Cerebral Stasis

I doubt that The Sims deserves to be on the top 10 list, unless it's only judging based on product sales (even then, having a computer game on there is a pretty sketchy idea, in my opinion. Ditto having the Furby on one of the lists (I remember that it was a huge fad at the time - hardly a worst-seller).

The majority of what is inside a television or monitor is just the components necessary to make the screen work. If all that is needed is as thin as a piece of paper, the circuits necessary to do the rest could mostly be printed on thin circuit boards, similar to what one finds inside a keyboard, with the nonflexible components being attached to the screen, instead of directly connected to it (meaning that, at the end of the screen, there would be a small solid part that would hold the components and that the cords would come out of). It will be many, many decades before circuit boards and components can be completely and efficiently printed small enough to make a device completely paper-thin, but the concept of the screen itself being that thin does seem to be within reach.

Has the Mac begun using it's PowerPC processor cores in this G5 yet, or will that not be integrated until later computers?I don't care how powerful it is; there's no way that I would pay 10,000 dollars for a computer. That's insane.

The point is that it looks cool and people will buy it. There are a lot of things that one buys that, if one really thinks about it, don't have much practical use - they're just "cool." And it wouldn't be able to move very fast, although there is a possibility that it may rise beyond reach in a high room. I'd guess that there would probably be some integrated sensor that would allow it to detect it's altitude, though, in order to avoid such an event.

One must realize, however, that these "toys" cost big money. And that money comes for all the Americans who pay their taxes. So, whether or not you are willing to help soldiers out of your own wallet, you're going to do it.

Thanks for posting it, Fraudulentpeanut. It seems that every few decades, there is a breakthrough that makes computers, and other technology as well, smaller and faster. First it was the vaccuum tube, then it was the transistor, then it was the microchip, and now this may be the next big thing. If this technology is combined with the Light Drive, it could mean computers that more or less can calculate most anything quickly enough that a human could not recognize any computation lag at all. I just hope that I'm still young enough to enjoy it when (and if) it all becomes a reality.

Well, I guess you're just out of luck, then. People don't get paid for the work that the robotic arms in car manufacturing lines do. The whole point of using robots is to have work done faster, more accurately, and being able to cut down the number of employees. The Mars rovers are hardly AI. All they can do on their own is record information from their instruments and travel some terrain/avoid a few obstacles on their own (but that's no big deal - any decent toy robot can do that too). For everything else, they have to wait for instructions. I don't see how this would be a problem. I doubt that it is intended to fly around chirping for an hour until someone finally shouts to turn that noise off. The idea would be that it would fly around for maybe three or four minutes, probably seven at most, until someone finally got annoyed enough to try to stop it. After that, it would be sitting in the bay, recharging all day long. A battery that lasts just a few minutes would be very light, which would be necessary in order for the clock to be able to fly with such a small rotor. No, it won't be. That's a pointless addition that would only made the overall device cost more. If you want something that is remote controlled and can fly, buy a remote controlled airplane or helicopter. What does it matter? It makes noise.

As time goes on, plasma televisions eventually will become longer-lived, assuming that they can be (the technology may limit them to 5 year life spans, no matter what anyone does). As for the paper-thin stuff, one can assume that current technology will be pretty efficient come the time that something like that will finally be avaliable for everyone to use. We don't know how long these paper-thin screens will last; they may only work for a year or two.

Flying cars, especially if they could (and were allowed to) go 350 miles per hour, would be going far too fast for a person to be able to control them safely. Consider how quickly accidents happen going 60-80 mph. The biggest safety risk for this would be human error, or running out of fuel mid-flight. The only way to avoid these problems would be to have the vehicle controlled completely by GPS/a computer. The computer could calculate the shortest route, detect any vehicles that may potentially pose a crash risk and plan the flight to avoid them, and calculate where and when a refuelling stop would be necessary. These vehicles would be too low-altitute to post any problems with planes, unless the plane was about to land (which shouldn't be a problem, as long as these things avoid airports).But, as has been said, this, if any kind of flying car at all, probably won't be used by the commercial public for decades to come, if ever (currently taking a commercial flight would be much cheaper and more fuel efficient, while creating much less pollution and not creating a new crash/accident hazard to go with the whole flying car package..

Glockmeister suggested that this not become a political discussion, and I agree. This is the technology forum; not the debate forum.Unfortunately, the fighting isn't what kills most of the soldiers; it's the sniping and suicide bombing. Things like that aren't expected, and thus can't be properly defended against.

