Have you ever been to Disney Land? I am sure most of you can say you have.

Well one of my favorite attractions by far is the house of innovations located in tomorrow land I believe.

It shows inventions that are predicted to be invented in the future with examples.

Yes, this is not a ride but more of a museum of the future.

Next time you are in Disney Land I would very much recommend you visit it!

“Take a glimpse of how you’ll be living in future. You won’t find traditional furniture styles

or natural materials in the House of the Future. Everything is ultra-modern and almost entirely synthetic.

It’s a demonstration of style and technology.” (yesterland.com)

Who wouldn’t love a dresser that shows you in your clothes before you actually put them on.

Who wouldn’t love a futureistic kitchen!

All of the inventions seem as if they are real.

Who knows maybe in the future they will be! I am sure scientists are already

trying to make the inventions displayed in Disney Land!

Here’s a radical idea for you: what if there was no time?

Considering that timing is everything and time is money, where does that leave us? Broke and without anything?

Turns out, this idea might not be as radical as you think. I was reading the Discover magazine today, and I found an interesting passage:

“There may be an end of time. Three Spanish scientist posit that the observed acceleration of the expanding cosmos is an illusion caused by the slowing of time. According to their math, time may eventually stop, at which point everything will come to a standstill.”

-March 2009 Discover Magazine

And that’s it. Just a mention in the back of the magazine in a list entitled 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Time.

Nothing but a cliffhanger to keep us up at night, huh?

Think about it. Everything just stopping and coming to a standstill like a wind up watch! That would be quite a sight.

What does the article mean about ‘the end of time’? Who are these scientists? Why was this just an afterthought in the magazine?

I’ll do some research and get back to you all!

-Rika

In case you don’t know me yet, I’m the newest member of The Nearby Future.

So I just finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird and was asking myself why it is considered such great American Liturature. I mean, really, what makes a book award winning anyway? This book definitely had some suspenseful scenes (particularly the end)  and is spectacularly written. But why is it that it is such an amazing book? Why has it sold 31 million copies world wide? But then that leads me to wonder that if a book sells well, is it considered great American Liturature?  Look a Harry Potter. The series sold way more than that. And our own Twilight.

Or maybe its because of the perspective it is written in. Scout (the main character) is a 7 year old child. Growing up in a community so different from ours in a time where prejudice clouded people’s judgement. Is it the way she views things? The things she experiences?

Despite what many said I liked this book. Maybe it was the style or theme or just the overall feeling you got after reading this. Sort of simple, but diverse. I caught myself wondering how I thought when I was a child. I can relate to her adventurous side.

What draws me into books? Something mysterious almost, like it takes place in a different world but not fantasy. Drama and struggle for wealth, pride, and characters finding themselves.

Overall do you think this book deserves the praise its gets? If you haven’t read this book, what makes a book good to you? Is there something you look for or like about certain books? Is there a certain style?

This year The Nearby Future staff has written a collective 48,747 words! Here are your favorite articles from staff members with the most page views (not counting Jala, because she writes pages, not posts).

• Rika’s best articles: “Corn“, “Stress: Side Effects Include…”, and “The World is Not Coming to an End“
• Calister F. Well’s best articles: “When In Rome, Think Like the Greeks”, and “Humming the Song of the World’s Destruction“
• PLOTG’s best articles: “Personal Rights Conflict With Hollywood’s Big Bucks”, “Teens and Their Sleep“, and “The Pledge“,
• Hope’s best articles: “HPV Vaccine“, “Izze: A Healthy Alternative“, and “Clocky: Crushing the Dreams of Snooze Button People Everywhere“.

And even though she doesn’t write for us anymore, big thanks to contributor ‘Ashley Lampost’ for her wonderful article about cars!
Looking forward to a great new year,

-Rika

Note: Each article that has won this prestigious award will bear the following picture upon it’s page:

Don’t lie to yourself- you were one of those people silently chuckling at the Hummer owners at the gas station when gas prices were up. You were one of those people who knew that eventually SUV and Hummer owners would have to own up for the price for their ridiculously tank-like cars.

Not today, my friends, not today.

