The Future Scanner Daily Top 5 serves to highlight 5 of the
best scans submitted to the Future Scanner during
the last 24 hours. 
The following is a summary of the key moments that
transpired during the U.S. House Subcommittee on Telecommunications
and the Internet hearing on Virtual Worlds held April 1, 2008. This
marked the first ever simulcast of a Congressional hearing into a
virtual world – a truly historic moment. 
Spanning the positive uses of virtual worlds (entrepreneurial,
non-profit, educational, and other purposes) as well as the
security implications (terrorism, child protection, privacy and
illegal activities) the first-of-its-kind hearing finally came to a
close at 11:15 AM this morning after nearly two full hours of
position statements and riveting Q&A.
Subcommittee members’ opening speeches covered general
statistics, implications, applications and potential futures of
virtual worlds. Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey of Massachusetts
(pictured second) noted that virtual worlds often permit people to
do things that are often impossible in real life, thus empowering
individuals and that virtual worlds are at the cutting edge of web
2.0 applications. As per the future of virtual worlds, the Chairman
said that virtual worlds are steadily becoming more commonplace and
therefore policymakers will have to continue to monitor them as
they grow further while upgrading national infrastructure to foster
the positive utilities of such worlds. 
Congressman Stearns of Florida (pictured third) cited an
interesting statistic in his opening remarks, that 40% of men and
50% of women see virtual friends as equal or better than their
real-life friends. He found this a bit unsettling, and elucidated
his concern for sexual predators and con-men inevitably finding
their way into virtual worlds, as they did the internet.
Congresswoman Harman of California echoed many of the same
positive implications of virtual worlds, but seemed most concerned
with the use of virtual worlds by Islamic militants, noting that a
“clear-eyed understanding is essential” in helping fight this new
wave of “transient terrorism.”
(cont.)
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April 01 2008 / by Marisa Vitols
Category: Other Year: 2008 Rating: 1
Google’s April Fools blogging tradition has caught on in a big,
big way. Here are six of the cleverest futuristic April Fools
stories, including a great pair by Google, that we found among the
hundreds peppered all over the web today. Enjoy! 
- Newly formed
Nanotechnology Protection Agency (NPA) to regulate molecular
assemblers
The newly created U.S. Nanotechnology Protection Agency (NPA)
announced today, April 1, 2008, that, effective immediately, all
laboratories and production facilities for molecular assemblers
(commonly called nanobots) need a special license and have to
follow strict guidelines in all research and production facilities
that deal with nanoassemblers. At the same time, the NPA declared gray goo a hazardous substance. (image
credit: Nanowerk)
- New Space Station
Robot Asks to be Called ‘Dextre the Magnificent’
In a surprising and potentially troubling request, the new
space station robot known as Dextre demanded that astronauts refer
to it in the future at “Dextre the Magnificent.” Brandishing power
tools that would make any handyperson blush, the mobile servicing
system thanked humans for creating it and promised a glorious
future where humans would retain an important role in the new robot
order.
-
Project Virgle
Virgle’s goal is simple: the establishment of a permanent human
settlement on Mars. Larry Page, Sergey Brin and I feel strongly
that contemporary technology is sufficiently advanced to make such
an effort both successful and economical, and that it’s high time
that humanity moved beyond Earth and began our great, long journey
to explore the stars and establish our first lasting foothold on
another world.
(cont.)
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If you’re interested in how a specific future year may shape up,
the Future Scanner offers a
wealth of information to this end. A quick search through
2015 scans
revealed a plethora of information about the expected state of
cancer treatment, interfaces, artificial intelligence, robotics,
the environment and much more. 
Take a look at the following results for a quick snapshot of
2015:
Health of the General Population: Although it
has been predicted that 75% of Americans
will be overweight by then, what and how
we’re eating might be very different from today. Check out
these winning
designs from the competition “Dining in 2015” as well as the
potential for elegant designer
fruit that could hit grocery stores by 2015. And though the
future of fruit is exciting, the future of food prices may not be
so, according to this
prediction that cereal prices will rise by between 10% and 20% by
2015 due to supplies not matching future demands, according to the
International Food
Policy Research Institute.
