Must have future gadgets 2020

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Volocopter VC200 First Flight

Paperfold is a foldable, transformable smartphone prototype

If Kyrocera's folding smartphone Echo didn't have enough screens for you, try this on for size. The Human Media Lab at Canada's Queen's University has created a fully functional smartphone that uses not two, but three different snap-together e-ink displays. The result is a gigantic device called PaperFold, that can do some pretty awesome stuff, especially with maps. You can display driving directions over all of the screens for easy planning, or fold the displays together to create a Google Earth globe of sorts. The phone can even be used to print a model of your office. Just connect the panels together into a building-like shape, and send the specs along to your local 3D printer. A pretty cool trick if you ask us.

PaperFold

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The inspiration for the project came from, you guessed it, paper. The lab's director, Dr. Roel Vertegaal, says "the development of electronic paper computers that can adopt similar qualities to paper has been an enduring research goal" for his team. It's an aspiration that's not unique to just this project. In 2010 Microsoft was working on (and then killed) a book-like tablet called Courier, and Sony released a high-dollar digital paper tablet earlier this year. While there are no plans to bring PaperFold to market just yet, it shows us what could be possible with digital displays and e-ink technology. Want to take a look for yourself? Check out the video below for a look at the prototype in action.

BLU's latest smartphone is big, cheap and contract-free

When it comes to offering a vast selection of Android smartphones on the cheap, BLU Products is a company that quickly comes to mind. And now we can add another one to its budget-friendly lineup: the Blu Studio 6.0 HD. As its moniker would imply, this is a 6-inch handset, with a 1,280, x 720 display, a quad-core, 1.3GHz chip (Mediatek MT6582, if you're so inclined) and a decent 3,000mAh battery inside. Perhaps what's most interesting here, however, is that the 6.0 HD will be available unlocked for a mere $250, which is a great price if you're looking for a phone this size and not interested in any carrier contracts.

BLU has made itself known for bringing a ton of different options to market. We're talking smartphones like the Studio 5.5, which sells for $179 off contract; or the $349 Life Pure, which is also unlocked and sports a 5-inch, 1080p screen. Just don't expect the BLU Studio 6.0 HD to be running the latest and greatest version of Android, since it's set to come with 4.2.2 when it starts shipping next month.

You can now use the iPhone for free, as long as you don't mind old gear

To date, FreedomPop's no-cost phone service has been attached to older Android phones. That's fine for many, but not exactly diverse. Your choices are a little better now that carrier has added iPhone support to its lineup, though. You can get 200 voice minutes, 500 messages and 500MB of data per month on Apple's handset without paying a dime; it costs the equivalent of $5 per month if you need unlimited calls and texting. It sounds great, so what's the catch?

As you might suspect, device selection is the big gotcha. Much like Ting, FreedomPop isn't carrying the latest Apple technology. You'll have to be happy with either buying a refurbished iPhone 5 for $349 or bringing over a Sprint-ready iPhone 4, 4S or 5 you already own. This isn't the choice for those who want to live on the bleeding edge, then. Still, it does give you free LTE phone data -- a major advantage when the only alternative on FreedomPop with similar speeds is a hotspot.

Tour Google's Luxurious 'Googleplex' Campus In California

Google is constantly being named as one of the best companies to work for. It feeds its employees three gourmet meals a day for free. It offers them a crazy array of perks from yoga classes to massages.

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So we asked for a tour of the famous Googleplex, hoping to see cool spots like the bowling alley or one of the seven fitness centers.

Unfortunately, Google's PR folks asked if they could review and approve our photos before we published them. We declined, but we were allowed in the campus and the land Google owns around its offices, including the sculpture garden and the outdoor cafe.

The Google campus is located in a quiet town called Mountain View. Trees are big. Google signs are low to the ground, so the campus almost feels hidden.

Business Insider/Julie Bort

The Googleplex is composed of scores of buildings that sprawl across Mountain View, Calif. At the top are tennis courts, at the south end is the 101 freeway.

Google maps

Here's the main front entrance to the three buildings at the heart of the campus. This spot was featured in the movie about Google called "The Internship," shot at the Googleplex.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

Here's the volleyball court in the center of campus. It was also featured in the movie. No one was using it this day.

Business Insider/Julie Bort

Google's color scheme is primary colors, used on everything, like these free campus bikes. Employees can use them to ride around the 'Plex. Don't want to ride? You can let these valets fetch and park your car for you.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

Here's where they invented Google Glass. I got to try Glass while I was there and was blown away by how well the voice command system worked.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

Here's where they create the Android operating system. There's a statue for every version of Android, all named after sweet things to eat.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

Here's the newest statue, KitKat Android. There's Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich, Cupcake and Honeycomb, too.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

The Googleplex is a tourist attraction. There were lots of people wandering around taking photos. These folks are shooting the Android and Android Donut statues outside the Android building.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

This is a massive Android statue peeking out of the Android building. Its eyes glow red when the sun sets, so it's kinda freaky looking at night.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

New Google employees are called "Nooglers" (pronounced "NEWglers") This is the Noogler statue dedicated to them.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

Public art is everywhere. Here are some very tall statues in front of the Android building.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

This is the famous Google dinosaur statue filled with twirling flamingos. The founders bought it to remind Googlers to stay creative and not let the company become irrelevant like a dinosaur.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

There is a statue garden in the main campus area filled with random busts meant to inspire. This is an effigy of Lloyd Bridges to honor his role in the 1960s TV show "Sea Hunt."

Julie Bort/Business Insider

Google has two organic gardens on site. They grow veggies and herbs for the restaurants.

