GE resurrects the turbo prop to cut aircraft fuel consumption by 20 percent

GE resurrects the turbo prop to cut aircraft fuel consumption by 20 percent

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Sometimes old technologies modernised are better than the latest bleeding edge innovations, and this is yet another example.   Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends,  connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. As...

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Open fan engine prototype helps Airbus cut 20 percent of aircraft emissions

Open fan engine prototype helps Airbus cut 20 percent of aircraft emissions

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Airbus is exploring the technologies of the past and future to help it create zero emissions aircraft and this latest engine prototype helps save 20% of emissions.   Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, subscribe to the podcast, future proof yourself with courses...

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Airbus uses the giant A380 to test its first prototype Hydrogen jet engines

Airbus uses the giant A380 to test its first prototype Hydrogen jet engines

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Hydrogen fuel is seen as the aviation industries only route to true zero emissions flight, and Airbus are leading the way.   Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, subscribe to the podcast, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential...

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The world’s first satellite that can be re-programmed in orbit heads to final assembly

The world’s first satellite that can be re-programmed in orbit heads to final assembly

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Once a satellite is launched it normally does one thing and one thing alone and can never be altered or reprogrammed – now they can.   Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. So...

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Airbus just unveiled three new radical zero-emission concept aircraft

Airbus just unveiled three new radical zero-emission concept aircraft

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The airline industry is one of the world’s biggest polluters, and as society demands action some of them are re-doubling their efforts to clean up their industries for the better.   Interested in the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from...

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Flying high Airbus shows off its 2030 and 2050 concept cabins

Flying high Airbus shows off its 2030 and 2050 concept cabins

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future of aviation will be electric, and involve hypersonic aircraft and rockets. But there’ll be room for more conventional aircraft too and they’ll be able to take advantage of new technologies to create amazing new experiences.   Interested in the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential...

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Airbus show off their first flying taxi prototype as it takes to the skies

Airbus show off their first flying taxi prototype as it takes to the skies

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Traffic jams are synonymous with cars, and both are global issues, so companies are looking to the future and trying to reinvent travel and mobility.   Interested in the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from our XPotential Academy, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog....

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A US startup just built a giant centrifuge to fling rockets into space

A US startup just built a giant centrifuge to fling rockets into space

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Companies are trying to lower the cost of accessing space, and flinging rockets into space could make space travel ridiculously cheap.   Interested in the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. All manner of companies are experimenting with all manner of ways to...

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HyperPower unveil their new high density electric motor to accelerate the Hyperloop

HyperPower unveil their new high density electric motor to accelerate the Hyperloop

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Futuristic transport like the Hyperloop, a Mach 1 train in a tube, need a futuristic power source.   Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. The Hyperloop is a futuristic train in a vacuum tube that will one day be...

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World’s first fully pilotless commercial aircraft takes off from France

World’s first fully pilotless commercial aircraft takes off from France

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Everyone tells us aircraft can fly by themselves, now they really can, and this is just the first step of that transition.   Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. We’ve all heard and read about the arrival of autonomous...

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IBM’s floating space robot just got an emotional upgrade

IBM’s floating space robot just got an emotional upgrade

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As software improves and AI gets better one big advantage that robots have over humans still is that they can get upgrades and CIMON just got an EQ upgrade.   Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. How many times...

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Airbus and Audi join forces and unveil their flying taxi concept

Airbus and Audi join forces and unveil their flying taxi concept

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF It seems noone wants to be left out of the flying Robo-Taxi race, so now Audi are teaming up with Airbus to develop their own concept.   Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Flying Robo-Taxis, which rather than the...

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NASA’s ISS robot companion CIMON gets caught copping an attitude

NASA’s ISS robot companion CIMON gets caught copping an attitude

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As more machines and humans work alongside one another how we interact with one another will become increasingly crucial.   As he entered his final month on the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, Alexander Gerst could be proud that he’s helped given birth to...

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Record breaking solar powered aircraft stays aloft for 26 days straight

Record breaking solar powered aircraft stays aloft for 26 days straight

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The aviation industry is one of the world’s biggest polluters so companies around the world are trying to find new ways to power aircraft.   Recently I talked about SolarStratos, a company that’s looking to produce “the world’s first commercial solar aircraft,” and a couple...

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IBM’s “flying brain” Watson heads into space

IBM’s “flying brain” Watson heads into space

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the space industry steps looks to explore more space and even colonise and mine new planets the demands on astronauts is increasing, so CIMON and its descendents will be used to help lighten their load and make them more productive.   IBM Watson is...

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European giants team up to build electric aircraft

European giants team up to build electric aircraft

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Aviation is one of today’s biggest polluters so now companies are ploughing more effort into building the world’s first viable electric aircraft. In March this year Rolls Royce’s CEO announced that the future of flight was electric, and this week Airbus, Rolls Royce and Siemens announced...

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Airbus unveils PopUp, the sky taxi of the future

Airbus unveils PopUp, the sky taxi of the future

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future of mobility is still going to be multi-modal but nothing says we have to stay on the ground.   None of us like sitting in a traffic jam and watching the taxi meter rise, or the world pass us by, but now an...

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Oracle’s America’s Cup yacht will never sail, because it flies

Oracle’s America’s Cup yacht will never sail, because it flies

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today’s ultra expensive racing yachts don’t float, they fly, and this years America’s cup could see the first time a boats’ hull never hits the water   As far as sporting trophies go, it’s hard to find any older than the America’s Cup. Sailing teams have...

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Airbus will test its new “Sky taxi” later this year

Airbus will test its new “Sky taxi” later this year

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF With more people moving into the cities gridlock is becoming the bane of most people’s lives, Airbus and others, including Uber propose taking to the skies but people with vertigo should watch out.   Airbus has been eyeing the increasingly interesting, and viable, flying taxi...

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Velodyne’s new miniature LiDAR means many more autonomous things

Velodyne’s new miniature LiDAR means many more autonomous things

  WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Most of the new smart things that we are creating rely on sensors to map, move around and interact with our world, and LiDAR is a key sensing technology that helps things see, Velodyne’s new product will accelerate the creation of smart, autonomous things...

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