Category Archives: Futurist

A luxury floating home unveiled in Panama late last month embarrassingly failed to live up to the floating part of its description.

The SeaPod was intended to be the first part of a plan to make the 72% of the world that is covered in water into an eco-sustainable paradise according to manufacturers Ocean Builders.

Our technology will allow civilisation to move onto the sea and it will unlock the ocean as a new frontier with a quality of life that is unbeatable anywhere else, the company boasted.

READ MORE: Giant nuclear-powered 'flying hotel' with gym and swimming pool to carry 5,000 passengers

The unique habitat includes a special smart ring that will summon takeaway-carrying drones when the owner gets a little peckish.

But the futuristic homes launch turned out to be a bit of a damp squib when the 1.3m ocean habitat keeled over in front of an audience that included Panamas president, Laurentino Cortizo.

In their advertising pitch for the SeaPod, Ocean Builders explain that: "Just like an iceberg, the hidden magic of a SeaPod lays beneath the surface."

The towering structure, looking like a classic Bond-villain lair, is kept afloat by 1,688 cubic feet of air-filled steel tubes which, according to the manufacturers, results in so much buoyancy that it is able to push the entire SeaPod up 3 metres above the water.

Unfortunately, a malfunctioning bilge pump threw the prototype habitat off balance and caused it to flood.

The company explained: "At roughly 4:35pm on Thursday Sept 22nd, our SeaPod experienced a ballast tank and pumping system malfunction which caused flooding in the jacuzzi spar. This flooding quickly passed through to the other spars causing what were referring to as 'The Tilt'."

Ocean Builders stressed that no-one was harmed in the unfortunate, but hilarious, mishap.

In a statement to Autoevolution, a spokesperson for the company said, Like all innovation and new technology, there is a likelihood of trial and error, and that provides an opportunity to learn, improve, and continue to innovate on ocean technology.

If youre still interested in a life on the ocean wave, prices of the SeaPod at around $295,000 (263,000), but can reach up to $1.5 million (1.3m).

READ NEXT:

Read this article:
Launch of futuristic 1.3m 'floating home' results in red faces when it starts sinking - Daily Star

Have you ever imagined a holiday on a sky cruise?

Hashem Al-Ghali presented a video explaining all of the features and sections of this sky hotel, which is based on Tony Holmstens architectural idea and redesigned and animated by Hashem Al-Ghali.Sky crews is a nuclear-powered futuristic sky hotel with a capacity of over 5000 guests. Its elegant design blends commercial plane elements with luxury sky cruise amenities such as a large hall with a 360-degree view of your surroundings.

It will have shopping malls, sports centers, swimming pools, restaurants, bars, childrens playgrounds, theaters, and cinemas. Theres also a part for planning events, such as a sky cruises wedding. Why not?

Two exterior elevators with a magnificent view link the levels of the main entertainment deck. According to Hashem Al-Ghali, there is no reason to be concerned about the carbon footprint of a sky cruise. Its 20 electric engines are fueled entirely by pure nuclear energy, and a tiny nuclear reactor works a well-regulated fusion process to offer endless energy to the sky hotel. In this way, the nuclear energy hotel never runs out of fuel and may stay in the air for several years without ever touching the ground.

Hashem Al-Ghali, also, has a solution for air turbulences. They plan to build an artificial intelligence system that can predict air turbulence minutes before it occurs. When any possible air turbulence is detected, the system will automatically prevent any vibration, so passengers will not feel the turbulence.

The concept has received diverse reactions from social media platforms, especially on YouTube.

If physics and aerodynamics didnt exist, then this vessel might actually be able to take off. J Tompkins

The designers at Fisher Price must be proud to see their vision come close to reality. KLSYFY

I must say, one of my recurrent dreams features this plane. More precisely, it has the glass dome in the middle, white rooms with beds, and a smaller version of the mall. A. M.

