This thread is all about discussing and fantasizing about technologies of tomorrow. Let me get us started!
ONE TERABYTE THUMB DRIVES
Thanks to a new technique for manipulating charged copper particles at the molecular scale, researchers at Arizona State University say their memory is, bit-for-bit, one-tenth the cost of -- and 1,000 times as energy-efficient as -- flash memory, the predominant memory technology in iPhones and other mobile devices.
"A thumb drive using our memory could store a terabyte of information," says Michael Kozicki, director of ASU's Center for Applied Nanoionics, which developed the technology. "All the current limitations in portable electronic storage could go away. You could record video of every event in your life and store it."
I feel kindof silly for buying that 1GB thumb drive now. And my that 2GB SD card. Hey, with a 1TB thumb drive, game console manufacturers probably wouldn't need to include hard drives anymore, just stick a USB port on there and bam. Or I suppose they could build this super duper mega ultra omega solid memory into the console.
HOLOGRAPHIC VERSATILE DISC
Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD) is an optical disc technology which would hold up to 3.9 terabytes (TB) of information. It employs a technique known as collinear holography, whereby two lasers, one red and one green, are collimated in a single beam. The green laser reads data encoded as laser interference fringes from a holographic layer near the top of the disc while the red laser is used as the reference beam and to read servo information from a regular CD-style aluminium layer near the bottom. Servo information is used to monitor the position of the read head over the disc, similar to the head, track, and sector information on a conventional hard disk drive. On a CD or DVD this servo information is interspersed amongst the data.
These discs have the capacity to hold up to 3.9 terabytes (TB) of information, which is approximately 5,500 times the capacity of a CD-ROM, 830 times the capacity of a DVD, 160 times the capacity of single-layer Blu-ray Discs, and about 7 times the capacity of standard computer hard drives as of 2007. The HVD also has a transfer rate of 1 Gbit/s (128 MB/s).
I can't wait for this format to hit the market. It would crush the fuck out of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, and save us from this format war bullshit. I really hope it gets some support soon! I mean, 3.9TB per disc? That's a shitload of HD content.
Surface-Conduction Electron-Emitter Display
A surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED) is a flat panel display technology that uses surface conduction electron emitters for every individual display pixel. The surface conduction emitter emits electrons that excite a phosphor coating on the display panel, the same basic concept found in traditional cathode ray tube (CRT) televisions. This means that SEDs use tiny cathode ray tubes behind every single pixel (instead of one tube for the whole display) and can combine the slim form factor of LCDs and plasma displays with the superior viewing angles, contrast, black levels, color definition and pixel response time of CRTs.
* 100,000:1 Contrast Ratio.
* 20 micro seconds response time.
* Brightness of 450 cd/m2.[15]
SED is set to blow Plasma and LCD out of the water in terms of image clarity, contrast ratio, black levels... pretty much every measure you can figure. Me wants
ULTRA HIGH DEFINITION TELEVISION
The new format with a resolution of 7,680 × 4,320 pixels is four times as wide and four times as high (for a total of 16 times the pixel resolution at 33 million pixels) as existing HDTV, which has a maximum resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels.
As no existing equipment could handle such as resolution, they had to make a custom built camera, storage and projection system using arrays of existing components in order test a prototype. To even store just 18 minutes of UHDV footage, they had used 16 HDTV recorders (likely a 4 x 4 array) with a capacity of 3.5 terabytes 3 minutes of footage was recorded from the custom made camera mounted to a vehicle and then driven about the streets. The footage was later projected on a 4 x 7 meter screen for public demonstration and the public were astonished. As the visual effect of the footage traveling down a road was so realistic, some viewers even experienced nausea as a side effect of seeing ultra realistic motion, but not physically feeling the motion. It's like the opposite of seasickness where you can feel movement, but cannot see it while in an enclosed section.
Images so realistic they make you barf? That is awesome. Maybe a little overboard, but still totally awesome.
WITRICITY (WIRELESS POWER)
US researchers have successfully tested an experimental system to deliver power to devices without the need for wires. The setup, reported in the journal Science, made a 60W light bulb glow from a distance of 2m (7ft). WiTricity, as it is called, exploits simple physics and could be adapted to charge other devices such as laptops.
The system exploits "resonance", a phenomenon that causes an object to vibrate when energy of a certain frequency is applied. When two objects have the same resonance they exchange energy strongly without having an effect on other surrounding objects. WiTricity exploits the resonance of low frequency electromagnetic waves. In the experiment both coils were made to resonate at 10Mhz, allowing them to couple and for "tails" of energy to flow between them. "With each cycle arriving, more pressure, or voltage in electrical terms, builds up in this coil," explained Professor Pendry. Over a number of cycles the voltage gathered until there was enough pressure, or energy, at the surface to flow into the light bulb.
