The twin-screen netbook concept splits into a smaller handset when you're on the move, and can also act as a computer, GPS, and TV-connected media center. In the video, Nokia also uses it to demonstrate how it sees cloud-based services being used. When you're in an area with fast wireless broadband, the device could use remote servers to help crunch streaming video and sync data, but it would also be self-sufficient when you're not.

Cool stuff, but 2015 is but 5 years away, Nokia. Better get a move on. [SlashGear]

It'd have essentials like wireless broadband connectivity and a battery, but I'm hoping that we'll have cooler stuff than a laser projected keyboard by 2020. Their time has come and gone already, no? Less of that, more interactive holographic display technology, please. More wacky 2020 shenanigans at: [Ericsson via MobileandNotebook]

Interestingly enough, there are several technologies depicted in the series that have actually come to fruition (although they are heavily cloaked in a LSD meets The Jetsons meets Lost in Space kind of style). See if you can pick them out of the gallery posted at Pink Tentacle. [Pink Tentacle]

The back wheels have an hydraulic system that makes the car/bike/mobilethingie carve the road as if you were surfing or snowboarding down a slope. According to BMW, the driving experience is quite unique and exhilarating. The BMW Simple weighs about 990 pounds, does 118 miles per gallon, going up to 62mph in under 10 seconds, and reaching a top speed of 124mph.

Sadly, don't expect to see this vehicle yet. BMW says they have no plans to start manufacturing it yet. Too bad. [Autoblog]

DirectX 67? Tongue-finity? My favorite quote: "Pulling a trigger is just as easy as pushing a button, only a lot more fun and healthy...You say babies, we say bootcamp" Nice.

There are three "commercials" in the playlist below, with the most interesting one loaded up first. A little too self-consciously viral, but too interesting not to share. [XFX 2118AD] Thanks Milo!

We still want to live here though. [IGN]

Found was my favorite part of Wired because of that. Concepts for gadgets of the future that were in the mind of everyone, right there, in a photo. How would a dream generator look? Space elevators? Contact lenses with built-in HUD? I wanted it all, even the bad stuff.

But then again, I've always wanted for the future to arrive as soon as possible. Like, I mean, why the hell is not Saturday yet? Head to Metafilter for the whole collection of Wired's Found. [Metafilter]

According to a government panel on Wednesday, the robots are needed to provide day-care and nursing services to Japan's rapidly aging population. Since over 41 billion of the projected 62 billion dollar robot market is supposed to be dedicated to care, it's important to start thinking of the regulations that need to be put in place.

For instance, Three Laws of (Nursing) Robotics:

1. Always coo appreciatively at pictures of your human's grandchildren
2. DON'T TALK SO DAMN LOUD
3. Be spongebath safe

[Japan Today]

That's what this thing is going to give us: A natural way to plug into the vast pool of information of the internet and ask questions like Kirk does in Star Trek. At least according to Stephen Wolfram—who changed the world of mathematical research with his Mathematica software and, as geniuses go, he's up there with the best—and other scientists who have tried it. The new engine will be able to truly interpret your questions and give you a real, precise answer to them.

It won't use a database of preset questions, however. The engine is designed using extremely advanced algorithms so it truly has the ability to actually understand what you are asking for. So if you type "How many protons are in a lasagna for six people?", the system will be able to recognize, interpret, connect the pieces of available information and give you the answer to the question—provided the question has an answer, of course.

I find this fascinating. An engine that could actually interpret your questions and the information available to give you specific answers is the Holy Grail of information technology. Wolfram doesn't claim Wolfram Alpha will fully achieve this, but he and other scientists are claiming this is a huge step towards that goal. We will have to wait and see how well it works—before Google buys it.

It also reminds me of one of my favorite short stories by Isaac Asimov. In his robot tales, he wrote about humanity inventing a computer to answer questions. The computer will give a lot of answers, but it will never be able to answer the biggest questions of them all: What is the origin of it all?

As it evolved and expanded through the universe, humanity's consciousness became part of the megacomputer. Periodically, first individual people, then a stream of consciousness, will ask that question: What's the origin of it all? No answer will be given after ages computing it except: "Not enough information."

At the end of the tale, the universe is completely dead and dark. By then, the megacomputerhumanity was already in a separate dimension, a huge stream of energy, just thinking about the answer to that question. At the end, the computer finds the answer and says:

'Let there be light.'