Gas prices are down. And while this is a cause to celebrate, it’s also a cause for alarm. Why? Because we’re still dependent on foreign countries and OPEC. And the Hummers are, much to my annoyance, still chugging their way through oil and tankering down highways.

So for the sake of my fragile sanity, I ask all you SUV owners to consider these practical points:

• Gas won’t last forever. Having a fuel efficient vehicle will not only save you money but will help the environment, too.
• You don’t know when the recession will end. It could be a full blown depression for all you know! Sell that SUV and save some cash!
• Have you not been reading The Nearby Future’s articles about this topic?!?

Completely against the thoughtless waste of our world’s natural resources,

-Rika

 November is here, and you can be sure that your very own Rika is spending many hours typing out her… interesting plot that includes segway chase scenes, herds of elephants, and a box. A square box.

Don’t know what I’m talking about? NaNoWriMo, of course! Read about it here.

Rika has put together a little toolbox for everyone trying to win National Novel Writing Month, aptly named, “The Nearby Future’s NaNoWriMo Toolbox”

Note: I still have to create pages and find the links for all of the stuff with a strikethrough.

• The desktop calendar. What better motivates you than a witty calendar reminding you that 50,000 words won’t write itself? [Click here for a ton]

• Random Generators Source. Don’t name your supporting characters Bill and Sally. Go to the random name generator and computer will name them for you! Click here for a full list of Rika’s favorite generators! (Plot, characters, conflicts, loglines… there is a generator for everything.)

• Creative search engines. Google is for the non-artistic types. Google Loco is such a great search engine, you don’t even have to know what your searching for! The Mood Swings search engine is great for everyone… convicts with severe emotional problems, people who feel like trespassing on government property, or writers.

• Dictionaries. We all know that writers love words, which means they love dictionaries. Rika has about 10 dictionaries, and is constantly looking through the library’s encyclopedias and other reference books. (Even the online ones!) I don’t give a flying fig newton for those, but I guess writers do. Here are a couple of Rika’s favorite online ones.

• The radio. Not just any radio, but www.pandora.com radio. It’s a free, customizable, no-annoying-DJ ranting about his wedding last weekend and it’s in high quality. And it’s Calister F. Wells approved. (Rika likes it because it’s a good source of ‘inspiration’.)

• Other websites. Rika has this strange love of Yahoo! Answers saying that “It’s the only website where I can put people and their problems into my novel without them knowing!” I think that being a writer is being a borderline stalker.

So there you have it, all of you people who are going to be writing for a whole month (or at least saying you are), now you’re one step closer to ‘winning’ NaNoWriMo.

-Calister F. Wells

Do you have problems waking up in the morning? The product Clocky is an interesting invention out to help all those people. Studies show that if your alarm clock is right at your bedside, chances are you’ll hit the snooze button 3 or more times before you actually get up, or someone forces you to get up. Sounds familiar, right?

If you have ever heard of Clocky, the moving alarm clock, you would be amazed. It works like a regular alarm clock. You set your wake-up time as usual.

Here’s the catch: if you don’t wake up right away, or you hit the snooze button too many times, you’re going to have to get up and shut it off because it’ll be halfway across the room, thanks to it’s very own set of wheels. It purposely has a very annoying ringing sound that makes it impossible to sleep through- think of R2d2 from Star Wars.

Clocky: crushing the dreams of sleep-in type of people everywhere.

If that doesn’t stop you from getting up, it will jump off your nightstand and look for a place to hide. That means you will have to get up. That would bound to wake you up soon! Although you can shut the wheels off, that is not the point of this high-tech alarm clock, that would defeat the purpose. Just get a regular alarm clock if you want to take the easy way out of it.

It costs $50.oo, and considering all the time you waste rushing to get off to work or school, this is definitely a must if you have a problem getting up. It comes in almond, aqua, coco, raspberry, or chrome. Stylish, but practical, Clocky is a very smart invention. It does require 4 AAA batteries, however, but that shouldn’t cost you much more. Another warning, try not to put it more than 3 feet high.

Do you have Clocky? Or do you disagree with this article? I want to know because it sounds so cool! I do not have one, but that’s because I don’t have a problem getting up in the morning for some reason.

~Hope

This article has been chosen as one of the best articles of 2008.

