The Proteus was aptly named after the ancient sea-god who was the guardian of all marine life and capable of changing shape and assuming many forms. This ultra-light, flexible catamaran vessel practically skims across the waves and has a modular design allowing for a multitude of applications, such as rescue missions, research and ocean exploration. It is 100 ft. long, 50ft. wide and is highly stable and maneuverable with the ability to cross oceans. With its very low fuel consumption, low draft, minimal wake at high speed, and soft hulls, the Proteus is also environmentally friendly.

"We are pleased that this mission will help people become more aware of the National Marine Sanctuary System in the United States and encourage all Americans to learn more about how they can help protect and preserve these underwater treasures for future generations to enjoy," said Daniel J. Basta, director, NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program.

Through a relationship with HP, the vessel is also adorned with graphics from the technology leader's award-winning "The Computer is Personal Again" marketing campaign. The campaign theme emphasizes the vision of a highly individual and personal relationship with the computer that is unique to each user-whether they are creating a spreadsheet, a work of art or a next generation marine vessel. Marine Advanced Research uses HP technologies powered with the memory, performance and speed the team's engineers need to quickly and effectively make design modifications to Proteus as it goes through sea trials and into production.

Utilizing scent delivery techniques originally designed for military simulators, ScentAir created a one-of-a-kind interactive scent-sampling kiosk from a 1967 Volkswagen Microbus. Touch screen monitors replaced the windows and provided the interface for customers to sample scents that instantly emanated from "exhaust pipes" on the bus. Scents ranging from Apple Pie to White Gardenia could be sampled from a vast library of fragrances, as well as signature aromas created by ScentAir for brands such as Westin Hotels and Sony Style. Users could also create their own custom fragrances by blending an unlimited number of scents, all at the touch of a button.

"The VbubbleU was an opportunity for ScentAir to showcase our capabilities," said CEO David Van Epps. "Our goal was to create an interactive sensory experience that communicated the effectiveness of scent in influencing memory, emotions and buying behaviors. We realized we had hit the mark as people started sharing their personal stories and fond memories after encountering the bus."

The bus debuted at the GlobalShop Expo in Las Vegas where it joined previous innovations in the ScentAir exhibit. Four 1960's-era ball chairs offered a multi-sensory experience of sight, sound, touch and smell. Attendees were invited to don virtual reality glasses, which enabled them to view a short presentation about the company. At different times throughout the video, fragrance was released to complement the corresponding audio and visuals.

"This car, like many custom cars built during that era, resembles a space ship, with its winged back, rocket exhaust and curvaceous body," said Robert Brown, president and owner of Red Baron's. "Obviously, it was influenced by space travel, a theme that had gripped the public's imagination. This spilled over into automotive design."

Brown purchased the car about a year ago from a Hollywood director and car aficionado for $60,000 -- a bargain, except for its condition, which was dreadful. The vehicle had been left to rot in a Utah field for more than 20 years before being acquired by the director, for $50,000. He sold it to Brown after abandoning plans to restore it.

That job was left to Brown, who enlisted the services of Moses Lunden, a Chrysler-Plymouth guru who has written more than 20 books on the company and its products line. Lunden, based in Reno, Nev., lovingly tended to every bolt and screw until the car was brought back to its original luster and glory. Total cost: about $150,000.

"I'll either sell it for $100,000 and lose my shirt or get a million dollars for it and walk away happy," Brown said with a chuckle. "You never know with vintage cars, especially concept vehicles like this one." He acknowledged the car has already drawn interest from at least one high-profile celebrity collector, plus several auto museums.

Hurtling through a wetland of intrigue and speculation, this unnamed all-terrain vehicle was last spotted in February 2005 speeding around Belarus. With six balloon wheels and what looks like a mighty drive train, this amphibious creature could give you another way to coast from your island home. Although the manufacturer promised to have them on the market by summer 2005, we're still waiting here in the states. If I were you (and extremely rich), I'd call that brother-in-law in the CIA and see what information you can buy.

A spokesman for the auction house said bidding had been brisk and the final sale price was higher than expected.

The vehicle has 11,000 miles (18,000km) on the clock and is said to be in excellent condition.

It is one of two built by the former UK motor giant British Leyland for the visit.

The Pope travelled in the vehicle to Bellahouston Park in Glasgow and Murrayfield in Edinburgh, celebrating a Mass for more than 300,000 people.

The Princess Kitty is finished in pink, with matching paint applied to the wheels. The Hello Kitty trademark ribbon logo is applied to the front doors and roof, while the rear doors get a "Princess Kitty" graphic with the lovable cartoon character's face. The back window also gets a large Hello Kitty face decal. The sideview mirrors feature Hello Kitty's face in relief.

