To those who work in the software industry (and other people privy to secret information that you feel compelled to release, ha ha) I address this post.
The American government and companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Lockheed Martin develop technology years before it is available to the consumer. What new and interesting things are likely to soon appear (read: what the hell DO they have)?
I know everything posted in response to this would be conjecture, but I’m still interested in speculation.
Later
(p.s. I’ve read the usual stories in Time and Newsweek that predict refrigerators that will reorder their supplies, automatic lawnmowers, etc. Write about the neat stuff-- VR, neural networks, the IBM commercial where the computer image is project on the guy’s retina, etc.)
I’m not a Microsoft, IBM, et al. employee, but it seems to be that you could get most of this information from the latest science magazines like SciAm or Discovery (which do spend a lot of time prattling on about neural nets and retina screens) or from checking out one of the larger computer trade shows (ComDex) and if you can’t afford the plane ticket, reading the articles about what Microsoft had laying out on the booth. After all, it’s in their interest to keep your interest in the company.
“I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
I work for an automotive taillight plant (formerly a division of General Motors.) Our new products section was always trying to come up with stuff to sell to the car divisions. The new sonar you’re-about-to-back-into-something warning available on some Ford models? We tried to sell that in the '60’s. Nobody wanted it. LED taillights? We tried in vain to sell that years before they went into production. Liquid crystal side mirror dimming? Nobody ever bought that. Heated side mirrors? That was a hard sell, but we sold some of those. My point is that once you make a brilliant invention, you still have to find a market for it.
{quote]Liquid crystal side mirror dimming? Nobody ever bought that.
[/quote]
But what goes around comes around. Jaguar sedans have had liquid crystal interior rearview mirror dimmming (complete with glare sensor so it doesn’t dim when nobody’s behind you) since '95 or earlier.
The local electric co. here tried to build a home of the future where everything would be computer regulated, but they never could get the house to work properly! It was supposed to go on display for the general public to tour, but it never opened its doors.
Overall, there’s nothing new under the sun that hasn’t already been dreamed up and/or prototyped. The driving factor is economics which often can make or break an idea from getting beyond prototype.
Well, we’re working on major advances in the hot world of data backup and recovery. Interesting stuff, let me tell you. Shall I go into it in great detail?
As part of my job, I evaluate new technologies in the field of Biology. One of things I’ve found facinating that is all the predictive software system available for various organ systems and biochemical pathways.
The idea is, it track the metabolism of a drug in a virtual environment, and ultimately should be able to tell you what byproducts and related side effects can be expected before it’s ever tested in humans.
We’re also pretty damn close to the hand held DNA chip analysis system that will have applications for:
the battlefield to alert troops if a a biological weapon has been released
the crime scene so police can instantly match up suspects with bodily fluid samples (blood/ semen/ etc.)
Well I work for a company that does the kind of work you’re talking about, and I have a TS clearance, but believe it or not there isn’t much we do that isn’t released to the public in descriptive form. Of course we don’t release details that our competitors could use, but if we make a breakthrough we want everyone to know it. Most of the black projects aren’t based on “secret inventions”, they’re simply applications of known technology. Magazines like Aviation Week and Scintific American will report breakthroughs, it’s the application to a military use that is black. A good example of this is the air force’s 117 and B2 programs, I’m not aware of any scientific breakthroughs that were revealed when those programs came out of the black. It was the engineering that was being protected, not some radical scientific breakthrough.
That being said, we’re working on an implantable chip that will…
There’s the “pain gas” nerve agent that doesn’t kill you, but causes you to suffer days of unbearable agony. How do I know about it? I’m psychic (and that’s another story…)
I’m guessing they wanted it, but didn’t want to PAY for it. Didn’t Ford turn down the guy who invented the intermittant windshield wiper and then steal it from him? (Or is that an urban legend…I do remember seeing him on Letterman stating his case.)
"Hi, I’m Troy McClure! You may remember me from such medical films as “Alice Doesn’t Live Anymore” and “Mommy, What’s Wrong with That Man’s Face?”
