1. Sensors in the toilets - Imagine if you could get up in the morning, use the restroom, and, within a few seconds, be able to see how healthy you are. Well, maybe not your total health. But at least you won't have to go to the doctor for a urine test. You will be able to get one at home every day... without peeing in a cup. This hits home, because I am going to be at the doctor's office for a physical today. Wish me luck.
Oh, I first read about this in Peter Diamandis's book Abundance. I have also found a couple of blog posts from tech blogs that have talked about a toilet that can already do this that is made in Japan.
2. 3-D Printed Cars - Imagine that you show up to the car dealership and instead of... wait, did I just at show up at the dealeship? Let me start over. Imagine that you are in the market for a new car. You don't want any of the hassles of the car buying process. So, you get online, as many people do today, to start your search. You pull up the dealerships website, answer a few questions about what you are looking for in a car, and then start designing your own. Once you are finished designing the car, instead of clicking the 'request a quote' button in your browser you simply click the 'print' button. The dealership starts printing and you show up a few hours later, or as in this article from Business Insider, 44 hours later, to drive away in your new ride. Or maybe you just hang out at home until the car gets there because the car DRIVES ITSELF...
Oh, I first read about this in Peter Diamandis's book Abundance. I have also found a couple of blog posts from tech blogs that have talked about a toilet that can already do this that is made in Japan.
2. 3-D Printed Cars - Imagine that you show up to the car dealership and instead of... wait, did I just at show up at the dealeship? Let me start over. Imagine that you are in the market for a new car. You don't want any of the hassles of the car buying process. So, you get online, as many people do today, to start your search. You pull up the dealerships website, answer a few questions about what you are looking for in a car, and then start designing your own. Once you are finished designing the car, instead of clicking the 'request a quote' button in your browser you simply click the 'print' button. The dealership starts printing and you show up a few hours later, or as in this article from Business Insider, 44 hours later, to drive away in your new ride. Or maybe you just hang out at home until the car gets there because the car DRIVES ITSELF...
3. Self driving cars- Audi claims that they will have a fully autonomous car ready to hit roads in 2017. I am really looking forward to this technology, even though it is a ways out for mass production. There are predictions that are all over the place about when this technology will readily be available. In his book Digital Destiny, Shawn Dubravac makes a case for the average American to be able to purchase diverless cars around 2040. I'd be 63 years old then. I think that is the perfect age to get into a car eat a few cookies and then take a nice long nap while I drive to see my grandchildren.
4. A refrigerator and cupboard that can tell you what to make that night - I think this scenario would be pretty cool. II get home from work. Ugh, I haven't even thought of dinner and I have no idea what is in the fridge or the cupboard. I don't want to have to go through them to try to piece a meal together. But wait, I don't have to, because the fridge and the cupboards know exactly what I have in them and they are able to communicate, via the interweb, to come up with a meal that the family likes. I don't know how they would let me know what the recipe for that meal would be, but let's just say that the window to the kitchen is also a computer screen and the recipe gets displayed there. Viola, easy meal preparation. What if I don't like the suggestion? Oh, there would probably be four or five choices based on what food I had on hand. This is what we have so far today... but who wants to spend $4,000 and take the time to program in when the leftovers will go bad. We have noses for that. I think this fridge is a start toward something great though.
5. Automated grocery ordering from the fridge and cupboard - While they are at it, these smart fridges and cupboards could send an order down to Macy's, our local grocer, and order the foods that we like when we are running low. Then our driverless car could stop in at the store, who would have our order ready to pick up, and we drive home. No more wandering around the store for an hour just to pick up a few things. And, no more impulse buys. We are saving time and money.
photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/49835210@N00/3812434821">Toilets</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)</a>
photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/55497864@N00/6126236841">Citroen Tubik Concept</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)</a>
4. A refrigerator and cupboard that can tell you what to make that night - I think this scenario would be pretty cool. II get home from work. Ugh, I haven't even thought of dinner and I have no idea what is in the fridge or the cupboard. I don't want to have to go through them to try to piece a meal together. But wait, I don't have to, because the fridge and the cupboards know exactly what I have in them and they are able to communicate, via the interweb, to come up with a meal that the family likes. I don't know how they would let me know what the recipe for that meal would be, but let's just say that the window to the kitchen is also a computer screen and the recipe gets displayed there. Viola, easy meal preparation. What if I don't like the suggestion? Oh, there would probably be four or five choices based on what food I had on hand. This is what we have so far today... but who wants to spend $4,000 and take the time to program in when the leftovers will go bad. We have noses for that. I think this fridge is a start toward something great though.
5. Automated grocery ordering from the fridge and cupboard - While they are at it, these smart fridges and cupboards could send an order down to Macy's, our local grocer, and order the foods that we like when we are running low. Then our driverless car could stop in at the store, who would have our order ready to pick up, and we drive home. No more wandering around the store for an hour just to pick up a few things. And, no more impulse buys. We are saving time and money.
photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/49835210@N00/3812434821">Toilets</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)</a>
photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/55497864@N00/6126236841">Citroen Tubik Concept</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)</a>