Inside, occupants rest on pink-and-white striped seatcovers adorned with the "Princess kitty" logo. The headrest covers are the shape of Hello Kitty's head, complete with ribbon on the left ear. It may be the friendliest-looking kei car ever made.

The car’s interior space has no front seat - just a space built to house the driver’s own wheelchair so all he/she has to do is simply roll in through the extra large car doors and into position. The wheelchair locks into place, within easy reach of the car's controls which are centred around a joystick. It’s light years away from the current options for disabled drivers, which involve having to hoist themselves into the driver's seat of standard cars.

In the year 2139 few vehicles are left on earth, one of them driven by Judge Dredd, a cartoon caracter from the 2000AD Comic. The only safe way to travel in that violent world is in armored taxis- built by Landrover.

So for the Hollywood movie "Judge Dredd", starring Sylvester Stallone, several 101's were equipped with a futuristic fiberglass body. Design work was done by Gordon Sked and David Woodhouse, the vehicles were built by Land Rover. After the movie was finished almost all vehicles were bought by Philipp Bashall and are for sale. The vehicles are not road legal as they are but can be easily made to. All the 101's mechanical parts are retained. This is a hot, noisy vehicle- but what a headturner!

IFTF's Technology Horizons program is focusing its research this year on the theme of "lightweight infrastructure. These new infrastructure designs will emphasize smaller, smarter, more independent components that can be organized in ways that are more efficient, more flexible, and more secure than the capital-intensive networks of the 20th century.

While at first, the PAD concept may appear as the culmination of the ever-bigger trend in SUVs in America, we can also see it as a lightweight alternative to the traditional home or apartment. IFTF has noted the emergence of temporary cities like Burning Man as an important trend in our 2005 Map of the Decade, but if the concept embodied by PAD really caught on, we could see a whole new form of urbanism based on nomadism and reconfigurable cities. Lightweight infrastructure might allow us to rapidly prototype new forms of settlement as needs and constraints shift from day to day.

Inspired by its unique aviation heritage, Saab produced one of the sensations at this year’s Geneva Show with the Aero X concept - a two-seater sports coupe that breaks with automotive design convention both outside and inside to make a unique statement in performance car design. First, there are no doors…or windscreen pillars. That's because the Saab Aero X adopts a cockpit canopy, just as you would see on a Saab jet aircraft. It offers the Aero X pilot full 180 degree vision, and also facilitates entry and exit from its low-slung cabin. Thrust for the all-wheel drive Saab Aero X also comes from a powerplant with a difference. The 400 bhp, twin-turbo, BioPower V6 engine is fuelled entirely by bioethanol, a sustainable energy source that is kinder to the environment by cutting fossil CO2 emissions. The 'green power' of this advanced engine gives new meaning to the phrase 'performance with responsibility'.

The "Blizzard" Grand Vitara is designed to fulfill the needs of people with active lifestyles focused on snow sports. With a 2.7-liter turbocharged Suzuki engine, full-time four-mode four-wheel drive system and wide grip studded snow tires, the "Blizzard" is equipped to handle just about any road condition. The Grand Vitara concept offers a dockable iPod station, an in-car video and gaming system and in-car Internet access, allowing passengers to check snow conditions on the way to the mountain. In the rear, the vehicle offers chairlift-style seating for gearing up for the slopes and removing and drying gear afterwards. The "Blizzard" is equipped with built-in glove and boot warmers and ventilated wet gear storage in the rear cargo area. The "Blizzard" also features a custom roof rack system with enclosed, backlit snowboard pods and a television camera to let the driver keep an eye on his/her snow equipment.

The MIT concept car is a complete re-think of vehicle technology. For a start, there is no engine, at least in the traditional sense. The power comes from devices called wheel robots. "These are self-contained wheel units that have electric motors inside," says Mr Chin. "The interesting thing is that the wheel can turn a full 360 degrees so you can have omni-directional wheel movements. You can rotate the car while you're moving, any direction can be front or back and you can do things like crabbing or translate sideways. It's almost like you imagine yourself driving a computer chair."

The wheel robots, complete with their own suspension, remove the need for a drive shaft and even the engine block, freeing up designers to make new use of the space in the car.

"Essentially the car will comprise four wheel-robots plus a customisable chassis," says Chin. "The frame can be built specifically for each customer."

