Current Future

One of the reasons I started this hub was to promote an upbeat view of the future. It seems like people have been living half-asleep, doing the things they do just because that's what they always do. Technology has become so common that innovation just sneaks in unappreciated.

So here, I point out the little things gone right. The cool, interesting and new keeps life from going stale. I try not to promote products that I believe are a step in the wrong direction, though. So you aren't going to find info on new weapons, drugs, or any other item that promotes destruction.

That said, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Post a comment at the bottom of this page if you've heard of something that's current future and would like to see it featured, or if there's something you've always wanted and want to know if it exists.

So, until next time, stay awake, be positive, and keep current. I see a bright future ahead!

Writers are going to have it pretty good this decade with the upcoming products that seem designed for word nerds.

Here's a link to an interesting article on products becoming available now, such as the laser-projected keyboard and a pen that stores handwritten information.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/edwardbaig/2002-09-24-baig_x.htm

Also, for readers, check out www.plasticlogic.com for new tech to read from, and www.thereadersretreat.com , which showcases new authors in electronic formats.

Self-publishing is getting easier and easier these days with the advent of POD (print on demand ) technology, available at www.lulu.com for the bare-bones submit and print. If you want more than that for your masterpiece, you can go with a POD vanity press, which will sell you any number of services to go with your book, such as cover design, editing and proofreading, and marketing.

Easier may not always mean better, however. I have to warn you that "marketing" is usually just a slot on their website, where only the other authors are going to see it. And some POD presses don't actually read your work, much less edit it. They are just happy to get your money for printing it,and they don't care what they print. Which means that if you have typos, misspellings, bad grammar, or other hallmarks of sloppy workmanship, it will be immortalized in paper and ink. Even if your work doesn't have these flaws, its image will be tarnished by association with the many other books produced by that press that do have them.

One POD press, www.booklocker.com , will actually read your work and if it's unsatisfactory, will reject it. This is actually good news. They take care of their image, and in so doing, take care of the image of their books and authors.

A caveat of self-publishing for all you would-be authors - bookstores are capable of ordering your book, but they will refuse to stock it. So marketing is harder, and effective marketing is entirely up to you. The good news is that this won't be an issue for those of you out there who just want a personal copy and a few for friends and family.

If you're reading this, then you are obviously already aware of http://hubpages.com , which allows amateur bloggers the opportunity to write on any subject and possibly get paid through Google Adsense, www.amazon.com , and www.ebay.com . I hear www.cafepress.com is also "on the radar" for affiliation with Hubpages.

CafePress is another cool place for writers and designers to get their work "out there" and where it can generate some cash. Basically, you design an image, send it in and select products for it to be printed on, and set a price for the finished product. People buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, mousepads, etc. with your cool and unique image or witty line, and you get the profits.

Personally, I think the website is geared more toward recruiting designers than toward selling products, but that might be fixed by setting up your own website to promote your products and doing some aggressive marketing.

Coming up, I hope to have more gadgets and cool tech to report, but until then, I'll be working on an expose of food additives and organic products, both for this page and my Just Causes hub.

When it comes to futuristic innovation, the cleaning industry has been wide awake.

Our germ-phobic and appearance-obsessed generation now has an arsenal of cleaners to assault grime, stains, and bacteria.

Cleaning is, of course, only new for college freshmen. But now there are faster, better more efficient ways to clean than ever before. Consider the Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser. (http://www.mrclean.com ) It looks like a scrubbing sponge, and you use it like a scrubbing sponge. The difference is that it rubs away all kinds of scuff marks, mildew, soap scum, crayon marks... you get the idea.

Another product I like is the Swiffer line of sweepers and mops. When I first saw this, I thought it was just another lame attempt at replacing the broom with something you have to get refills for. But a broom just doesn't pick up cat fur, dust, and those crunchy little specks that are the reason you put on shoes just to walk in the kitchen. The Swiffer swivels and swoops to get under the table, the refrigerator, that odd little corner beside the stove, and a hundred other places a broom just won't reach.  See it at (where else?) http://www.swiffer.com .

And if you don't want to take the time to actually sweep the floor yourself, check out the Roomba robot vacuum. http://www.irobot.com  can take you to the page where they detail all the things that make this robot great. It's cute, too.

And if it's mopping you would like done, you can see its close cousin, the Scooba, at  http://www.irobot.com./sp.cfm?pageid=125 .

