Public fast charging as a vital step in the acceptance of electric vehicles.
According to a new study, struggling to find a rapid charging station for your electric car could be a thing of the past by 2020. The number of quick chargers worldwide will increase by one hundred times that of today.
Continue reading… “Number of electric fast-charging stations will reach 199,000 by 2020”
Here Auto
Nokia announced last week its intention to become a much bigger technological force in the vehicle after years of being the auto industry’s mapmaker. Nokia took the wraps off of Here Auto, an embedded infotainment and connected car system, which it hopes to sell to the world’s car manufacturers.
Continue reading… “Here Auto: Nokia’s connected car platform”
Federal research funding is down.
The U.S. arguably needs its scientists more than ever, but federal research funding is way down. According to data collected by a coalition of top scientific and medical research groups, the majority are spending more time writing grants for less payoff than just three years ago. Nearly 20 percent report they’re considering more supportive climes overseas. From The Huffington Post:
Continue reading… “20% of scientists considering leaving the U.S.”
Isaac Asimov
When the 1964 World’s Fair was hosted in New York City, the prolific sci-fi author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, Isaac Asimov, took the opportunity to wonder what the world would look like 50 years from then – assuming the world survived the nuclear threats of the Cold War.Writing in The New York Times, Asimov imagined a world that you might partly recognize today, a world where:
Continue reading… “Isaac Asimov correctly predicted 2014 technology in 1964”
A room at the Volkswagen research and design facility uses an LED lighting control system.
The lighting controls market has taken off. Commercial networked lighting systems will grow from $1.7 billion in 2012 to more than $5.3 billion by 2020, according to a new report by Navigant Research.
Continue reading… “Lighting controls market will grow $5.3 billion by 2020”
Van Gogh’s Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers
After seven years of development, Fujifilm’s “Reliefography” 3D scanning and printing technique is ready to create near-flawless replicas of great works of art. The replicas will be available to the public for tens of thousands instead of tens of millions.
Robot arms weld a vehicle on the assembly line at a General Motors plant.
Since the Great Recession ended four years ago, American workers’ productivity has risen. But, in the U.S. there are two million fewer jobs than before the downturn. The unemployment rate is stuck at levels not seen since the early 1990s and the proportion of adults who are working is four percentage points off its peak in 2000.
Continue reading… “How technology hurts the middle class”
Synthetic biology is about making DNA from scratch.
What if you could turn a bread machine into your personal pharmacy? Or fill your gas tank with fuel made from grass clippings? Or light your home with glowing houseplants? While radical in concept, these ideas are startlingly practical and already in the works.
Continue reading… “Synthetic biology holds global promise and perils”
Moore’s Law — the ability to pack twice as many transistors on the same sliver of silicon every two years — will come to an end as soon as 2020 at the 7nm node says Robert Colwell who now works for DARPA (trying to pick after CMOS technology) and was Intel’s chief chip architect from 1990 to 2001.
Continue reading… “End of Moore’s Law by early 2020’s: It’s not just about physics”
“Mab” flying robots.
“Mab” is Adrain Perez Zapata’s futurist concept where he envisions a swarm of tiny flying robots zipping around your house to clean surfaces, before returning to a spherical home base. Here’s the summary: (Pics)
Continue reading… “Tiny flying robots may clean your house in the future”
Buildings in the U.S. consume a lot of energy.
The United States has a massive energy inefficiency problem. The amount of energy wasted by the US economy in 2012, could power the United Kingdom for 7 years.
Continue reading… “America uses 11 times more energy than the UK but only has 5 times more people”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWGTFcxAr7g[/youtube]
JetSurf takes watersports to a whole new level. This gas-powered mini-surfboard is about the size of a wakeboard, and its carbon-fiber-and-kevlar body is powered by a two-stroke internal combustion engine. You don’t need waves (or paddling) to move. You just hold on to the handle, press the hand-operated control unit, and you’re off and surfing.
Continue reading… “JetSurf – a high-tech motorized surfboard”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.