How AT & T predicted the future in 1993

[wa1ex]

The only thing they got wrong? Their role in it!

source:
http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/12/the_future_from.html


Here's a fascinating montage of 1993 AT&T ads predicting a technological future..
Video source:
http://www.youtube.com/v/TZb0avfQme8

It's really interesting how their vision of the future included so many things that actually did come to pass. Except AT&T brought us none of them.

The video file itself came on a CD-ROM I got in 1993 called "Newsweek Interactive". It was a CD-ROM based interactive multimedia experience; a relic of a time just as computers matured but just before the web. It was supposed to be the first issue of a CD-based edition of the magazine. Some of the technologies they showcase came about a couple years later (e.g. EZ-Pass) and some are only now becoming commonplace (e.g. In-dash navigational systems).

One of my favorite parts is right at the beginning, when the kid reading a book over the network is staring at a screen image of the actual book with a video feed pointed at it. Keep in mind, when these ads were made, Web browsers were still a year or two away.

So next time you see an Ad don't laugh at their visions ...it might become true for all you know!