Its interesting as a concept, although unfeasible. Still, a good exercise in creativity. Perhaps a mega airship, powered by a small atomic reactor, is more viable. It would be a kind of floating citadel. tarquela

See original here:
Nuclear-powered futuristic sky hotel can stay in the air for several years - Parametric Architecture

When it comes to the world of action cinema, a truly talented armorer can summon fictional firearms out of thin air. With the right additions, a skilled mind can transform AKS-74U into the multi-functional Zorg ZF-1 Pod Weapon System from The Fifth Element, or slap together Ruger Mini-14/AC-556 rifles and Ithaca 37 pump-action shotgun to form the venerably utilitarian Morita series of rifles from Starship Troopers. Hell, nobody cared about the Mauser M712 Schnellfeuer pistol until George Lucas turned it into Han Solos reliable BlasTech DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol on the set of Star Wars.

But the realm of action and sci-fi isnt the only place thats obsessed with finding the next big gun: look no further than the halls of the Defense Department, which only recently eked out a purported replacement for the M4 carbine and M249 Squad Automatic Weapon in the form of the XM5 and XM250 Next Generation Squad Weapon variants. But while moviemakers manage to build the best and brightest new toys with relative ease, no such luck applies to the Pentagon, which spent nearly 40 years working through Advanced Combat Rifles and Objective Individual Combat Weapons in search of the perfect next-generation service rifle. Sure, it took from 1982 to peacekeeping operations in Kosovo in 1999 for the U.S. military to formally field the M4 carbine, but no search has left more potential candidates in its wake than the search for its replacement.

Luckily, Hollywood is always there to pick up where the Pentagon leaves off quite literally, in fact. Below is a brief tour of potential U.S. military weapons systems that, once abandoned to the ashheap of history, found second life as a futuristic firearm on the silver screen. (Is it weird that all of them are Heckler & Koch weapons? I didnt think so.)

Subscribe to Task & Purpose Today. Get the latest military news, entertainment, and gear in your inbox daily.

An unusual bullpup-style assault rifle that chambered caseless ammunition (and a personal favorite of the Task & Purpose team), firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch offered the prototype G11 assault rifle to the U.S. Army during the Advanced Combat Rifle (ACR) program that ran from 1986 to 1990. Defined by its blocky appearance, only 1,000 units of the G11 were ever produced, and the rifle eventually entered cinematic history as the Magnetic Accelerator 1X.31A particle weapon pilfered from a museum armory exhibit in 2032 by insane convict Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) in the dystopian action comedy Demolition Man.

The XM29 Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW), also known as the Selectable Assault Battle Rifle or SABR, was a post-ACR attempt to produce a hybrid 5.56mm assault rifle-airburst grenade launcher firearm in order to replace the M16, the M4 carbine, and the M203 grenade launcher all in one sitting. Developed as part of the DoDs Small Arms Master Plan (SAMP) weapon series that ran from the mid-1990s until 2005, the insanely-bulked but undeniably-futuristic-looking XM29 became a featured firearm in the hands of Jean-Claude Van Damme in Universal Solider: The Return and that godawful final Pierce Brosnan James Bond flick Die Another Day, although both versions were in fact mocked-up MP5 and G36Ks, respectively, per the Internet Movie Firearms Database.

The cancellation of the XM29 OICW gave birth to a handful of successor prototypes, chief among them the XM25 semiautomatic airbursting grenade launcher that was developed from the XM29s grenade launcher module. While other prototype weapons often died on the vine before seeing rigorous field testing, the Punisher actually ended up in the hands of 101st Airborne Division soldiers in Afghanistan before field testing was halted in 2013 and the program was formally killed in 2017. Luckily for the moviegoing public, the Punisher found a second life as an extremely deadly surprise for guards at a Russian prison when Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) takes out their observation tower in the Marvel movie Black Widow.

A modular assault rifle spun off from the rifle portion of the XM29 OICW, the XM8 that emerged in 2002 based on Heckler & Kochs G36 rifle series was seen as a potential replacement for the M4 carbine and M16, but according to the Internet Movie Firearms Database, Army personnel who got their hands on the prototypes immediately complained about the weight of the system as well as a the low battery life of the integrated optic and a handguard that melted during sustained use. The only true cinematic appearance of the rifle, which features a distinctive curved handle and birdcage flash hider, was in XXX: State of the Union, where this bad boy graced the likes of Ice Cube and Samuel L. Jackson. (The weapons appearance in Children of Men and District 13: Ultimatum, were apparently Airsoft replicas.)

