AJAX and the future

Here's another Slashdot posting about the next web revolution. The internet is the platform... except this time around, asynchronous web sites using AJAX will make the internet the operating system. I plan to get into this stuff within the next year or so...

Hybrid vehicles and the next 5-20 years

Hey, looks like Toyota and Honda getting into hybrid automobiles is picking up more steam. Toyota just recently announced (USA Today article) that it intends to produce 600k hybrids a year in the USA within the next 5-yrs. Honda just announced its 3rd generation hybird system which according to rumors now rivals the efficiency of the Prius. So, I'd like to trade in my Honda Pilot for a hybrid version and get 40mpg... I'm definitely going to keep a watch on these advancements. I know my next vehicle will a hybrid if this innovation continues.

VeriChip implant for US citizens

I just read this article about a somewhat controversial anti-privacy proposal... read about it for yourself at Slashdot. Then read the posting at VeriChip about Tommy Tompson's recent appointment to the VeriChip Corp. Board Of Directors. Is this like 'big brother' sooner than you thought or what? This is definitely something to keep an eye on in the near future.

Where are the flying cars?

Ok, when I was kid in the 1970s-1980s I had this vision of the 21st century where computers, flying cars, robots, space, and various technologies would be the norm. Well here we are a few years into the 21st century and the only thing I use everyday as I envisioned are computers. Everything else in our society is only a slight evolution of what existed in the early 1980s. Like most scientific minded or technology oriented people of my generation, I think we got short changed in the last 20-years or maybe as kids we had overly active imaginations about the future.

The Moller Skycar and others I've seen are a step in the right directions however, they are no where near being a marketable product that can be purchased by the average individual. Maybe Honda or Toyota will make this happen since they seem to be heading in the general direction that I envision. Both companies have R&D aerospace divisions (article about Honda Aerospace) which tend to maintain a low profile. Hey, these companies are also leaders in robotics and seem to have a vision of practical use of their robotic technologies.

More on this later...