We love the future and all it has to offer, but we nod to the past for leading us here. This week in Tasty Tech, we look forward and back.
1. Cloudea Futuristic Airship
Back in the 1900s, airships and zeppelins were all the rage. But then the airplane came along and the dream when up in flames. But it didn't die. Like a Phoenix rising up from the ashes, comes Cloudea, a concept from industrial designers Elie Ahovi, Jérémie Levain, François Mahieu, Marc Tran, Valentin Delrue, and Nicolas Lenotte. Unlike other airships, this one blends in with the sky. We like the idea.
2. Pebble Beach Cars
Since 1950, car lovers and aficionados from around the world have come to Pebble Beach's Concours d'Elegance to drool over some of the world's rarest and most collectible cars. This 1958 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa Scaglietti Spyder drove the crowd wild.
3. Eye Wire
An online game called Eye Wire harnesses the power of gamers to do good. Developed at MIT, the game had some 135,000 players navigating a single nerve path in a mouse's retina. The information gleaned was then used to reconstruct the neural wiring in 3-D images. Done with the eye, gamers have now moved on to the olfactory cortex to discover how the brain deals with smells.
4. Chair You Wear
Where is a chair when you need one? Oh, it's right there, strapped to my butt. The Chairless Chair, developed by Swiss startup Noonee, is an exoskeleton that attaches to your legs. When you sit back, it's like the chair has been under you all along.
5. Mule Electric Vehicle
The MULE, from designer Anton Brousseau, is a workhorse for city living. This concept electric vehicle features a fully electric rechargeable battery with a range of 80 miles. It has a unique saddle system for carrying cargo and a tilting recumbent seat that puts the rider in touch with the vehicle and the road.
6. Glasses Record Video
No, it's not Google Glass. These are Recon Jet, a bad-ass name for a pair of electronic sunglasses that could let police capture photos of their surroundings. Wearable tech company, Recon, is partnering with Motorola to create the new surveillance gadget for what they call, "smarter policing."
7. Interactive LED Court
Nike's House of Mamba is the world’s first touch-sensitive LCD basketball court. It was unveiled in Shanghai, China, this summer and is named after Kobe Bryant, whose nickname is Black Mamba. The court has motion-tracking sensors, artificial intelligence and reactive LED lights that display a range of different graphics. The visualizations are crazy-exciting and even though developers say the court will mostly be used for training purposes, you just know they gotta use it for the crowd, too. How could they not? See a video here.
8. Clear Solar Panel
Most solar panels are black, but this one developed by researchers at Michigan State University is crystal clear. Just imagine if your windows also generated solar power or if the screen on your phone harvested sunlight to power it? That's the future.
9. Unstealable Bike
The three engineering students from Chile came up with Yerka, a bike that uses its frame as the lock. Break the lock, break the bike. That's not worth stealing, now is it?
10. Floating Sails Generate Energy
This lovely concept from artist Felix Cheong puts billowing, wind-harvesting flags on a floating platform that harvests tidal power from the waves. It's called Oscillating Platforms and it's one of many innovative submissions to the annual Land Art Generator Initiative, which brings together the worlds of installation art and renewable energy infrastructure. Winners of this initiative will be announced in October.
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