Futurist Thomas Frey: After spending the past three days scouring the showroom floors at CES, watching people become overwhelmed by what they saw, I tended to be more underwhelmed by what I didn’t see.

Smartphones, tablets, 3D television, and supporting peripherals were everywhere. But as the industry was getting sucked towards the gravitational allure of these technologies, many others, with harder problems to solve, haven’t been getting enough attention.

It’s very easy for the digital world to spot an opportunity, write a few lines of code, and have a new product ready to launch. But going beyond the current capabilities of existing hardware, blazing entirely new trails of thinking, is where the real opportunities lie.

For this reason I thought it would be interesting to talk about “what’s missing.” For those of you are up to the challenge, here are 25 technologies I’d love to see at future CES events.

AIQ Smart Clothing with soft padding that stiffens upon impact,
monitors heart rate and blood pressure

Smart Clothing

The CES show has a few examples of smart clothing companies like AIQ, but for most exhibitors their so-called smart clothing has little more than pockets for smartphones or space for video nametags.

Here are a few ideas for future smart clothing that would be total game changers:

1.) Mood-Driven Chameleon Wear – Yes, most people will go out of their way to avoid having their clothing overtly display their emotional state. However, using technology to compensate, and make you look good, even though you’re fatigued, angry, or depressed would be a welcome addition to most clothing lines.

2.) Organ-View Clothing – As part of our on-going effort to monitor our own biological functions, it may be possible to design a fabric that serves as an optical lens into our inner selves. Think of this as a wearable CAT scan system with variable-adjust focal point settings, zoom powers down to a near-nano scale, and flexible data-capture sensors built-in. The fashion options here will be incredible.

3.) Self-Moving Fabrics – It will no longer be good enough for smart fabrics to merely collect and transmit information, the next generation will have the ability to take action. Dirty clothes will pick up after themselves, snuggly fitting shirts and pants will readjust themselves for maximum comfort, and torn clothing will send themselves out for repair. Beds will make themselves, sheets will change themselves according to a set rotation, and pillows will have the ability to sense pressure points and reform themselves accordingly.

4.) Nano-Netting – Using super strong fibers so small that they are invisible to the human eye, nano-netting will provide a fibrous support structure that is visually non-intrusive but capable of keeping out insects, birds, and other unwanted animals. The density of the netting can be adjusted to match specific requirements. Objects can be suspended in air with seemingly invisible support. Invisible fences, invisible screens, and invisible cars and windmills will all be possible.

Ford had its Evos concept car on display at CES 2012 turning heads
with style and design, but little true innovation

Transportation

At CES, Ford Motor Company unveiled its first-ever zero emissions, electric passenger vehicle, following in the footsteps of Tesla and Nissan. And they jumped on the cloud computing bandwagon with the new Evos Concept Car.

But behind the flashy surfaces, chrome wheels, and tech trimming lies some far bigger opportunities.

5.) Driverless Cars – The next revolution in transportation will be self-driving cars, and the adoption of this technology will change virtually everything in the field of transportation and urban planning. The idea of jumping into a vehicle and having it shuttle you to your destination without anyone “driving” it may sound like pure fantasy to some, but it’s far closer than most of us think. Google’s self-driving car project has already racked up over 200,000 driverless miles on highways.

6.) Ground-Based Delivery Drones – Before we have driverless passenger cars sold in any sizable quantities, we will see ground-based delivery drones hauling point-to-point cargo. Better to practice without passengers onboard to perfect the technology. Railroads and trucking companies should be worried as this will displace much of their industry.

Parrot officially unveiled the follow-up to its popular quadrocopter at CES – AR Drone 2.0

Flying Drones

I happen to be a big fan of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and already own an AR Drone.

Unveiled at CES, the new Drone 2.0 features a 720p front-facing camera so that you can capture your flights in HD. There’s also a whole raft of new sensors, including an on-board magnetometer so that it can always tell where the pilot is in relation to its flight path, and a new air pressure sensor that allows it to be more stable when hovering.

That said, these drones have very short battery life (10 min max), and so far have little application outside of the hobbyist community.

The world of flying drones will become infin