As more of the world’s cities become congested and polluted, new business models and technologies are emerging to solve the mobility challenge.Cities move. People hurry from corner to corner; cars and trucks roll along the roads, while bicycles and scooters jostle for space.But sometimes that movement falters, and with it the dynamism that is the hallmark of great cities. Unhealthy smog levels...

Researchers at the company's laboratories have created a way to convert 2D pages into 3D avatars in real time.Disney Research in Zurich has come up with a new system of turning coloring book pages into 3D art that pops out of the page. The technology lets you color a page any way you want before it brings the page to life in a 3D avatar, floating above the page and viewable through a mobile dev...

The plan is, when you want to move, Kasita can simply move with you. The kind of person who moves into a dumpster to investigate sustainable living is sure to know a thing or two about downsizing. Dr. Jeff Wilson, aka Professor Dumpster, drew upon this experience to co-create Kasita: a modern and smart urban micro-home. Geared toward professional types, it can be moved to another location with...

If the current trend persists, funding for wearable computing startups will be down sharply after a boom year in 2014.The wearable computing industry has seen important activity this year on the public markets side. In March, Apple’s smartwatch was released, with some estimates pegging the device’s sales at 20% of all wearables units sold globally in Q2’15. In June, fitness band maker Fitbit...

A recent Nielsen survey revealed that 64 percent of Americans don't know much about smart home technology. Another study conducted by the Harris Poll reinforced this, finding that the most common smart home item is the wireless speaker system. 17 percent of Americans have one or more of these at home, followed by 11 percent who have a smart thermostat and 9 percent with a smart/wireless home se...

The UmbraCity solution is a fully automated umbrella rental kiosk that was inspired by sharing economy systems such as car-share and bike-share programs services.We all get caught in downpours without an umbrella every now and then. For students at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, however, that will no longer be a problem. A kiosk from a new firm called UmbraCity is offeri...

Full-sized sculpture comprised of 1,700 precision-cut card pieces features a fully fitted interior, functioning doors, and rolling wheels.Lexus has revealed an origami-inspired car that ditches the sheet metal, glass and plastics for precision-cut card. The replica of a Lexus IS saloon is a driveable, full-sized sculpture exploring the manufacturer’s promise of ‘Creating Amazing’ and showcas...

Taking place in Tokyo, in the year of 2040, Nissan Tama-Go is a futuristic single-person transportation concept that takes inspiration from Japanese video games’ characters. Tokyo was chosen from this scenario due to its high suburban population and its highest transit system in the world.The design research began with the world of robots and video games, the designer wanted to create a futuri...

Samsung has applied to patent a Google Glass-style device that is light years ahead of Google's current technology and enables users to interact with 3D images in mid-air to dial phone numbers, send SMS text messages and even play a virtual piano keyboard.Google Glass has not proved to be as successful as the internet giant previously hoped it would, with Google discontinuing sales of the devic...