What's The Next Hot Invention?

Daniel Sieberg Checks What's New On The Technology Horizon This Year

(CBS)  Technology buffs always want to know, "What's next?" Back in 1984, a brick-sized cellphone was a cutting-edge gadget. So what new gizmos will 2008 ring in? Our Cover Story is reported by science and technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg:

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What inventions will change our lives this year?

How about a revolutionary computer screen? Cars powered by hydrogen? Books we can read electronically? Better football helmets? More efficient buildings?

With the Consumer Electronics Show getting underway in Las Vegas, this seemed like the perfect time for a high-tech look-ahead to the new year.

High-definition TVs barely thicker than a credit card … a solar-powered charger for all your electronic gizmos … and global positioning systems, or GPS, are everywhere.

In the coming months, we'll start finding GPS in all kinds of gadgets, according to Lance Ulanoff, editor in chief at PC Magazine.

"Everyone gets lost," said Ulanoff. "And you can get lost far away and near your home. So you want every device you have, whether it's for the big trip or just while you're outside the office, to help you get where you need to go."

One of the most intriguing inventions is the media wall, which could completely change how we all relate to our computers. Whether you're exploring a map, or the human body. the media wall literally puts it at your fingertips.

Jeff Han created the giant computer screen, which can display anything you can put on an ordinary computer. You don't use a mouse or a keyboard; you touch it, using as many fingers … or as many people … as you want.

And it can be yours…starting at $100,000.

"I really foresee a future where we have these kind of displays wallpapered everywhere," Han said. "It's just casually in a hallway without thinking, oh yeah, that's one of those displays up there. It's just there."

There's probably already a bit of touch-screen technology in a pocket near you: the Apple iPhone. Last year it was a cool gadget. This year it could change our whole conception of cellphones.

Brian Cooley is editor at large at CNet, a Web site where they test and review all sorts of new stuff.

"Talk to any of the researchers out there who do market research, and they'll say, 'Oh, what do you know? '08's gonna be the big year of the smart phone,'" Colley said.

Cooley believes another new device could change the way we read books. He showed us the Amazon Kindle, "a complete library of books available at your fingertips, because this thing is wirelessly connected to Amazon headquarters at all times. And they've got about 90,000 books you can buy from this reader for $10 or less."

But the Kindle carries a lesson for all inventors.

"I don't care how amazing a technological achievement this is for $400. It's maybe the most amazing thing since the Manhattan Project, if you were to dig into it," Colley said. "But if it doesn't help my life, I don't need it."

What's needed on the football field these days is better protection from concussions. A new helmet might help.

Vin Ferrara is a former quarterback at Harvard. He had an "a-ha" moment when he went to his medicine cabinet.

"The source of my inspiration was the squeeze bottle," Ferrara said. He came up with a cushioning system using air-filled shock absorbers, instead of the usual foam.

The X1 Football Helmet, the first product to use the adaptive head protection system, should be on the field sometime in the spring and early summer.

Also this summer, expect to see a new high-tech prosthetic foot, with a mind of its own. The PowerFoot One uses robotics. It was developed by Hugh Herr at MIT, who lost both feet in a mountain-climbing accident.

"It is like I am attached to a robot and it is walking me," Herr said. "It is the most extraordinary feeling."

Development of the Powerfoot One was spurred by the war in Iraq. Army Specialist Garth Stewart, who was hit by a landmine in Baghdad, was one of the first to test it.

"It's giving you that extra push, or it's thinking and telling how much push you need," he said. "So that you don't have to do the extra work with your hip and back. That's a big improvement."

What's next on the road? Automakers have been scrambling to make more efficient cars, and last year we heard a lot of talk about hybrids. But Brian Cooley of CNet says hybrids have already become almost ho-hum. It may be time for a new, non-polluting energy source.

Hydrogen fuel cells are just starting to come into cars now. Honda has just begun to lease a car called the FCX Clarity. Several hundred people in Southern California will start driving the FCX in the coming months.

They all happen to live near sources of highly-pressurized hydrogen, a fuel that's a blessing and a curse.

"It sounds like the ultimate car," Cooley said. "The only problem is it's extraordinarily expensive to make because it's in almost a prototype stage right now. And how do we move hydrogen around? It's a big infrastructure issue for the nation. That said, it could be the ultimate way to power cars."