This is probably the Holy Grail of futuristic technology. Imagine it, simply walking into your home would begin charging your cell phone or any other electronic devices you had with you. The power cord is the last to be cut until we can truly live without wires. Frickin' awesome.
Feel free to discuss these and other upcoming technologies, and if you REALLY want to, go ahead and post more future technologies following the general format I've presented here.
Posts
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=38193&highlight=Future+Tech
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIqk4agzKPE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbnLjR1WSDk
And I just accidentally bumped it. I clicked your link and started reading...kind of forgot it was a different thread. I hang my head in shame now but remain ever watchful for the star fish robot.
i'm pretty sure if you delete the post the thread will go back in the pages like it was
Yes, say goodbye to power cords and hello to cancer with WiTricity!
Seriously, wouldn't that be like living under powerlines x10?
Seriously, this thread makes me want to become a technofile. HVDs, SEDTVs, and WiTricity are making me piss my pants. I'm really looking forward to those.
Although. . .is WiTricity safe? Like, living in an area with active witricity wouldn't give you cancer or tumors or some shit? I guess people said the same thing about radio and wi-fi, but. . .still.
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God damn day ruiner. Neato.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAYA_II
a computer that fights cancer!
I'm dead serious."
I dunno. HVD seems like it could hit the market place in the next five years. And it would murder any other storage formats out there (olol Blu-Ray / HD-DVD). Same goes for the UHD and SED TVs. WiTricity, I hope, has a lot of fucking testing before they market it. I'd rather have a gazillion wires then have my appliances cause cancer.
I was looking at Waka's thread. . .and some of that shit is creepy. Like the self-replicating robot and starfish robot. That's just. . .rise of the machines shit right there. The flying car and hydrogen car sound fucking awesome though. I want to be riding around in a flying, hydrogen powered car by the time I'm 40. So. . .2026ish.
So what the deal with space travel in the near future guys? Thats what I care about. Fuck your hi res big tvs! Give me neural implants that let me live out my wildest dreams! Me fighting the Kraken on Mt. Rushmore with my sidekick Kim'cho the T-Rex ambassador from Spain's Industrial Kitchen plastics Quality assurance team.
one day i will have my own command center
one day i will so kick your asses in halo 4
also, halo 4 OMG
:shock::!!:
:^:
and
the actual "ultra" HDTV consumers might see next is all the 4K stuff
That, and the mad scratch.
Last I heard was that NASA was shooting for a Mars landing by 2030. And we'd have a functioning Moon Base by 2018. Seeing as how we're retiring the Space Shuttle in just a couple of years and getting some brand spanking new space vehicles (I mean. . .the Space Shuttle is over 30 years old.), I'd say it's a real possibility.
As for neural implants. . .fuck no. FUCK. NO. I refuse to put computers in my head or my kid's head. The possibility of some hybrid Matrix/Terminator future is just too real for me to even consider doing something like that.
Well, that's disappointing. Still, there's got to be something beyond HDTV in the works.
virtual reality format!
...The Avatar Machine
I remember they had one short piece about how there was canned air conditioning in development, so when you were in the car you could just give off a short shot of the stuff and it'd be cool for awhile.
I'm ever so pissed that that never made it to market.
I would kill, kill! to live in a steam punk universe.
edit: Also, lewie, that would turn all the first person shooting rampages IRL into Third person shooting rampages. Awesome!
DNA computers do not impress me at all. Sure they're fast one you've set them up for an operation, but you need a specialized physical process to get them that way. I doubt that any computer that uses chemical reactions instead of electromagnetic ones will be useful any time soon.
Do you really want the company behind the Virtual Boy to come out with another VR console?
Do you really want to pay for Microsoft's overpriced VR peripherals?
Do you really want Sony anywhere near VR?
LOLOL "Cell" LOLOL!
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Nope
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I was talking to Kreutz, who made a stupid remark.
Riight...
...
still cool though.
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BTW title reminded me of this:
Final Fantasy XI -> Carbuncle - Samash
I don't know who you're calling stupid, but if you think anyone is going to bring VR to the mainstream before the big three do, you're being optimistic. Keep in mind, I'm not referring to the companies who supply the private sector with VR tech. There are hundreds of them. I'm talking about a mainstream VR solution, which no mom-n'-pop VR contractor has the resources to produce.
Anyway, I'd wondered if anyone had tried using DNA for computing, since it is really just another way of encoding information, except instead of just off and on there are many more "settings." It sounds like it's harder to work with, and would essentially force us to completely rethink all programming languages to get it to work efficiently, but I think there may be something there after quantum computing becomes too slow.
Reminds me of why he wore that lead-lined trenchcoat...
Toshiba earned alot of geek rep in my eyes the day this thing was announced. :P