Things I Think Are Kinda Cool

Back in 1958, Americans had an exuberantly optimistic view of the future…jet packs, robots, dinner with the “Jetsons”. This video, “Magic Highway USA” is taken from the Disneyland TV show, and features some of the lofty dreams we had about driving, commuting, and vacationing in the future. Some predictions actually did come true, like car rearview video cameras, but others were way too ambitious, like auto-piloted cars controlled by flimsy paper punchcards. Sit back and enjoy some retro-futurist kitsch:

-via Metafilter

I was in Amsterdam a few weeks ago and spotted this Samsung-produced 3D projection mapping demo…it was even more impressive in person.

If you’re brave enough, click here for an insanely complicated explanation of  3D projection mapping, which is the method of mapping three-dimensional points to a two-dimensional plane.

-via @BuzzEdition

A newfangled high-tech machine called the ‘Berlin Brain-Computer Interface’ uses brain waves to give commands to machines.  In this vid, the player simply has to think about moving his left or right hand, and the corresponding pinball flipper is flicked.  Besides this being freaky/amazing, imagine the possibilities for paralyzed people.  Wow.

-Make via Neatorama

Check out this video montage of movie special effects from the past 100 years. It’s stunning to see how far technology has come. It’s also crazy to think how filmgoers in the early 20th century were absolutely WOWED at effects that today we’d consider hilariously primitive and corny.

-Chunnel TV via Buzzfeed

This video reminded me of how much I LOVED “Tron” as a kid. Take a look at these two trailers. The first one is for the original 1982 film, and the second is for the 3-D sequel, “Tron Legacy”, coming out next year. I can’t wait!