Want to write for Task & Purpose? Click here. Or check out the latest stories on our homepage.

See the rest here:
The dead US military weapons that came back to life as Hollywood future firearms - Task & Purpose

Why so serious?Jokerfied

The villainous Joker, from the world of "Batman," has been brought to life on screen in numerous memorable performances: Jack Nicholson in "Batman" (1989), Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (2008) and even Juaquin Phoenix "Joker" (2019.)

One casting we never got to see was famed "Saturday Night Live" cast member Chris Farley as the iconic bad guy, since he tragically passed away in 1997. But thanks to the magic of text-to-image artificial intelligence Midjourney, now we can see what might have been:

The images are clearly evocative, rendering Farley's arresting countenance in the ominous face paint and purple-suited sleaze of the noted Batman nemesis, and they've been reverberating across the web for several days now. It's canny casting concept, not the least because Farley, like Ledger, died young under tragic circumstances.

But the shots also invoke philosophical questions with which the world is only starting to grapple in the age of advanced and increasingly democratized AI-powered creativity tools. After all, it's one thing to whip together a few images of a might-have-been casting decision, but we're rapidly entering a period in which machine learning might feasibly allow fans to recast favorite films using deepfakes, or even leverage similar software to create entirely movies on their own.

Just yesterday, for instance, we heard about a guy who's painstakingly using AI tech to generate an entire sci-fi movie. For now, the outputs are spooky but not quite up to par. It's provocative, though, to imagine a day when a long-dead actor could be inserted into a movie made after he passed away or even a new one, sprung from fans' imaginations and the startling creative potential of AI.

More on killer clowns: Facial Recognition Tech Is No Match for Juggalo Makeup

Read the original post:
Here's How It'd Look If Chris Farley Played the Joker, According to AI - Futurism

Is the Mercedes EQS the car of the future? Photo: Mercedes-Benz

Its all change in the car world these days. Gas-powered models are being shown the door while sleek, battery-powered models packed full of tech are being ushered in. And all this is happening while automakers are trying to decide what a modern car looks like and how it should act in 2022.

And this got us thinking. Of all the new models released in recent years, do any of them feel truly modern and like the cars we were promised wed be driving by the time we reached the 2020s? So today, we want to uncover the most futuristic cars you can buy right now.

Futuristic can mean a lot of things when it comes to cars. It could be as simple as a sleek, minimalist style that looks straight out of a sci-fi epic. Or, it could be all about the futuristic tech crammed into the cabin, as long as it all works. Or, there could be a powertrain that you think really is the basis of our automotive future.

Whatever the reasoning and whatever the car, we want to hear about it.

In terms of the cars that offer a tangible taste of a future predicted by the movies, I think theres no better pick than the Mercedes EQS Sedan. This porpoise-like EV has that orb-like form that was promised in films like Wall-E, yet its cabin is packed with the soft glow of an inordinate amount of touch screens.

G/O Media may get a commission

And while an argument could be made for Tesla a few years back, the companys impressive electric range is already being matched by other automakers. And, if you think its self-driving capabilities make up for that, then please refer to the earlier stipulation that any futuristic tech youre considering must actually work.

So, with all that in mind, why dont you make like a tree and head straight to the comments section to let us know your picks for the most futuristic cars on sale right now. Well round up some of the top responses in a slideshow next week.

Follow this link:
Whats the Most Futuristic Car on Sale Right Now? - Jalopnik

Sandbox VR, a company responsible for opening 25 virtually reality locations around theUnited States, Canada, Asia and Europe, has recently announced the opening of its newest VR hub in Denver.

"Sandbox VRs socially immersive gaming experience combines full-body motion capture and high-quality haptics to provide unprecedented realism and complete immersion thats not possible with home VR systems or other location-based VR venues, taking group VirtualReality gameplay and competitive socializing to the next level," a news release said.

The Denver Sandbox VR, to be located at the Park Meadow Mall, will include five gaming rooms, where groups of six at a time can explore virtual worlds together and play games.

