Intel's Project Alloy might be the wireless virtual reality headset everyone is talking about at IDF 2016, but there's actually another take on the idea that's fresh from the company's labs. Where Project Alloy may rely on a full Core processor and graphics card inside its black and white body, Intel's prototype WiGig VR headset leaves the heavy lifting to a separate PC as normal, but simply cuts the cord.
Acura is taking the 2017 NSX supercar to Pikes Peak, complete with a high-tech all-electric prototype version that could one day revolutionize racing. The Japanese firm will have three cars in total at the Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on June 26, the regular NSX making its North American racing debut at the same time.
Samsung knows how to make an eye-catching concept device, and the company's rollable display prototype doesn't disappoint. Shown off for the first time at SID 2016 in San Francisco this week, the 5.7-inch screen takes Samsung Display's OLED technology and furls it up into a very pocket-friendly form factor.
We're still waiting for some manufacturer, probably Samsung, to finally deliver the foldable, dual screen smartphone of our dreams. In the meantime, however, someone else is dreaming up the same thing for smartwatches. That someone is Xing-Dong Yang and his fellow researchers from Dartmouth College who presented the prototype of a smartwatch with two displays, one of them removable. In addition to showing a different or supplementary information, the position of the second display affects what is displayed on the primariy screen as well.
The U.S. Navy has a 132ft unarmed “self-driving” warship, and it has named it Sea Hunter. Much like Google’s car, Sea Hunter is able to operate on its own, cruising the oceans in hunt of unwelcome submarines. Unlike manned warships, though, Sea Hunter won’t require any human operators on board, and as such will cost only a sliver of current manned ships. DARPA recently showed off the then-unnamed warship on video.
Flexible displays may be a mainstay of science-fiction, but it's only recently that they've started to filter through into production. FlexEnable hopes to overshadow Samsung's curved OLED with its own technology, relying on cheaper LCD panels that use plastic substrates rather than glass so as to be both more imaginatively-shaped and more resilient to impacts and other damage.
Making a luxury electric car is fairly simple. Making an affordable EV that will overcome the range anxiety of the mass-market is a very different thing, but General Motors thinks the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV has that X-factor. Production won't kick off until later in 2016, but GM invited us to test one of a couple of engineering prototypes at CES 2016 to get an early insight into how the Volt's baby brother is shaping up.
Some dreams do come true, but many also remain just as they are: dreams. One of those dreams, at least for Windows Phone fans, was the Nokia RM-1052, more popular for its codename McLaren. Heavily leaked near the end of 2014, what should have been Microsoft's new flagship vanished without a trace, to be replaced a year later by the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL. Now it has resurfaced on the Interwebs again, and again as a prototype, as a leaked device, and as a reminder of a feature that never came to be and might never come at all.
Yamaha has been making some waves of late with the unveiling of some interesting items at the Tokyo Motor Show including a new sports car called the Sports Ride. Another of the strange prototypes that the motorcycle maker is working on is called the OR2T and it is a leaning four-wheel motorcycle.
You know something is up when a Honda engineer giggles while he's talking to you about his car. Turns out, the Honda "4-Motor Electric SH-AWD with Precision All-Wheel Steer" prototype - a clunky name for a heavily modified CR-Z - is enough to cut through the usual restrained enthusiasm of Honda Japan's handling experts, and turn them into squeaking fanboys. Then I drove it myself, and instantly understood why.
Microsoft's detachable Surface keyboard may already bring easy text entry to the tablet, but the company is cooking up a new DisplayCover prototype with its own e-paper touchscreen. The work-in-progress peripheral is the handiwork of Microsoft's Applied Sciences Group, combining not only a physical keyboard but a full-width touchscreen which can be used to show menu items, toolbar controls, or even offer an alternative input area.
Intel has cooked up a prototype identification bracelet that could mean never having to type in a password or reach for your door keys again. The wearable, a simple band that resembles a Fitbit health monitor, was shown off today during Intel's IDF 2015 opening keynote, working with a Windows 10 computer for proximity-based login.