And there was light.

In the meantime, we can only hope that nobody asks "what was first, the chicken or the egg?" or we will all go to hell. [Wolfram via Daily Mail]

Mouth: dry. Stomach: queasy. Head: racing. Not only is David X. Cohen the co-creator of one of my favorite shows of all time, he's a fellow Berkeley computer science alum, fellow nerd, and a tremendously funny guy. He also holds the dream job—comedy writer and creator of a successful Sci Fi TV show. After fully preparing myself by watching the latest Futurama movie—Into the Wild Green Yonder—I had hours worth of questions for the man, but he only had 30 minutes.

I had to get the most important question on everyone's minds out of the way: Will Futurama be coming back to Fox for a 6th season? Although Fox has indeed been making noises about the show's return, Cohen said DVD sales of the fourth movie may be a deciding factor in whether or not the project would be profitable. Basically, we need to go out and buy the DVD and Blu-ray if we want to bring Futurama back. Cohen also revealed that although there is a fifty-fifty chance of the show returning, he has yet to hear more concrete details about it from Fox—according to him, though, "No news is good news."

But how is the movie? In a word, good. In two words, very good. Into the Wild Green Yonder feels as if the Futurama writers used the first three movies as practice for getting back into the groove of writing Futurama episodes and was a final coda to the series. That's not to say that the first three movies were bad—they were just different.

If the Bender-focused, first half hour of the movie were its own episode, it would solidly land in any "top ten funniest Futurama episodes of all times" list, hands down. However, because the next 58 minutes covered some very familiar, classic Futurama-esque territory, it made Into the Green Yonder feel like the one movie—out of the four—that connected the most with the series. But why this movie, why now?

Bringing this movie back to the feel of the series, as Cohen revealed, was somewhat intentional. For each one of the Futurama movies, the writers decided that they would cover one major area of Sci Fi. The latest one, like the series itself, is more of a large space opera that comfortably cradles you back into the company of the Futurama characters you grew to love. Cohen also pointed out that a scene in the newest movie—the one where Leela is giving out space coordinates—is probably one of the "most hardcore things they've done" in terms of showing respect for actual science.

It's these science fans as well as the more hardcore viewers that would have noticed when Futurama's writers give shout outs to real-world physics in their jokes—such as when the Professor invoked the observer effect after a horse race. This ability to mix humor with scientific intelligence is one of the greatest benefits of having so many smart writers on staff. The other benefit? The ability to actually have an interesting vision of the future.

And it's this future that Fry's trying to save once again. This could be why the Green Yonder felt like it was slightly retreading old territory. If you've seen some of Fry's Nibblonian episodes, I'm sure you're familiar with the basic premise—we get it: Fry's special and he's the only one who can save the universe. But that's not to say there weren't some great moments to be had during these 88 minutes. This is more akin to strolling down a familiar street you haven't seen in years, examining which stores have changed and which haven't, and reveling in the fact that you're lucky enough to be back once more.

As the series draws to a (temporary) close, we wonder if we've learned the entirety of Fry's origin story and how he came to be in the year 3000. Not to worry, Cohen assures that he is not finished with that tale quite yet. When asked how much of it was left—after the Nibblonian saga was finished and the "Lars" adventure in the first DVD movie—he responded that there is "one sentence," uttered in the series that was left unaddressed. But it's up to superfans to figure out which sentence, not to mention which episode, he is referring to.

Because David X. Cohen helped create the entire world and backstory of Futurama, he's given a lot of thought to the future. Our future. Because he didn't want to go to extremes and create either a utopia or a dystopia, Futurama's universe is only about 50% realistic, according to Cohen. It does, however, borrow some ideas from our own world for both comedic and dramatic effect.

So what, if anything, in our real world future is David X. Cohen most afraid of? It isn't robots, surprisingly enough. It's stuff like nuclear bombs. Wars. And technology that kills people, fast. Things that—when taking the fact that Cohen grew up in the cold war and studied physics at Harvard into account—makes a lot of sense. But robots? Nope.

You would think that because Cohen is such a fan of robots, it would make sense that he'd own a Roomba. But he doesn't. He laughs that Matt Groening gives him shit for this fact (if anyone should have a Roomba, it would be Cohen).

