Futurism

An international group of scientists proposes a "knowledge collider" to bring supercomputing to bear on social problems. While crunching the numbers won't be a problem, figuring out what they mean will prove more challenging.

During next week's CES, you'll rarely hear a single word about why you should really care about the devices debuting there... but is that really so surprising when even the electronics makers at CES can't answer as simple a question as why their gadgets matter?

An intriguing concept device called "Thimble" would serve as an interface, text scanner, and Braille e-book reader for the blind. But the crucial technology, a refreshable, haptic Braille display, remains elusive.

Charlie Stross figures we're ready for a pendulum swing back in the direction of Sir Thomas More.

Exotic lighter-than-air craft�including argon- and methane-filled balloons and hopping dirigibles�offer tantalizing prospects for future missions to Saturn's largest moon.

An all-but-forgotten airborne car ferry glimpsed an alternative future of unwieldy luxury.

In space, no one can hear you munch your popcorn. Video after the jump.

"If the Internet was walking around in public, it would look and act a lot like Julian Assange. " Bruce Sterling's take on Wikileaks, an affair worthy of Edgar Allan Poe.

A short film featuring Syd Mead, concept artist for Blade Runner, Tron, and Aliens, shows a master visual futurist at work. Video after the jump.

On October 7th, 1930 � slender and bright; like a string tense and silent in anticipation of the purpose of her note � Beatrice Warde was introduced to the British Typographer's Guild. The speech she gave would change the way people thought about type for the next fifty years... and should be burnt into the flesh of anyone who is making a gadget to this day.