io9
retro futurism
Posts Tagged “
Future
”
the future of us manga
What Happens When Otaku Grow Up?
We've previously told you about Japanese publisher Kodansha opening a New York office and courting American comic creators, but have they arrived in America too late? What happens when the teenage audience who created the manga publishing boom in the US grows up? Journalist Kai-Ming Cha, writing about this weekend's Anime Expo, worries that maturity will mean putting away childish things. More »
retro futurism
1964 Teen Mag Predicts Inflatable Sofas, Glass Houses, and GPS
Co-ed was “The High School Magazine for Homemakers” from the 1950s to 1970s. In 1966, it took a peek at future household technology. Home computers figured prominently (“Imagine having a mechanical secretary to keep budgets, figure your income tax, or plan your menus!”), along with home video recorders. Not surprisingly, the balance of the items featured in the article “Tuning in Tomorrow” were aimed at the future housewives of America. More »
death race
First Look At Death Race's Deadly Mask
The official website for Death Race, the quasi-remake of road-rage classic Death Race 2000 starring Jason Statham, just went live. And it includes this glimpse of the metal mask that Statham wears as Frankenstein, the star racer of the prison where he's locked up. Statham wears that mask as he pretends to be the dead superstar, racing against other felons in the super-popular televised race, where the prize is survival. Click through to see a gallery of desktop themes from the website, including some awesome fiery car porn. More »
retro futurism
Streamlined Cars Blaze at 120 mph in 1930s Future City
Here's a brief, animated glimpse of a future city where torpedo cars rocket along on elevated highways. It comes from a 1930s industrial film on automotive streamlining, hence the awed tone of wonder in the narrator's voice when he describes the completely streamlined car of the future - alas, "entirely impractical" on today's streets.
future architecture
Pop-Up Hotel Rooms Of The Future
Tiny, folded hotel rooms will make up the refugee world of tomorrow. Cutting-edge technology can now bring adventurers a tidy hotel room right in the middle of the wilderness. The French company Abilmo has created a hotel room that can be constructed in a few moments in any location. It's about 130 square feet and has everything a standard hotel room can offer, including lighting, air conditioning and a bathroom. How long until these little 3-star Hoovervilles start popping up near Comic-Con? Click through to for more details and assembly instructions. More »
future cities
Rotating, Wind-Controlled Skyscrapers Dominate the Skyline of Eco-Cities
You might have heard about the rotating skyscrapers already — one is set to be built in Moscow, and the other in Dubai. Floors slowly rotate around the building in a variety of patterns, powered by giant wind turbines fitted between floors, so the entire structure appears to shift and move with the wind. They look amazing, and are also entirely wind-powered, so these sinuous mega-structures could be the key to high density eco-housing of the future. In this new video from the UK Guardian, the rotating skyscraper's architect David Fisher explains how the buildings' construction will be unique as well. Each pie-shaped suite is pre-made on the ground, and then its narrow end is locked on to a central shaft and then raised to the top of the building. So these crazy structures are literally made from the top-down. See how that works in this vid. [Rotating skyscrapers via UK Guardian]
retro futurism
Meet the Pre-Jetsons of 1956
It’s Monday, October 5, 2000. Mars has the Q-Bomb and some politician is blathering on about tax cuts. Instead of smell-o-vision, the newspaper carries smell-o-ads (and sex-o-ads, too). There’s a four-hour work day (with a two-hour lunch), a push button desk, and lots of other delights (not to mention some very retro gender stereotyping) in this clip from “Your Safety First” (1956), a promotional film from the Automobile Manufacturers of America. If you’re a fan of The Jetsons, it’ll seem strangely familiar—especially that voice!—but “Your Safety First” pre-dated the cartoon series by six years.
