Predictions of the past....

["mark_harrison_uk2" <mph@xxxxxxx>]

I'm sure that many UKHAers have, at sometime, read T3 magazine.

Well, in part of the monster nightmare job that is tidying my study I
came across the January 2000 issue. On page 82, there is a feature
about "21st Century Toys". Now, 3.25 years on, I thought it would
be
worth seeing whether they got it right.

Their predictions were are follows... I've only included those up to
2020, since I don't think we can comment on the more far out stuff
like human colonies on other planets getting on the web.

My comments indented a prefixed with ---

Communications:

2002 - videophones as popular as mobiles
--- Nope

2008 - public telephones are replaced by multimedia kiosks
--- Already happening, 5 years early, in the parts of London I
frequent. To be fair the only phone boxes I notice are the pair at
the stop whence I catch my bus in the evening.

2020 - Ear-piece computers that translate in real time
--- Mmm - machine translation - the ongoing "next big thing".


Computers / Videogames

2001 - Wearable computers become de riguer
--- Not in Gieves and Hawkes or Thomas Pink they don't :-)

2008 - Fibreoptic connections to the home [give broadband] for
internet access and on-line gaming
--- Maybe they're based in Scotland, or NI, or Wales :-)


Home Entertainment

2001 - the first movie starring CGI replicas is a success
--- From memory, correct?

2010 - CD takes a back seat to electronic formats such as MP3
--- If you believe the RIAA figures about piracy, then electronic
formats overtook CD a lot earlier than 2010


Transport

2006 - Flying cars get popular
--- with accompanying pigs :-)

2015 - Sober-up pill stops drink driving
--- Not convinced


There we are....

M.