What
does a mobile phone, 5 ¼ inch Floppy drive, (for those of you who remember…) an
ice chest, and a NASA space shuttle have in common? At one time or another each
one of these very distinctly different items was considered to be the peak of
technology. As bright new minds enter the development and engineering world’s
everyday new advances, and sometimes brand new things altogether come about.
When
the first cell phone call was placed in 1973 it blew everyone’s mind. Similarly
when the floppy drive was created it meant that information was now mobile! You
could save that important document and bring it down to the library and print
it up (printers were extremely
expensive around the time of their inception and therefore not common in many
households.) Before all this NASA put a man on the moon using less computing
power than today’s most common digital watches!
All
these wonderful inventions were thought to be the pinnacle but as modern
teenagers with their texting addictions have shown us (when I was a kid there
was no such thing as texting without a stamp and a mailman.) technology will
continue to evolve and knock us back on our laurels with its overwhelming
awesomeness. But with all the ludicrous inventions hitting daytime infomercials
like the “Perfect Bacon Bowl” and bizarre inventions from Japan (like the
crawling baby onesie dust-mop Swiffer thingy for those of you who are unaware)
it’s becoming increasingly difficult to sift through the haystack to find that
shiny needle.
Today
at To Infinity And…In Theory we’re going to take a look at the fast-paced
technological landscape and dig through that haystack for you. Here’s a glimpse
at ten inventions you may or may not have heard of before, but everything on
this list has the potential to revolutionize how we live in this strange and
ever changing world. From interesting novelty items like the Guitar Pick Punch
to game changers like Amazon.com’s aircraft answer to same day doorstep
delivery with unmanned Drones, let’s see what the brilliant minds of the world
over have to offer consumers like you and I.
1. The BioLite Camping Stove
Ever
been on a hiking excursion through the wilderness before that lasted more than
a week? (Intentionally I might add…) As a Boy Scout I know I’ve done my fair
share. Nothing beats a nice warm fire on a chilly Autumn night while you swap
campfire stories, but nothing can ruin the taste of your food quicker than smoke
from an old moldy log, (unless you’re into that sort of thing.) also if the
logs collapse in the pit and your equipment isn’t set right you run the risk of
losing your meal into the fire pit itself. Companies like Coleman have camping
stoves, and while they’re nice for those of us with R.V.s, they just aren’t
much use to us hikers where packing only the essential with as little weight
encumbrance as possible is key. So what to do?
Enter
the developers of the BioLite! This little camping stove has taken popular
science publications by storm since it hit the market. As seen in the picture
above this nifty little wood burning gadget can save your life should you find
yourself stranded, injured, and without any zap left in your phone, (even SIRI
can’t help you without juice.) Also it reduces smoke emissions drastically
cutting down on deadly carcinogen emissions that, if you do a lot of cooking over open fires, can
build up over time and shorten your life.
It
may not appeal to all the Outdoors types with a weight clocking in at 33 oz.
but new more lightweight and compact models are in development to cut down on
this problem. Also, if you feel like the model pictured above is too small and
unmanly for you to carry, there is a home stove model available. BioLite was
used during the relief efforts of Hurricane Sandy, it’s also been featured in
publications like Time magazine, The New York Times, Huffington Post, and Popular
Science.
If
you still prefer the old isopropyl beer can stove over the BioLite I won’t
blame you. The $130 price tag is a bit too rich for even my blood, but as more
time and development go into this the price should come down to more reasonable
levels. While I won’t be running out to buy one tomorrow, you can rest assured
this is still on my radar.
If
you’d like to learn more about the BioLite or pick one up you can by going to
their website by clicking here.
2. Solowheel
It’s
a fast paced world. Either you keep up with the best or get mowed down like the
rest. Well now the rest can keep up with the best with the Solowheel. Basically
a minimalist’s unicycle Segway, for the rider under 250 lbs this little
spherical skateboard that would’ve blown Marty McFly’s mind is capable of
chugging along at a brisk pace of 10 Mph and can hold its charge for up to two
hours depending on speed and the rider’s weight. With 1,000 Watt motor and a
Lithium-Ion battery coupled with the ability to recharge itself slightly by
gliding or braking could this strange little device be the answer to cheap,
efficient, and green short distance travel?