Google

The gardens are part of a society that trains and educates others on horticulture.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

There gardens also have tables and chairs as a quiet meditative spot for employees.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

This is perhaps the most famous, familiar view of the Google campus, the outdoor cafeteria with colorful umbrellas. Primary colors are everywhere on campus, giving it a "preschool" feel.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

A lot of employees commute every day to the 'Plex. Electric cars are everywhere and so are electric charging stations.

Business Insider/Julie Bort

Lots of Valley companies have EV charging stations, but Google's massive EV parking lot is solar powered. Solar panels cover the carports.

Business Insider/Julie Bort

The parking lot was filled with Tesla electric cars. Rows of them.

Business Insider/Julie Bort

At the north edge of campus Google built a park with tennis courts, soccer fields, fitness stations, Frisbee golf. Its lights are powered by a giant bank of solar panels.

Business Insider/Julie Bort

The park is next to a big swath of public lands with trails and an amphitheater, but Google's park is not open to the public. Its gates have these signs.

Business Insider/Julie Bort

Inside the Google logo is EVERYWHERE. On the walls. In the elevators. On all the beverage coolers. So are logos, statues, artwork of other Google products. While at the 'Plex you can never forget you're in Google's world.

Flickr/Joe Goldbert

Here's the Google logo on recycling garbage cans. (These are in Google Ventures offices that we previously toured.)

Julie Bort/Business Insider

This was one of the few indoor pics we were allowed to take in the Chrome building. Note the Chrome artwork on the walls. This is Caesar Sengupta, VP of Chromebooks with a Pixel notebook.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

Note the Google logo on this "nap pod" where employees can work or sleep.

REUTERS/Erin Siegal

There are multiple fitness centers on campus. We didn't get to see any but here's a picture from a tour Google gave to Reuters a few years ago.

REUTERS/Erin Siegal

Here's one of the massage rooms, one of the legendary perks employees get, a picture also by Reuters.

REUTERS/Erin Siegal

Googlers work in cubbies in open offices. Here's a picture of one available online from Google's PR folks.

Google

Here's one of the micro-kitchens located everywhere. Employees don't have to bring their own lunch, much less cook it. They get breakfast, lunch and dinner for free at various campus restaurants.

Google

As we were leaving the campus, we saw the self-driving car wiz by with two passengers.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

The self-driving car was circling the campus, sharing the road with the many Googlers on bikes.

Business Insider/Julie Bort

Google self-driving car

Google's self-driving cars are all over the highways, near Mountain View, too. We saw one fly by on Highway 101 while leaving the 'Plex, driving north toward San Francisco. We couldn't safely grab the camera while driving, so here's a picture someone else took.

Flickr/Max Kiesler

For a look inside some of the buildings on campus, check out this tour of Google Ventures.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

Google Ventures Is Hiring And It's An Awesome Place To Work: Take A Look »

Virtual Reality Lets Dying Woman 'Walk' Outside Again

Sometimes a simple walk outside can mean so much. Even if it’s not quite the real thing.

Last December, Roberta Firstenberg died of cancer at the age of 76. Before the throat tumor formed, her granddaughter Priscilla said that Roberta loved to travel and garden. She baked cookies. She was known for her delicious banana bread.

But cancer ultimately robbed Roberta of her ability to travel or ride in a car without great pain. Even the vibrations from being pushed in a wheelchair proved too much. That’s when Priscilla, a 29-year-old video game artist, reached out to Oculus Rift’s customer support center. She asked for one of the startup's popular virtual reality headsets that would allow her grandmother to “walk” outside again.

And the result can be seen in the video below, which was taken just a month before Roberta died.

“The Oculus Rift gave her options and gave her an experience that made her feel like she could walk again, without people having to hold her," Priscilla wrote in an email to The Huffington Post. "She got to go up stairs on her own. She got to do a great number of things we couldn’t give her.”

Since the video was posted in November and picked up interest again this week, Priscilla said the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. Commentators with immobile loved ones said they wanted a headset of their own.

Priscilla admitted that she doesn’t watch the video now, preferring instead to remember the happier moments before her grandmother became ill.

“I can hear the difference in her voice, as it was getting tired from being used too much towards the end of her response,” Priscilla wrote, while also remarking how difficult it was to hear the sound of her sick dog in the background, the same dog she said she buried under her grandmother’s cherry blossom tree just a few days after filming. “The video has been described as ‘beautiful and sad’ by many. But because events are still fresh with me, it’s a marker of the most struggling time of my life.”

Most recently, Oculus Rift has been best known for its $2 billion buyout by Facebook, which imagines using the technology for non-gaming purposes like virtual classrooms and doctor visits. But Priscilla insists that her video wasn’t a PR stunt for the headset.

"It’s about using something that was thought of as just a video game, a toy,” Priscilla wrote, “and turning it into something more important than anyone could ever really understand."

The Simple Idea behind This Mind-Blowing 3D Interactive Sandbox

Playing in the sandbox used to be my favorite activity as a small child. I remember making pretend volcanos, rivers, lakes,  and tunnels in the sand. Well, researchers at UC Davis have come up with a way to bring those imaginary landscapes to life with interactive 3D projection technology. The results are simply breath-taking!

When you were a kid, did your sandbox have active volcanoes?



This amazing interactive sandbox responds to your actions, and can be built at home using common-place technology.


All it takes is a digital projector and a Kinect.


The projector displays an interactive topographic map, with contour and elevation in real-time.


You can make hills and valleys, and the computer changes the projection to match the landscape!


Museums around the world are starting to create their own interactive sandboxes…


It’s not only fun… it’s a great way to teach kids about geography!


Watch the full demo video here… I can’t wait to try this!


iSandbox

If you want to make one of these at home, all it takes is a digital projector, a Microsoft Kinect, a sandbox, and some sand… Then download the software and instructions from UC Davis. I can’t wait to try this!