See more of The Nearby Future’s Best Articles of 2008

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If you remember, I wrote an article a while ago about the iPhone. The price was outrageous- and I guess they listened to the public, because there’s a new iPhone! Don’t you think that sooner or later people are going to get tired of the new upgraded iPhones because then the public feels like they have to buy the new one because it’s the newest thing out? I guess kind of like High School Musical. You see it and then buy the DVD, but then there’s the “sing along version” and you then have to buy that too… sooner or later you have 4 DVD’s of the same movie. I don’t know, but I get tired of it.

The new iPhone claims that it is faster and yet half the price…how is that? This is what it features apparently from what it says on Apple.com:

“Introducing iPhone 3G. With fast 3G wireless technology, GPS mapping, support for enterprise features like Microsoft Exchange, and the new App Store, iPhone 3G puts even more features at your fingertips. And like the original iPhone, it combines three products in one — a revolutionary phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device with rich HTML email and a desktop-class web browser. iPhone 3G. It redefines what a mobile phone can do – again.”

Exactly right! Again… and again… and again… When is it going to stop? Create a great phone at a great price, and BAM! That’s how you get money.

Features that the 3g phone has that the old version does not:

• 3G Speed: “3G technology gives iPhone fast access to the Internet and email over cellular networks around the world. iPhone 3G also makes it possible to do more in more places: Surf the web, download email, get directions, and watch video — even while you’re on a call.”
• Maps with GPS: “Find your location, get directions, and see traffic — all from your phone. Maps on iPhone 3G combines GPS, Wi-Fi, and cell tower location technology with the Multi-Touch interface to create the best mobile map application ever.”
• App Store: “Tap into the App Store and you’ll find applications in every category, from games to business, education to entertainment, finance to health and fitness, productivity to social networking. These applications have been designed to take advantage of iPhone features such as Multi-Touch, the accelerometer, wireless, and GPS. And some are even free. You can download them wirelessly and start using them right away.”
• Microsoft Exchange: “What makes iPhone a great business phone? Simple. The same features that make it a revolutionary mobile device. With iPhone 2.0 software, iPhone does even more for your enterprise. It supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, delivering push email, calendar, and contacts. And it gives mobile users secure access to corporate resources with Cisco IPSec VPN and wireless network services with WPA2 Enterprise and 802.1X authentication.”

That’s great that it has GPS, but can’t you just look for that on the Internet? I mean I’m not the expert on this stuff, but can’t you just go to Mapquest? I do feel it is a good idea to have Microsoft programs, then the phone could be used by people who have Microsoft documents they want to view. But why would you want to have an App Store on your phone? Wouldn’t you just use that on your normal computer?

That’s my thought on this phone.

~Hope

Rika’s Thoughts:

I do think that all these updates do get a little tiresome, but as technology gets better, Apple updates the ipod and iphone. Great article, Hope!

Every so often, a culture phenomenon comes around and unites several million people for a cause.

In the future, historians will look back on these years and note the rise in popularity in young adult novels; Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter are the two most prominent. With an increasing amount of children and young adults sitting in front of the TV all day, it is quite an accomplishment by these books to get them away from the screens and pull them into a fictional world of adventure.

All those die-hard fans of Twilight, a vampire romance novel like no other, are probably rereading Breaking Dawn, the fourth installment in this bestselling series that just came out today. I don’t blame them, because as I’m writing this I have my copy sitting on my desk.

Twilight Moms, The Twilight Guy- thousands of fan sites are devoted to this book. It’s a little ironic that the book that’s pulling people away from their computers to read it is bringing them back to read Stephenie Meyer’s website, or another site to get their daily Twilight fix.

My point? Media and literature are playing an increasingly larger role in society. Books are creating ‘fandoms’ that brings different countries and people together over breathtaking stories and relatable characters.

Are these fandoms a good thing? Can an obsession go to far? Yes, and yes. But for now, there’s no harm done in being ‘sucked’ into a vampire love story.

(bad pun intended)

-Rika

Do you have a Facebook account? I do too, but if you have kept up with the news, there are viruses that I think you should know about. Be very careful on what you do on there and make sure to keep your privacy settings very strict in order for you to be completely safe.

