Not even Star Trek imagined a future where electronics would be both flexible and transparent. And let's be honest: it's hard to imagine such gadgets even today, since seeing one or the other is still a rare enough thing. If anything is going to make it happen, though, it's carbon nanotubes, especially now that they've been made into transparent films.

Commercial operators like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic may be taking the lead in terms of manned space travel, but NASA continues to explore new ways to travel to and from space. The agency's latest research is focused on what could become a rotor-equipped space capsule re-entry vehicle.

As touchscreens have taken off via tablets and smartphones, the way we interact with our gadgets has changed dramatically. But finger-to-glass input is just one option as these devices evolve. A new creation promises to move touch input to nearly any surface.

Video chat was supposed to be the future, but even a celebrity-endorsed service like Airtime is failing to woo the masses. Bandwidth and hardware aren't the problem, so maybe it's the notion of having to be "camera ready" that's stalling the space. Docomo's new video chat glasses may offer a solution.