Laptops keep getting thinner and lighter, but some concept laptops take portable to a new level. Orkin Design's Rolltop consists of an OLED display that can start as a rolled-up mat and deploy as a multi-touch 17-inch laptop. My beastly HP laptop just shed a tear of envy. The Orkin laptop can also transform into a tablet PC operable with a stylus, or become a standup flat screen display. A power adapter and other features fit with the carrying canister that comes with a convenient holding strap.
Now if only they'll put a decent OS on it. Mac or Linux anyone?
20/20 vision is no longer enough to function in this world. In the latest trend in laser eye surgeries, people are tailoring their eyesight to suit their lifestyle or profession, hoping to give themselves an edge in their respective fields. Need better long-range vision for some friendly night-time sniping from half a mile away? Tweak it. Want one eye adjusted for distance and the other for reading? Tweak it.
I think the author slightly over exaggerates the potential of refractive surgery. Sure low and higher order aberrations can be corrected now with the wavefront guided surgery and those who are tethered to glasses and contacts will feel more free. But even with perfect optics the best visual acuity the human eye can muster is ~20/8 because of the "grain" of the fovea (the density of cones in the fovea/macula area). I'm not saying Lasik is bad but there are risks--namely increased potential for retinal detachment. I just don't think that patients with 20/20 vision should spend the thousands of dollars a quality surgery costs with hopes that they will have "super vision"--it probably won't happen.
Over the past dozen columns of Grousings, Ive occasionally, sometimes vehemently, nominated various bits of gadgetry to an ad hoc deathwatch list. In particular I singled out Polaroid photos, home photo printers; disposable batteries; and Sprints WiMAX venture Xohm (maybe even Sprint itself, if they arent careful). Some of those predictions are necessarily more long-term than others, and some probably wishful thinking.
My only problem with the list is the thought that dial-up internet is a thing of the past. I would say that in my state, due to the large rural population, the majority of people who connect to the internet do so through their modem. While broadband speed is available almost everywhere now, thanks in part to satellite and wireless internet companies, the cost of such internet is either too expensive or not available due to the distance between the provider and customer. Even though dial-up is extremely slow and frustrating, it is very inexpensive. For people who don't use the internet on a daily basis, the price is often the deciding factor. Unless companies expand the availability of DSL or other broadband service to rural customers or the price of satellite service drops, I foresee dial-up internet being around for many more years to come.
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