This year, WIREDNextFest has come to Chicago — it started Sept. 27 and runs through Oct. 12. This event is bills itself as a “premier showcase of the global innovations transforming our world.” The exhibits are solidly interesting, but not extraordinary. The NextFest tent is pitched in Millennium Park and admission is free. A visit is interesting, though not as mind-blowing as previous shows.
Any tech show veteran will tell you there is a pattern to these events: they track the larger economy. A strong economy means lots of new gadgets — but when the economy tanks, tech shows retrench a bit. This year, NextFest is definitely in sync with the jittery economy.
NextFest 2008 offers fewer unique items, plus some ideas that have been recycled into new products — such as Brain Game technology, which originally debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show back in the 1980s. Featured products include robots, eco and sustainable living products, a couple of high-end pieces of furniture, and some very practical prosthetic devices worn by athlete Cameron Clapp. For journalists, the most practical prototypes are still a couple years from production. These were Xerox’s solid ink (non-toxic, minimal packaging) and erasable paper.
Since the introduction of the Roomba, my own robot dreams have been answered — though the whimsical lawn mowing sheep robot was fun. I did note it was messing up the lawn because it seemed too heavy for the recently inundated Midwest soil.
Two exhibits stood out for me:
- UCLA’s PEIR project (personal environmental integration network, still in development) uses GPS and mobile technology to track you through your busy day. It then prepares a report on your personal carbon footprint. This project also includes a health tracker that will weigh those fast-food meals against the exercise you get to create a personal health profile you can access online or via mobile device.
- Toyota’s iReal prototype personal mobility device, which combines a high-end motorized wheelchair, a Segway, and a home theater chair. It also can be “pimped out” with lights on the outside. And you can include a “social networking” feature so that your vehicle would let you know when a friend is nearby. (This may be a case where just because something can be networked, the question “Why bother?” could be asked.) Here’s a demo of the iReal in action as a commuting vehicle, driving over Chicago’s Clark St. Bridge and into the State of Illinois Building. The iReal uses magnetic levitation (mag-lev) technology, and can be had today for $11,000. The magnets, which only lose two percent of their power over 20 years, are pretty impressive. However, these magnets are made in China — so maybe we would think twice today about bringing them into close contact with our homes and selves.
But despite current dire economic headlines, I found NextFest to be robust and hopeful. Many technologies displayed here are “conservative” in the real sense of the word — that is, preservative. They aim to preserve the environment, a sense of the social in a world of technology, and a sense of how cool the future can be. Here’s my gallery of NextFest photos.
