The futuristic tech we found this week was so radical, it was getting hard for us to separate fantasy from reality. The week was swarming with future cars, efficient aircraft, brand-new Windows 8 screenshots, yet another peek at the iPhone 5 with its almost-confirmed bigger screen, and even a sexy new way to take a shower.
Yes, it was as if we had our own time machine, jumping into its cockpit and finding faster Wi-Fi, wireless power, and perhaps even discovering everyone in the future will be above-average. Well, perhaps that’s going a bit too far.
But you haven’t gone too far; in fact, dear reader, you’ve come to the right place, where we give you a sneak peek into the future with Top 10 Tech This Week.
1. Sneak Peek: Beacon Phoenix Bluetooth Speaker
As speakers get smaller, their sound seems to get bigger. That's the case with this Beacon Phoenix Bluetooth speaker, a handsome unit available in red, blue and black. We listened to this cute US$99 cube, available for pre-order next month, and it cranked out some crispy tunes at a prodigious volume despite its diminutive size. In other words, it's loud.
My biggest thrill was unplugging it and running it on battery power - it felt like there was a whole band standing in the palm of my hand, rocking it with impressive intensity. It hooks up easily to your Bluetooth-compatible device, and the company says the Phoenix's rechargeable battery will play on for eight hours.
However, because of its tiny size, its bass sounded diminished, although still present. Even so, it might be a worthy companion for a dancing beach trip this summer.
2. Windows 8: The Next Revision
The consumer preview of Windows 8 has been around for months now, but now Microsoft reveals the next beta version of the upcoming Windows 8 juggernaut. From this picture you can see subtle changes in the Windows 8 user interface: Still gone is that Start orb that's currently on the bottom left in Windows 7, and now that familiar glass look is gone as well. It all looks rather flat now.
I've been testing Windows 8 since its first beta, and I'm impressed with its Metro UI. Its live tiles on the front take a little getting used to, but they give you lots of useful information at a glance. Even the consumer preview is quite stable already, so I'm looking forward to Windows 8's final release - Microsoft's not yet saying when that will be.
3. Horizontal Shower
If you thought the ordinary shower couldn't be improved, take a look at this. Now you can take a shower lying down with this Horizontal Shower, placing yourself a shower field of six "water bars" that are recessed into its special ceiling.
Horizontal Shower Side Shot
Apparently you'll need some sort of special bathroom that can take lots of splashing, but still, it looks like a lot of good clean fun. If you've ever been given a sponge bath lying down on a massage table, you'll know what I mean.
Horizontal Shower controls
You can control temperature and intensity of the spray with this panel, called eTools. According to its manufacturer Dornbracht, you can choose from your favourite shower "choreography," including balancing, energizing or de-stressing effects.
4. Synergy Aircraft
Thanks to this futuristic Synergy Aircraft's diminutive size and double-boxed tail, it's hyper-efficient. The idea is to give ordinary families the ability to fly in fancy, cool airplanes like this, say its creators, with an eye toward making the second century of flight a whole lot easier.
With that small size and those weird-looking wings comes increased speed and easy handling, something that will make this high-tech plane whole lot more attractive to people like you and me. It's a Kickstarter project, and if it reaches its goal of US$65,000, it might just get built sooner than anyone thought.
I think I'd rather have a flying car.
5. Porsche 918 Hybrid
The eagerly anticipated Porsche 918 plug-in hybrid is now in prototype form, screaming along roads somewhere on this planet. Peruse these alluring pics of the 770 hp beast, just rolled out this week in monochromatic livery for your astonishment.
Even though there's a mid-engine that's aspirated normally, it's got a couple of electric motors assisting - one cranking the front wheels and another handling the back pair.
Porsche 918 Hybrid Rear
You'd think with all of those horses under the hood, this brute would be gobbling gas, but because of its electro-coolness along for the ride, it gets the equivalent of 78 miles per gallon. That's especially impressive considering the 918's 0-to-60 time of 3 seconds and top speed of 200mph.
Porsche 918 Hybrid Side
But honestly, miles per gallon? When you're spending US$845,000 on a supercar like this, who's counting? It's so beautiful it's downright scary, making it even harder to wait until September, 2013 for its initial delivery.
6. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook
We're keeping an eye on the pack of Ultrabooks currently in mid-explosion, and now Lenovo surprises us with its claim of the lightest Ultrabook ever: It's the impressively named ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook, a 14-inch laptop touted as "amazingly thin and extremely powerful."
Packed with one of those prodigious new Intel Ivy Bridge processors, this one presses all the right buttons, with a backlit keyboard, high-definition display, a RapidCharge battery that reaches a "near-full" battery charge in a half an hour and an under-3-pound weight.
7. iPhone 5 Tall Boy
iPhone 5 rumours heated up to an even higher fever pitch this week, with additional credible sources crowing about a bigger iPhone screen with a diagonal dimension of at least 4 inches. Okay, okay - we believe that, but we wanted to see pictures.
And here they are in the form of a design concept from one of our favourite illustrators, Federico Ciccarese. This handset looks like a thinner, stretched-out version of the iPhone 4S, with a 16x9 screen that gives you just enough room for an additional row of icons.
iPhone 5 Tall Boy
And look there on the back: is that substance the much-vaunted LiquidMetal? I certainly hope so. Come on, new iPhone - you can't get here a moment too soon!
8. Sony Wireless Power
It's hard to believe wireless power is even possible, but it most certainly is, and Sony has just filed a patent showing how it's getting closer to perfecting it. Sony's figured out how to precisely locate a device so its wireless power loss will still be in the practical range.
Sony's even figured out a way to daisy-chain devices, having one gadget sending power to another, as long as all are within the most efficient range. I think the most useful application of this technology will be used for charging electric cars, letting you jump out of the car and run into your house without having to deal with plugs and wires.
9. Netgear Adapter for Faster Wi-Fi
Netgear and the rest of the Wi-Fi industry are gearing up for the next protocol for your home networking, and it's called the tongue-twisting name 802.11ac. This week, the company rolled out a slightly lower-priced router (US$179.99, available Q3) similar to the US$199.99 R6300 (available this month) we told you about a few weeks ago that embraces the new protocol, and it also showed us this interesting bauble: a US$60 dual-band adapter (model A6200) that you can use with laptops and desktop PCs. The adapter will be available in the third quarter of this year.
Why should you care? Well, this new 802.11ac Wi-Fi will be three times faster than the fastest Wi-Fi connections are today, and it'll cost about the same. Its range will be significantly wider than today's Wi-Fi, and it's backward-compatible with all the Wi-Fi devices you currently own.
Better yet, soon you won't even need a little adapter like this - Netgear told me the new protocol is well on its way to universal adoption, where the faster Wi-Fi will eventually be built into most devices that use wireless networking - and it will be approaching the speeds of wired networks. Wow.
10. iCar
There was talk this week about Steve Jobs's dream of an iCar, whispered to Apple board member Mickey Drexler and repeated to Fast Company.
iCar 3/4 View
Although drawings of this Steve Jobs fantasy haven't surfaced (yet?), designer Franco Grassi showed off his interpretation of what such a car might look like, depicting a radical design that seems perfect for warm climates, and perhaps functioning as a dune buggy.
iCar Interior
Of course, there's an iPad front-and-centre, along with the steering wheel from an alien spacecraft. We're assuming there are clear glass panels that slide into place for inclement weather.
iCar Side
That is quite a rakish silhouette, isn't it? If only it were real.
iCar at Leisure
Now, here we go. It's a golf cart, right? We kid, but people probably made fun of the Wright brothers' aircraft, too.
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