Tomorrow's Tech Today

As I have mentioned several times before, science fiction writers, my humble self included, are usually the visionaries who bring us our first look at the cutting edge technology of the future.
Yes, that's right, I may have missed my opportunity to prove to the world that I predicted the smart phone, but I can now boast about how I came up with night vision contacts before they were a thing. Taking a look back at what predictions have come true is almost as much fun as looking at the ones that passed us by. But today, I'd like to kick start a few futuristic advances that we totally need in the present. Below is a list of advances I  would like to see mass produced and available to the general public in the near future:

#1 Copy/Paste Stylus
Do you use multiple tech platforms? I do and often I find myself using them at the same time. Every so often, I'll look something up on my tablet while I'm writing on my computer. It's just faster that way. But occasionally, I will need to copy the info I found on the tablet to the computer, which typically involves finding it again on the computer, which I was trying to avoid in the first place.
Enter the CopyPaste Stylus. It works like a regular stylus, but when something is highlighted, it can be stored in the pen's memory and be pasted onto a different device.
Apparently, Microsoft currently has similar tech in development on a larger scale, but it's years away from consumer use. What I'm looking for would be an item between $10-50 that I could pick up at Best Buy or Fry's.

#2 Climate Controlled Clothing
As in, clothing that will heat up in the winter and cool down in the summer. No, I don't mean thermal underwear or those expensive workout shirts with 'wicking action.' I'm talking about a full body outfit that heats up or chills out depending on the current weather conditions.
Why? Because I live in Texas, where it frequently gets up over 100℉ and going outside becomes dangerous. Shorts and tank tops are actually the worst in this situation because sweat tends to happen when exposed flesh meets exposed flesh and also, skin cancer is no joke.
Also, I freeze at the drop of a hat and despite what people claim, you can't always just throw on another sweater. Eventually, you become immobile and your extremities are still frost bitten.
A lightweight, flexible, soft material imbued with some nontoxic chemical that reacts to outside stimuli is what I'm looking for. I want to be able to buy my all weather suit for about $50 at JC Penney's or Macy's.

#3 Nerf Cars
Seriously, why isn't this a thing? Maybe not Nerf, per se, but some sort of shock absorbing material that renders fatal car crashes obsolete. Why do cars have to be made entirely of metal and cheap plastic? A lovely, gelatinous ooze encased in some highly unbreakable matrix of nylon and rubber would not only be safe, but look cool as well. Imagine the color options!
I don't even want to think about what the car companies would gouge us for if this was real, but I'd like to think the ooze would somehow also provide energy via photosynthesis, rendering the need for fossil fuels obsolete as well. I'd pay at least $20k for something the size of a smart car that looks like a Nickelodeon game show exploded.

What about you? What cutting edge technology do you think we are clearly lacking at the moment?

Comments

  1. I'd like to see these become commonly available: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/contact-lenses-with-night-vision-could-be-on-the-way-thanks-to-graphene-breakthrough-9208212.html

    They had a breakthrough with the material graphene and they're making contact lenses with night vision capabilities. Now if they could get really fancy with them and make ones with thermal imaging and the ability to zoom in and out as well, that would be crazy cool. :)

    I'd also like to see the creation and mass production of zero point power modules to eliminate the need for batteries and other sources of energy, but I don't think they're anywhere near creating something like that yet.

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