Upon arrival, guests will receivea VR headset, a haptic vest, a backpack, and motion sensors on their wrists and ankles. These will help them physically and visually interact with the virtual world of theirchoosing. So far, the company has announced six VR storylines that players can immerse themselves in, including a zombie apocalypse, gladiator battles, a supernatural encounter, an underwater adventure, a battle against androids, and a Star Trek-themed mission.

"Players experience heart-pounding, exhilarating, and unforgettably immersive gameplay when they fend off zombie hordes, enter a world of swashbuckling adventure, soar into the clouds in a space elevator or compete against one another in a futuristic combat arena the true future of immersive entertainment," the release said.

The location will officially open to the public on September 9. For more information, visit the Sandbox VR websitehere.

STAY INFORMED:Sign-up for the daily OutThere Colorado newsletter here

Go here to read the rest:
Futuristic virtual reality experience opens in Colorado - Out There Colorado

According to a CNBC investigation, retail giant Amazon which made solar power a key pillar of its planto reach zero emissions by 2040 secretly switched off all rooftop warehouse solar panels amid multiple fires and safety concerns.

"Out of an abundance of caution, following a small number of isolated incidents with onsite solar systems owned and operated by third parties, Amazon proactively powered off our onsite solar installations in North America, and took immediate steps to re-inspect each installation by a leading solar technical expert firm," an Amazon spokesperson conceded to CNBC in a statement.

The issue here isn't necessarily that Amazon clearly had some faulty tech on their hands. And if equipment is catching fire and threatening employee safety as AmazonBasics products have done before it should definitely be powered down. But the company failed to make the malfunctions and the subsequent shut-downs known to the public, which means that the company was apparently withholding info about both employee safety andits environmental efforts and impact.

Internal documents obtained by CNBC showed that between April 2020 and June 2021, there were at least six separate incidents of rooftop solar panels either catching fire or suffering electrical explosions. Forty-seven North American Amazon warehouses had these panels installed, meaning the dangerous malfunctions impacted roughly 12.7 percent of all such sites.

"The rate of dangerous incidents is unacceptable," an Amazon employee reportedly wrote in one internal report obtained by CNBC, "and above industry averages."

But these incidents and the following string of shutdowns and evaluations remained undisclosed, even though the Amazon's 2021 sustainability report released long after those shutdowns and evaluations were underway praised itself for its commitment to solar energy, domestically and beyond US borders.

"Many of our fulfillment facilities throughout the US, Europe, and India are powered by on-site solar," reads the 2021 report, "where a rooftop installation can power up to 80 percent of the facility's energy use."

According to CNBC, the documents also detailed extensive and frankly, alarming issues with the thousands of panels, as discovered by the company's third-party inspector.

"Over the past five years," read one internal document, blaming outside parties for Amazon's failures, "solar malfunctions have been caused by improper installation techniques, improper commissioning of a new system, inadequate system maintenance and equipment malfunction."

Amazon is no stranger to workplace dangers, nor is it exactly a climate hero. But this seems especially egregious. Maybe new solar panels are a better use for all that Blue Origin money, hm?

READ MORE:Amazon took all U.S. solar rooftops offline last year after flurry of fires, electrical explosions[CNBC]

More on bad Amazon behavior: Jeff Bezos Says the FTC Is Being Vewy Vewy Mean

Read this article:
Amazon Secretly Shut Down All Its Solar Rooftops After They Started Catching Fire - Futurism

This could be big.Over and Over

The secret of immortality may be contained within a jellyfish smaller than a human fingernail, so scientists have spent the last several decades trying to unlock the secrets ofTurritopsis dohrnii, more commonlycalled the immortal jellyfish.

On Monday, researchers from the Universidad de Oviedo in Spain published new research in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that just may help crack that mystery. Long story short, the immortal jellyfish appear to have twice as many copies of the genes associated with repair and protection than its related but mortal cousin, the crimson jellyfish known as Turritopsis rubra.

"While aging affects most living organisms, the hydrozoanTurritopsis dohrnii is the only species able to rejuvenate repeatedly after sexual reproduction, becoming biologically immortal," the authors wrote in the paper. "We have identified variants and expansions of genes associated with replication, DNA repair, telomere maintenance, redox environment, stem cell population, and intercellular communication."

