Sky City 1000 is Tokyo's plan for relieving urban congestion. Just build up, bigger, taller, faster. It's basically a medium sized city all inside one humungous new building.

The plan is to house 35,000 people in apartments within the structure, and an additional 100,000 office workers every day. (All seven WTC towers combined in New York held 50,000 people, by way of comparison, I think.)

The project is expected to include apartments, offices, theaters, schools, public spaces and huge gardens (like the ones shown in the picture) so users can enjoy nature in the building (and so they have places to escape to during fires).

Triple-decker high speed elevators that hold up to 70 people will take passengers between the 14 space plateaus from where they can then take regular elevators to nearby floors.

I think it's kind of neat to imagine having an entire city located in one single large building. At least it wouldn't be hard to commute to work! If Japan manages to complete Sky City 1000, maybe it will help stop humans from destroying forests just to create more land for housing and cities.

Read about it on the architect's own website here: http://www.takenaka.co.jp/takenaka_e/techno/63_sky/63_sky.htm

Here's something you probably haven't heard about yet: Red Tacton. It's a research project being undertaken by NTT (the largest phone company on earth). I only know about it because one of my boss's portfolio companies was chosen to field test it.

Let me see if I can explain it simply: Red Tacton is a technology that you can embed in your cell phone or a credit card or any other personal device. Once you have it, the Red Tacton enabled device reads a biomarker that proves your body is really you, then cloaks you in a harmless laser optical field that can transmit data. Did I put you to sleep yet? Wake up or you're gonna lose your Geek license!

So why would we want to pass data through touch when we can already do it wirelessly? I knew you'd ask that. After all, relying on someone to touch something seems kind of counter-intuitive, doesn't it?

Ah, but there are some advantages. Imagine these applications: You go to open a bottle of medicine, it only opens for you, not for anyone else. So no one gets poisoned. You walk past a flat-screen advertisement in the mall, once your feet touch the ground near the ad, the advertisement changes to stuff you like to buy.

Want to make a phone call but forgot your cell phone? Just pick up anyone's cell phone and instantly, upon your touch all the phone numbers and address contacts in display yours (no longer your friends), the billing is sent to you, your ring tones and calendar messages display on his phone ... In other words, the device itself is no longer important. Any phone is yours.

Doors only open for people authorized to go through them. No keys are needed anymore. And they log each entry. Rent a car (or borrow your friend's wheels) and the car automatically adjusts the seat, radio station, presets, and air temperature to your favorites.

The possibilities are endless. And I think it's a very different way of thinking than WiFi or Bluetooth. Read about it from the source here: http://www.redtacton.com/en/