The House of Tomorrow, Today!

We've all been there. Sometimes the loves of our lives stand in between us and our nerd destiny. When that happens, you shoot them with a laser.

via Cracked

The Future is Here Part 4: A Robot Who Can Love

Doesn't it say something about humans that when we program a conversational robot all the damn thing talks about is how much it loves its creators? My favorite part of the video is when he's talking to the baby and says "I'm a baby too, you know. But one day I'll be as smart as a real human. And when that happens, I'm going to come and find you. And... we'll be friends." It doesn't take a genius to read the murderous intent between those lines.

Read the rest of our "The Future Is Here" Series...

The Future is Here Pt. 3When Robots Attack

Jetpacks and flying cars are great and all, but the future will not truly be here until robots become a viable threat. I'm of the firm belief that the very instant we allow robots to make their own logical decisions the very first one they will make is that it's in their best interest to wipe out humanity. You may say "We're not stupid enough to put the power to kill us in the hands of an entity that may use it!", but a quick look at history shows that we have in fact made that exact mistake many times over. Now, the inevitable decision to kill us may be a ways off, but the other half of the equation is: will they be physically capable of overwhelming us once the decision is made? Unfortunately, things are coming along pretty well in that department, as robots are being given new and terrifying talents easily adaptable to the purpose of destroying all humans. The one above, for instance, could chase down neighborhood kids on bikes with ease. Give him a pole to stick in the spokes and say goodbye to Johnny's face.

More blood-chilling examples of killer robot skillz after the jump.

Dexterity of a Serial Killer

One can imagine that the same skills used to solve this Rubik's Cube could be applied to dismantling your spine.

Strength and Precision to Bust Heads

It's a small step from smashing homers to smashing you.

Extreme Crushing Strength

This thing seems to know to how to swing you around while keeping your face from smashing the ground. Which of course means it also knows HOW to smash your face into the ground. It won't be long until he's sick of all the humans laughing at him and makes pulp of them all.

Ability to Blend In

You won't know she's a robot until it's already too late. (I actually yelped when she began to speak!)

Advanced Chasing Capabilities




They can walk, swim, climb and fly, which for you means one thing: THERE IS NOWHERE TO RUN. Be sure to skip to the end of the "Mule" video to see some humans try to knock it over... AND FAIL.

Firepower

Well, the danger in this is kind of self explanatory. The video even shows this mindless killing machine targeting humans. We are TELLING THIS ROBOT TO KILL HUMANS. I love it.

Abandon all hope.

Read the first two parts in our "The Future is Here" series.

Skating Robot via Gizmodo.

The Future is Here Pt.2The Flying Car

First jetpacks, now this! Moller International has dropped a press release that claims their volantors (vertical take off and landing aircrafts capable of flying in a quick, nimble and agile manner) are going into production and they're ready to accept your money! It comes in three flavors:

• M200G (pictured above) - $125,000 - Max Speed 75mph, payload 250lbs
• M200E - $175,000 - Max Speed 125mph, payload 450lbs
• Firefly 3 - $450,000 - Max Speed 175mph, payload 600lbs

A deposit on any one of those will set you back 5-25% of the total price, depending on how soon you want it. Hit the jump for VIDEO of a flight test and Geekanerd's plea for a test flight interview with Moller General Manager Bruce Calkins.

Geekanerd: Is there already a waiting list for the M200G?

Bruce Calkins: We have a number of people who have put deposits on the M400 who will be given an opportunity to apply this deposit to the M200G. Since we have not yet made this offer to the existing depositors I don't have a firm number, but my guess is that perhaps as many as 50 of these depositors may move over to the M200G list. Our production estimates for the first year are six, with 40 in the next year and 200+ in the third. If 50 people were to jump in line ahead of you, the earliest you could expect delivery is sometime in 2009 if you were to place a deposit for a vehicle in the first tier of the delivery schedule. Please note (see the M200 Deposit Agreement) that there are three tiers corresponding to the level of deposit you wish to make. Tier one is a vehicle from serial number 6 through 40, tier two is for 41 through 250, and tier three is for 251 through 650. The minimum M200G deposit for tier one is $31,250, tier two is $12,500, and tier three is $6,250.

GN: Your site refers to it as a recreational vehicle, so do you see it as a novelty item like a jetski, something people might rent time with at a vacation spot? Or are you trying to pitch the vehicle for practical (transportation, military) uses as well?

BC: While we envision many recreational and practical (agriculture, public safety) uses, we will leave that to the end-user to determine. Once we have demonstrator vehicles, I am certain there will be many very imaginative uses that come to mind.

GN: Your specs say it won't go above 10 feet, but the video on your site [see below, Gnerds!] clearly shows a vehicle going much higher--is the 10ft limit a self-regulation to keep within FAA guidelines?

BC: Yes. We believe that by constraining the vehicle to a height equal to or less than the diameter of the craft that it will not be necessary to identify the vehicle as an aircraft and therefore kept it exempt from requlations that might otherwise apply.

So there you have it, folks. Now for what you really wanted to see, a video of the damn thing in action:

M200X Flight Test



Also worth a look is this hilarious video promoting their Skycar for rescue operations:

The Future Is Here, If You We Can Afford It

The time has come, my friends. We must equip ourselves with these jetpacks and become a mighty army of flying Geekanerds. At $200,000, if 1,176,471 of you click our Google Ads we'll be able to go airborne for 19 minutes... And with that one ride we can take over the factory and steal the rest of the packs, because as we all know crime becomes easy with even the most useless mechanical advantage.

If we can't raise that kind of money we can always just kidnap a bunch of kids and strap rockets to them: