transportation

Stay At the Hotelicopter: The World’s First Flying Hotel

Since 2004, the company behind the Hotelicopter has been working to modify a Soviet-made Mil V-12 into two world firsts: the “world’s biggest helicopter” and the “world’s first flying hotel.” As you might have guessed, the experience on board the Hotelicopter is far from your standard Motel 6. This gigantic flying Titanic machine features everything…

Tech News Sean Fallon Mar 27

The Gyroscope Monorail System (1912)

August 15, 1912 Fort Wayne Sentinel (Fort Wayne, IN) The August 15, 1912 Fort Wayne Sentinel (Fort Wayne, IN) ran a short piece about how the gyroscope monorail system was the mass transit wave of the future. An excerpt as well as the full article appear below: On the left, a common scene when the…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 26

The Future of the Helicopter (1955)

Flying Platform – 1955 The April 30, 1955 issue of Pacific Stars and Stripes (Tokyo, Japan) ran this short piece about the future of the helicopter. While it’s certainly up for debate, I think the “hoppi-copter” pictured in the article below may be the most dangerous flying machine this side of a flying Ford Pinto.…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 25

General Motors Trucks of the Future (1982)

In 1982-83 Geoff Lawson created these concept paintings for General Motors. Stumbling upon great pieces of transportation futurism from the past certainly makes me wonder if a current lack of imagination is what has doomed the American auto industry. (via BigLorryBlog) Previously on Paleo-Future: GM’s Shopping Cart Car (1964) Transportation of the Future (1992) GM…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 24

Sub-$2000 Tata Nano is Officially The World’s Cheapest Car

India’s Tata Nano has been in the works for some time, but pre-orders are starting today with a MSRP of 100,000 rupees (under $2000)—officially making it the cheapest car in the world. https://gizmodo.com/tata-nano-isnt-a-music-player-or-tits-nay-its-a-2500-343811 The price jumps up to around $2400 when you factor in the additional costs associated with excise fees, transportation, taxes, etc—but the…

Tech News Sean Fallon Mar 23

The future of commuting took a left turn (2009)

Gordon Dickson wrote a piece in the February 15, 2009 issue of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about the Paleo-Future blog: In popular culture, paleofuture refers to the study of what people in the past thought we’d be doing today — flying in cars, eating entire meals in a pill, submitting to self-aware robots. One clearinghouse…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 22

City of the Future Postcards (circa 1910)

Leominster in the Future (postcard circa 1910) At the turn of the 20th century, the postcard seemed to be a popular medium with which to imagine the future. While these depictions were often tongue-in-cheek they, like the Jetsons in the 1960s, held some kernel of truth about society’s expectations for what was to come. We…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 19

The Public School of Tomorrow (1912)

The March 7, 1912 Spirit Lake Beacon (Spirit Lake, IA) published a piece by V.A. Arnold titled, “The Public School of Tomorrow.” It’s interesting to see transportation discussed as a way to revolutionize education in the early 20th century. An excerpt from the piece appears below, along with the article in its entirety. Our future…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 18

Japan’s Bullet Trains to Get Wi-Fi

Starting this week, Japan’s Shinkansen bullet trains will feature wireless LAN from Tokyo to Osaka. A project including the joint efforts of NTT, KDDI and SoftBank, Japan’s big three wireless carriers, data lines were actually run aside the entire track and use periodic wireless transmitters to connect to passengers. From inside the train, users should…

Tech News Mark Wilson Mar 9

Downloadable Dashboard Apps for Cars Coming in 2010

Why leave your car out in the cold while your smartphone gets all the app fun? Hughes Telematics is aiming to bring downloadable apps to car dashboards, and the possibilities are pretty crazy. Hughes plans to start rolling out the new dashboard consoles in about 2010, and gives examples like an emissions monitor, web-connected security…

Tech News Dan Nosowitz Feb 14

MIT Shock Absorbers Harness Speed Bump Energy For Better Fuel Economy

A team of undergraduate students at MIT have developed a shock absorber that actually generates electricity from bumps in the road. This results in up to a 10 percent improvement in overall vehicle fuel efficiency. Their prototype shock absorbers use a hydraulic system that forces fluid through a turbine attached to a generator. The system…

Tech News Sean Fallon Feb 11

Personalized Podcars Float Over Abu Dhabi

A Jetsons-style transit system is set to roll out around Masdar City – electric, elevated podcars that can carry a few passengers at a time around the city, between several customizable destinations. Designed by transportation planners at Systematica, the system is called “personal rapid transit,” or PRT. The only functioning PRT is in West Virginia,…

io9 Annalee Newitz Feb 10

$2 Million DiMora Natalia SLS 2 Features World’s First MP3-Enabled Car Horn

If you could play any audio clip over your horn, what would it be? Would you honk more just to hear your jam? These are good questions for any potential owner of a DiMora Natalia. Granted, the DiMora Natalia SLS 2 sport luxury sedan concept has been floating around for years, so it is really…

Tech News Sean Fallon Feb 9

80 Buses in Oslo Will Be Powered by Raw Sewage

This might be the most disgusting use of green technology I’ve ever seen, but yes, Norweigan fecal matter will keep their Buses up and running. According to Worldchanging, the City of Oslo will convert the sewage to biomethane, then get that methane working as bus fuel. Two sewage plants in Oslo will be adapted to…

Tech News Adrian Covert Feb 5

Plug-in Prius Averaging 65 mpg in Tests, 15 More Than Standard Model

Toyota claims that their upcoming plug-in model Prius averages 65 mpg in real-world testing. That’s about 15 more than the 2010 Prius—the current leader in fuel efficiency. https://jalopnik.com/2010-toyota-prius-live-in-the-vanilla-flesh-5129436 This bump is attributed to their new lithium ion battery, which can store more power than the nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries found in traditional Prius models. The…

Tech News Sean Fallon Feb 3

Forget The Shiny Toys — Urban Transit Will Go Low-Rent

Whenever public planning types talk about urban transportation’s future, they always discuss light rail or tiny electric yuppie-mobiles. But future urbanites will really get around in the cheapest, most low-overhead manner possible. It seems like every day, we come across about the “city car of the future.” It’s usually lightweight and next-gen, with an electric…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Jan 22

Wooden Vespa Is Dining Room Furniture You Can Die On

We’re torn in our appreciation of the classic Vespa—after all, Vespas are scooters and scooters equal wedgies. But when they’re handcrafted like fine furniture, we can overlook the inevitable flag on the back. Craftsman Carlos Alberto came across a Vespa that was in complete disrepair, so he gutted it and carved a body from wood—which…

Tech News Mark Wilson Jan 21

Folding Bicycle Backpack Makes Good Use of Gravity

There’s no denying it, folding bicycles are hot with designers these days. While Bergmonch’s design is not the first of these concepts to involve a backpack, it is definitely one of the most complete. https://gizmodo.com/the-backpack-bicycle-for-ultra-portable-potentially-da-5023012 It looks great, but the lack of a seat and functional pedals is disappointing. In reality, the Folding Bike Bag…

Tech News Sean Fallon Jan 19

Dean Kamen Struggles With the Idea of Giving Up on the Segway

A recent CNN interview has revealed that Segway inventor Dean Kamen often loses sleep about giving up on a project that he knows deep down will never pan out. “You end up lying there saying, ‘I’m not stopping. It would be an act of shallow cowardice. Or you decide to quit and you say, ‘This…

Tech News Sean Fallon Jan 16

The Cadillac WTF: All New For the Year 8000

The appropriately titled Cadillac World Thorium Fuel or “WTF” has features you are not going to find anywhere else. It runs on clean Thorium nuclear fuel and offers maintenance-free service for 100 years or more. Not only that, each wheel is actually six individually powered wheels aligned side by side. Now that’s an absurd level…

Tech News Sean Fallon Jan 14

Stay At the Hotelicopter: The World’s First Flying Hotel

The Gyroscope Monorail System (1912)

The Future of the Helicopter (1955)

General Motors Trucks of the Future (1982)

Sub-$2000 Tata Nano is Officially The World’s Cheapest Car

The future of commuting took a left turn (2009)

City of the Future Postcards (circa 1910)

The Public School of Tomorrow (1912)

Japan’s Bullet Trains to Get Wi-Fi

Downloadable Dashboard Apps for Cars Coming in 2010

MIT Shock Absorbers Harness Speed Bump Energy For Better Fuel Economy

Personalized Podcars Float Over Abu Dhabi

$2 Million DiMora Natalia SLS 2 Features World’s First MP3-Enabled Car Horn

80 Buses in Oslo Will Be Powered by Raw Sewage

Plug-in Prius Averaging 65 mpg in Tests, 15 More Than Standard Model

Forget The Shiny Toys — Urban Transit Will Go Low-Rent

Wooden Vespa Is Dining Room Furniture You Can Die On

Folding Bicycle Backpack Makes Good Use of Gravity

Dean Kamen Struggles With the Idea of Giving Up on the Segway

The Cadillac WTF: All New For the Year 8000

I’m Worried About the Helpless AI Disruptors of the Future

Russia Allegedly Swung at VPNs but Accidentally Hit Its Own Banking Sector Instead

Ryan Coogler Is Shifting ‘Animorphs’ Into a Disney+ Show

No Fooling, ‘Spaceballs 2’ Will Hit Theaters April 2027

I Regret to Inform You That the Artemis II Astronauts Are Having Lots of Screen Time

The First ‘Maul: Shadow Lord’ Reactions Are Most Solid

‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 3 Is Doing What You Hoped

Wearables Are Getting Very Messy

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

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