The world of technology waits for nothing. It’s probably not news to you that we’re innovating, creating and developing new technologies faster and faster as years go by. For example, new interfaces can lead to entirely new ways to interact with objects, both domestically and otherwise. But even with the accelerated growth in the technology sector that we’ve seen just during our lifetimes, trying to actually gauge that from our own perspective is almost impossible. We’re just too close to the action.

Perhaps, then, a story of my childhood, my father the computer programmer and Wolfenstein 3D can successfully relate just how quickly things manage to move and how little we often recognize it ourselves. Sometimes, it takes the experience of watching it happen to another person in order to fully appreciate the circumstances we live in.

If there’s one thing we can be sure of in this world, it’s that companies will generally release an upgrade for their primary gadget or software if the original was well-received. This can range from the minor upgrade to the spiritual sequel or even an entirely new endeavor with the old name slapped on. There will always be those riding the coattails of their former achievements, but there are also those companies who seem to be genuinely trying to improve their product and just miss the mark. Whether it’s a matter of public perception, a number of times they fall short of their goal, or a combination of factors.

Both of these can lead to disappointing results — financially and otherwise — that can leave the general public jaded. So, here at last is our list of the most disappointing technology upgrades and additions.

Adding to a long line of fascinating and generally horrifying things to be created by the Japanese, which includes artificial meat made from human feces, a gaming system for urinals, and the make out box, is a new “pill” that swims through your gastrointestinal tract. The pill, nicknamed the Mermaid, is directed by a doctor-controlled joystick. The tadpole-like capsule endoscope self-propels through a host’s digestive system relaying pictures of the situation on the inside back to the doctor.

While the device has not been approved for widespread clinical use, it has been tested successfully in a living human patient. The device is approximately one centimeter in diameter and 4.5 centimeters long, and can be swallowed for examination of the stomach, or inserted, well, in the other end, to capture images of the colon. The test images taken were of the colon.

The computer mouse can take on a variety of shapes and sizes while retaining functionality, including looking like impossibly adorable robot pod creatures. Artist Aaron Ristau has created these unique computer mice, which use a micro USB transmitter for wireless capability and use repurposed typewriter keys for the mouse buttons. Each mouse is different, and can be customized with specific character keys, colors, and other features.

(Gizmodo via Boing Boing)

I can’t think of a time when Popular Mechanics hasn’t been promising consumer electronics with flexible displays in some slightly-sexier near-future. Like flying cars, its a technology that perpetually seems just around the corner. What no one has actually tackled is how people would actually use such a device, and what value a flexible screen would provide.

One research group at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario has taken up that question with their PaperPhone project. The phone consists of an e-ink display on flexible plastic with sensors on the back to detect how the device is being bent. In their study, the researchers asked users to use create custom bending motions to accomplish various tasks common to a smartphone. Users could, for instance, bend a corner up or down to move through tracks on the phone’s MP3 player.

The results of the study have been compiled into an academic paper that will be presented tomorrow a the Computer Human Interaction conference. Their work identifies some basic principles about flexible controls — people like easy to understand, easy to execute controls, etc. — though it does not evaluate the usefulness of the interface as a whole. Thankfully, the study’s creators have uploaded a video depicting the PaperPhone in action. Read on after the jump, and decide for yourself if this will be the hot new technology that supplants multitouch.

Cyberpresse researcher Jean-Christophe Laurence showed a group of modern-day schoolchildren from Quebec various gadgets from the ’80s and ’90s and asked them to guess what they were for. They’re often able to figure out eventually that it’s an older form of a tech that they currently know, but Laurence gets some great, creative responses along the way.

Of a floppy disk: “this goes into an iPod.” Of a ColecoVision game: “a deck of cards.” Of an 8-track player: “Oh! I thought it was a bomb!”

(Cyberpresse via MeFi)

Back in the early 1990s when some of us were watching “The Real World” when it was real and were stubbornly making the transition from cassette tapes to compact discs, AT&T made some bold predictions related to technological advances of the future. Crazy things, like video conferencing, paying tolls without stopping, reading books on computers. Crazy! Well, as we know, all that stuff happened. Slightly differently than depicted, but it happened. And when you think about it, it’s pretty cool that we made it happen.

(via BuzzFeed via Best Week Ever)

This is the unfortunate experience of the American National Park Service, who say that advances in GPS and emergency technologies are great for experienced campers and hikers, but that they also give inexperienced, impulsive, or outright idiotic park visitors new and exciting ways to make nuisances of themselves.

From the New York Times:

“Because of having that electronic device, people have an expectation that they can do something stupid and be rescued,” said Jackie Skaggs, spokeswoman for Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

“Every once in a while we get a call from someone who has gone to the top of a peak, the weather has turned and they are confused about how to get down and they want someone to personally escort them,” Ms. Skaggs said. “The answer is that you are up there for the night.”

There are some inevitable pairings, like Brad x Angelina (“Brangelina”), Jack x Kate (“Jate”), or Naruto x Hinata (“NaruHina”). Add this to the list: Reuters reports that Dell is in talks with Google about including the new Chrome operating system on their laptops. As I see it, “Dhrome” (I’m hoping this nickname will get picked up; remember, you heard it here first) is more than likely to occur, as Google hopes to find a leg up against Microsoft and Dell looks for a new angle to trump the new Apple computers.

Reports of Dell considering Chrome extend to last year, when the OS was reportedly tested on a Netbook via USB.

Earlier this week, San Francisco-based designer Alex Varanese released a series of hypothetical posters titled “ALT/1977: WE ARE NOT TIME TRAVELERS” visualizing an MP3 player, a laptop, a cell phone, and a handheld video game system, as if they were created in the 1970s. The seventies: Star Wars, The Godfather, and the first supercomputer? I’d travel there (then?) in a heartbeat.

More images after the jump.