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By TONY LINK © 1989, Los Angeles Daily News boards and ponder the next giant leap for mankind. Authors Malcolm Abrams and Harriet Bernstein simply want Joe and Jane Sixpack to know that, for them, the future holds such in ventions as kiss moisturizers, eye braces, levi tation vehicles and electrified birth control. Count on seeing these products marketed by the year 2000, the two authors write in their book, “‘Future Stuff’ (Penguin, $8.95). Call it a shopper’s guide for the years soon to come, Abrams said. He claims it is not a staid study, although he notes more than a year of research went into collecting the information on the 275 products the book details. A goal in the writing was to make the book fun, said Abrams. Inclusion of things like kiss moisturizers shows that. “Obviously, this isn’t something that man kind is desperate for,”’ he noted. Even the inventors of the product agree, al though they do feel it has some value. “Hey, anything that’s going to make my life easier,” said Myke Bengtzen, manager of in vestor relations for Advanced Polymer Sys tems Inc. That Northern California-based company de veloped what they call “‘Microsponge’’ deliv ery systems, which are to be used in the kiss moisturizer and can be mixed into products like lipstick. So contemplative futurists tug at their In this kiss enhancer, the pressure of a pucker on the lips causes the lipstick-applied microsponges to release some of the liquid they hold, Bengtzen said. “Future Stuff’ lists the odds of the kiss mois turizer reaching the market by the year 2000 as 95 percent. However, the book estimates it likely will be marketed in 1990 at a price of $4.50. Such odds, estimated years of arrival in the marketplace and prices are noted for each of the products listed by Abrams and Bernstein, based on information supplied by the inventor or manufacturer. In some cases, the odds are listed as 100 per cent because the product is unmarketable form. The authors found the stuff they list by talk ing to people in various trades, going to inven tors’ conventions and library research, Abrams said. Few of the products have garnered wide pub licity. The levitation vehicle is an exception. In May, images and words concerning Paul Moller’s flying machine found their way into living rooms nationwide when television net works and newspapers showed up at a press conference he held to show off the M200x. Powered by eight snowmobile engines, the two-seated craft — built in Davis by Moller In ternational — flow for a throng of reporters. Moller contends a four-seated version now under development will take off and land like a helicopter, move forward at up to 400 mph, cruise for up to 850 miles at 15 miles per gallon of low-octane gas, and be stored in a garage. According to ‘‘Future Stuff,’ odds: 100 per cent; ETA: 1991; price: $100,000. Molt Taylor, who has produced a kit allowing home tinkerers to build a flying car, has no idea when mass use might begin for his inven tion. Odds: 50 percent; ETA: 1999; price: $150,000. He needs more financing, and there are other obstacles, according to “Future Stuff.” But Taylor, of Longview, Wash., has flown a prototype. The vehicle, now in development, uses an only slightly modified Honda CRX car. It also includes detachable components including 34- foot wings and an extra engine. The add-ons fold up to form a 20-by-8-foot trailer that can be towed. No need to tow the walking TV. “This tele vision of the future will be able to walk freely from room to room without human help, boogie to MTV and add drama to action-packed chase scenes by leaning into the curves,” authors: Abrams and Bernstein write. Along with amusement, this mobile tele vision also can provide security, inventor Brian Elliot told the authors. It can carry a se curity camera and patrol homes for the likes of burglars, said Elliot, who developed the walk ing TV while he was a student at a Los Angeles area college of design. Odds: 50 percent; ETA: 1995; price: $5,000. The beneficial use of some other items listed in ‘Future Stuff’ is less clear, Abrams noted. Consider the robot dog — odds: 50 percent; ETA: 1991; price: $1,350. “It’s not very cuddly, it’s bizarre-looking, and it may never be your best friend, but if you’re allergic to animals or hate hair on the carpet, a robot dog may be the ideal pet,”’ the book states. A more useful device might be the eye brace -odds: 75 percent; ETA: 1994; price: $2,000. Imagine teeth braces, but for the cornea of the eye. So says ‘‘Future Stuff,” which states the device under development by KeraVision Inc. could eliminate any need for glasses or contact lenses. A physician would place the brace, called an intracorneal ring, in the cornea. Individual rings would alter the cornea by flattening it, making it more convex or making it more round to correct nearsightedness, farsighted ness or astigmatism. A doctor in New York produced the idea of electrified birth control— odds: 75 percent; ETA: 1992; price: $60-$80. Gynecologist Steven Kaali, a family-plan ning researcher, was mulling over the dying battery in his watch when he began to wonder whether a battery in a diaphragm would kill sperm, according to the book. The authors note that Kaali now has a patent on such a device that has been 100 percent ef fective in lab studies and animal experiments.
Newspaper Details
Marysville Yuba City Appeal Democrat
Marysville, California, US
Thu, Oct 12, 1989
Page 28
Full Page
Clipped by
Matt B.
22 Nov 2025
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