I am going to say it again casue it sounds so evil….scientists and engineers at Picatinny Arsenal are busy developing a device that will shoot lightning bolts down laser beams to destroy its target.

The weapon idea mimics the way that lightning leaps from thunderclouds to strike the ground — the electricity follows the path of least resistance.

So how much power are we talking? According to lead scientist on the project, George Fischer:

“If a laser beam is intense enough, its electro-magnetic field is strong enough to rip electrons off of air molecules, creating plasma,” said Fischer. “This plasma is located along the path of the laser beam, so we can direct it wherever we want by moving a mirror.

To put the energy output in perspective, a big filament light bulb uses 100 watts. The optical amplifier output is 50 billion watts of optical power.”

I am not sure what would be more destructive the Navy’s railgun superweapon capable of hurling hypersonic projectiles over 50 to 100 miles, or the Army’s future ‘Zeus’ division with their guns that shot lightning bolts instead of bullets?

[Cheers army]

Evacuated Tube Transport (ETT) is an airless, frictionless form of transport which, its designers say, is safer, cheaper and quieter than trains or aeroplanes…and it just may be the way we travel someday.

Using airless vacuum tubes, six-seat, 183kg passenger pods are designed to reach phenomenal speeds of up to 4,000mph (6,500kph), The ETT boffins say the transport will use far less energy than conventional methods and they claim it is safer, cheaper and quieter than trains or planes.

That would allow passengers to travel from Los Angeles to New York in just 45 minutes, from New York to China in just two hours, or all the way round the world in six hours.

It would work as a form of Personal Rapid Transit, and would be networked like motorways with car-sized capsules automatically routed like internet traffic.

And they claim that it would be cheap to build, at just a quarter the cost of motorways and a tenth of the cost of high-speed railway.

Passengers would only be subjected to minimal G forces, although the physics behind that claim are unclear. Despite bidding for several public infrastructure projects, most recently in Korea, the technology has not yet taken off.

Futurama clearly understood this concept.

[Cheers dailymail]

Have you ever wanted to say something to your guests, but just couldn’t find the words? The Spell It Out Collection of customizable furniture by French design company, Tobisso may be the solution.

The lounge chair collection represents letters and numbers – from A to Z and 0 to 9 and even includes the punctuation. The Upholstery comes in a choice of Kvadrat or leather, with a veneered beech wood, lacquered black or white wooden shell.

The chairs can be matched to your name, an acronym or your business.

The floor lamp collection covers over 20 punctuation marks, from exclamation, quotation, and question marks, to dollar signs and everything in between.

[Cheers trendir.com]

With the cost of flying soaring and very little in the way of change to the interior of planes over the past 25 years, the Aircraft Interiors Expo is the launch pad for cabin programmes showcasing tomorrow’s designs, in-flight entertainment, connectivity and passenger services.

The hot thing in this area of design is making things lightweight, as airline companies struggle with rising fuel prices and tries to get an airplane’s overall weight down. Thus even seatbelts are getting the ultra light treatment, as shaving a mere 65 grams off of each one adds up when multiplied across planes and fleets.

This concept is Boeing’s design for the interior of the 787 (pictured above). It uses dynamic LED lighting to replicate day-to-night light patterns and offers larger seats, aisles, windows and overhead bins than current planes.

Developed for Air New Zealand, the SpaceSeat is a fixed shell seat, meaning the seat reclines within its own shell without annoying the passenger behind.

Airborne Hotel, a bi-level seating concept for aircraft cabins. With this radical seat configuration, airlines can potentially increase capacity and offer every passenger a reclining seat-bed.

Designed for the bathroom of Lufthansa’s A380 planes, this concept bathroom provide the first ever on-board gentleman’s urinal, giant mirrors and unprecedented levels of space and comfort.

IMS Company’s Rave, is an entertainment system made up of a system control unit (SCU) and a seat display unit (SDU). With Rave, content and functionality is stored in each seat on SD cards, leaving the SCU to simply load up content and interface updates in the background at scheduled times.

[Cheers core77.com]

Corning released a new video looking into the future…a future of glass, in which technology is incorporated — embedded into our everyday lives.  What is so impressive in the video is that this amazing technology is not too far off.

I am not so sure I like the idea of tweeting on my bathroom mirror while brushing my teeth, but playing around with animated GIF on my fridge door while grabbing a beer sounds like fun.

Amazing creativity- the mind just goes Wow!

[Cheers smartplanet.com]

Solaris Series V1

Not only does each watch have its own unique elegant style, Demangel managed to incorporate an unusual way of telling time.  There is a bit of a learning curve with Solaris V1, but without a doubt something I have never seen before. Each LED has a specific function, with the outside lights displaying the hour (blue) and 5 minutes groups (purple), the 4 prongs holding the solar cell in the middle would be the 4 minute group.

Solaris Series V2

If you are interested in purchasing any of these watches, Demangel is looking for some votes, so head over to Tokyo Flash design studio and leave a comment. I am having a difficult time deciding, I think I will take one of each.

Solaris Series V3

Watch the video to get a better grasp at this concept.

Cheers Olivier

Not contents with just a regular looking woodstove, these Bullerjan furnaces (free flowing) took a slice from a V8 engine, allowing the pipes underneath to draw in the cold air, heat up in the belly and shoot out through the top pipes.

The stove features a number of solid steel pipes that are bent to form a cylindrical, horizontal combustion chamber, all of which give off ample amount of heat and a long glow retention.

Ideally this would mean rapid distribution of warmth, quick heat up time and nice cozy warm feeling.

The Bullerjan is available in 6 capacity sizes (6-45 kW), with accessory equipment versions; Classic, Design, Stone and Industry.

[Cheers core77.com]

Don’t get me wrong, the movie was pretty good, but this thing belongs in the future, not here. The time is displayed with hours and five minute hexa-slots and fashioned in the familiar blue LED’swith the TRON logo.

The TRON watch is probably just a passing fad, but this would make prop for a movie set in the year 2194.

[Cheers yankodesign.com]

It’s called the FOKI, and they contain two rotary cleaners underneath each shoe which can not only sweep up dust, but can also kill bacteria.

The rechargeable shoes have aLED display battery indicator light on the side to remind you when it’s time to charge up and of course they are cordless.

As cool as these look and as much as I hate sweeping, they just look painfully uncomfortable to wear, however add an iPod touch docking station on the top and you got a deal.

[Cheers yankodesign.com]

The Korean Giant managed to show off some particularly wicked new advancements in technology including:

Transparent AMOLED Display- A transparent AMOLED display was showcased in a prototype 14-inch notebook. The resolution was quite low at 960 x 540 pixels (78 PPI) and 250 cd/m2 brightness.

Flexible Display - A very cool looking display, which demonstrates a capability to flow into smooth and attractive curves. The AMOLED flexible ones still offer impressive colors on a tiny 2.8 WQVGA resolution (240×400 166PPI). Specs are also impressive with a 16.7M color depth, 250 cd/m2 brightness and here as well as a stunning 100,000:1 contrast ratio and a color gamut superior to 100% of the NTSC Color space.

Foldable Display – An interactive folding mount which is opened and closed the device at the push of a button. The 5.3-inch display (animated) that was foldable in the middle, has a 960 x 800 resolution (235 PPI), 26.2K colors, 250 cd/m2 brightness, 100K:1 contrast, > 100% NTSC color space.

Take a look at more pictures and devices from the Samsung booth here.