Future shoes -pictures

TVs of the Future: Flat and Huge

Bigger, brighter, and unwired--that's what the new crop of flat-panel TVs from LG Electronics, Samsung, and Sharp promises for consumers in 2004. But don't rush out to the store just yet: Many of the most exciting models are at least a few months away, and still others may not make it to showroom floors for a couple of years.

Size Matters

Vendors are sparring over bragging rights as producer of the largest display. Many of the biggest new entries were unveiled at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Blue ribbon in the plasma size category goes to Samsung, which is preparing an 80-inch plasma display. Though lovely--and heavy at well over 200 pounds--the 4.5-inch-thick unit won't be available for as long as two years. When it does arrive, the HPP8071 should cost over $30,000, according to company representatives, and will likely first go to commercial buyers such as casinos and military installations.

Like most plasma screens from Samsung, the 80-inch plasma TV will have a built-in HDTV tuner. A 70-inch plasma model may be available by the end of this year, however, with pricing in the same ballpark as the forthcoming 80-inch model's. Samsung is also readying 42- and 50-inch models for release in April, ranging in price from $4300 to $9000.

LG Electronics will beat that 70-inch Samsung with its own 76-inch plasma, also due by year's end, when pricing will be revealed. The unit should feature 2.07 million pixels and 1920 by 1080 progressive-scan high-definition resolution, say LG representatives. At less than 3.3-inches thick, it will also have one of the slimmest profiles around. Also coming from LG: a 71-inch model that should be out midsummer; it will not have an HD TV tuner built-in, though it should offer HDMI connectors; the company isn't releasing pricing information yet, either.

Smaller, With Options

Rounding out offerings from LG are new, (relatively) smaller plasma screens ranging in size from 42 to 60 inches. The models will come out beginning in the first quarter of this year, with another crop due in the third quarter. Some have built-in HDTV tuners, but others don't, so check carefully if this is a must for you. Most should boast a dazzling 1000:1 contrast ratio. LG isn't releasing price information yet.

Also preparing new plasma and LCD TVs are Panasonic and Philips, which both showed their new entries at CES.

Panasonic's $8500 50-inch model, the TH-50PX25U/P, is scheduled to ship in April. Philips is readying 50-inch plasma FlatTVs that are expected to become available in the second quarter priced at $10,000.

LCDs Get Bigger Too

Samsung and LG also duked it out for the crown of showing the largest LCD TV at the 2004 CES. Once again, Samsung demonstrated the largest model at an impressive 57 inches, but doesn't expect to ship the TV until year. A 46-inch version, however, should hit stores in June of this year; pricing is not yet determined for either model. All larger and newer LCD models should have 1920 by 1080 resolution.

LG was closer to market with its only slightly smaller 55-inch flat screen: It should be out in the third quarter of this year, though pricing has not yet been announced. LG also plans to introduce new models ranging in size from 30 to 42 inches to round out its LCD TV line. All are likely to ship by midsummer, and all are expected to offer a 176-degree viewing angle and to integrate an ATSC VSB/QAM tuner as well as an NTSC tuner.

Sharp will have its own sizable LCD displays this summer, including a brilliant 45-inch model, the LC45G1U, less than 3 inches thick. It should feature 1920 by 1080 resolution, a built-in HDTV tuner, and DVI and HDMI ports. Also look for new 26- inch to 37-inch models from Sharp in the same time frame. Sharp is not yet releasing pricing information.

Unwired Television

All of these flat-panel displays look great, and most are designed to hang on a wall. Only one thing mars the beautiful pictures: cables--to your VCR, DVD recorder, TiVo or Replay box, satellite or cable, speakers...the list goes on. Unless you're also willing to remodel your living room, cable clutter can be a real problem. This quandary heralds the entry of devices that do away with most of those cables, save for the actual electrical plug.

Sharp's 15-inch Aquos LC-15L1U-S LCD will be first to make it to market, with its release in February. The unit should cost $1800, and it boasts 802.11b connectivity that will let you stream all your video and audio to your LCD while you connect the messy cables to a separate SmartLink base station that comes with the unit and can be hidden away. The Aquos also has a lithium ion battery, so you can tote it around and even lose the power cable, if you want.

Sony also demonstrated its version of a cable-less TV, which it calls a Location-Free TV. Still in prototype, the unit had a 12.1-inch SVGA touch screen and supports 802.11a, .11b, and .11g. The unit is expected to ship later this year.

If you'd like something larger but still wireless, Samsung may offer a better choice. Its 50-inch plasma model, the HPP5091 HD Integrated-Wireless Plasma TV, is scheduled for release this summer priced at about $13,000. It boasts 802.11a connectivity, DVI and HDMI connectors, and built-in ATSC and NTSC tuners. The unit has a 3000:1 contrast ratio and Samsung's Digital Natural Image engine (DNIe), which enhances image quality.