But what about something you always wished you had? Something that you could take with you to get rid of stains on the spot, like when you drip salsa onto your new shirt at the Mexican restaurant? How about the Tide To Go pen? http://www.tide.com . All I can say is, it's about time! Why is it that white attracts salsa, anyway?

I'll be doing a follow-up later on more cleaning products, but until then, stay clean and play nice!

"Hey, glad you could make it. I have extra floats if the kids need 'em."

"No thanks, their suits have floats built in. Oh, nice tan, by the way. I've never seen you tan before."

"I know, I always burn! Can you believe this is a spray-on?"

"No way!"

"Yes! And so is the sunblock. Here, you might want to get the kids with it before they get in the water."

"Wow, just like hairspray. Oh, got any bug spray? Mosquitoes just eat Molly alive."

"I already did the whole backyard. It's supposed to last a week."

"Great. Oh, I brought you something."

"What is it?"

"A Grapple. Looks like an apple, tastes like a grape."

"Sure smells like one. Hey, after the kids wear themselves out, you wanna watch Back to the Future? I have the whole series on DVD. It's just hilarious the way they thought the future was going to be just like the '80s, only extreme."

"Don't laugh yet. I hear the '80s are back."

"You're kidding, right?"

"I wish I was."

I love hardwood floors. Or laminate floors. Or even vinyl. Anything that doesn't require hauling out a vacuum to clean it is a winner in my book.

 I honestly don't know what made people think carpet was such a wonderful idea in the first place. It traps dirt, moisture, and teeny-tiny little critters like dust mites and holds them until you finally get fed up and rip it out. Then you either replace it with more carpet and start the cycle all over again, or you get something you can mop.

The upside of carpet is that it's cheap, comes in several colors, and feels cozy to walk on. But what happens if you get a stain on it that soaks through to the foam underneath and won't come up?

One solution is to get carpet tile. http://www.floorbiz.com/carpet/carpet-buying-guide/carpet-construction/carpet-tile-floors.htm has some info on this type of product. http://www.interfaceflor.com/ is a major manufacturer of carpet tile and I have to admit they have some pretty nice stuff. Carpet tile is made in sections that you can pull up and replace easily, so if you have a spot you just can't save, at least you won't have to replace the whole carpet.

However, carpet or capet tile, it still needs vacuumed. So my personal top pick for the floor of the future is... bamboo.

I love the bamboo flooring that's out now. So far I've seen it at Sam's Club, but I'm pretty sure other places are carrying it now too.

So what makes it more special than other types of laminate flooring? One word: Renewability.

Bamboo is practically a weed in some areas of the country. It's a grass (yes, grass. Not a tree.) that thrives in most warm environments, in just about any soil, and spreads like crazy. If you want to plant some bamboo in your yard for its decorative effect, be sure to line the hole you plant it in, or better yet, don't let it out of its pot or you won't be able to find your house next year.

As far as building materials go, nothing to my knowledge compares to the growth of bamboo. Check out http://www.bamboohardwoods.com/ for examples of flooring and several other building materials made from this environmentally friendly source. Save the hardwoods, the rainforests, and the other real trees and buy bamboo!

Now all they need to do is come out with a good use for kudzu.  

As the world is slowly frying in the reality of global warming, I sit in my air-conditioned house, unwilling to venture out among the UV rays and get some #### exercise.

I also don't want to open the power bill. Recently, my power company changed its name from **** Power to **** Energy. (Name changed to protect the ... whoever.)

Big whoop. So they changed their name. I know what's going on - a little spin to make it seem like they simply supply energy. The truth of it is, power is more accurate. Power is what they have over little old me, in my house, locked into their grid, with no way of bargaining for a better price elsewhere.

Right?

Maybe not. I'm aware that solar power, also known as photovoltaics, has been around for ages, but here's a hint that it may be breaking through into practical, large-scale applications.

Solar shingles. Instead of a gigantic array of panels on top of your home, why not put these up the next time you redo your roof? They look pretty normal, maybe a bit shiny, but are durable, unobtrusive, and they work. Some people who have them claim that on sunny days, their power - excuse me - energy meters run backwards and the energy company pays them. OMG - bills in reverse. The order of the world is being turned upside down and inside out and I like it!

However, (sorry, but I have to burst the bubble now) they are EXPENSIVE. I really don't know what they cost, but when you figure how much it costs to replace a roof, and add a little more for the technology, and a little more for the wiring ... well, no wonder they recommend that you check with your state for any programs that might subsidize this eco-friendly home improvement. And so far, I'm only sure that California has such programs in place. (Figures. It's always California - land of trends, good, bad, or otherwise.)

