Astounde covered a story in February about how Google, along with Audi, BMW and others are deep into testing of a car that not only parks itself, but drives itself. Advancements in GPS and motion sensing technology have made this dream a reality. News then came in late March that a man lacking 95% of his vision, “drove” a car for the first time in a long time. We now have a glimpse at what the official license plates of these vehicles will look like, and we can soon expect to see them cruising beside us on the interstate.

Long distance communication has come a long way in the last 150 years. In 1860, the first pony express sent a hand-written message 200 miles per day on horseback. Not even two years later, the foundation was laid for the telegraph to send long distance messages seemingly instantaneously. While it must’ve seemed amazing at the time, it was still a very impersonal form of communication; we still weren’t able to use any of our five senses to communicate.

The telegraph led to the telephone, which amazingly opened our ears and let us hear a loved one’s voice from an incredible distance. Phone lines eventually enabled us to connect to the internet, and we can now not only hear each other, but see eachother in real time from anywhere in the world. The ongoing evolution continues to make long distance communication as personal as ever. The next natural step is to implement another one of the five senses into the equation; in this case, the ability to touch or feel someone via the internet. That possibility is closer than you think.

What do lotus leaves, moth eyes, and desert beetle shells have in common? They are all underappreciated pieces of nature that fulfill multiple amazing purposes simultaneously. These three natural objects inspired MIT researchers to look at a modern day staple, glass, and modify it to have life changing capabilities. The future applications are endless.

Spending time in the great outdoors is wonderful; the sights, the smells, the tranquility. It really brings you back to the days of our ancestors whose lives were shaped in the plains. The problem is that in the 21st century, we need to stay connected to the outside world. E-mails, sports scores, breaking news; we like to have our cake and eat it too. Those of us without an RV who don’t want to risk killing our car battery have had to suck it up and survive a few days without a smart device. Even resisting those temptations, it’s still nice to have some music to jam out to while in the mountains.

Materials scientists David Toledo and Paul Slusser wanted to make life more convenient for outdoorsmen in the United States, and potentially bring a scarce resource to people in third world countries. They are on the brink of doing just that. Their start-up company, Power Portal, is in the final stages of prototyping on a product called the PowerPot. The PowerPot will be able to create electricity for anyone with a hot surface and a cool liquid inside.

Mowing the lawn can be a pain with the hot sun, allergies, and your neighbor checking you out. We’ve all see the the vacuum cleaner that cruises around your floor cleaning up pet hair and dust, so why not devise something similar for your lawn? A couple of companies have done just that, just in time for summer.

With cameras going digital in the last decade or two, and with memory storage capabilities skyrocketing, people have been accumulating incomprehensible amounts of photos. Many of our photo collections are unorganized, leaving priceless moments unviewed and completely defeating the purpose of ever taking photos to begin with. A gentleman by the name of Matt Richardson has invented the ‘Descriptive Camera’, which prints a description of the photo taken in lieu of the normal picture we are accustomed to seeing. Could this innovation help us to more effectively preserve our memories?

Humans have been grounded for most of their existence. From Nostradamus and beyond, humans have dreamed of sprouting wings and touching the clouds. When the Wright brothers first got off the ground and into the air in 1903, the course of human histroy changed forever. Now you’re considered an oddity if you haven’t floated up above the clouds and seen the Earth from a stratospheric perspective.

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The initial taste of flight has spawned an incredible addiction for many human beings. The limits of what our bodies can handle are being pushed to the extreme; we are discovering new ways of getting airborne. In the future, we will take off vertically from a standstill. Gravity may become a thing of the past. Here are a few examples of how this hover technology is making it’s way into our lives today and in the future.

With gas prices an uncertainty and more and more individuals moving to active and healthy lifestyles, people are moving to bikes are a primary form of transportation. Finding a good, safe spot to park a bike has been a problem as they take up a lot of space, and are often the target of theft.

Finding a spot to park your boat is another story altogether. Leaving it docked can be expensive, and buying a trailer is often a pain. Some brilliant minds have sought to address these spacial issues, and have actually created working models of a bike and a boat that can fold up and be worn as a backpack!

Astounde.com covered an overview of Augmented Reality in February. Augmented Reality is essentially the opposite of virtual reality. AR is placing virtual components into the real world, rather than trying to make a real world in a digital one. AR is still in it’s infancy, but is starting to take a stronghold on our tablets and phones.

One of the most exciting developments using AR is taking place in a new device that can be worn on your face. Technology is shrinking and becoming more powerful than we ever imagined, and that is enabling us to come up with some sensational new applications. Many technology experts believe that 2012 may go down as the year of wearable technology. This evolution of technology and communication has enabled Google to release Project Glass; which is the introduction of what is becoming known as Google Glasses. These glasses have the potential to change the way we live forever.

There has been an amazing array of technology unleashed on the world lately, but these futuristic innovations have not been without their issues. One of the most frustrating problems facing us today has got to be cell phone reception, or most times, a lack thereof. Scientists may have finally uncovered an affordable solution, from an unlikely source: a spray can.