Cell Phone Wristwatches of the Future

Ever since Bill Gate's at Comdex revealed the Microsoft Prototype voice activated wrist watch PDA computer that sends email, at the Las Vegas Comdex Convention; many folks have been waiting for this technology to come to market in the form of a Cell Phone/Computer/PDA/GPS wrist watch. And you cannot tell me that you would not like to own something like this.

A device like this would simplify your life with an all-in-one, lightweight device. Fewer people these days are wearing a wristwatches and that is because their mobile cell phones that they carry with them everywhere also display the time of day and it is therefore not necessary to have the redundancy of two devices to carry around at all times.

This latest trend and the trend of cell phones becoming feature rich leads many futurist to believe that wristwatches will finally be the answer to the shrinking size of the mobile cell phones that we use. With the voice activation ability of you will not need a keyboard and right now that is a largest part of these newest complex cell phones.

Does this mean that Rolex will one day sell a wristwatch that is actually a computer and does not operate mechanically, rather with a microchip inside? Could be and Rolex like every other company will either adapt or die to the changing consumer sentiment and desires.

And since this is one device that will sell better than any iPod, iPhone or G-Phone, you can bet that Motorola and Nokia research and development departments are working on this as hard as the Venture Capitalists are on getting in on the money end of this future technology.

Is a Wrist Watch Cell Phone the Future?

Cell phone wrist watches emerged on the market some time ago and are increasing in their usefulness. Now major manufacturers are entering the picture. LG has announced a model and Samsung recently showcased a prototype. These phones offer a bit of added security and portability, and may be the future of the ever shrinking cell phone.

You can learn more about what is currently available and what's on the near horizon on this page. You can even see a video review that demonstrates a touchscreen, bluetooth enabled wrist watch cell phone.

Future City Mobility: Bicycle Transportation via Folding Scooters, Electric Buses, and Bike Trees

Imagine riding through Picadily Circus and all you hear and see are people talking and birds in the sky. This was the guiding vision of this year’s winners at the Future City Mobility competition for designers to envision how London’s transportation could look in 2030.

Marten Wallgren, a Swede studying at the Royal College of Art and with three collegues, won the SeymourPowell award for their concept dubbed, “London Garden”. The scheme incorporates a network of electric buses, taxis, and scooter-bikes, all of which interconnect to make London Garden a car-free zone.

The concept of London Garden includes special bicycles that operate in three modes. The first mode is the cruising option with the possible addition of regenerative braking. The second mode is a rigorous bicycling, where additional resistance is supplied to generate and store electricity. The third mode cashes in on stored power and turns the bike into an electric scooter. These bicycles are foldable, and are stored for community use in tall, treelike structures that double as bus stops. The bike racks themselves are meant to generate power from rainwater, sun, and even kinetically from the wind as its swooping arms sway.

The bicycles also work as modular components within the urban environment where they can be folded and carried on-board electric buses and taxis. Once docked inside, they double as seats and the stored energy that was generated during pedaling is now transferred into the vehicle and even credited as currency towards your fare.

Buses Of The Future

Boris Johnson, now Mayor of London, premised much of his 2008 campaign on the reinstatement of a bus. Johnson argued, using his rival Ken Livington’s own words from a decade before, that “only a ghastly, dehumanised moron would get rid of the Routemaster,” London’s famous double-decker bus. If he were elected, the candidate promised, he would reverse his rival’s decision in 2005 to replace the Routemasters with articulated “bendy-buses” Londoners had come to love to hate.

Indeed, one of Johnson’s first acts as mayor was the constitution of a bus design competition which encouraged independent designers to consider how a new Routemaster would look and feel. The winners - architects Foster and Partners and carmaker Aston Martin - developed a brilliant concept for a new double-decker bus that would radically redefine how customers get around London.

The vehicle, while modeled in form on the iconic Routemaster, would be technologically advanced. The glazed roof would be covered with solar panels to help power the bus. On each side would be large LED signs providing customers detailed information about the route and its destinations. Finally, access would be provided not only by the open rear door that made the Routemasters famous, but also by a central handicap-accessible door. For the comfort of passengers, the seats would be covered in leather and the floors in wood. The bus remains a concept, but London will soon commission the next generation of double deckers with the ideas generated by the competition in mind.

All over the world, in fact, the bus is being reinvented. Far from the sturdy but utilitarian mainstay with little of the romance of streetcars or the luxury of private automobiles, several new bus models are some of the most fascinating and technologically advanced vehicles in the world right now.