Below is an example, and you can either get only the message on your Wall or you can get an email as well. It will take you to another link and it may just look like the Facebook home page, but it is really an external link, and if you log in again, not only do you give that site your email address and password, you also let that message go to your friends too. I just caution everyone to be very cautious that you do not fall for this.

Has this happened to you? Let us know.

~Hope

With rising gas prices, a hybrid car is turning out to be something that may help people save money.

What is a hybrid car?

A hybrid car is basically a normal car that uses fuel, except it has two motors, an electric one and a gasoline one.

What is the difference between hybrids and normal cars and why should I get a hybrid?

The only real big difference between normal cars and hybrid cars is that hybrid cars have a special system that captures braking energy, which is then stored in an onboard battery.

People are now picking hybrids because hybrids are the most gasoline efficient of all cars, they typically get 48 to 60 mpg. That’s great, but it’s only about 20% to 35% better than a fuel efficient gasoline powered vehicle such as the Honda Civic in which gets 36 mpg. When you compare prices, however, hybrids cost from $19,000 to $25,000 and gas saver cars cost $14,000 to $17,000.

Not only is the hybrid cars fuel efficient, it is also “green” for the environment, and we all know this website is definitely pro-environment. But hybrid cars offer more than just great fuel economy, they offer many green advantages as well. Where pollution is the worst (large cities), it produces smaller emissions when you’re in those stop-and-go traffic jams.

Applaud Japanese companies because the two hybrid cars that are the most popular are the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius. Come on, U.S., catch up!

What should people consider before buying a hybrid car?

But what’s a smart car buyer do? Are the savings in gas worth it? It kind of depends on how you drive. If you drive mostly in the city, you may save enough to warrant the extra cost. Hybrids cut emissions by 25-30% even over the most fuel efficient gas powered models (like the Honda Civic). Also, if you buy a hybrid it can reduce your cost for taxes up to $3,400 depending on the vehicle. Only the first 60,000 vehicles produced yearly will get this advantage though.

Experts think in the end, hybrids are probably something that people will want to switch to. Hydrogen or methane fuel cell powered cars are probably the cars of the future.

What else can we do to protect the environment and reduce costs?

But you don’t have to buy a hybrid vehicle to reduce emissions in the air. Just by using a different source of transportation makes a difference. Walk or ride a bike to a nearby store instead of driving. It helps the environment and gives you exercise. Also, car pooling is a great way to help the environment, and you get you’re own lane.

So basically, don’t throw all your money into a hybrid, consider the pros and cons to it and see if it fits your family’s lifestyle.

-Hope

Hummers: driven by people who want the world to be destroyed.

That has to be an exaggeration.

It’s the truth! Unless the Hummer and large SUV owners have been living under a rock, the following facts are known by them:

• Hummers and large, heavy, SUV’s are expensive
• A 2004 Hummer H2 SUV has 9.6 mpg compared to a Honda, who’s miles per gallon ranges from 20-50 mpg. So for sure all of the SUV and Hummer owners know that they’re paying more for the gas prices then other car owners.
• The emissions from cars contributes to global warming, and by simply switching from a fifteen mpg car to a 30mpg, you are cutting your car’s CO2 emissions in half.

What’s up with all the melodramatic titles?

Rika has stated that my titles are over-dramatic. Well they’re not. Our current environmental goal is to stop global warming, and almost everywhere on the road you see these heavy SUVs roaring down the road.

All of these car owners understand that buying fuel efficient cars would not only be less expensive, but better for the environment. So why do they keep buying these heavy duty vehicles?

Why?

“Because I feel safer knowing that in a car crash I wouldn’t be the one hurt” is one that I’ve heard. I guess that some people feel powerful behind a wheel of these tanks, but they’re endangering other people on the road. If no one drove heavy SUVs, then everyone would be safer on the road.

What should we do?

So when choosing a new car, you have several choices. Hybrid cars go for approximately thirty grand, depending on the model you buy. Hummers, on the other hand, often cost much more than that.

-Calister F. Wells

This article has been chosen as one of the best articles of 2008.

See more of The Nearby Future’s Best Articles of 2008

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One thing that we can look forward to is a very self-sustainable future. One product is paving the way towards a future which products repair themselves!