Yes
and no. While the creators at Inventist Inc. claim to have reinvented the wheel
that’s not necessarily the case. It’s still round and rolls forward and while
that dynamic may not have changed, they certainly have created an interesting
little gadget worth a try. While the developer’s claim it is user friendly and
relatively easy to use (and they have plenty of videos showing individuals
gliding happily along seemingly effortlessly) and has a built in gyroscope to
aide in balance it still requires some skill, patience, and a bit of practice
to use.
While
miniaturized and zero-emission self-propelled travel options aren’t exactly new
to the consumer world this little guy has advantages motorized bicycles,
Segways, and other similar options don’t. With a carrying handle on top to fold
up and take with you it only takes up about the space of a briefcase, plus it doesn’t
take very long to charge. Just rode it to the office this morning and out of
juice? No big deal, plug it into the wall at work and it’s ready to take you
back home at the end of the day.
With
a $2,000 price tag it still clocks in at more of a novelty toy rather than a
commuter’s solution to big city traffic and fast paced environments that is
unlikely to replace foot power or bike’s as the end all method any time soon.
Still, it’s a neat little invention perfect for a Saturday afternoon stroll up
to the ice cream parlor.
You
can read more about the Solowheel or even purchase one by visiting Inventist
Inc.’s website by clicking here.
3. Sugru
Need
a comfortable way to prop that Galaxy Tablet up on the countertop as you rifle
through a recipe while making dinner? Maybe that old hammer has seen better
days but you don’t have a lathe to turn a new handle and want an eco-friendly
alternative to buying rubberized or polymer grips for it. Maybe you’re a little
kid at heart like me and want to up the ante of your plastic dinosaur and Lego
collection by attaching colorful block wings to it and converting the
Allosaurus into an Aerial Attacking All-out-asaurus.
Whether
you’re looking to satiate your playtime needs with the kids or just want a
better way to organize that jumble of keys without buying an expensive cabinet
to hang them (in my experience, you buy them and still end up throwing your
keys in the fruit bowl anyway.) English company FormFormForm has something in
store for you.
Like
a strange cross between rubber, modeling clay, silicone, and silly putty, this
strange malleable substance may become your short answer to anything. Websites
like Pinterest have dozens of articles and pictures circulating of people using
Sugru to “hack” everyday items from kitchen knives to cell phones. When removed
from the packaging, Sugru works a lot like silly putty, easily molded and
shaped into many different sizes and geometric orientations, it’s when it
hardens that the magic happens.
After
a 24 hour curing period Sugru turns into a bendable and powerful adhesive
suitable for a vast variety of uses. Want to remove it? Not a problem! Just cut
it from the surface with a sharp knife to remove the majority of it. Use your
fingernail and a napkin to get the pieces that hang around behind, (non-porous
surfaces only!!!!) and with an 8 pack of the miracle malleable mud coming in at
$25 (that includes shipping depending on your location) it may become your new
cheap and far less messy method of patching up areas of your house.
To
read more about Jane Ní Dhulchaointigh from Kilkenny, Ireland and her
incredible invention and pick up a packet of the Play-Dough for adults visit
Sugru’s website by following the link here.
4. Guitar Pick Punch
The
guitar pick. Best friend to players of the instrument worldwide. But if you’re
anything like me and love to shred your six-stringed pal till your heart gives
out then chances are, like me, you break a metric ton of picks every year. On
top of that, it always seems like you need a pick at the worst possible times
and there are just none to be found. Enter William Von Luhmann, inventor of the
Pick Punch.
The
Pick Punch looks more like a glorified stapler but it’s so much more than that.
Got a bunch of expired credit cards lying around? Instead of chopping them up
with scissors and throwing them in the trash why not turn them into guitar
picks? With the Pick Punch you can turn boring and bland piles of plastic into
picks as unique and diverse as your play style itself.
With
its relatively small size and lightweight design (around 1.5 lbs) you can toss
this little guy into your gig bag and, should you run out of picks midway
through that rock show, you can snap a replacement out in less than a few
seconds! For a $25 investment you can bet I’ll be adding this to my gig
equipment in the near future.
To
read more about The Pick Punch and to pick one up for yourself check out Von
Luhmann’s website dedicated solely to his invention and DIY tips by clicking here.
