Originally published February 15 2006
Experts hail the arrival of new high-tech gadgets on the market
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
USA Today provides a list of exciting high-tech products like the electronic coffee table and GPS-guided walkers, which will eventually become available to consumers.
The tech industry is pumping out all sorts of cool products: flat-screen TVs the size of the Acropolis, nanotech golf balls that only Mr. Magoo could hit into the woods, cellphones that mix cocktails for you.
Maybe that last one is still wishful thinking.
"It's a robot that cleans up after a party," says Sebastian Thrun, director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab at Stanford University.
"It takes a snapshot before the party and tries to restore that state by picking up bottles and glasses after the party."
You thought a coffee table's only job was to look nice while holding martini glasses?
Lots of companies have been working on large touchscreen surfaces.
Both Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft are working on building such a surface into a coffee table, which would be loaded with electronics and connected to the Internet.
"People can sit around the coffee table and surf the Web, share digital photos and videos and play games," says an HP Labs document.
Let's say Grandpa regularly grabs his walker and heads off to bed but winds up in the neighbor's garage.
Stanford has built a prototype of an intelligent walker with embedded sensors, voice recognition and Global Positioning System technology.
The GPS combined with indoor sensors could know where the walker is, map the route to the bedroom and avoid hazards such as stairs, low furniture and the cat while guiding Grandpa to bed.
Microsoft Research chief Rick Rashid has been pitching this project coming out of his labs.
Skiers could see a map showing how to get to the lodge from where they'd just done a face-plant.
Then again, if the skier had a cellphone that mixed cocktails, getting to the lodge would be less critical.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml