What tech innovations would you like to see in 2011?

flying cars.
In most movies about the future, you see a progression. First we get a black president, then we get flying cars.
Okay, we got Obama. Next!

Definitely the iPad 2. Can’t express how much I’m looking forward to this iDevice.

And, speaking of new things coming in 2011, TechCrunch wrote an article of things we can look forward to here.

I think edible fast food is an idea that the world is almost ready for.

I’m sick of waiting in line for everything. When I die, I’ll probbaly have to wait in line before I get sent to Hell. Someone do somethin bout this shit.
Technological progress meh, let’s do something about convenience and the common cold.

Teleportation devices..

“Beam me up Scotty!”

An ebook that lets you thumb through the pages – like how you do with reference books and textbooks when you’re trying to find that one passage that you need to quote for your thesis paper. If they could do that, I could buy a lot more ebooks.

I want 3D support in Nouveau via Gallium.
Also I want ubuquitous IPv6 mesh internets.

In my fantasies, I want to see fully-recyclable cheap batteries that can hold 1KWh/gram or more.

Dream recorder. I’ve been waiting since I was about five. I think I’ve been waiting patiently long enough. Where is my freakin’ dream recorder?

I would like programs like Chrome and Kindle web reader to work on Mac computers with 10.4 (Tiger), instead of 10.5 or over, because god damn it, I really don’t want to get a new computer or pay for an upgrade.

These programs work for XP, which is like ten years older than Tiger. What gives!

The replicator, zero point energy generator, and quantum computer. In the shops.

A working reliable time machine.

I want better battery technology because it will affect so many other things.

Back when I was into R/C cars, the standard battery was a finicky 1200mah 7.2V NiCad pack of sub-C cells that only allowed for about 4 minutes of run time with my racing buggy after a 25–40 minute charge and it had a memory effect that required careful handling to avoid permanently reducing the overall capacity of the pack and careful charging to avoid melting it. (I’ve done that twice.) Modern R/C cars have a pack that holds 2–3 times the endurance and even the tiny battery in my Droid X phone holds nearly as much juice as the huge battery pack in my old Kyosho Javelin did.

One of the beefs against electric cars is range. It is true at present that, pound for pound, gas has more energy than a battery. That means that to match the 300 mile range of a gas-burning car, you need a huge, expensive battery. Now imagine if the battery were no larger than your current gas tank, yet could get you just as far. Imagine it it were tough enough to be quick-charged in minutes without burning up instead of taking 4–8 hours to charge while you sleep. And imagine that it’s cost were far lower than current Lithium-Ion batteries that are around $100 for something tiny like a laptop. The optional “long-range” battery for the Tango runs around $54,000 and the battery for a Prius is still rather pricey too.)

How many of you have complained that your laptop dies after only 2–3 hours or that your smartphone cannot make it through the day without topping off? Even my power-sipping, relatively slow T135 cannot go much over 6 hours, and my Droid X would never last a full day if it were not for the fact that I charge it during my daily commute, and I must charge it every night while I sleep. Imagine if the battery were capacious enough to last 2–3 days in my phone or all day with my laptop without having to worry about charging?

Better batteries would also affect those who need prosthetic limbs. Imagine if your arm literally went dead after only 2–3 hours and required frequent recharging or took a messenger bag full of batteries to last the day.

Better batteries would affect our lives in a lot of ways and is far more feasible than time machines or flying cars.