Is there any Futurama left to tell? Cohen thinks so. Besides further expanding on Fry's origin story, he's got plans to make the Planet Express crew exhibits in an alien zoo (among other things). However, beyond little ideas here and there, what's currently occupying Cohen's mind is how to escape from the crazy corner they've painted themselves into at the end of Green Yonder. Given Fox's recent interest in bringing back the show for another season on television (50/50 chance!), it's one mess Cohen will likely have to bend his way out of.

As for the Roomba, if Cohen ever were to get one, he'd name it Browser.

Can architecture make Israel and Palestine coexist peacefully together? Sounds like a pie in the sky proposition—no pun intended—but with given the resources, it may be the only way to have the two countries living together, on top and below each other.

Viktor's concept is simple, but absolute genius: Bridge the Israel and Palestinian territories with large structures that can sustain life, house people, and allow for the free transit of people, animals, and merchandise. Both countries will have bridges over each other's ground, so nobody is isolated and there's no need for populations to get through the other territories.

Obviously, this is a huge project, but if structurally possible—which looking at the current state of engineering, looks it is—it brings a new way to look at the geography of the two countries, eliminating many of the demands and catering to the needs of the population of both states. It doesn't solve other issues, but at least they solve a big part of them. [Bldgblog]

The piece, which is the first of a planned series of five, is a masterful piece of Photoshop work. And that realism tickles all the parts of us that are curious about the future of humanoid robots. Sure, they're pretty impractical with today's tech due to the awkwardness of robots with two legs (see: Asimo). But at the rate advancements are moving, this might not be that fantastical an image at some point in our lifetimes. [AP via NotCot.org]

"Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30, I was out."

"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did."

"I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life."

"Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something–your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up, so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying, because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma–which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called “The Whole Earth Catalog,” which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960’s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: It was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of “The Whole Earth Catalog,” and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

— Stanford University commencement address, June 12, 2005

It's the 25th anniversary of the Apple Macintosh, but Steve Jobs' eyes are dry. At the company headquarters in Silicon Valley, where he was presenting a set of new laptops to the press last October, I mentioned the birthday to him. Jobs recoiled at any suggestion of nostalgia. "I don't think about that," he said. "When I got back here in 1997, I was looking for more room, and I found an archive of old Macs and other stuff. I said, 'Get it away!' and I shipped all that shit off to Stanford. If you look backward in this business, you'll be crushed. You have to look forward."

—From Steve Levy's 25th Anniversary story in Wired

"And, you know, I think of most things in life as either a Bob Dylan or a Beatles song, but there’s that one line in that one Beatles song, “you and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.” And that’s clearly true here."
— As said to Bill Gates at All Things D, D5 Conference, May 31st 2007

[Wired]

Just like Swivel Search TiVo Search will weed through both live TV and broadband content, like Amazon on Demand and Youtube, to find a complete list of available programs. But now upon searching for a show TiVo Search will automatically generate similar recommendations and display them with eye-pleasing art at the top of your TV. Another upgrade over the Swivel is the menu layout that is now three columns wide to make use of wide screen TVs and when available HD content is automatically recommended.

TiVo Search has be redesigned with that leaked TiVo UI we saw a few months ago, which brings a more evolved look to the friendly TiVo software. Right now this UI is only available while using Search which is currently in beta and available to all Series 3 and HD TiVos today.

If the leaked UI and the use of it in the new TiVo Search is any indication than it would seem this UI will probably be the future of TiVo, which I for one can't wait for.

TIVO TRANSFORMS THE TV WORLD ONCE AGAIN BY OFFERING A NEW WAY TO SEARCH & DISCOVER CONTENT

Introduction of New TiVo Search Means Channel Surfing is a Now Thing of the Past

Find What You’ve Been Missing

LAS VEGAS, NV. January 7, 2009 —TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today showed the future of television, unveiling a redesigned TiVo Search feature that offers improved search results with a completely new High Definition design, all at no additional charge. TiVo Search brings users the power of choice, offering millions of pieces of content not available via cable or satellite, along with thousands of linear TV choices. Delivered via broadband, TiVo Search combines a graphics rich experience with simplicity and relevancy that makes it a truly revolutionary way to get more out of your TV.