In the United States, bus rapid transit (BRT) has become all the rage, New Flyer and North American Bus Industries has developed extended-length buses with flat floors and high passenger capacity. These systems have allowed cities like Los Angeles and Cleveland to implement bus rapid transit systems that provide many of the advantages of light rail at only a fraction of the construction cost. Unfortunately, neither of these cities’ BRT networks are especially ambitious, consisting of little more than glorified bus lines with dedicated lanes, pre-paid fares, prettier stations, and gussied-up vehicles.

On the other hand, Las Vegas’s Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) line, opened in 2004, incorporates some features that truly differentiate it from the crowd. Using Irisbus Civis vehicles, MAX includes an optical guidance system that takes over from the driver at stations, parks the bus very close to elevated platforms, and allows people in wheelchairs to roll right on - without the irritating bus kneeling and ramp-sliding used on regular buses and which inevitably delays commutes. Las Vegas’ buses are also particularly impressive because they have four side doors, compared to the usual two, meaning that boarding congestion is nonexistent.

Meanwhile, two French cities have taken the concept of the bus to never-before-seen levels. In Caen and Nancy, “trams on tires” run on the pavement while aligned to a central track that keeps the vehicles in their lanes and allows faster speeds. These “buses” are virtually indistinguishable from rail-riding trams, as the vehicles are several car-lengths long and rely on electric overhead catenaries for power.

The Translohr system, which is in use in China, Italy and France, takes the concept even further, allowing “buses” of up to six cabs in length. They’re also bi-directional, with a driver’s cab at both ends of the vehicle.

Most radical of all is the dual mode vehicle being designed by Japan Rail Hokkaido and Toyota. This bus - which in the design stage remains more than a bit clumsy looking - has the ability to run on both pavement and traditional railways, because it has retractable steel wheels below its chassis. The advantage? This road-ready vehicle is four times as efficient as a diesel bus because it can glide along steel tracks between cities even as it can access the center of towns on their streets.

As LightRailNow puts it, though, how different are these advanced buses from the light rail systems that would otherwise be built in their place? With construction costs that are roughly similar to streetcar systems, the “buses” used in Nancy are an engineering nightmare and have had frequent maintenance problems.

Even so, the future is bright for bus technology with so much creativity and invention on the part of manufacturers. It won’t be long before the daily commute is more convenient, comfortable, and quick, even for those on the bus.

Wireless Surround Sound Speakers - The Future?

Are wireless surround sound speakers the next big thing? Hong Kong leads the market in the release of wireless 5.1 speaker systems. Wireless and active surround sound speakers with built-in decoders appear to be topping the list of R & D expenditures in various Chinese technology manufacturing companies. Makers in both Hong Kong and mainland China are racing to come out with the latest wireless surround speakers, and upgrade various 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1systems to make use of this technology.2.4GHz RF and Bluetooth integration coupled with digital amplification systems seem to be the direction many companies are headed in terms of providing new innovative products for average consumers looking to expand into, or improve upon, home theater systems. The advantages are obvious - no line level signal wires to run and a great freedom of speaker placement throughout the listening room and home. Here are some of the challenges to the format:Perceived and actual signal quality of 2.4GHz and Bluetooth systems [Bluetooth has a practical data transfer rate of 433kbps though using asymetrical transfers that rate can be increased (Dolby Digital requires 400 kbps and DTS uses up to 448kbps - for a full 5.1 stream)]DSP issues related to encoding and decoding signals sent to wireless surround speakersDigital amplification quality for surround channels (Class-D amplification seems to be the currently favored amplifcation for wireless surround loudspeakers)Wireless loudspeakers will require power - is the format potentially exchanging one inconvenience (speaker cables) for another (running power to surround speakers.) One thing to note is that it will be far easier to locate power to a surround speaker than a line level or speaker level cable which needs to originate from the opposite side of the listening room.Wireless speaker systems currently account for less than ten percent of Hong Kong's production output, however manufacturers expect the demand to grow as inquiries continue to come in. It is estimated that by the third quarter, the wireless speaker systems launched in the first half-year are expected to go into mass production.Current versions utilize either 2.4GHz RF or IR technology, though IR models are less popular because they are not as user-friendly as their RF counterparts. Moreover, the IR transmission gets terminated whenever there is an obstacle between the transmitter and the receiver. MIR (1.15 Mbps) or FIR (4Mbps) would presumably need to be used in order to transmit the necessary information to the surround speakers, though we'll find out more once additional products are produced that address home theater users specifically.Most first launches in this area will be 5.1 surround speaker systems featuring wireless 2.4GHz rear speakers only. Several firms use RF module from Singapore and LG also produces several wireless 2.4GHz RF components that are being utilized by others. Most plan to start applying wireless features to entire 5.1 systems by the third quarter. Pricing for these products is remarkably inexpensive since the technology is proven and labor costs are relatively inexpensive.