French scientists have created rubber that, when pinched together after being sliced, can mend and be as good as new! The process takes an hour, but this is definitely an important leap towards more innovative products and designs.

See the process in action here.

Why this is important:

Just think: we can do so much with this! In places, such as outer space, where repairing gear might be difficult, self repairing space ships, space gear, fuel tanks; so many worries can be eliminated. We are always looking for a way to make space travel much more safe, and this is yet another invention that may bring us closer to where we want to be in terms of safety.

-Rika

There once was a time- and not that long ago, either- when photos were rather expensive (compared to today) and were in black and white. For the people of the time that was completely normal and they didn’t really think much about anything better, until colored photos were invented, and then they took that as the norm.

Videos have come a long way; if you think of it the way I do, then for one you’d be slightly crazy (Calister F. Wells is not exactly the kind of guy people think like) and, secondly, in the time line of the creation of video you’d start at black and white photos. (Or possibly cave drawings- depends if you felt prehistoric).

So such an unused invention like black and white photos have led to what we know today as videos? Perhaps.

Here’s an interesting thought: try and imagine what videos will be like in the future. Star Wars-ish, maybe- the holograms are kind of like videos when you think about it. Will videos include more of the senses? (Smell, perhaps?) That would be interesting.

“How was the movie, Timmy?”

“It smelled funny.”

*Sigh* The future is such that us mere mortals cannot possibly contemplate without humor. I wonder what cavemen would do if they saw us playing the Wii…. probably laugh. Heck, even the present day people still laugh when they see someone swinging that white remote and looking like an idiot.

-Calister F. Wells: Laughing at the Future

The human brain is very complex, and you see these new discoveries about it every day. Emotions and feelings, often times, are more complicated than anything else our body can do. Why do certain people feel certain ways? Why are women often times more organized? The list goes on…

No doubt we will know more secrets of the human brain as time progresses, but being able to figure out more information more quickly would speed up other discoveries as well.

An example of this is the latest in video games, slated to come out this winter: the Epoc. A game that uses the EEG brain signals to control a video game, this shows what we can do with technology and knowledge of the brain. The technology, as it turns out, is older and until now hasn’t been thought to be able to be so flexible. This is a perfect example of how new knowledge of the brain can turn old technology towards new uses!

The Epoc: (read about it here)

Now this all ties into our site. Kendra, our newest writer, wants to help discover the reasoning behind ideas, emotions, and thoughts in a simple way: by polls. So for the sake of science, take her polls! Every once in awhile I’ll come out with a new post summing up the results of her polls and what they mean. Maybe, if we can get enough participation, we can really get somewhere with our research!

(visit Kendra’s page HERE)

-Rika

About two or three years ago on freewebs.com/thenearbyfuture I wrote a particular article about the dangers of using corn as fuel. It was moved to this site earlier in January (view it here) and I thought that it contained some good points. If people had taken the article seriously, then corn and our economy would be in much better shape.

But no. People couldn’t continue research on air powered cars, algae power, solar power, or so many other renewable energy sources that wouldn’t have hurt the economy; any other plant used to replace corn as the ingredient in ethanol would help us out a lot.Why didn’t the world listen?

Some facts about the fight over corn fuel:

• So politicians nod and approve it, automakers throw in their lot and make trucks and cars that run on corn fuel, farmers send tons of corn to refineries- so what could be wrong? More than people are giving a thought.
• The refineries that make corn powered fuel actually use more energy than the corn actually gives cars. So the benefits energy-wise are limited. Also think about the pesticides used to grow all this needed corn; it isn’t good (we’re spraying CHEMICALS on the land for heavens sake of course it isn’t good!) because is causes water pollution.
• Corn powered cars run out of energy quicker and the vehicle needs to fill up more often. Not good news for environmentalists who like car trips.
• Like Social Security, we’re stretching corn’s abilities over too many fronts! It can’t be sweetener, cooking supplies, food, ingredients in cleaners AND fuel! That’s just asking too much.

So with that said, we need an alternative. Maybe another plant to produce ethanol to power cars? That would work! We could use algae which doesn’t take up space where crops should be and grows pretty fast.