Powering industry - without harming the environment - brings us to this new frozen foods plant. It goes into full production this week in Los Angeles.

It has solar panels on the roof, air-locks on the loading dock, and recaptures heat from the refrigeration system.

John Z. Blazevich, the company's CEO, believes they'll cut their power usage and pollution emissions almost in half. And he says it's a lesson for inventors everywhere: keep pushing the envelope:

"And at every single stage, I don't care if you asked the person 20 times, you had to ask 'em again one more time: 'So what about in this system? Is there anything that we can capture that we can reuse and redirect this to help our overall energy consumption be reduced?'"

But inventing can't be all work and no play.

Here's a new take on flying toys, based on one of nature's oldest concepts: The FlyTech dragonfly flaps its wings instead of using a propeller.

And the New Year will surely see more inventions that are fun, but also a bit, well, stupid.

Gary Apple invented Stupid.com.

"Some inventions that we like to sell on Stupid.com, they're intended to make life easier," Apple said. "That's what an invention is for. But somehow, sometimes it makes things more complicated."

Like the mechanical ice cream cone?

"I mean, who wouldn't want something like this?" he laughed.

Or the talking toilet.

Stupid they may be, but Apple says even the dumbest inventions still require a lot of inventiveness.

We'll see, in the coming year, which of these inventions will wind up being a part of our lives.

[gingette]

This morning they featured a factory with solar panels on the top of the building. It even recaptured heat from refridgerators. This makes me wonder about an idea I''ve had for a while now. Is anyone working on recapturing the energy from treadmills? Can''t we somehow use energy from treadmills in gyms to power the electricity of the gym itself? Perhaps this does not make sense and that is why I am not a scientist. But can anyone comment on that idea?

[perrycbs1]

Treadmills require more energy to run than what people imput to them... which is why they are plugged into the wall and use electricity.

The vast majority of factories use far more energy than the available solar energy on their roofs (often 10,000 to 1 Million times more energy).

[usayesterday]

What ever the next "big" invention is...

...I''ll just bet it will have the ability to play your MP3s and connect to the internet!

Seriously though, can there be a good technological product invented that DOES NOT have the ability to do either of those two things I mentioned above?!

When was the last time you could buy a QUALITY cell phone that didn''t have all the bull ******, (camera, large color screen, etc.). Call me old fashioned, but I just like using my phone to... you know... TALK ON! It would be nice if all the bull ****** on my current phone wasn''t there, so that way, the battery would last longer! (Oh my God... what a concept)!

[usayesterday]

I HAVE IT!!!

How about a RE-Invention...

... a cell phone that is just... A CELL PHONE!

No large color screen

No built-in camera

No ability to play MP3s or video clips

No Bluetooth

Just a cell phone designed to talk on. And without all that crappola mentioned above, the battery would have the ability to last over 500 (talk time) hours!

Seriously, we need a RE-invention of a technological product that is efficient in its use and its design, because it will only have the ability to do just one thing... and do that one thing extremely well.

People would rush to buy that product, whatever it is!

[usayesterday]

In closing...

...I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes in regards to this article:

"The advancements in technology have made people easier to use."

[godseyesore-2009]

Nothing truly creative and inventive will have Bill Gates involved. His yearly tech forecasts are always WRONG. Wonder why he is even asked? Brain dead public that only wants the cheapest knockoff available.

[usayesterday]

The proverbial "bells and whistles" are added to our tech products in attempt to give us a perceived value for the amount we pay. Though, the majority of consumers only use one or two major features of said tech product.

Eventhough I would love to see a cell phone that is created to be the best damm cell phone ever made...

...but outside of people like me, who would want to pay $50, $100, or more for "just" a cell phone?! (No matter how good it is).

[solarbus]

The comment that we need new infrastructure for hydrogen is ridicules. Recycled Natural gas can be used at the fueling station being converted into hydrogen by a larger fuel cell at the station. Using current natural gas infrastructure in place in every gas station in America. Please refer to "Winning the Oil End Game" by Amory Lovins, Department of Defense, Rocky Mountain Institute. I wish the experts were really experts. I''m just a bartender I fell it''s a disservice when a bartender knows more then the experts. Maybe the Experts should catch up on there reading since this report has been out since 2003 kinda old news for an expert.

