Inventions of the Future

Sometimes I think it is fun to have conversations with friends and colleagues about new products that have come out or will be coming out in the future. It is interesting to think that when I grew up, there were no words in my vocabulary like blog or youtube or google. Now, all of these important words and concepts are part of my every-day life. This causes me to wonder what life will be like 10 years from now...20 years from now. How will the world be different?

Some inventions come and go while others are here to stay. Something that I heard about only recently was the Google Car. This car is able to drive without a driver, so I hear. It has proven itself to safely drive through obstacle courses, using thousands of mini-lasers to help guide its every move. It can get on the freeway. It can drop you off at the front door of work and then go and park itself. Would it be exciting for you to jump into your car each morning and tell it to wake you up once arriving at your destination? For many people, I think it might be a bit scary to give up the controls, but these cars could possibly be safer and more efficient once the bugs are all worked out. Are you willing to give up the steering wheel to a machine? Does this sound fun and practical or terrifying and unnecessary?

Another great idea that a set of two guys came up with is combining lip balm flavors. These are called Kisstixx and you should be able to pick them up at the cashier's aisle of the grocery store. Think how exciting it sounds to put on some raspberry gloss and kiss somebody who is wearing lemonade? Or what about sweet caramel and sour apple? Anyone for fire and ice? What other flavors might go well together? Talk about adding some sparkle to those kisses!

I was teaching my AP French class the other day, when my French foreign exchange student spoke up. He told me that in his modern high school, they used 3-D Printers! Now what could you possibly want with a contraption like that? It takes any real-life object and produces it, to scale, in some other material. Sounds intriguing, but I am still trying to figure out how all this expense would really be practical in the end...maybe I just don't know enough about it yet.





Any other cool inventions you have seen or heard of?