The moral of this article is that The Nearby Future has some good points, whether people acknowledge them or not! And sometimes acknowledging our ideas earlier next time might actually help our world….

-Frustrated Rika

“Eat the corn, screw the cars.”

Everybody is talking about the new Macbook Air notebook. It costs $1799+. Is it worth it? How much would you pay for a notebook? I definitely would not pay that much. I mean, it’s cool and the new thing, but something new will come out and it won’t be cool anymore. Just like we thought RAZR’s were the new, best thing and then an iPhone came out. Don’t get me wrong, I love new things too but not for that much money.

It costs more than an ordinary notebook and regular laptops are even better. They cost more because of the new ultra-slim style. Cons also include that this notebook is an optical drive. If you want to install new software, rip CDs to iTunes, watch DVDs, or burn data to disc, you need to either purchase the $99 Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive, which connects via USB, or use the new Remote Disk feature to “borrow” the optical drive of another computer on your network. So, I guess what I am trying to say is that it costs even more than $1799 because you have to buy all this extra stuff for it even to work. Do you disagree? We want to know!

~Hope

Rika’s Thoughts:

I wouldn’t buy it either- but with a few simple adjustments (including a price adjustment!) I think this would be a good tool for students. It wouldn’t take up much space, it would be convenient, and it would be light. There are all the qualities students. Apple could be onto something!

What is this world coming to!? First, we use corn for fuel. And now we’re using CHOCOLATE for fuel? Mmm… Chocolate… Right! Back to reality! Well, according to a very useful source, scientists have figured out how to turn chocolate into gallons of fuel.

A car company — Ecotec — has been collecting waste from a Chocolate Factory. Ecotec is from the UK and they are planning on driving a car fueled by chocolate all the way from the UK to Timbuktu. The fuel works like bio-diesel and it takes approximately 7 pounds of chocolate remains to produce 1 gallon of fuel. It costs approximately $1.16 per gallon of this sweet gas.

Unfortunately (for anyone who was hoping for this), the fuel is not edible. I know, I wish it was too, but it’s not like you can drink gasoline from a glass. Or can you? Ok! Gotta stay on subject here! Haha. Well, there you have it! The people at Ecotec are currently working on making enough fuel to take them from wherever they are all the way to Timbuktu. (Why there? Who knows?) Keep reading and use fuel-efficient cars!

-Jennith

What if there was a car that ran on compressed air and electricity that gave off virtually no pollutants? That definitely sounds like the kind of car that we’re talking about. Thankfully, someone has already viewed that what if as a possibility and has created the MiniCat (mini Compressed Air Technology car). This new small golf cart type car runs on compressed air and oil (1 liter of vegetable oil, actually) and can travel for eight hours for the incredible cheap price of…. two bucks!

How does this car get its power? Like I mentioned above: compressed air tanks! 90 cubic meters of air tanks, actually. Sounds dangerous to have that much of compressed air under the trunk? Not exactly. According to the creators of the Air Car, they have tested and retested the air tanks to ensure safety. What about oil changes? The car uses 1 liter of vegetable oil and needs an oil change every 31,000 miles.

But this car isn’t all it seems- the French creator doesn’t have a steady income yet, and with only three prototypes made, we here at the Nearby Future are having a hard time believing this too good to be true story. And- according to a grudging MDI- the prototypes have not yet lived up to their goals. In one of the first published tests, the car ran little over 4.5 miles- not even close to the promised amount of mileage for one tank. If the prototypes aren’t at their full potential, what makes the company think that it can get one up and running as soon as they think they can? The company is almost over confident, and they are selling licenses to other people around the world to make and sell the Air Car locally when their first prototype travels a measly 4.5 miles.

What do you think about this car? Do you agree with us that it’s far from completed and a little too good to be true? Or do you think that MDI is right on the money?

The car debate is continuing- with many, many companies out there finding creative ways to make cars run efficiently without the use of things like gasoline. Who knows? Maybe the car of the future will run on recyclables! Until then, The Nearby Future will be covering every aspect of this speedy revolution.

