Awesome Future

This amazing software uses deep learning tech to create photorealistic nature scenes by sketching fields of color which represent objects and materials. The results are impressively convincing, complete with reflections. Learn more on Nvidia’s blog.

French automaker Peugeot dusts off the styling of their iconic 504 coupe and updates it with this pure electric concept car. The e-Legend has a 100kWh battery and dual motors to make more than 450 hp and 590 lb-ft. of torque, and is packed with tech like full autonomy.

With tech like Alexa, Nest, and Hue already in our homes, it’s already feeling pretty futuristic around here, but Grant Imahara and The Verge take a look at some of the other things we might look forward if we rethink the way we design and build homes.

There are video screens everywhere, from our phones to our watches to our thermostats. Universal Everything and Kouhei Nakama envision some of the form factors that screens might take in the future. Can you imagine an aquarium filled with OLED illuminated fish?

Back in 1958, Disney envisioned the future of America’s highways and automotive tech. While we still don’t have flying ambulances or self-building roads, backup cameras and traffic apps are everyday items, and autonomy is closer than ever. Watch the full movie here.

Aviation International News shares an informative look at FlexSys‘ morphing wing flap technology, which improves the aerodynamics of airplanes by eliminating exposed hinges and rivets. Apparently it’s made using a carbon fiber honeycomb core and a flexible composite skin.

We recently learned about the entire history of our world in about 20 minutes. While it’s far more serious than Bill Wurtz’s video, RealLifeLore’s look at the shape of things to come does pose some interesting predictions about the future of civilization.

Mice, keyboards, touchscreens. Siri, Alexa, Google. All these input methods could be replaced by simply thinking, if the tech exurb1a describes ever becomes mainstream. But the stuff that really gets us thinking is the idea of the real world Borg collective.

While sitting in traffic one day, Elon Musk had a crazy/brilliant idea – to build a network of underground tunnels which would rocket cars between destinations. A recent concept video envisions cars descending via street elevators, and zooming around on autonomous sleds.

Real Engineering presents the first in a series of videos which look at future airplanes which could disrupt the commercial airline industry which has been locked up tight by Boeing and Airbus for years. First up, the Aurora D8, an unusual jet with a “double-bubble” fuselage.

Honda commissioned designers and big thinkers from Map Project Office and Mori Inc. to conceptualize how autonomous vehicles could improve lives around the globe, and built small prototype models of their seven concept vehicles to help demonstrate. More here.

Microsoft wants to take augmented reality to a whole new level, with see-through goggles which can project full color interactive 3D objects into your field of vision. It’s still a prototype, but early hands-on users are impressed.

A 0.3mm thick flexible OLED display which can be bent or shaped to create cool new gadgets. Here, Samsung exec Brian Berkeley demos the tech on a curved smartphone to increase screen real estate.

This ingenious, yet elegantly-simple robot design from IIT engineers allows a quadrotor UAV to go from air to ground and back again by using a rolling cage which rotates around its mid-section.

Back when the Apollo Missions were still fresh in the mind, NASA’s Ames Research Center was hard at work conceptualizing what the future of space exploration might be. Where’d our imagination go?

A futuristic vision from Mercedes-Benz for the SUV of tomorrow. The agressive G-class off-roader was designed for the 2012 LA Auto Show Design challenge – for a 2025 police vehicle.

A concept garment for the future, the Aegis provides not just protection from weather, but sensors which track pollutants, and alert you to don the built in respirator when air quality is poor.

We all wish we could talk to our younger selves, but Jeremiah McDonald actually had enough foresight to record a convo for the future about pets, passions and Doctor Who all the way back in 1992.

Volkswagen recently gathered ideas from the people of China for new vehicles, and through the wonder of technology, brought one girl’s “hover car” dream to fruition, digitally. (Thanks Daryl!)

Move over, Orville and Wilbur: Thomas Senkel of E-volo recently made the world’s first manned multicopter flight with their AR.Drone-like flyer. The gently hovering flight lasted 1:30. (Thanks Stro!)

With its unusually low profile, the HX1 looks like something out of a science fiction movie. Peugeot’s first diesel hybrid, this 4WD is powered by a 2.2L, 204hp HDi engine, plus a 95hp electric motor.

We’re not expecting Da Feng’s Flake conceptual vehicle to hit showrooms any time soon. The idea of a shape-shifting car with 250 moving body panels is purely the stuff of science fiction.

The distant future… The year 2-thou-sand… Now pay careful attention and learn the wonders of the magnificent, astounding and awesome future. Will technological wonders never cease?