As far as technology goes, yesterday is so 24 hours ago. Researchers are making such leaps and bounds in the lab that what seemed futuristic just a moment ago is already ancient history.
1. Super Flexible Screen
Take this incredibly flexible screen, for example. It comes from the Japanese company Semiconductor Energy Laboratory, who showed it off this week at the Display Innovation exhibition in Yokohama. We've seen foldable, but this 5.9-inch display drapes. It's made from organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) embedded in a super-thin polyimide film base that can be bent more than 100,000 times without becoming damaged.
2. Google's Newest Nexus
This week, Google unveiled its newest line of Nexus 6 smartphone and Nexus 9 tablet during a media preview in New York. The devices will run on the upgraded Android software, called Lollipop. New services will be available on the phones and tablets, including a streaming media player for music, movies and videos, including games.
3. Electrical Substations Dressed in Pink
During Shanghai's Design Week, industrial designers Yang Mingjie decorated electrical substations to look like pink carton characters. The pieces just go to show that a city's utility infrastructure can be both functional and pretty.
4. Night Club for Kids
Dozens of kids celebrated Halloween at CirKiz, a trendy nightclub in Manhattan's Meatpacking district. The club opened its doors to 3- to 12-year-olds with an electronic dance music party. There was also a 100-foot LED video wall and dancers dressed as robots performing on stage.
5. Seeing What Robots Think
What are autonomous robots thinking? Researchers at MIT coupled a motion-tracking system with a projection setup to create a visualization of what robots know and what their intentions are. For example, in this image of two mobile robots, the green circle demonstrates how far the robot can see. When it approaches another vehicle at a fork in the road, it fires out a signal that prompts the second robot to move forward. [Video]
6. Asuna, the Humanoid Robot
Who's the robot? At the annual Tokyo Designers Week, Asuna the robot - modelled on a 15-year-old girl - poses for a photo. The interactive robot was developed by Japanese company A-Lab and is controlled remotely by an operator who monitors visitors using a video camera. [Video]
7. Solar Tree
A life-sized tree called the eTree has solar panel branches that not only harvest sunlight but provide shade. It was developed by Israel-based Sologic to promote environmental awareness and sustainability. A bench and USB charging points allows passers-by to charge up their devices for free, while a Wi-Fi connection provides Internet access.
8. Ambulance Drone
Drones are being requisitioned for just about any duty you can image. In The Netherlands, researchers at Delft Technical University have built an ambulance drone that carries a defibrillator. The small aircraft, which flies at the speed of 100 km, can quickly deliver a defibrillator to patients suffering from a heart attack.
9. Driverless Bus
Much is being done to gear up vehicles and make them driverless. But a French company called Robosoft is also looking at how surrounding pedestrians react. On the island of Sardinia, two autonomous vehicles named Eleonora and Mariano were set free to transport passengers for 34 days. The goal was to see how pedestrians reacted and how well the vehicles responded to crowds. A range of sensors helped the robotic vans get to where they're going without hitting obstacles. During the trial, 2,450 passengers were ferried without incident.
10. Paris Games Week
Virtual reality goggles are infiltrating gaming at a record speed. During the International Games Week in Paris, players donned the virtual reality head-mounted display known as Oculus Rift. The display transfers eye movements to the game in real time, making the experience feel as real as life.
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