The MiniCAT by MDI

-Rika

Hummers are seen as huge, gas guzzling vehicles that are out to put as much emissions into the air as possible. On December 1, 2007, they won the ‘green car’ contest. What is wrong with that picture? Actually, nothing. GM’s sketch for the “Hummer O2″ portrays a car that runs on hydrogen tanks and fuel cells. It’s 100% recyclable and lasts for five years. This is still an idea in the making- but it may be the push that the car industry needs to go green.

The “Hummer O2″ Sketch.

-Rika

In the next ten years, classrooms will be changed completely- there’s no doubt about that. One of the things that will change how we learn is the Tablet PC. The Tablet PC, created by Pen Computing and popularized by Microsoft, may be the piece of technology that replaces textbooks and white boards. Write notes and then with a swift press of a button turn those notes into typed up ones- very handy for taking notes quickly and neatly. Instead of bulky textbooks, students could just use one Tablet PC instead. It gives them the capability to scroll through pages from their textbooks like an ebook reader. Recently, universities have been using this as a replacement for a whiteboards, too. Having a nifty little device that not only reads textbooks, has all capabilities of a laptop, AND allows students and teachers to interactively manipulate the same image only makes a better learning environment.

In the classroom, this is definitely an invention that has the power to revolutionize education.

-Rika

Electronic books are a great thing- don’t listen to Rika. Ebook readers are so much more convenient then regular books. Paper can be destroyed easily- I mean, hey! Light a match around a book and there goes your book! (Not that the Sony Reader is fire proof or anything) But over time paper gets torn, mangled, yellowed, you name it! And it’s depleting our tree supply. Electronic books? BAM! No paper. Download a book like you download a song and there you go! Words appear on the screen.

See? Electronic books= more convenient world

-Calister

The worst is here. The books that we know and love that are made out of good ol’ paper may already have some competition from books on screens. Have you heard about Sony’s new device called the “Sony Reader”? If you haven’t, there is good reason. Like the iphone, it is, too, an attempt to innovate the world as we know it.

Unlike the iphone, this ebook reader has no solid chain of products like the ipods. People simply don’t trust Sony’s new attempt at shoving paper books off of the shelves. Do you have opinions? Good! You should. Post them in the comment box.

~Rika

The next advancement in technology car-wise shouldn’t be flying cars. Let’s face it: a lot of energy would be needed to get a car up in the air. And using gas is just not a good idea. What we need is some sort of way to power cars that isn’t harmful to the environment. I say we create a hybrid solar/electric car! The car itself would be covered in solar panels, absorbing energy during the day. At night you would use the electric power until you come to a place to recharge your car.
The upside of these cars would be that the environment would not be harmed, and yet we can keep our cars. Cars would also be somewhat safer because there would be no gas tanks to worry about if the car caught on fire, and the fact that there would be a decrease in air pollution, people might be healthier.
The downside, however, is that solar panels are very expensive, and they would be quite heavy. And we still haven’t found a way to successfully store solar energy for long periods of time. So technology would have to considerably advance until we could be able to create these cars. Another downside is that these cars would also become quite pricey until we find a way to make them cheaper.
So there you have it, what I think should be the next big innovation! It still is an idea in design, but I think it’s a good one nevertheless. I’d like to hear anyone’s comments about my opinion, and I would gladly accept anyone to elaborate on it! But, until then it remains an idea in question, one I think shouldn’t be overlooked. Thanks for reading this!

~Rika

Don’t forget to submit your ideas on Solar Powered cars by leaving a comment!

You’ve seen the movies. You’ve read the books. The future contains many technological wonders that us mere mortals can hardly comprehend. Robots (that may or may not revolt and turn against us) aid humans in everyday life. Hover packs, Honeymoons on the moon! So many miraculous marvels that have us climbing over ourselves to get to the time machine. One of many futuristic machines is the flying car.

It’s a bird…it’s a plane… it’s… … … a flying car (sorry Superman). But don’t grab the keys yet; think about this first.

The economy is slowly being ruined by cars and their exhaust. And not to mention large gas-guzzlers that are draining up the natural resources that cannot be renewed. Imagine what it would take to run a flying car. Imagine the energy needed just to make it hover. That would be a lot, and we haven’t even started flying yet.

So, perhaps the futuristic car that we all fantasize about is changing. What’s one of the popular new cars at the moment? A new car that more and more people are trading their monstrosity of a truck in for?

The hybrid car.

