Entries tagged with 'the future'
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The Farm of Tomorrow, an animated short directed by famed animator Tex Avery, shares 1954's predictions of the future of farming—mostly involving strange crossbreeding pairs. Has the future delivered chickens crossbred with centipedes (for more drumsticks), cows crossbred with beavers (for built-in fly swatters), or ducks crossbred with bananas (for ease of skin peeling)? Not yet. Those geneticists better get crackin'. Watch the video after the jump....
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The Ikan is a device that scans your empty jars and boxes before you toss them, making a grocery grocery list filled with stuff you now need. The list travels wirelessly to your computer, and from there to you can place grocery orders for delivery. The weak link in the service is how well integrated the Ikan is with local grocery delivery options, says David Pogue in the New York Times. I don't know. This concept has reared its head and gotten mention on blogs and websites before—a technology that becomes aware of your empties and assists you by ordering them when you're running low. The times I've seen this idea in the past, it was based on RFID tags,...
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Stephen Colbert interviews Columbia University professor Dickson Despommier about how growing food in vertical towers could be the answer to the food crisis. Vertical farming, which uses hydroponics technology, allows for better control of the growing environment and puts food within the city limits, cutting down on food transportation costs... "Plus, it's pleasantly phallic," adds Colbert. Watch the video after the jump....
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"It's hot steamy food in your face right now." Sure, eating is fun, but it's just so darn time- and energy-consuming. Fortunately, The Onion News Network announces the fast food industry's latest development: wearable feedbags. "Something that we heard over and over again was, 'I really love your food; I just wish it wasn't so much work to have to eat it,'" says a fast food executive in the video. Obviously, the only way to solve this problem is to strap your food to your head. "Sometimes I don't feel like moving my arms, so this way you can just have it on your face, close to your mouth, so you don't have to pick anything up," says a man...
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The Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory in Lausanne, Switzerland has adapted Fujitsu's HOAP-3 robot into the Chief Cook Robot. Capable of learning recipes and techniques, a Nintendo Wii remote is used to guide the teaching scenario and the answer the robot's questions. Check out the video, where the robot learns how to whip eggs, grate cheese, and slice ham for the omelet....
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You know how it's hard to get into the corners of your yogurt cup? By designer Nojae Park. No word on whether this thing is conceptual or real world yet. [via Swiss Miss]...
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Save space, be complimented on your fabulously mod kitchen layout, and be green all at the same time with this horizontal eco dishwasher designed by Marie-Christine Lacasse and Claude Savard, students at the University of Quebec. All you'd need to do is stick the dirty dishes in the rack: The dishwasher will automatically fill up and do its thing. Check out this video to see it in action. [via Treehugger]...
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This Czech vision of the future from 1957 features a number of goofy predictions (cookbooks replaced by punch cards, an at-the-ready dispenser that gives accurate doses of ingredients) along with a couple uncannily accurate ones (cool-to-the-touch induction cooktops and "TV shopping"—essentially an early, starry-eyed form of online grocery shopping). The coolest thing in it is the circular, rotating, glass-door fridge and the infrared rotisserie. Give it another 51 years....
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Driving is already frustrating enough: $4/gallon gas, collapsing bridges, the screaming kids in the back. The last thing humanity needs is the difficulty in simply enjoying french fries from behind the wheel... and failing. It's only inevitable that errant fries will spread their grease and salt all over your car's interior. There are containers for gum, chips, and nuts that fit in a cup holder, but the standard french fry container just won't fit. However, thanks to Improvements, purveyor of "Quick and Clever Problem-Solvers," you can get a French Fry Holder for your car! Kind of. It's sold out right now, but if it weren't, you too could indulge in the convenience of a container whose no-slip rubberized base fits...
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Slate calls PETA's $1 million prize "nothing but a publicity stunt."...
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