5. Space Saving Furniture
It’s
no secret that the human population is expanding on this Earth, but with the
little blue rock we float on being 70% water, livable space is quickly becoming
an issue. In places like Japan where there are a lot of people concentrated in
tiny areas on islands, space saving furniture and domiciles have already become
the new “in” thing. Resource Furniture’s ever growing line of multi-purpose
furnishings is now looking to bring that same kind of compact living standard,
right to your living room now.
With
products like tables that fold out to expand from seating three to being able
to host a Christmas dinner with the in-laws and an Ottoman that breaks down
into 5 separate stools, there is no shortage of creativity in the masterminds
of this company. Can only afford a one bedroom apartment but you don’t want to
sacrifice all your tables and chairs to the Ikea store? That’s perfectly fine!
Just head on over to Resource Furniture’s website by clicking here to see all their home
decoration options available.
6. Consumer Drones
Yes.
You read that correctly, Drones for the everyday consumer like you and me.
These fearsome, flying death machines won’t be the robotic bomb filled warbots
flying over The Middle East currently, but they operate on the same principle.
But Drones have far better uses than military applications (Uncle Sam just has
difficulty seeing the forest for the trees sometimes) and the guys at the
Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas this year feel exactly the same way.
See
that little fella pictured above? That’s the SenseFly eBee. Aerial toy
developer Parrot teamed up with the Swedish company SenseFly to deliver the
eBee to CES this year. What does it do? Cartography of course!
With
a 96cm wingspan and a “shake it to start the motor and toss it in the air”
interface this little guy is capable of surveying an area of 10sqkm in a single
pass. What’s more is that not only can it detect geographical features and
elevation levels; it does so with pinpoint accuracy, within 5cm. That’s pretty
incredible if you ask me.
And
why shouldn’t it be? With a price tag north of $10,000, this aerial mapper won’t
be commonplace in everyone’s hobby closet any time soon, but it has the
features to match the cost. Parrot and SenseFly have another model called the
Swinglet Cam as well with a shorter flight distance but still the 16MP camera
and mapping within 5cm of accuracy. Other companies at CES featured Drones as
well. For the full report on CES drones head over to CraveOnline
and check out their article. For more information on SenseFly and the eBee you
can check out their website by clicking here.
7. Vikuiti Rear Projection Film
Moving
into 2014 we may already have 100’s of mediums for advertiser’s to channel
their products through. But company 3M is rolling out the glass carpet for a
new form of Budweiser beer bombardment. May I introduce to you, the Vikuiti
(Pronounced Vi-Cue-It-Tee) Rear Projection Film, and while you may be thinking
this is just another showy form of projection, I assure you, it’s much more
than that.
The
way it works is fairly simple. You roll out the black adhesive acrylic and cut
it to match whatever shape you want it to. Then you can attach it to a piece of
glass or acrylic like the cut-out of the spokeswoman above or you can just hang
it in your store window. After being lit up from behind by the projector, it
appears as though it jumps to life! The major benefit to this technology is
that outside light sources don’t affect it, so you can see what you’re looking at even if the sun directly overhead is
beating down on it. In some ways, advertisers are saying this is more useful
than using LCD TVs in storefronts!
To
read more about 3M’s RPF technology, applications, and purchasing you can visit
the website by clicking here.
8. Siri
Unless
you’ve been living under a rock for the last decade I can almost bet that you’ve
heard of Apple’s personal assistant Siri. With movies like “Her” hitting the
entertainment landscape this past year featuring a human man falling head over
feels in love with an A.I. (Let’s be honest though, if my phone sounded like
Scarlett Johansson I’d be lovesick too!) I feel it’s important to talk about
how far we are into that world.
While
Siri may not be able to help you repel an alien onslaught multiple times (Wake
up Chief…) or try to suck the oxygen out of your environment out of
self-preservation (Sorry Dave…) she is quite handy for a multitude of things. But
why is she so useful?
Siri
is outfitted with specialized language software that not only can interpret
what you’re saying but in a sense is capable of learning through it. In fact,
she is so adept at this that outside developers are dying to get their hands on
her. There has even been talk of Siri completely erasing Google entirely. I
mean, why run all the way to your laptop to Google it when you just ask Siri
where Capuchin Monkeys are native to?
