Mobile technologies video both futuristic and realistic

[Andy Sjostrom]

<a href="http://www.nttdocomo.com/html/right_vision2010.html">http://www.nttdocomo.com/html/right_vision2010.html</a><br /><br />John Yu sent us a link to this utterly cool video about a week ago, produced by NTT DoCoMo. Sorry for not sharing it with you until now. Shame on me... In this video production we meet a number of persons and get to see how they use mobile, connected devices to stay informed, get things done and communicate with others. The video is meant to be a vision of what things will be like in 2010. A couple of scenarios remind me of a video Microsoft produced 4-5 years ago. Quite a few laughed when they saw the video at the conference I attended. No laughs today!<br /><br />Here's the question for ya'll! If we are all in this because we like to be forerunners, what will attract us when the scenarios presented in the video become reality? Will mobile devices and wireless connectivity stop attracting us when they are common place? What will be leading edge in 2010?<br /><br />Personally, I believe that the step we are taking right now brings the world of digital information and content to anyplace (us). The next step will be about bringing anyplace (us) to the digital world. Virtual Reality becomes reality as my friends, colleagues, partners etc are "always" connected from anyplace. Virtual Reality glasses and suit on! Here I come!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/vr_1.gif" /><br />Image from: <a href="http://www.ludvigsen.hiof.no/webdoc/mediaseminar/vpl.html">http://www.ludvigsen.hiof.no/webdoc/mediaseminar/vpl.html</a>

[brntcrsp]

If you haven't had the opportunity to check out Spielberg's latest film Minority Report, I would recommend it just from the vision of the future it provides. There are some great visions of portable devices. The fact that it's a decent film doesn't hurt either.

[mookie123]

It seems DoCoMo thinks that the future is a GIANT IRC party. (well with spiffy wall mounted display instead of text transmission, but still basic idea nonetheless)

I am sure the will be BOT war, server hijacking, impersonating, and message flood abound.

PS. elementary education in the future is still boring......LOL

[Paragon]

I remember walking through a pavillion at Disney World about 25 years ago that showed what life would be like in the future. It was all very mechanical... non computer oriented al a "George Jetson", and of course his son Elroy. I can't say that without hearing the sound of one of those cars going by in my head. Don't lie you just did too. :) I don't think much of what they depicted has come to pass. This video however I think if we look back at in the year 2010 will be very close to reality. Most if not all they predict is possible today. Even the replicator. A group in Australia just this week teleported a laser beam. Granted there are a few billion more atoms in the human body so I think we will need to see some 'quantum' leaps in our computing abilities. At least before I sign up for the beta program :) The rest they have taken todays technologies and improved on them.

Myself I think the next thing to jump to the forefront for us to see big improvements, an use in everyday life will be holographic images. I think the video showed some very good examples of where we can go with that technology.

Dave

[JonnoB]

It is all fun speculation, but the farther out people try to predict the future technology, the more off the reality tends to be. A half-generation is too quick to make such social changes possible. Even though much of that technology is possible, even today, it is more of a challenge to change people's habits. I still have a hard time getting my parents to correctly use a personal computer that has been around for 20 years.

[Jason Dunn]

It is all fun speculation, but the farther out people try to predict the future technology, the more off the reality tends to be. A half-generation is too quick to make such social changes possible. Even though much of that technology is possible, even today, it is more of a challenge to change people's habits. I still have a hard time getting my parents to correctly use a personal computer that has been around for 20 years.

Absolutely! Well said. Regardless of how far the hardware/software progresses, we're at least two or three generations away from having the social acceptance needed to do the things depicted in the video.

[rubberdemon]

Well, as a marketing video it's fun, but I can't even see the things they portray happening next year happening for a decade (like the enormous video wall in the school), and as Jason mentioned, some of this is probably generations away - not just with social acceptance (though that's a biggie), but in sheer technology - holograms for instance, always look great in movies etc, but I doubt we'll ever see something like the free standing projected 3D images they always show.

I'm always amused at how these futuristic scenarios assume that somehow in a few years (always a few years just down the road) we're going to magically have universal adoption of highly reliable communications technologies, when we can see all too well that things happen in fits and starts, and there are early adopters, and people who never adopt, and standards wars, and dropped phone calls, and coverage issues, not to mention the issue of cost etc.

