Super power eyes now a reality - GPS in glasses, blood sugar level monitoring contact lenses...

New technology is popping up all over in multi speed and it´s exciting how much fun stuff is invented - I sometimes feel like being in a sci-fi movie (or a 'future' vision from the 50´s... see further down in this post) This knowledge is borrowed from http://www.trendcentral.com/ 

Being a white witch, I prefer my third eye, and I believe that´s where the greatest wisdom will eventually be found, but until then we have:

Transcendent ski goggles: Transcend, a collaboration between Vancouver’s Recon Instruments and Colorado’s Zeal Optics, is the world’s first GPS-enabled pair of ski goggles. Unobtrusive built-in displays monitor speed, altitude, distance, location, temperature and more, both frontally and peripherally. By connecting the goggles and computer by USB cord and installing free post-processing software, users can even share and compare their TrueStats on a social network of sorts.  

Triggerfish Contact Lenses: The news of imminent augmented reality in the form of a sixth human sense has already made the rounds, but it may be closer than anyone expected. Triggerfish contact lenses, the invention of Swiss scientists at Sensimed, can already be used to monitor blood sugar levels in people with diabetes and look for signs of glaucoma by recording slight changes in cornea curvature. The lenses are powered by a loop antenna, which users tape to their faces. However, researchers’ hope is that the integration of familiar technology with microelectronics, as demonstrated by Triggerfish, will ultimately allow for the addition of direct in-eye 3D and Sixth Sense Technology. An iEye may not be too far off.

emPower Glasses: Made by Virginia-based lens developer PixelOptics, emPower glasses run on unique battery-powered technology. Similar in concept to the Priva-Lite glass used in the flagship Prada store’s dressing rooms, liquid crystal molecules reorient to vary refracted light, just as normal lenses do by varying in thickness. Users need only touch the side of the frames to turn reading power on or off.

Thanks to trendcentral, published by The Intelligence Group (imagine having that on your business card!!!), a trend research and consumer insights company focusing on youth culture. For more information on our services, or to subscribe to our syndicated Cassandra Report studies, please contact Alina Goncalves at agoncalves@intelg.com.

And now, some insighs from the past...

In 1950 the magazine Popular Mechanics posed the question "What will life be like in the year 2000?" and Waldemar Kaempffert, the science editor of the New York Times, tried to answer. 

we were going to see miracles.

It was going to be a world of planned suburban communities built in the shape of ever increasing concentric circles with a jet port at the hub, factories and offices next to that, and tracts of land for mass-produced family homes beyond. 

Supersonic jets would be a common sight, though the family car would give way to the family helicopter, which would be built in robotic factories. Atomic plants wouldn't be a major source of energy except in the northern regions or to propel ships, while solar power would run most of the world.

Everything would be electric, pollution free and, above all, orderly. 

Agriculture would have long ago failed to keep pace with population, so a large fraction of daily fare would be synthetics, such as sugars and starches made from sawdust or wood pulp.  Even recycled cloth would be turned into food.

Not that anyone would do much cooking. Frozen foods and microwave ovens would turn boiling, frying, and roasting into curiosities; the Food Channel would never come to be, and Jamie Oliver would be parking cars for a living.

There wouldn't be any dishwashing machines, however. Dishes would be designed to dissolve in a stream of superheated water and flow down the drain

Even table clothes and napkins would be made of paper woven to resemble the finest Irish linen in look and feel.  Use it to today, have it recycled by the synthetic food people as next week's dinner. 

Television, of course, would be everywhere and would have long ago been wedded to the telephone.  Even shopping would be done by videophone with department store assistants giving personal attention to customers via television cameras. Less the Internet than a more aggravating version of the Home Shopping Network.

Shaving would be a thing of the past as men smeared depilatory cream on their beards. 

Housework in the year 2000 would be as effortless as turning on the tap, because everything in the house would be waterproof.  Just hose down the sofa, the chairs, the rug, the Picasso, and give the living room a going over with an industrial size blower.