[solarbus]

The comment that we need new infrastructure for hydrogen is ridicules. Recycled Natural gas can be used at the fueling station being converted into hydrogen by a larger fuel cell at the station. Using current natural gas infrastructure in place in every gas station in America. Please refer to "Winning the Oil End Game" by Amory Lovins, Department of Defense, Rocky Mountain Institute. I wish the experts were really experts. I''m just a bartender I fell it''s a disservice when a bartender knows more then the experts. Maybe the Experts should catch up on there reading since this report has been out since 2003 kinda old news for an expert.

[solarbus]

The comment that we need new infrastructure for hydrogen is ridicules. Recycled Natural gas can be used at the fueling station being converted into hydrogen by a larger fuel cell at the station. Using current natural gas infrastructure in place in every gas station in America. Please refer to "Winning the Oil End Game" by Amory Lovins, Department of Defense, Rocky Mountain Institute. I wish the experts were really experts. I''m just a bartender I feel it''s a disservice when a bartender knows more then the experts. Maybe the Experts should catch up on there reading since this report has been out since 2003 kinda old news for an expert.

[solarbus]

The comment that we need new infrastructure for hydrogen is ridicules. Recycled Natural gas can be used at the fueling station being converted into hydrogen by a larger fuel cell at the station. Using current natural gas infrastructure in place in every gas station in America. Please refer to "Winning the Oil End Game" by Amory Lovins, Department of Defense, Rocky Mountain Institute. I wish the experts were really experts. I''m just a bartender I feel it''s a disservice when a bartender knows more then the experts. Maybe the Experts should catch up on there reading since this report has been out since 2003 kinda old news for an expert.

[solarbus]

And how do we move hydrogen around? It''s a big infrastructure issue for the nation. The comment that we need new infrastructure for hydrogen is ridicules. Recycled Natural gas can be used at the fueling station, being converted into hydrogen by a larger fuel cell at the station. Using current natural gas infrastructure in place in every gas station in America. Please refer to "Winning the Oil End Game" by Amory Lovins, Department of Defense, Rocky Mountain Institute. I wish the experts were really experts. I''m just a bartender I feel it''s a disservice when a bartender knows more then the experts. Maybe the Experts should catch up on there reading since this report has been out since 2003 kinda old news for an expert.

[solarbus]

And how do we move hydrogen around? It''s a big infrastructure issue for the nation. The comment that we need new infrastructure for hydrogen is ridicules. Recycled Natural gas can be used at the fueling station, being converted into hydrogen by a larger fuel cell at the station. Using current natural gas infrastructure in place in every gas station in America. Please refer to "Winning the Oil End Game" by Amory Lovins, Department of Defense, Rocky Mountain Institute. I wish the experts were really experts. I''m just a bartender I feel it''s a disservice when a bartender knows more then the experts. Maybe the Experts should catch up on there reading since this report has been out since 2003 kinda old news for an expert.

[sjc_1]

We would probably reform natural gas to hydrogen at the filling station. If we gasify biomass into methane, that natural gas can be CO2 neutral as well.

[michellem99-2009]

Them touch sceens are bad idea, I like my mouse thank ye, What yer want a touch sceen for. I don''t.

[cyberdjs4]

Let''s hope this year''s hot tech invention will be something a little more practical than a locked cell phone with a touchscreen and no keypad.

The iPhone was a neat TOY but real phone users need something they can use. The Blackberry, Treo and Palm already had touchscreens and they work better.

I see no mention of the Microsoft Surface computer.
That thing is amazing and it is the future of computing as we know it.

[lochlan-2009]

The UMPC market is going to start off real big this year. The WiBrain is amazing, although it is ugly and has only one USB port.

[neobrian-2009]

A Government That Truly Works
Best Invention we could have!

[dan9111]

A faster foreskin restoration device for American men. The difference with having intact genitals is substantial after the progress I have made. No more dryness. No more buying artificial lubes. No more feeling rushed to the finish.

They will just have to make it finish growing the skin back in only a month. Then it would be money well spent.