So perhaps this is the car of the future. A car that runs off electricity, or solar energy. Something to stop the ozone layer from sizzling up and burning us all to a crisp. Something good for the environment.

Though not quite as cool an image as the hovering car, the Hybrid shows much more promise for the future.

Who knows, maybe soon, the cars that are ruining the environment will become ghosts of the past, a reminder to people about what the past would be like.

So perhaps, instead of a future where the sun is blocked out by smog, and the only reason people are still living past the age of forty is because of their handy clone-organ donors, the sun will shine brighter than ever before, and global warming was a scare of the past that will be learned from.

Who knows, the future could even be nice and bright. Better wear your shades!!

~Ashley Lampost

We have a whole page about the iphone because it was a pretty good device- motion sensors, tilt sensors, and especially the awaited for touch screen. So you think that Microsoft would step back and let Apple have all the glory? Of course not! What they put on the table was…. a table! Not just a table, but a touchscreen oriented computer table! This new product is expected to hit shelves sometime in 2008, but don’t get excited. Microsoft’s price for this huge computer table better known as the Microsoft Surface is about $5,000 to $10,000 per unit. Not exactly what you call cheap, but Microsoft says that in about three years they’ll be able to lower the price.

With it’s touchscreen ‘concierge’, incredible multi-touch screen, wi-fi and all the cool stuff that comes along with this product including media viewers and such, this computer/table is pretty cool. Will Microsoft make history with this invention? Only time will tell.

The Microsoft Surface; picture from Wikipedia

Now, since the surface computer isn’t out yet, this section is pretty small. Check back later when I’ll add more!

~Rika

P.S. If you have something to add to this leave a comment.

On June 29, 2007 the iphone launched. Like a rocket going into the universe of phones, the iphone, expensive, sleek, and waited for, Apple’s prized product swept across America. 270,000 iphones were sold in the first 30 hours that it hit the shelves!*
Apple isn’t perfect. And neither is the iphone. They made a few mistakes, some of which is the lack of a memory card slot, the ability to send instant messages, voice recording, voice dialing and some other features most other devices have, but a couple other mistakes are the use of AT & T network, and those of us with different networks may not want to sign a 2year contract with them. Also, the iphone’s hands-only touchscreen may pose a problem to people in colder climates who can’t use the touch screen with gloves on. Another negative fact is that Apple used AT & T’s EDGE network instead of AT & T’s 3G/HSDPA network is criticized because EDGE is slower than 3G. Also, the camera takes still photos only, but that doesn’t matter as much.
Despite these setbacks, the iphone has a bunch of great features, too. The music layout differs a little from the ipod, but is pretty much the same- you can still watch videos and TV shows, too! A nice addition to the iphone is a proximity sensor that shuts off the display and touchscreen when the iphone is brought near your face so that you don’t accidentally click something while calling someone. This feature also helps to save the battery. Now, as I said before, the touchscreen only reacts to your finger’s touch. So if it’s in your pocket it won’t accidentally call someone. Another cool aspect of the iphone is that when you are listening to music and you receive a call, the music turns off. When the call is finished, the music starts right up again.
‘How much would you pay for a phone?’ Is the question I think Apple decided to push. But, with built in Wi-Fi with a Safari web browser and email capabilities, it seems more like a computer than a phone. Before the iphone, most people would probably say $600 was too much. But if I asked you “how much are you willing to pay for a PDA-type phone with email, internet, still-pictures-only camera, touchscreen, and that looks awesome but doesn’t have voice dialing, 3G support, a memory card slot, voice recording or instant messaging?” What would you say? Would you say $600 or more? If I told you it was from Apple would that change your answer? Of course it would. If I told you it was Apple’s creation most likely you would up the price you’re willing to pay at least a little because you trust them. But, most of us would still say less than $600. So, the iphone really isn’t worth spending you’re hard-earned dough on yet- keep saving it until the prices go down.
The iphone is a great piece of technology. It has its flaws, but all in all, it’s a pretty cool device. Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to post a comment at the bottom of this page.
Did I get a fact wrong? Or do you think that something could be explained better? Send us your revisions by posting a comment! *Sales information from Wikipedia
I learned of the iphones features and such at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iphone