Add wafer-thin, programmable displays that cover the interior and exterior of the car like a layer of paint, and you have a vehicle that can be customised at will. "You can imagine signalling being not just a static signal light but something more dynamic," says Mr Chin, who suggests the words "reversing" or "turning left" could roll across the car's body to declare the driver's intentions. "From a heating and cooling point of view, you might want your car to be darker or lighter depending on weather. On the interior, you can customise your dashboard for each person. If I'm an elderly person, I probably want a very large speedometer so I can see it; if I'm a race-car driver, maybe all I want is a tachometer."

As with many Honda, Toyota and Nissan urban-centric concepts, the Chrysler Akino is a miniscule, one-box vehicle with the sole purpose of providing a mobile sanctuary; sort of a personal, private space where up to five people can hide away from the hustle and bustle of the outside world. This is the reason for some of its slightly abstract features inside and out, such as texture-coated rear privacy glass, bamboo flooring, a throw rug, lighting sconces and even throw pillows. Car or portable Zen lounge? You decide. On the outside, the Akino takes many of Chryslers most distinctive new styling traits and integrates them into an unfamiliar shape, with virtually nonexistent overhangs. Its amorphous nose is adorned with the big-chrome winged Chrysler badge, and angular headlamps. Other than a few minor items, such as ornamental grooves cut into the hatch lid, similar to the Crossfires hood, and a smaller version of that same winged logo attached to the rear hatch, theres little styling shared with other Chryslers. Distinctively pointed slivers form tail lamps, bumper edges and the side cladding.

The Akino, named after Chrysler designer Akino Tsuchiya, has an interior space fitted with more natural fibers than a Peta rally — like the bamboo used for the flooring. (Oops, there's suede trimming inside. Cancel the rally.) Still, it's a social vehicle, with seats that swivel and throw pillows for lounging. Consider it a high-concept, rolling tea house.

The vehicle, shown at the Tokyo auto show, can travel on three or two wheels and is built for use on sidewalks and roads. Its body is made of polyurethane and covered in fabric — to soften the impact if it bumps into people, Toyota says.

Imagine driving around in the i-swing and its artificial intelligence, which will pop up as a mascot character in a display at the driver's shoulder, will point out a noodle shop that's sure to match your palate, says Hideo Miwa, a Toyota designer.

These positively buoyant vessels use their forward momentum and the downward lift of their wings to literally fly below the water's surface. This radical departure from the typical method of sinking below the surface allows the Dolphins to achieve an unparrallelled level of freestyle performance.The idea of underwater flight was first invented by Tom Rowe who developed the concept with his amazing "Bionic-Dolphin."

The first Dolphin to be designed and built by Innespace was Sweet Virgin Angel. She was completed in 2001 and has been performing at shows and events for two years. The Innespace Dolphin is a fully functional show ready watercraft, able to perform sustained dives, huge jumps, barrel rolls, and many other amazing acrobatic tricks.

The three-seater car comes with a number of user-friendly technologies, including Nissan's Around View Monitor which reduces blind spots by displaying the outside surroundings on screens mounted on the inside of the car's A-pillars located on either side of the windshield. A dash-mounted infrared (IR) commander allows the driver to operate the navigation and stereo systems with simple finger movements without letting go of the steering wheel.

Pivo is powered by Nissan's compact, high-performance lithium-ion battery and its unique Super Motor, resulting in zero emissions.

Mr Ross said: "The lions will take an interest in peculiarities on cars and we always keep a close eye on the cars coming in.

"With Smart cars and sometimes Mini Coopers the lions definitely raise an eyebrow. It sparks their interest because of their size.

"We had an incident of two ladies in a car being chased by lionesses.

"It must have been quite frightening for them, but we always have staff in a vehicle by the lion enclosure to deal with any problems."

The thinking is, with gasoline prices hitting record highs and traffic in the nation’s major cities becoming increasingly congested, Americans are likely to buy fewer gas-guzzling SUVs and trucks and gravitate toward smaller, more efficient vehicles like the Smart Car - a mere 8 feet, 2 inches long and just over 5 feet tall - according to ZAP's CEO Steve Schneider.

"The market timing for what we are doing couldn't be better," Schneider said. "Fuel prices are at all time highs, and social responsibility about global warming is something that's more in the mainstream and not a left-wing thing," he added. "And there's the issue of our dependency on foreign oil too - all this makes our business plan very timely."

What looked like a Mazda Miata that floats turns out to be a big anchor for the company that wanted to sell them for $285,000 a piece. No buyers have come forward to buy the car even now that Gibbs has slashed the price to $142,000. The company now says they are looking to sell the technology since they can’t sell the car. If Springfield couldn't make it big with the Amphicar, there must not be a big market for sea-faring cars.