, and want the best thing available with a relatively short wait, Polytron is for you.
Now, don’t get to excited. Polytron’s smartphone pictured above is still in its developing stage. As you can see, not all of the hardware is completely transparent, and all the add-ons like a camera are visible. Sill, it is a pretty big jump from the old iPhones and other smartphones.
The secret to Polytron’s masterpiece is what they call, “Switchable Glass Technology”. It uses liquid crystal molecules to form the images or text. But when no energy is flowing through the phone, the molecules turn white and clear, making a perfect transparent smartphone.
But Polytron aren’t stopping there. They say in a couple weeks they will announce their design for a transparent tablet. Sooner or later, the word will be full of these transparent smartphones, and sci-fi movies wil become reality.
Last night, February 20th, Sony held a big event announcing their new game console, Playstation 4.
Unfortunately, Sony left some questions unanswered. The biggest question is WHAT DOES THE CONSOLE LOOK LIKE?!?! Yes, Sony reportedly did not once in the whole event show off their new console. Also, they did not announce the release date or price of the PS4.
Their new remote, the DualShock 4, has some special features. One feature is that when you are playing, and you are having a great game or destroying your opponent, you can hit the share button on your controller and it will automatically share footage of your game with your friends. If you let them, your friends can even take control of a remote and play from wherever they are. Still, a lot hasn’t been announced and if Sony gets anything wrong like the width of the console, the motion sensors or anything else, it may keep people from buying it. We’ll just have to wait and see.
At the 2012 Google I/O, Google introduced their new augmented reality glasses Google Glasses. See my other article to read more.
Come on, you know you want one. Now, Google are giving anyone in the USA a chance to get an early pair of Google Glasses as part of their program, Glass Explorer Program. All you have to do is go on your Google+ or Twitter account and post what you would do with your pair of Glasses. *REMEMBER*, you have to put the hashtag #ifihadglass, or they will not read your submission.
Unfortunately, there are some rules. As I said before, you have to be in the USA. Also, you have to be 18 or over, which may be a problem young developers. But, if you fit the requirements, I completely recommend submitting. Google Glasses are just plain awesome. Good Luck!
This week’s Tech Of The Week is an advance in automobile technology and the interplay between smartphones and large-scale consumer products.
Before his death, Steve Jobs had a idea to make Apple an even bigger part of society than it already is. One concept has been called the iCar.
After Jobs died, the idea for an iCar faded, but under new Apple CEO, Tim Cook, there are rumors that the company has started to rethink the idea. An Apple iCar would seamlessly interwork all of Apple’s devices. We could of course expect a typically stylish and futuristic design from Apple as well.
The interior of the car would be a key challenge for the designers. They want it to interwork multiple devices, yet be still a car, not a mobile Apple store. Also, when people shop for cars, they want comfortable seats and attractive dashboards. Apple’s design, like Ford or Tesla, could resonate with the buying public or Apple’s design success for small gadgets might not transfer to large scale products.
“Look at the car industry; it’s a tragedy in America. Who’s designing the cars?” said Mickey Drexler, a long time Apple board member. “Steve Jobs’ dream before he died was to build an iCar.” It will be interesting to see how Apple would do on the car, being a mostly smartphone and computer manufacture. Even without Jobs, Apple will most likely impress the public with a futuristic iCar, just like Steve Jobs wanted.
Apple are working on a new smartphone, but this time in the shape of a watch.
Apple haven’t decided on a name, but they have two good options, iPhone Wrist and iWatch (I’ll be calling it iWatch). iWatch could use Corning’s Willow Glass, a type of bendable glass. Willow Glass is a new technology and will most likely be used for many things from smartphones to bringing back scrolls, only digital.
The iWatch hasn’t been fully designed yet, and could still be in concept phase. There are a few suggested designs out there, such as a clear ring around your wrist. The problem with that is that it might be too wide, and bump into the table when you are trying to write. Also, being clear, it might be hard to see colors like yellow or especially tan. Another design for the watch might solve that particular problem, but bring up some other ones.
For instance, the small screen might not bump anywhere, but might just be to small to actually serve as a “smart” watch. It would be EXTREMELY hard to type on the screen, and if you have bad eyesight, the lettering will be very hard to read.
Apple iWatch, along with Google Glasses (see my Google Glasses article) are going to start a new industry, smart clothing. Smart clothing will soon transform our world, using Willow Glass as just the start. And just like lots of other industries like smartphones and software, it will most likely be led by Google and Apple.
Back in 1932, Mercedes Benz released their motor and Formula One racing car, the Silver Arrow. The Silver Arrow was very successful, and the most popular car for german racers in the 1930s. The trademark white, for Germany, decorating the car, the Silver Arrow won many competitions. It even won the French Grand Prix 1-2-3. This type of car was a source of pride to the company and country, and it was only logical to preserve it’s greatness.
The Silver Arrow
79 years later, at the 2011 LA Design Challenge, Mercedes Benz were showing off their concept car, Silver Lighting. Silver Lightning, as you may have guessed, was inspired by Silver Arrow, reintroducing the pride of Mercedes prowess in the racing sport.
