World’s Top 10 Futuristic Luxury Hotels

Burj al-Arab

For fun here's a list of World’s Top 10 Futuristic Luxury Hotels you'll probably never be able to afford even if they all get made. One of them, the The hotel Burj al-Arab, is actually already made and setting the standard in the Middle East. The Burj al-Arab is so fancy they made their own rating system just to accommodate the luxuries.

The Diamond Ring Hotel

It doesn't take a millionaire to figure out that all these sites are either on water or in space. The two last frontiers, so to speak, for the hotel industry. Imagine a room on the moon with a great view of the Earth rise. Maybe an underwater view is for you.

VIRTUAL SHANGHAI COMING BY 2010

By the time the World Expo opens in 2010, travelers will no longer have to visit the city in person to enjoy a three-dimensional tour of its downtown core. They will only have to boot up their computers.

The city plans to create a digital, three-dimensional map of Shanghai that can be easily searched online. The project will be similar to Google Earth, a site that lets you study satellite images of the planet, but will provide an even better look at the city's architecture, according to Shu Rong, a researcher with the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, which will provide airborne camera technology for use in the project.

Users will be able to view the map using a PC or cell phone.

"The map will provide a vivid city tour," Shu said, noting it will include pictures of the sides of buildings, unlike the Google site which only provides a birds-eye view of cities.