“It’s so badass you can’t believe it. It’s one of the few things I’ve ever experienced in my life where I came out and said, ‘This changes everything. This is a marker of the future.'” That’s how one investor described his experience with the technology being developed by a company called Magic Leap. And several other big name backers, including Google, seem to agree. The company you’ve never heard of just raised $542 million to alter your reality. You’ve got your laptop, your smartphone, your tablet, and soon your watch. Welcome to the battle for what’s next. (Relax. You had me at Commodore 64.)

+ “A thick cable protruded from the crown of his shaven head. A sleeve sprouting wires enveloped his right arm. The 23 year-old had been paralysed from the neck down since a diving accident four years ago. But, in June this year, in a crowded room in the Wexner Medical Centre at Ohio State University, Burkhart’s hand spasmed into life.” The future could soon be inside of you. From The Telegraph: Meet the real cyborgs.

+ Darek Fidyka was paralysed from the chest down in a knife attack. But after a revolutionary treatment that included the transplant of cells from his nasal cavity to his spinal cord, he can walk again.

+ All you really wanted from the future was decent hoverboard. And it’s finally here. Sort of. Mental Floss checks the status on some other Back to the Future technologies.