The most exciting prediction regarding health in 2015 is the
likelihood that cancer may be well on its way to being cured.
According to this Future
Blogger post by futuretalk “Dr.
Andrew von Eschenbach, then director of the National Cancer
Institute outlined his goal to eliminate suffering and death from
cancer by 2015.”
Gadgets and Gizmos: Lots of exciting
technologies to look forward to in this year. Check out these awesome
laptop prototypes as well as Nokia’s
Nano-phone being developed with the 2015 goal in mind.
(cont.)
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April 01 2008 / by Marisa Vitols
Category: Other Year: 2008 Rating: 1
The Future Scanner Daily Top 5 serves to highlight 5 of the
best scans submitted to the Future Scanner during
the last 24 hours. 
John (17) and Patrick (19) Collison of Limerick, Ireland are the
latest in a growing number of millionaire teens. Launched just last
summer, their web software company Auctomatic.com sold for about $5
million,
reported The Irish Times. Their venture “provides web-based
software for heavy users of the eBay auction site which enables
them to manage inventory more efficiently” and was made possible
through funding from Silicon Valley incubator Y Combinator.
To inform this new generation of go-getters, Greg Muller of
The Age explains that “Citizen 2.0 is today’s teenager, born in
a connected world, accustomed to rapid change and possessing unique
information-age skills. Citizen 2.0 will challenge any organisation
selling products, services or ideas in the future.”
(cont.)
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March 31 2008 / by Marisa Vitols
Category: Other Year: 2008 Rating: 1
In addition to our weekly awards, every Sunday MemeBox
releases a Top 10 List of the most interesting and useful Future
Scans posted the during the preceding week. This list is a great
way to get acquainted with what the Future Scanner has to offer and
to quickly digest some great information. 
The Top 10 Future Scans for the week of March 24 – March 30 (in
no particular order) are:
March 31 2008 / by Marisa Vitols
Category: Other Year: 2008 Rating: 1
Here at MemeBox, Sunday is the day we look back at all of the
Future Blogger posts and Future Scanner scans in an effort to
distill and recognize the best of what you, the community, have
contributed to the site throughout the previous 7 days.
Future Scanner of the Week: AlFin
for scans including Space Elevator
Update: Watch the Wobble! and Peak Oil: Meet 1$
a Watt Solar Cells by 2012.
Future Blogger of the Week: Accel
Rose for posts including The Legal Issues
Facing Virtual Worlds and Biggest Revenue
Drop Since 1950 for U.S. Newspaper Industry
Future Scan of the Week:
Is Robot Evolution Mirroring Human Evolution
- Scanned by juldrich
Future Blogger Post of the Week: Stem
Cells promise healthcare revolution in next decade
- Written by futuretalk.
Congratulations, winners!
March 29 2008 / by Marisa Vitols
Category: Other Year: 2008 Rating: 1
The Future Scanner Daily Top 5 serves to highlight 5 of the
best scans submitted to the Future Scanner during
the last 24 hours. 
One of the richest cities in the world, it’s no
wonder architectural innovation is blossoming in Dubai. The
latest of which is the Pixel Tower – a new-age, champagne-inspired
state of the art residential building for the hip and filthy rich.
Designed by James Law of James Law
Cybertecture International, this 18-story beauty sits on
Dubai’s waterfront and is designed specifically with sun exposure
and seaside-viewing maximization in mind.
Not only an architectural sight to behold, Pixel Tower is also
fully equipped the technology their target clientele is after. With
security cameras that can be read from cell phones and PDAs and the
ability to control one’s apartment remotely, its first residents
will feel light-years ahead of any average young and trendy
apartment dweller situated most anywhere else.
Check out more pictures of this architectural phenomenon
scheduled for completion in 2010 below the fold. It is indeed, as
Law put
it, a “forerunner of building towards future living that embodies
great design, efficiency, style and technology.”
(cont.)
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