In my grandfathers day we invented recorded music
In my fathers day we invented subwoofers
In my day we invented little purple flames that make music?

Sounds crazy but its true, I like to think I'm up to date with all the happenings of technology but in the midst of all thats new I stumbled across a somewhat old technology that is being perfected for new use.

 
The Plasma speaker is an electronic discharge between 2 points that creates an arc which produces sound; in amazing quality. Albeit the flame mainly produces high end frequencies but it does that with ease due to the fact that it has no real threshold like that of a traditional speaker design which is limited by the excursion of the cone due to the foam surround. These speakers are not yet in commercial production (most likely due to the inherent fire and electrocution dangers!) but there are certain companies now looking at high end consumer electronics market for possible purchasers. The technology behind this speaker dates back nearly 100 years to the singing arc created by William Duddell. 
 
I find it very exciting to see a genuinely new technology emerge with promise of changing the way we do things. So on the topic I thought I'd seek out some other groundbreaking designs and see what's in store for us!

The first of these I found was the LASER TELEVISION: Australian company Arasor International and US partner Novalux announced what they claim to be the world's first laser television. Its meant to be twice as clear, half as much and extremely energy conscious in comparison with the current LCD/Plasma systems. For all those people who have just bought a new oled plasma or lcd this could be heartbreaking as laser technology seems to be the way things are going to go!
 

 
Microsoft Surface: Getting on a bit now but still worth a mention as it really is a great idea, even if incomplete.
Think about a coffee table sized Ipod touch with multi touch, bluetooth and wifi, that can be installed into any flat surface you can find. In use its practicalities make sense, imagine a coffee shop with one in every table so you can sit down, throw your phone on the table and drag your photos onto your friends phone, then as soon as the table feels that your glass is no longer cold it could ask whether you want another drink and let you pay by credit card, all right there on your table!
 

Amazing really. Check it out at microsoft.com

With all this excitement it can be easy to overlook how much we rely on technology and how it's killing us through obesity, but I just can't get over the new apps I just got for my iPhone!

Live Long and Prosper!
 
ADAM G