Starting Febuary 2006, Ctrl+Alt+Del will be avaliable (when purchased) as an animated series. I, for one, am quite anxious for what will come of it. With Elder Scrolls 4, Spore, and CAD Animated coming out, it looks like 2006 will be an excellent year.

Who tried to cut an airplane tire?Being able to resist being cut is a lot different than being able to resist heat or being smashed. Many things are one but not the other, so don't necessarily expect one material to resist everything.

Well, believer, there are many things that one could use a bit of strategy/technique to accomplish, but then there's always a coolness factor with technology that performs that strategy on it's own that urges one to go out and buy it.

You've watched too much Matrix and Terminator, Eikon. Robots in war would either be remote controlled or would be run on very basic programming (they would find targets with certain characteristics and eliminate them). They wouldn't have concepts of abstract logic, so they couldn't ask "what if..?" questions to themselves. Furthermore, they probably wouldn't ever have a sentient consciousness at all - what would be the purpose when they could perform well enough as mindless hunks of metal?

Daman, the concept is simple. The car uses turbines that blow downward to allow it to lift off from the ground vertically. Then, when it's at a certain altitude, rear turbines push it forward. Once it reaches a certain speed, the lift created will be enough to keep it in the air (like with airplanes). It doesn't use rockets or anything else. Like you suggested, once it was in the air, it would work much like a plane.

You may be overestimating it a bit, EJay. Consider that the increase in technology is roughly linear. 2020 would be about 15 years from now. 15 years ago, there was little that didn't exist that we now think we just couldn't live without (major appliances, anyway), unless you include a powerful personal computer (but computers work in their own ballpark).

Come on, Lacking Imagination; use some imagination.It is recommended that you do NOT scale renders (or any images, for that matter) up, since it results in either pixelation or a blurred look. Furthermore, try for more variety in the abstract, as well as at least some attempt at blending the render with the background.

It's definately one of the best episodes, although they are all excellent. If anyone's interested, episode 62 can be viewed here.

It's obvious how it flies. If you look at it, it has a rotor with a circular halo around it (probably for support). The rotor spins and lifts it into the air.In order for a rotor that small to be able to lift the ball, it would have to be VERY light. Furthermore, it couldn't move very fast. I wouldn't worry about it causing dents or damage (it's just plastic, after all). As for being cut by the rotors, as I said, they have a halo around them that would keep one from getting fingers stuck in it, but even if one did get a finger caught, the rotors are plastic and a small electric motor can only go so fast (it wouldn't be powerful enough to puncture the skin if someone got their finger stuck in it).As for movement, the article seems to imply that it does more than just hover over it's pedestal. Since it doesn't have any visible means of changing direction, I'd assume it has a gyroscope inside of it which shifts the weight around, allowing it to hover from here to there.

Those cars wouldn't need runway space to take off, anyway. It supposedly uses verticle takeoff and landing, similar to a helicopter. Once again, however, it hasn't been proven that it can actually be done with the Skycar model efficiently (or at all).

It's not hard to find information about it; just type "flying alarm clock" into Google. I found it right away. It's called "Blowfly" and it's real. It certainly seems like a neat invention. I'll be sure to get one if they are avaliable by the time I'm in college. I'm guessing there will be a lot of broken ones, since some people have violent tentancies and wild fits of anger, especially when aroused from a deep sleep.

They're a chance for some people to feel like they are doing something interesting for once. That, and they're cheap entertainment; completely devoid of subliminal messages, lousy acting, and propaganda.I haven't had a nightmare or been able to control my dreams since I was a little child (when I was very little, I used to keep returning to this dark little house in which all my dead grandparents lived - even though I had only seen them a couple times as a baby - and I would somehow save them from some bad guy and leave by squeezing my eyes shut in the dream and opening them, at which time my eyes would open in real life and I would be awake), yet it's those child dreams that really stick with me and that I remember most/best.These days my dreams either don't exist, or are just would-be erotic dreams (meaning that I never actually get to the erotic part before waking up).

I wish someone would take a picture of me with their cell phone. Then I could whine and moan and throw a b**ch fit until I got rich off of settlement money. How could anyone have a problem with that?

Honestly, your friend should take a hint from Back to the Future. If he really wants the girl's sympathy, all he has to do is jump in front of a car. Be sure to tip him off to this next time he gets jealous and wants some feminine pity. Or you could just call him a whiny little person and let him know the truth. Notice from saint-michael: edited as requested. Also you know the rules abut inappropriate language yo uwill get warning increase.

Well, that is exactly why you should switch to and save hundereds of dollars on your car insurance!