Lifeboat Foundation

Expensive travel bags should do more than look good, and German high-end luggage manufacturer Rimowa would seem to agree. The company has developed an electronic luggage tag which displays baggage info in the same format, size and appearance of typical paper labels, but on a digital screen built into the unit and located near the handle.

The Rimowa e-tag is similar to a device tested by British Airways in 2013, which allowed travelers to attach it to any piece of luggage.

Continue reading “Electronic luggage tag lets travelers check-in bags from home” »

Tesla Version 7.1 adds driverless automatic parking to Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles.

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Honeywell chosen to develop military’s VR technology.

A virtual reality display panel that could replace windows in military ground vehicles is being developed by Honeywell Aerospace for DARPA.

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Wider has completed the first sea trials of the Wider 150 superyacht, an all-aluminum ship with a hybrid diesel-electric propulsion system.

Designed by Fulvio de Simoni and overseen by Tilli Antonelli, the 150-foot yacht functioned smoothly throughout each test and achieved its forecasted goals.

Wider 150 reached a top speed of 15 knots in diesel-electric mode and utilized new technology to reduce sound and vibrations to a minuscule level.

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The Prius is an intentionally odd-looking car that gets odder with every generation; I’m pretty sure even ardent defenders of Toyota’s flagship hybrid could agree with me on that. So why not throw an equally odd paint color on top?

What you’re looking at here is the new Prius in “Thermo-Tect Lime Green,” which is more than your average upsettingly loud paint color. Toyota says that by removing the carbon black particles found in most paint and replacing them with titanium oxide, it has significantly increased the vehicle’s solar reflectivity — in other words, the car heats up less, which lessens the need for air conditioning, which in turn improves fuel economy. And fuel economy, of course, is what the Prius is all about.

White paint also does a good job of keeping the sun’s heat at bay, but Toyota actually says that its Thermo-Tect paint outperformed white in a two-hour summer test outdoors. Basically, this technology means that you might be able to get the color of your choice on your next car and still reduce your AC use. Granted, lime green may not be your first choice, but there doesn’t seem to be anything stopping Toyota from rolling it out to other colors as well.

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Robots could be considered legal drivers in the United States. This means human occupants inside the vehicle wouldn’t require a valid license in order to ride inside—the software would be the vehicle’s legal “driver.”

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More Videos by NowThis Future.

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“That in general is good advice for people creating companies,” Musk said to students. “Start with the minimally useful system.”

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Arca Space Corporation in New Mexico has developed an electronic flying vehicle that can hover over any terrain, including water. The design can hold up to 243 lbs and flies a foot above the ground.

The ArcaBoard’s creators are calling it the first revolutionary breakthrough in motion since the bicycle, automobile, and airplane, and say it will allow every person to fly whenever they want.

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