things that will feel completely normal by 2030 but sound wild right now:
- no school or work
- humanoid robots
- getting biologically younger
- universal high income
everyone's racing to put humanoid robots in your home. a team at Keio University asked a different question. what if your companion robot didn't look human at all?
Mingyang Xu and collaborators from MIT media lab built something called the floating companion. it's a soft, helium-filled robot that looks like a tiny white whale and floats through indoor spaces using flapping fins instead of propellers.
there are no wheels, no legs, and no spinning blades. it moves on buoyancy and bio-inspired motion alone.
here's how it works.
1. a helium-filled envelope provides passive lift so the robot hovers without using any power
2. carbon-fiber flapping wings handle thrust and steering. symmetrical flapping moves it forward, differential flapping turns it
3. lightweight micro servos, a microcontroller, and a compact lithium battery keep everything running
4. the body is soft and compliant so accidental contact with people, pets, or furniture is completely safe
5. heavy computation gets offloaded to external systems because helium only provides about 1 gram of lift per liter. every gram of onboard weight matters
it can follow you around, deliver reminders, keep you company while you study, and give you something close to a hug. all without making a sound.
now compare that to what the industry is building. 1X is mass-producing Neo, a 5'6" humanoid that weighs 66 pounds and costs $20,000. it walks on two legs, wears a knit suit, and tries very hard not to feel creepy. 10,000 people pre-ordered it in five days.
but the floating companion asks a question that Neo doesn't. do you actually want something human-shaped following you around your apartment? or do you want something that feels alive without triggering every uncanny valley alarm in your brain?
when your companion looks like a creature instead of a person, you don't need "no-go zones" in your house. you don't worry about it falling on your kid. you don't spend energy reminding yourself it isn't human. you just let it float there.
not everything that shares your space needs to look like you. sometimes a floating whale is exactly enough.
“My brain is only a receiver, in the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists”
- Nikola Tesla
This entire cartoon was made with just 3 prompts
But here’s the thing: the future won’t belong to people who just generate with AI but those who know how to direct
🎬 Firefly Boards for ideation and visual development
🎥 Seedance 2.0 for the final video
My full workflow 👇
CapCut @capcutapp just launched CRE[AI]TE - a global AI Festival for original AI-assisted work.
The festival is open across four tracks: Film, Series, Creative, and Commercial.
$200k in prizes for winners across each category.
Winners' work will be shown at a major film festival this year.
Submissions are open June 10 – August 10, 2026 at https://t.co/R3roBoyHtI.
Submissions must use CapCut's Video Studio as part of their creative process.
Encourage audiences to participate, this is a whole new
Un laboratorio chino acaba de humillar a media industria del video de pago.
Subes una foto y un audio, sale hablando en sincro y aguanta minutos. Open source.
Lo que antes era cámara y edición ahora parece un repo.
Se llama LongCat-Avatar.
L'Argentine s'impose au bout d'un scénario complètement fou ! 🇦🇷🔥 Menés 2-0, les champions du monde renversent l'Égypte et filent en quarts de finale.
Score final : Argentine 3-2 Égypte.
Suivez la Coupe du Monde de la FIFA 2026™ sur M6 et M6+
#CDM2026#FIFAWorldCup#ARGEGY
📸 Elsa / Getty Images
Pathé n’a aucune intention d’abandonner le cinéma français à grande échelle destiné aux salles :
« Nous ne cesserons certainement pas de produire des films de cette ampleur, car nous sentons qu’il existe une demande du public. C’est bon pour le cinéma français et pour les salles. Nous ne sommes pas les seuls à le faire : Studiocanal le fait, SND aussi, et d’autres suivront. Je pense que tout le monde a compris que ces films offrent aussi une autre vision du cinéma français que celle que nous avons connue ces dernières décennies. »