Technology

Star Wars-Style Lasers Will be on Fighter Jets in 2014. As technology progresses, sometimes science fiction becomes reality.

Soon, lasers could leave the realm of imagination and a galaxy far, far away. Earth’s Nervous System: Looking At Humanity Through Big Data. The Future of E-Commerce. By Renee Warren on Nov 22, 2011 This philosophy is what food delivery services and Netflix thrive on.

Consumers are more interested in commerce coming to them than actually getting in the car and going to commerce. The Future of Car Commuting - Commute. It's nearly at the point where using the word futuristic to describe autonomous cars verges on journalistic irresponsibility.

Earlier this month the famous self-driving Google car received a (self-) driver's license from the state of Nevada. Computer scientists are cooking up ways for driverless cars to navigate busy driverless intersections. And last week the "road train" — a semi-autonomous highway platoon that follows the movements of a human-driven lead car — made a promising debut outside Barcelona.

The successful trial was conducted by the Sartre project, short for Safe Road Trains for the Environment. The five-car road train consisted of a lead truck followed by an autonomous truck and three Volvo sedans. A road train uses a combination of existing car sensors (radar, lasers, and cameras embedded in safety features) and wireless communication to stitch together a vehicle convoy up to 15 cars long.

Read & Watch Digital Content On ‘Smart’ Paper. Researchers from the University of Cambridge have created a super thin ‘e-paper’ using a plastic material that’s printed with half-a-million transistors. These electronic sheets are very lightweight, flexible, energy-efficient, and use e-ink to display words, images, and videos in color. The e-paper is designed to receive content over a wireless network, and has a simple touch command that allows users to ‘flick’ through the pages on screen. Denon launches MC2000 DJ controller, invites prospective spinners to 'own the party' (video)

Press Release Denon DJ MC2000 Category: DJ Controller In-Store Release Date: October 2012 Suggested Retail Price: circa €349/£299 inc VAT • Designed specifically for 'Serato DJ intro' Software (included) • Plug & Play – USB Bus Powered • Full MIDI Output – Map to other DJ Software • Denon DJ 'Professional Grade' Construction • Intuitive File Browsing Controls • Built-in Audio interface • MIC Input /Line Input.

Google Can Now Automatically Tag Objects Within Videos. How You're Using Your iPad [INFOGRAPHIC] Why Technology Is Key to Overcoming the Language Barrier. Jeff Barrett is co-founder of Status Creative, a 2011 PRNewswire winner for Best Use Of Video In Social Media.

Follow him @barrettall. Bill Gates Crowns Toilet Innovators At Sanitation Fair : Shots - Health Blog. Hide captionBill Gates, co-founder of the the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, checks out a toilet demo at the Reinvent the Toilet Fair in Seattle, Wash.

The festival featured prototypes of high-tech toilets developed by researchers around the world. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Bill Gates, co-founder of the the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, checks out a toilet demo at the Reinvent the Toilet Fair in Seattle, Wash. The festival featured prototypes of high-tech toilets developed by researchers around the world. 3D Printed Meats May Soon Be on the Menu. Ready for the latest oddity to come out of the 3D printing craze?

Disney’s Interactive Plants Aren’t Just Magic. They’re Practical Magic. If you touch one of Disney Research’s living Botanicus Interacticus plants, you might be surprised to hear musical notes or see images that correspond with your movement.

This is not usually what one expects when interacting with a plant, yet these plants are very much alive and plant-like. The interactive plants’ creators, Disney’s Human-Computer Interaction Research Team, have used the same underlying technology to turn everything from doorknobs to the human body into interactive objects. But something about plants makes the technology a bit more magical. Disney's REVEL could turn the whole world into a tactile touchscreen (video) Ipadspectrum-640x853.jpg (640×853) How Does 3D Printing Work, Anyway? [INFOGRAPHIC] Design a pair of shoes on your computer, hit "Print," and wear them an hour later.

If that kind of technology doesn't blow your mind, you're dead to me. The cost of 3D printing technology is finally within the grasp of consumers, and many believe it's poised to revolutionize commerce. Companies are rushing to get out in front of this new custom marketplace, offering 3D-printed fashion, furniture and even food. This Instagram Feed Shows Pics of What's Happening Now in Your City. When you want to know what your friends are doing, there's a good chance you'll check their Instagram shots.

Now, if you want to know what your city is up to, you can turn to This Is Now, a new Instagram photo-feed, which filters content by city. This Is Now uses Instagram geo-location tags to tell visual stories of city life at a given moment. For now, it only includes five cities — Sao Paulo (home of Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger), New York, London, Sydney and Tokyo. Taking a look Friday morning local time, London is, not surprisingly, filled with snapshots of the Olympics. London's stream quickly moves across the street from left to right, as many photos are being shot. Do you like the idea of seeing a city-specific feed? Cook Anywhere With A Necklace That Doubles As A Mini Stove [Video] ‘Smart’ Table Can Identify Different Types Of Baked Goods In One Second [Video] Google Fiber Transforms Kansas City Into One Giant Beta Test.

A slick new Internet and TV provider just stomped into Kansas City residents' living rooms. For $120 a month plus a $300 installation fee (that's waived if you sign up now and commit to two years), customers get the fastest broadband web access in the country, hundreds of channels (minus HBO, AMC, and some other notables), and a DVR-like service that records up to eight shows or movies at once and stores 500 hours of HDTV--or your photos, video, and music, which you can then access from any device in your home.

Along with the service comes a shiny new tablet loaded with the remote control app that lets you search all of your stored content (it also works on Android and iOS devices). Apple Sold Twice as Many iPads as Macs to Schools. Apple's third quarter earnings call on Tuesday unveiled some information that goes to show just how useful the iPad is for educators. "I've never seen an adoption rate like this in the past," said Apple CEO Tim Cook. The company announced it sold twice as many iPads as Macs for use in educational environments. Apple sold 1 million iPads for educational purposes, and interest in the iPad2 in k-12 was strong, it was said during the call. Overall during the quarter, Apple sold 17.0 million iPads, an 84% unit increase over the year-ago quarter.

It sold 4.0 million Macs during the quarter, a two percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple has touted the iPad as being a useful tool for students and educators since its release. The company announced its third quarter fiscal summary to investors and the media on Tuesday.