Transportation

The Gadgets of the Future From the Electrical Shows of Yesterday

Decades before the debut of the Consumer Electronics Show, early adopters flocked to extravagant high-tech fairs in New York and Chicago

Matt Novak

January 10, 2013

Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About San Francisco’s Cable Cars

Ever since they became a part of the city’s transit system, they have been iconic mainstays of its cityscape

January 4, 2013

Santa Claus Builds A Flying Machine

As the 1800s gave way to the 1900s, many Americans felt that old Saint Nick needed a new way of getting from house to house

Matt Novak

December 20, 2012

Motopia: A Pedestrian Paradise

Visit the futuristic town where drivers and non-drivers live in perfect harmony

Matt Novak

December 6, 2012

A New Great Depression and Ladies on the Moon: 1970s Middle School Kids Look to the Year 2000

The ideal future according to a ten-year-old: shorter school days, lower taxes, and lots and lots of robots

Matt Novak

October 12, 2012

Recapping ‘The Jetsons’: Episode 03 – The Space Car

The Jetsons didn't invent the flying car, but it sure did a lot to cement the idea of the airborne automobile into the American imagination

Matt Novak

October 9, 2012

Predictions From The Father of Science Fiction

Hugo Gernsback's predictions give us a look at the most radical of technological utopianism from the 1920s

Matt Novak

October 4, 2012

Trains of Tomorrow, After the War

The wartime inconveniences of traveling by train prompted the promise for "the finest transportation the world has ever seen"

Matt Novak

September 21, 2012

50 Years of the Jetsons: Why The Show Still Matters

Although it was on the air for only one season, The Jetsons remains our most popular point of reference when discussing the future.

Matt Novak

September 19, 2012

Aircraft Design Inspired by Nature and Enabled by Tech

In 2050, Airbus hopes to fly you around in a see-through jet shaped like a bird skeleton, with morphing seats, spa treatments, and virtual entertainment

Sarah C. Rich

August 16, 2012

Where the Buffalo No Longer Roamed

The Transcontinental Railroad connected East and West—and accelerated the destruction of what had been in the center of North America

Gilbert King

July 17, 2012

1954 Flying Car for Sale

A bargain for just $1.25 million. But, you'll need both aviation and auto insurance

Matt Novak

July 9, 2012

Coffee Retailers Reinterpret the Container Store

Jimmy Stamp

June 15, 2012

The Airport Design Utopian

What ever happened to the Starport, the brainchild of Jim Starry that re-imagined the airport?

Sarah C. Rich

June 12, 2012

1923 Envisions the Two-Wheeled Flying Car of 1973

As cars got larger in the 1920s, the "Helicar" was presented as the solution to congested city streets

Matt Novak

June 6, 2012

Saab Reinvents Air Traffic Control With a Digital Panorama

With Saab's new digital panorama, the local air traffic controller may soon go the way of the technical support specialist

Jimmy Stamp

June 4, 2012

Don’t Let Your Money Fly Away: A 1909 Warning to Airship Investors

Flying aboard aircraft? Just a passing fad

Matt Novak

May 31, 2012

How a Federally-Regulated Safety Message Distinguished a Brand

If you've flown Virgin America, you've seen its distinctive safety video. But what's the story behind it?

Sarah C. Rich

May 31, 2012

Big Things Ahead… But Keep Your Shirt On

Americans in the 1940s had wondrous expectations about the post-war world. Meet one author who advised them to curb their enthusiasm

Matt Novak

May 25, 2012

The 86-Year-Old Company that Still Designs Your In-Flight Experience

Seattle-based design firm Teague has designed every Boeing aircraft interior since the 1940s, from the post-WWII Stratocruiser to the 2009 Dreamliner

Sarah C. Rich

May 22, 2012