dystopian science fiction
Dystopian Science Fiction Can Save The World, According To You
If you want to save the world, you should study worst-case scenarios for the future, according to 20,000 science fiction fans. The Sci Fi Channel did an online poll, through its Visions For Tomorrow initiative, to find out the top "things to read, watch and do to save the world." And the winners were dark tales of a world gone to hell, including Blade Runner, 1984, Firefly, the new Battlestar Galactica and The Matrix. An exclusive first look at all the winners, below the fold. More »
2015
Make Your Own Cloverfield, For ABC's Fucked-Future Documentary
We're freaking doomed, according to a new documentary coming in September from ABC News. 2100 will look at the next century, which could be "the last century of our civilization," thanks to global warming, food and fuel shortages, population explosion and general apocalyptic mania. But ABC's super-depressing documentary also has a fun side — you get to create your own dystopian home movies, which may be featured as part of the show. The sample they showed on Good Morning America today looks incredibly Cloverfield-esque, which is a Good Thing. I'm almost ready for New York to vanish under the ocean if it means more teenagers will make their own dystopian home movies. [ABC News]
retro futurism
Glass Gowns Will Be the Height of 2000s Fashion, According to 1930s Experts
Zip-off sleeves, glass gowns, aluminum dresses, and towering hairdos to give Amy Winehouse a run for her money: they're what women will be wearing in the far future of 2000—at least according to this newsreel report from the 1930s. Men, it's the ever chic jumpsuit and beard combo for you. Oooo, swish! [via Jezebel]
the prisoner
The Prisoner May Be The One Scifi Show Worth Remaking
Before there was Lost's Dharma Initiative there was The Village from the trippy/paranoid 1960s TV series The Prisoner. And now a six-part miniseries is in the works remaking this spy-trapped-in-paradise show, starring Jim "Jesus" Caviezel as Number 6 and Ian McKellen as his main adversary, Number 2. More details about the future fantasy Prisoner after the jump. More »
Licensing International Expo
First Artwork From Terminator 4 And RoboCop Remake
New Terminator teaser art from Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins shows glowing robot eyes with terrible teeth, at yesterday's Licensing International Expo 2008 in New York. The weirdly British teeth only fuel our suspicions that the Terminators in T4 wil be more lifelike than ever. Other exciting images to come out of the expo this week include a teaser for the remake of RoboCop, Clone Wars statues and what I'm assuming is Sgt. Slaughter's drill outside of the G.I. Joe Hasbro licensing booth. Click through to see a gallery of images from New York's expo. More »
dystopian architecture
This will be the perfect little apartment loft when you live in the Warrens. It's only a matter of time before we destroy the world and run out of space and end up living on top of one another in fold out, pop-up lofts, similar to Blade Runner and The Fifth Element combined. French Marie Claire prepares us all for the future with this little loft that has a bed, desk, bathroom, fridge and microwave all in one (sliding in and out). The bathroom is located where the door is open, the front panel folds to turn into a cozy office, and the bed is on top. Total space: a little under 325 square feet. Click through for more pics.
More »
Future Digs For High Density Subterranean Living
This will be the perfect little apartment loft when you live in the Warrens. It's only a matter of time before we destroy the world and run out of space and end up living on top of one another in fold out, pop-up lofts, similar to Blade Runner and The Fifth Element combined. French Marie Claire prepares us all for the future with this little loft that has a bed, desk, bathroom, fridge and microwave all in one (sliding in and out). The bathroom is located where the door is open, the front panel folds to turn into a cozy office, and the bed is on top. Total space: a little under 325 square feet. Click through for more pics.
More »
AutoFish
First Prototype Of A People-Sorting Machine?
A new machine can sort 100,000 fish per hour, using imaging technology, and then tag them. NMT's AutoFish system is designed to distinguish between natural salmon (which are protected) and hatchery salmon, which can be harvested, in the fisheries of the Pacific Northwest. More than 200 million fish need to be marked, via a tag on their adipose fin, every year. With the AutoFish, the fish enter the sorting device single file (how do they know to do that?) and get sorted with accuracy of up to 1 mm., with only 0.1 percent mortality and no anesthetic required. This sort of technology could revolutionize other repetitive tasks that involve rapid sorting — but it could also be a prototype for a machine that sorts and tags humans. Instructional video after the jump. More »
found footage
Snake PlisskenParsifal busts the world's last fertile woman out of a maximum security facility staffed by knights in armor armed with laser crossbows (pew! pew!) in this awesome sequence from Italian post-apocalyptic masterpiece 2019: After The Fall Of New York.
More »
Can The Children Of Men Escape From New York?
Our hero
wall-e
In WALL-E's World, We're All Shopaholics In Spandex
A new commercial for the future super-store Buy N' Large shows how the humans of tomorrow will live in WALL-E's world: we all get matching tight singlets. Draped head to toe in red and white spandex our future is looking pretty constricting, yet leisurely. BNL's robots serve our every need, so their human masters can find the time for the important things like drinking, getting massaged by robotic arms or being overly excited about a robot-run Benihana. The clip also introduces some new robot friends for WALL-E, PR-T (who does your hair makeup and nails) and VAQ-M (who sweeps the floor.)
urban future
This gorgeous image of a floating city is one design team's idea of what New Orleans might look like in the future. Let me add to that: a better future, where urban design is graceful, humane, and forward-looking. Their idea is to create low-cost houses that are buoyant, and that survive floods by welcoming the Mississippi River into the city.
More »
This City Will Never Drown Again
This gorgeous image of a floating city is one design team's idea of what New Orleans might look like in the future. Let me add to that: a better future, where urban design is graceful, humane, and forward-looking. Their idea is to create low-cost houses that are buoyant, and that survive floods by welcoming the Mississippi River into the city.
More »
