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The Pursuit of Levitation
Apparently, now is the right time to hover.
Scheduling my ride on the first-ever hoverboard last Friday was born out of availability and great airfare. It never dawned on me that the subsequent week would reveal the first glimpse of the world’s second hoverboard: SLIDE.
Utilizing similar principals of magnetism, the specialized design group at Lexus has dipped its toe into the water (well, technically in the air) of hover technology following Arx Pax and their pioneering Hendo Hoverboard. Still, the specific components between the Hendo and Lexus hoverboards are distinguishable enough.
“Lexus said the test hoverboard in its “Amazing in Motion” campaign generates magnetic levitation by combining the effects of liquid nitrogen-cooled superconductors and permanent magnets” (USA Today).
Appearance wise, the hoverboard by Lexus is sleek and appears consumer-ready. Functionality wise, however, is still a lingering question. Looks like October 21st of this year will reveal that verdict, the same day Marty McFly quickly found out the answer to this question. Also, Hendo does not use liquid nitrogen-cooled superconductors, which is important to note for a couple reasons. First, both companies have legitimate claims to creating original hovering technologies, however similar the role magnets are to flotation. Second, it’s wonderful to see there is more than one way to build a hoverboard.
The creative minds at Hendo and Lexus, developing this desired mode of transportation out of nostalgia for the future (it makes sense), are in the alpha stage. Envisioning what the beta stage and beyond will produce is exciting as reductions in cost (Hendo’s board costs $10,000), battery life improvements and infrastructure will undoubtedly become focal points of business plans going forward. Perhaps this leads to a small skate park with magnets built underneath in the next few years (Lexus did that for the video above), then a long pathway around a park and then Marty’s daring and boundless flight throughout a town square will be reality soon thereafter.
Except over water.
The power of movies (and love for the BTTF fan) is inspiring for many reasons. Despite living in 2015 without most of the cool advancements featured in Back to the Future Part II, those scenes have clearly made a permanent impression on fans and innovators alike as a future to strive for and build towards. That’s incredible. The sparks of innovation can literally come from anywhere.
And Lexus seems to be opening a future debate: Will consumers buy a luxury car or a luxury hoverboard?
They may be surprised by the answer.
Television’s Newest Attraction
Put up this wall!
While President Reagan was absolutely right to boldly declare the Berlin Wall be torn down on June 12, 1987, LG was right to present the world with an inventive wall to build of their own a couple days ago in Seoul, South Korea nearly 28 yeas later in 2015.
LG Display, which is a subsidiary of the tech giant LG, recently revealed a product that will surely become standard in future homes: a wallpaper television. And it’s precisely what it sounds like. Measuring less than a millimeter in screen thickness, this prototype wallpaper TV virtually blends right onto the wall where you hang it. Using a magnetic pad of equal size (55-inches), the shockingly light 4-pound television adds unprecedented versatility to television watching and entertainment ventures.
The OLED quality colorfully defines this spectacular innovation.
(PC Magazine)
Whether speaking about this type of invention with friends and family or writing on Jimmy’s Daily Planet in the past few years about how entire walls in homes will someday (in the not so completely distant future) be screens that will be conducive to watching television, playing video games, displaying art portraits, being cloud-friendly, a home control center, etc., this is a genuinely exciting moment. Forget about the astronomical price this TV would demand right now because most innovations are too costly to the consumer, until they’re not.
Now the actual business element of LG Display will begin with a dialogue with the design team. The next challenge is offering this as an affordable product to the public in the next several years. LG is experienced with producing and selling high-quality televisions and other tech goods, so determining the pricing, manufacturing, testing and scaling should not constitute a Herculean task.
The possibilities this technology presents as a television are thrilling, but the imaginative uses in smaller and vastly larger form, as a teaching tool, a business tool and so forth are just as exhilarating. At this point, the functionality for this technology is limitless and it will very likely change television forever when it’s perfected in LG’s labs and finally available to consumers for purchase.
Going from scratch and sniff stickers to peel and stick high-definition televisions…
Yeah, life’s good.
Apple: The Next Generation
iPhone 6
iPhone 6 Plus
Apple Pay
Apple Watch
Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in what has felt like an eternity, Apple Inc. has begun to recapture some of the magic surrounding its innovative products since the tragic passing of its iconic and visionary co-founder Steve Jobs three years ago. Is Apple officially back? Well, no, because you can’t bring Steve Jobs back. However, the next generation of Apple Inc. (see what I did there) appears to be presenting its latest gadgets for us to awe at with great joy today from the Flint Center in Cupertino, California.
The new products, plus a free album from U2, and it’s safe to conclude this was a truly amazing iAmazing day for Apple.
Two quick observations: In an effort to progress beyond the solitary charisma of the late Steve Jobs and his excellent presenting skills, Apple Inc. has appeared to have assigned divisional heads to explain each of its major product reveals. Part of the next generation leadership of the company I’m hypothesizing. And that the iPhone 6 Plus is getting closer to the size of the Zack Morris brick phone. Just something to contemplate…
To think (again, see what I did there), this iPhone craze all started with an announcement seven years ago…
Beyond the “fresh out of the box” experience, will these products sell? Will they frame and become the future of personal technology?
While these answers are unknown, I think the world is ready to take a fresh, delicious bite out of Apple today.
Redefining Immortality
(Source: Wikipedia)
Transcendence will project on movie screens all around the United States today. As a science-fiction thriller, first-time director (and acclaimed cinematographer) Wally Pfister and his all-star cast (Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, Rebecca Hall, Kate Mara, Cillian Murphy, Paul Bettany) will pose surprisingly relevant questions about the current state of mankind and womankind and whether racing on the autobahn of developing increasingly personal technologies and building machines with only “pure upside” is the road we should be taking. Or, at the very least, at the speed innovators appear to driving their savvy imaginations in this day and age.
Can (or should) humans live forever, consciously, inside a computer?
The term “the grid” is taking shape and evolving in ways many of us either didn’t think was possible or were, quite frankly, fearful of. Once this mainframe is built (or perhaps it already is), is it even possible to dismantle it?
There are infinite questions to be pondered from this movie and other science-fiction thrillers. For instance: What does artificial intelligence look like today? What is its true reach? Is that reach good or bad?
Some may think that technology is tinkered with in basement facilities with pale walls, computers, wires and varying degrees of limitations. But what if the concept of “the cloud” is as unlimited and open as its sounds?
This blog has written about technology before, including its benefits and drawbacks. Without seeing Transcendence, an opinion cannot rightly be rendered. But this film presents a couple hours to escape into a creative and entertaining story of artificial intelligence and the pursuit of advanced technology on a Friday or Saturday night, as well as to take a moment to pause and reflect on the subject matter.
How long until we are in the “age of transcendence” as defined by Pfister and Co.? What does this mean for society as individuals, as well as the collective? Is the infinite space above and all around us becoming finite and controlled without us knowing? Should it be if it’s guided by a genius?
There’s one way to find out and it’s called Transcendence, playing in a theater near you.
Maybe we should ask Siri about transcendence…
Jimmy's Daily Planet 