“What Google did for the Internet, TiVo is now doing for the TV, bringing people a combination of excellent search results and innovative discovery that can’t be found anywhere else,” said Tom Rogers, CEO and President of TiVo Inc. “TiVo has always been known as the best way to watch what you want, when you want it. Now we’re taking that to a new level, using TiVo technology to find just the right program from hundreds of channels and thousands of broadband options, all in seconds. It is clear TiVo is leading the way in providing more choice, and also leading the way in finding content quickly. TiVo Search is a new way to find what you’ve been missing.”

TiVo Search takes advantage of extra screen size afforded by high definition televisions by showing more details about a highlighted program than ever before, eliminating the need to dig down into each and every program to learn what it is about. It ensures the most important information is surfaced right up to the screen you're already on, equaling less navigation and quick, accurate results.

“One of the best things about the new TiVo Search feature is how it works as a discovery engine, helping users find content they didn’t even know they could get,” said Jim Denney, Vice President of Product Marketing at TiVo Inc. “We’ve added a new discovery bar that gives a quick guide to relevant content, and the search experience incorporates content from broadband sources like Amazon Video on Demand and YouTube. The newly tuned search engine also displays the most popular search results of the day automatically, even when typing only a single letter. Searches work not with just the first word of a title, but any word of the program, which is especially handy when looking for programs with specific search words.”

The new interface not only displays in high definition, it has a focus on finding high definition television content. TiVo search automatically recommends high definition television channels and episodes when users schedule a program to record. Additionally, users can now browse shows season by season and select any episode they want utilizing a robust episode guide. Depending on availability users may record content from cable/antenna, download it from Amazon Video on Demand, or use WishList searches to record it the next time the content is broadcast.

Seeing equals believing, and the new TiVo Search is no exception. Starting today broadband connected TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, and HD XL subscribers can experience a beta version of the feature on their TiVo DVR, which can be found under Music, Photos, and Showcases. For an online preview and to provide your comments and feedback on this new search tool to TiVo visit www.tivo.com/tivosearch.

TiVo Search will be on display at the TiVo Inc Booth at the Consumer Electronics Tradeshow, Room N202 running January 8th – 11th.

Here's the list:

-Energy saving solar technology printed and stuck onto asphalt, paint and windows
-A crystal ball to help you monitor health
-We will talk to the Web, and the Web will talk back
-We will have our own digital shopping assistants
-Forgetting will become a distant memory via smart appliances in every area of the home and office

Seriously, your big prediction for the next five years of technological innovation is talking internet? Are you fucking serious? Every single one of these predictions is laughable and idiotic. Seriously, a touchscreen in a dressing room to help you call someone to get you a different size is not an innovation, nor is it something that we will need to wait five years for. If that was a good idea, we'd have it now, but it's not, so we don't.

You would think that a company that exists in the tech sphere would have a clue about the types of short-term advances we can expect. Oh well, better go make some more unfunny ads to run incessantly during football games! [IBM via PSFK]

"No motors, no noise and no moving parts to wear out," just computer-designed "electronic memories"... fabulous, especially since I remember hunkering down before our old TV to swirl the dial. My Dad used to get me to change the channels, as a kind of intelligent remote control. Nowadays my cat brushes past the touch-controls on my flat-screen LCD TV and does that job for me. [Paleofuture via Boing Boing Gadgets]

So what, exactly, is a plasma rocket?

Rather than heating chemicals and directing the resulting gases through high-temperature metal nozzles, VASIMR uses radio waves to create and speed up free-flying, electrically charged particles known as plasma. The concoction is then herded through nozzles made of magnetic fields, not metals like traditional rocket engines.

Designed by a former astronaut who's flown in the shuttle seven times, the plasma rocket will use solar power to produce energy to convert into radio waves. This makes it reusable, and the plan is to have it haul things from low-Earth orbit to low-Lunar orbit, a trip that would take about six months to haul one ton of equipment, and it could be reused six or more times.

They hope to launch the engine up to space in 2011 or 2012. And while this engine isn't going to be suitable for transporting people, NASA is already thinking about the next generation of this design: one powered by a nuclear reactor, cutting the trip time down from nine months to 39 days. Awesome. [New Launches via Discovery News]

The good news is that Enzyme's last concept actually went into production (the Atomo V1000), so the Icare has a shot of making it to the marketplace. Of course, that doesn't mean you can actually afford it. But two words of advice: second mortgage. [UGO and Enzyme Design via Core77]