DNA repair and telomeres are particularly important to the critter. When times are tough or the jelly is starving, it re-absorbs its own tentacles and sinks to the seafloor, where it becomes a baby polyp once more and spouts off more jellies that will eventually mature into medusae.

The jelly's telomeres act like little DNA hard hats, protecting the ends of chromosomal strands as they reproduce. Normally, telomeres get shorter and are "used up" during this process, but that isn't the case with Turritopsis dohrnii.

It's easy to envy the immortal jellyfish, but it's equally important to be careful what you wish for. We still don't know how Turritopsis dohrniiedits its cells so easily, and on a semantic and philosophical level, it's not clear whether the resulting medusae are the same individual or not.

Still, researchers have cause to be excited one of the best explanatory videos on the web about this special jelly describes how learning how to replace brain cells, for instance, could unlock new treatments for diseases that humans haven't yet been able to treat, like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.

In a statement, study author and Universidad de Oviedo professor confirmed the team hopes to find out how to help humans live longer.

"From this knowledge we hope to find better answers to the many diseases associated with aging that overwhelm us today," Carlos Lpez-Otn said.

More on medical needs: Illegal Online Pharmacies for Contraceptives Are Booming in Post-Roe America

More:
Scientists Say They Found the Genes That Makes Immortal Jellyfish Immortal - Futurism

"I went to my management and said, 'I'm not bringing it back. It stays here.'"Behemoth on Wheels

The launch of NASAs Artemis 1 mission has been delay to September 3,or perhaps further.It's an anticlimactic setback for all involved, but theres one man whos particularly aggrieved by the situation: John Giles, the crawler overseer.

The crawlers, as they're called, are NASA's gargantuan vehicles 131 feet long and 114 feet wide and supported by suitably massive treads that move the agency's colossally heavy spacecraft aroundat the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Now, if the September 3 launch doesnt work out, the Space Launch System (SLS) launching the mission will need to be hauled back to its Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for deeper diagnosis and repairs something Giles wants to avoid at all costs.

"I jokingly told them when we went to the pad and dropped it off this time, I went to my management and said, 'I'm not bringing it back. It stays here,'" Giles said in an interview with Mashable before the launch, originally scheduled for Monday, was delayed the first time. "'You gotta launch it because I'm not gonna take it back to the VAB.'"

Giles hilariously open chagrin is not unwarranted. Moving this marvel of engineering, which at the size of a skyscraper weighs millions of pounds and is precariously balanced atop an unwieldy vehicle, is monumentally stressful and boring. The crawler lumbers along at a literally sleep-inducing pace of less than one mile per hour, with drivers switching out along the way so none of them fall victim to its drowsy effects. All in all, it's an eight hour expedition from the hangar to the launchpad or vice versa.

"You get tired,"Giles toldMashable. "You start to see things."

Giles weary annoyance is so palpable, it may be enough to will this launch into actually happening. After all, who would want to draw the ire of the all important crawler overseer?

And Giles is already pretty worn and weary. The treads, known as "shoes," are a major point of concern for him, as each journey wears them thinner and thinner.

"Every roll stresses me because of the amount of weight and the amount of value of what we're carrying," Giles said in the Mashable interview.

NASA definitely doesn't want to piss this guy off any further.

More on NASA: James Webb Just Took Its First Direct Image of an Exoplanet

See the original post:
Guy Who Has to Move NASA Moon Rocket Back to Hangar Very Annoyed - Futurism

Neodash is a fresh Native Linux racing game that combines futuristic bright neon visuals with crazy-fast drifting. What you get is something that clearly resembles the awesome racing-platformer Distance, but pumped up on some serious steroids and a little Trackmania too even.

Honestly, this looks absolutely awesome. Screenshots don't do it justice, have a look at the trailer below.

"Define your own path and survive until you reach the end that lies ahead of you by swerving, drifting and flying across traps and obstacles while avoiding the abyss. But there's a catch: the world is disintegrating at your heels; better go fast, or you might not make it.

Neodash plunges you in a unique sci-fi atmosphere that is brought to life by music: the environment reacts to the beat in different ways, creating a thrilling and immersive audio-visual experience."

Game Features:

Available to buy on Steam.

View post:
Futuristic drift-racer Neodash is out now on Steam and looks wild - GamingOnLinux