She
may not currently be the singularity but she is the doorway to it and the
developer’s at Apple are fully aware of this. And if you still don’t believe
me, try asking Siri about the Spike Lee Jones film and see what she says. Artificial
women can be so defensive.
9. Recon: Jet Heads Up Display
While
development company Revision is on the cutting edge of HUD technology for the
soldier, Recon developers have set their sights on the health junkie market.
While the glasses won’t make you Geordi La Forge and get you a ticket aboard
the enterprise, they have a variety of other applications that will appeal to
the everyday cyclist.
With
biometric displays like a heart rate monitor and blood pressure, at first
glance it doesn’t seem like Recon is bringing anything new to the battlefield,
but if you scratch a little deeper, there’s gold hidden underneath.
The
battery pods are designed to be replaceable and with a $50 or so price range
for the parts that doesn’t seem too bad. The two features that really shine on
this (in my opinion) is the tracking feature and the ability to turn your
afternoon bike ride into a home movie. With the push of a button on the side of
the unit you can snap a quick picture (with better resolution than most cellular
phone cameras) but if you double tap and hold the button a little longer on the
second one your sunglasses turn into a video camera.
The
tracking feature allows you to see on a map where your riding partner is
located just by syncing the two devices together. With features like blue
tooth, GPS, and others, these sports glasses could quickly sweep the athletic
community by storm by being able to keep groups of multiple runners or cyclists
in constant contact with one another, thereby allowing everyone to move at
their own pace.
The
Recon: Jet HUD and their other model the Snow2 geared toward the extreme winter
sports crowd are still in prototype development stages. The current price tag
is around $600 so you won’t see them on everyone’s head until that cost drops
significantly. These glasses are powered by the Android Jellybean OS as its
kernel but use an OS developed by Recon to run the glasses themselves. Weighing
in at 1oz of visual goodness I can’t wait to get my eyes on a pair of these
myself.
To
read more about the Jet HUD or maybe pick up a pair for yourself you can head
over to their website.
To read about some hands on time with the machine check out this review over at
DCrainmaker.com.
10. OLED Foldable TV’s
Everyone loves
wallpaper right? Well…maybe not so much. But companies like Samsung are looking
to reinvent the wall glue with these new displays. CES this year was rife with
cutting edge technology, especially the wearable kind. Let’s take a look at
what they had in store for us.
Since the
advent of high definition imagery the consumer marketplace has been flooded
with options for the entertainment mogul like never before. Companies are
looking to capitalize on this even further. Enter the OLED Foldable screen. The
model featured above is flexible and lightweight enough to be worn on your arm
while out for a jog.
The way an
OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) works is quite simple actually. OLEDs are
solid-state devices composed of thin films of organic molecules that create
light with the application of electricity. OLEDs can provide brighter, crisper
displays on electronic devices and use less power than conventional
light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or liquid crystal displays (LCDs) used today.
Imagine,
turning your entire living room wall into a football stadium to watch the
Superbowl. Eventually you may even be able to stitch these little fellas into
your clothing (although I’m not sure why anyone would want to go that far with their television
obsessions…) or even attach one to the upholstery in your car! However with new
OLED technology carrying a price tag a little south of $10,000 we probably won’t
be seeing these pop up in your average household for quite a while. Older
models of OLED tech is now retailing for around 2 to 3 thousand dollars, so if
you have the extra money and want to see what it’s all about I highly recommend
it.
For those of
you that can’t afford hands on time with the device you can check out this
article on HowStuffWorks.com
about OLED technology, or you can check out some of the different models,
prices, and features available by clicking here.
That’s it for
now guys. I hope you enjoyed this article and yes, I do realize some of this
technology has been around longer than this past year, however, not everyone
has heard about all of it. I tried to make it so this list contained a little
bit of everything for everyone out there.
Do you know
some cool piece of technology that you’d like to see discussed here or feel
like it deserved a spot on this list? That’s absolutely fine! (And totally
awesome with me!) Feel free to tell me about it in the comments section. With
the way the technology marketplace is changing every few minutes I’m sure I’ll
be doing more blogs like this in the future.
Thanks for
reading everyone! And if you enjoyed this piece feel free to share it around on
Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, or whatever other social media site you’re on. Happy
learning!
-
Ryan
Sanders
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