As part of their presentation, they made a short film about the car:
Silver Lightning was not only inspired by Silver Arrow, it was also inspired by classic sci-fi movies, as is a lot of technology today. Think about it. The flip-up communicators from Star Trek. In the Silver Lighning’s case, the futuristic lights on the wheels were inspired by Tron: Legacy, and the shape was inspired by Star Wars: Episode II. Along with science fiction, the Silver Lightning embodies everything we want the future to be like: flashy, slick, technologically advanced, and as cool as heck.
Silver Lightning is still not coming out any time soon. It uses a lot of future technologies, like Mag-Tech. Mag-Tech is a retractable roof system, a lot like nowadays convertible roofs. But instead of having to take the whole roof off, this technology would make it easier. Mag-Tech uses small lightweight magnetic squares to quicken the process, and can be quickly put together to make a roof, or easily contracted to make a convertible.
When you look at Silver Lightning, you may be wondering, “Where are the wheels? All I see are rings where the wheels should be!” Totally understandable. Those rings ARE actually the wheels, which is another future technology that might postpone the release of Silver Lightning. The technology is called Omni-Directional Wheels. Inside the rings, there are rollers that are all placed in a different direction, making the car able to move in all directions. This technology would let the driver be able to move the car in all different directions, not just forward and back, and is already being used in the storage and manufacturing business for lifting boxes and heavy objects. Omni-directional wheels would eliminate the need for parallel parking, which in sure many new drivers would be happy about, but the technology isn’t yet ready for implementation into racing or even regular automobiles.
Silver Lightning is designed for speed. The sleek design is perfect for zooming down the freeway or track. But just like Lamborghinis and Maseratis, it will probably become a fancy sports car that like to show off. The problem with many of these technologies, such as the segway, and even Google Glass, is that the hype surrounding them blocks out the unfortunate downsides of the technology itself. It may look cool now, but by the time we get to a point where any of these technologies would be possible, which wouldn’t be that far into the future, there will most likely already be many cars with the same design. Who knows, there may be a time when having a Maserati Silver Lighting would be just as normal as having a Toyota, but for now, it is still a futuristic concept, yet to be built.
Every year, Fujistu holds a design contest for new and innovative gadgets, smartphones and other tech products. In 2012, one of the winners was a line of smartphones and tablets. It was called Bento Box.
Designed by Rene Lee, Bento Box is three inner-working smartphones, Bento Book, Bento Pad and Bento Phone in a specially made dock. The holder also connects all the phones together. So when all the phones are in the dock, they form a laptop. Bento Book as the screen, Bento Pad as the keyboard or scroller and Bento Phone as any extra add-ons like a clock or metronome. The great thing is, they can work without each other. So if you go on a trip, or need to take one of the smartphones, but other people in your family ALSO want one, you can share them. The only problem is if it comes out, it will probably cost a fortune, because you’re basically buying 3 different smartphones and a case.
First, lets start off with Bento Book. Bento Book is about the size of a laptop monitor, which is much bigger than an iPad. It can be used for reading, writing, recording music using Bento Pad as the piano or just surfing the web. So far, the designers haven’t released how it’s going to be set up, what software it’s going to be using or any special features.
Bento Pad is a key part to Bento Box. Without it, you either would have to use the small Bento Phone as the keyboard or even resort to awkwardly typing on the Bento Book. It also solves the problem Apple has of buying keyboard/cases, like you have to with iPads. Alone, Bento Pad is very interesting. It’s shape may make it easier to hold, and revolutionize racing and shooter games.
Bento Phone is about the size of a iPhone 4. By itself, Bento Phone is more or less your average smartphone. But when it’s in the dock, it becomes part of the laptop. It could be a zoom when you are sketching something, page flipper when you are reading something and other useful widgets.
When Bento Box comes out, my guess is it will be a hit. The only problem is, it’s not made by a big producer like Apple or Google, so there may be some software problems or features the critics don’t like (for instance Apple’s Siri). Still, when it comes out it will be high on my list for potential buyings.
At the 2012 CES(Customer Electronics Show), Samsung showcased a prototype for their new smart window.
Samsung Smart Window is a great window for a double-tasker. If you put the window in your kitchen, you could get recipes with the recipes widget on the widget page, check your Twitter account and get the weather all in the time that you make breakfast.
The Samsung Smart Window is the start of a big wave of technologies, a lot like the smartphone and tablet wave(which is still not over). In fact, one of my earlier posts was about a future design for smart glass, Corning’s Gorilla Glass. In case you missed it, here they are again.
Samsung Smart Glass is good for night or day. At night, LEDs shine at the top and bottom of the window. Plus, if it is daytime, and you don’t want people to look in on what you are looking at, you’re covered. The window is one way, so people can’t even see into your house. Unfortunately, Samsung’s windows are not yet out on the market, and the prices are still undisclosed.
TOTW: Google's Project Ara Modular Phone May Be The Future Of SmartphonesOctober 30, 2014
