2011年10月18日星期二

More 'Back to the Future'-Inspired Technology Coming Soon

As we inch ever closer to 2015, the world predicted in Back to the Future Part II looks closer and closer to reality.

Earlier this year, Nike introduced Air Mag sneakers, created to resemble the self-lacing power sneakers Michael J. Fox wears in the 1989 film. Now comes word that the DeLorean, the long defunct sports car company that created the signature gull-wing door car used as the time machine in the films is about to make a comeback. The company announced on Monday plans to introduce an all-electric DeLorean car in 2013.

The car, called the Electric DeLorean DMC-12 is expected to have a top speed of 125 mph from 260 horsepower, according to MSN. The price will be anywhere from $90,000 to $100,000.

A prototype version of the car was recently unveiled at the company's headquarters in Humble, Texas.

Meanwhile, tech site Geekologie has posted two videos showing levitating quantum superconductors in action at Tel Aviv University. This is the kind of technology that makes things like the hoverboards in Back to the Future Part II possible.

In fact, work at Paris Diderot University showing experiments with a superconducting skateboard, cooled with liquid nitrogen, that can carry a person along five meter rails has also been posted online. Can a commercially available overboard be far behind?