But if you want to check them out, here's a site - www.openenergycorp.com . Also check out www.hgtv.com and search for solar shingles. There is a load of info about this, so I'll be updating the list with regular additions.

You'll never guess what happened to me today.

This morning, I woke up, and it was (drum roll here) THE FUTURE!

 What happened? I went to bed last night thinking everything was normal, the same old stuff going on the world as usual, all that junk that really has nothing to do with me. Technology was for techies, nerds, and geeks - which I could never manage to become, no matter how hard I tried.

Being somewhat mathematically challenged, I was always too intimidated by computers to actually buy one until the promise of "user-friendly" gave me courage. Even then, I practiced on the college computers (I know! I waited until COLLEGE to use a computer!) and got help from another student before I dared to open Word. I started out afraid of breaking the thing by committing some horrible, unknown tech faux pas. Gradually, that changed. But I still never felt part of the technological revolution that all those techie people were always talking about.

Until this morning.

This morning, I drank coffee from a self heating mug. (You may recall from the beginning of this story, I said I woke up to the future. Well, I did. I just didn't wake up until after the coffee, which any normal human being can understand.)

And now, thoroughly buzzed by coffee and and the promise of a brighter, more practical future, I am typing furiously (wow I didn't know I could type so fast) about how technology has finally emerged from the darkness of incremental improvements which are only relevant to people who keep track of such things, to the big wide world of stuff everybody can understand and has always wished for.

This is the practical sort of invention that has appeared in science fiction for years, but nobody had bothered to actually invent and market.

 H.G. Wells would be proud.

 Now, I'm aware that magazines like Popular Science make it a practice to tease us with these developments, but it takes years for them to hit the mainstream.

Come on already! I want real instant coffee! I want indie movies shot on cell phone cameras! I want a refrigerator that reminds me to buy milk! And I want real, practical and affordable ways to conserve, create and store energy so my bills actually go down!

 I would think any sane person would want these things, but then, it may just be the futuristic coffee talking.

You may be wondering "Where can I get futuristic coffee?" or "Is there really any such thing?" or even, "She sounds really crazy- and what's with all the !!!!?"

For those of you asking the last question, crazy happens to be an asset when you write fiction.

For the rest of you, the coffee is not fiction. It's Wolfgang Puck's gourmet latte in OnTech's self-heating mug. I went to the OnTech site - www.ontech.com - and checked out the slide show on how it works. Self-heating mugs are old news in other countries, but then, they don't deal with the FDA.

These have been out since last winter, but somehow I missed them. They're available at Publix, Krogers, and BJ's Wholesale. Also see www.wpgourmetlattes.com

OnTech's mug works by releasing water into crushed limestone, in a little heat-transferring capsule that then heats the beverage in the container. They say they see possibilities for baby formula, soup, and hot chocolate, too. I'm thrilled. Can you imagine? A must-have for camping trips, vehicle emergency kits, and diaper bags.

Oh, and FYI, the coffee alone is not producing the buzz. I'm thinking that it's reacting to a new prescription I have - normally I don't take much medicine at all, so I shouldn't have had caffeine until I knew how I would react - but I forgot. Whoops. I'll try to be more careful in the future - starting today.

I have just seen the coolest screensaver ever - and I don't even care about automotive assembly.

This thing shows every part, every bolt, every belt and washer involved in building an engine, virtually assembled before your eyes to the beat of techno-freak music. The animation is incredible - shadows, the sheen of machined metal, the changing reflections are all totally believable. The bolts spin into place. And then, it gives a little demo of how the compression chambers work. Cool stuff, and educational too. I'll see if I can find a link to it to put here.

In other news, I have finally given in and gotten a Myspace page. Something strange though - all the crazy people pick "Aponi" as their name... oh wait, Myspace is flooded with crazy people of every name. I guess that pretty much reflects the state of the world. Anyway, my "Aponi" has the cat picture also found as my profile image here at Hubpages, so if you want to find me, there I am. And there aren't all that many "Aponi's" to go through.

Affiliate marketing is the next big thing for earning money on the 'net. Later this year I'll probably be putting up a hub about that, when I redesign all my sites, sigs, and stuff for the new year.

What else is cool, new, and usable in the here and now? You tell me, and I'll gladly link to your site to find out more about it. Post a comment and let me know what you want to know!