The Institute for the Future has launched a new game in which people can add ideas about what their city might look like in the future. Using an online map, members can add their ideas which are then available to other members.

Kelsey Atherton at Popular Science reports on the response a group of Islamic leaders had about the Mars One colony and their fatwa against making this trip as it is perceived as suicide. Robert Lamb at HowStuffWorks gives a quick overview of how religious leaders have viewed praying in space and how future advancements might impact our religions or create new ones. Part of his presentation explains how prior rulings from Islamic leaders have approved prayer away from Earth.

While much science fiction trends towards either flight from religious dominance or humanity shedding religion through social evolution, the reality is religion and spirituality will remain part of human cultures and evolve over time.

From the Institute for the Future, we get an artifact where the United States Postal Service offers 3D fabrication from "1000's of certified brands!" An interesting thought and believable as well as more and more companies partner with delivery services to get their packages to customers ASAP.

There has been quite a bit of debate over adding facial recognition and allowing pop-up marketing on devices such as Google Glass - think iBeacon updates as an overlay on your vision. Today's IFTF artifact gives some control back to shoppers, using information overlays to help us identify the risk/reward for snacking.

Though I have to wonder if facial recognition could be just as useful. Walk in to a party and get an overlay of someone's real age, Facebook relationship status, favorite book or film, and how many times they've been married. Oh, and throw in their credit rating and you might fend off the jackals.