I'll also second brntcrsp in his recommendation of Minority Report - a good film and a very well thought out view of the future, where most of the things that will probably not change in fifty years (human nature, houses, etc.) have not changed, and technology is well integrated into the story without being perfect and infallible.

[mookie123]

Here is what NO BIG telecom company dare to predict.

Communication will be nearly FREE, and so does information and content.

Imagine you can go to Walmart get a server, and install a network of telecom grade wireless communication system for your entire neighborhood. And for longer distance networking you can "launch" your own personal sattelite at the cost of a very expensive car.

This sort of future would make telephone company irrelevant, hence it would never be told in one of those "futuristic corporate utopia" pamflet.

an almost free medium bandwidth communication will further people far more than a spiffy highbandwidth with all the dazzling real video transmission that can only be bought by the super rich.

[Robotbeat]

BTW, I don't think that that was a replicator. That would be unnecessarily difficult to accomplish, even from a quantum physics point of view, let alone a reality point of view...

Holograms are available today that do 3d free-floating images, but you have to have a backdrop, not just empty space. No, really. My dad saw one at some computer show where there was a color, holographic brain that you could manipulate by "touching" in the air where it looked like the brain was. Pretty cool. They sell them for advanced CAD work and medical stuff. (Doctors can afford pretty much anything...)

I think that most of the work that has to be done to make these things reality is software. It is possible that pretty much all of these things in the video could happen, but it would require a HUGE push on getting software integrated with the hardware and everything else.

About the free wireless/wired/whatever broadband communications:

I want to know why you have to pay a monthly bill to get relatively slow access to the Internet. Isn't the Internet a free network? There should be a way to just plug in your own switch and get a fast Ethernet-type line right to your own server. Then the Internet would be truly free. ISPs wouldn't really exist. Everyone would be their own ISP.

Of course, the government could also tap into the Internet, but so can anyone else, so the government wouldn't have to worry about not having the ISPs available to get info from. A central organization like ICANN (I know, that would be horrible, but ICANN already is a central-type organization that controls some aspects of the Internet...) would control the distribution of IPs and such so that all users would have a static IP (someone already does that, so nevermind...).

Wireless LANs (wouldn't be really LANs, just part of the internet mostly) and Voice-over-IP (replacement for cellphones) would of course be free (as far as no monthly service charge, just the hardware/software) as well. The money from people buying IPs would be used solely by the city/state/nation to build backbones and increase bandwidth of the backbones. And this sort of system wouldn't have to be implemented world-wide. It could be on a city level or state level or nation level.

What do you guys think? I am a big conservative, but this idea of mine sounds pretty socialist... Oh well.

[Robotbeat]

It seems to me that this is kind of what the Internet was supposed to be (well, after they decided to release it to the public instead of just using it for National Defense and scientific research...).

[Jason Dunn]

Communication will be nearly FREE, and so does information and content.

I agree with you about the communication being nearly free, but content will not be free in the future - eventually, someone has to pay for the creation of content, and that's something that will have to change on the Internet. As a content creator, trust me, there's a breaking point. :-)

[Robotbeat]

Of course, Jason. No one expects stuff to be all free (well... It'd be nice...). But why does the Internet have to cost us so much for bandwidth and connection fees/limits when Ethernet is cheap and is standard 100 Megabits? Some entire cities (in some Scandanavian country) are even being networked with Gigabit Ethernet, so cheap Internet is possible.

Tell me, why is the Internet a corporate entity all of a sudden?

[Jason Dunn]

But why does the Internet have to cost us so much for bandwidth and connection fees/limits when Ethernet is cheap and is standard 100 Megabits?

Well, I don't know about where you live, but in Calgary where I live, the $39 CND I pay a month is the best money I spend - I get high speed cable modem access, and I consider it to be a real bargain. Do I wish it was cheaper? Sure. But I don't feel it's expensive now. Wireless, that's another story... :-)

Tell me, why is the Internet a corporate entity all of a sudden?

Now THAT'S a long answer... :D

[mookie123]

well if mean of communication delivery is nearly free, than nearly free content will be automatic as perceived by consumer.

ie. as the mean to deliver content becomes nearly free, content can be paid in far diverse options and the cost that currently go to "delivering" can than be paid for actuall content creation.

so instead of money going to telcos and server provider etc etc..... It would go to writers/performers/programmers or what not.

Of course this is just utopian theory. We all know how things just never change. I bet we still gonna have 90% cost go to deliverying while 10% goes to creation sort of future indefinitely.