baz.com - Brett Thomas' Blog

Back in 1993, the year I first got on the Internet, AT&T ran (at least) four television ads that predicted what you'd be doing in the future. They were pretty much wrong that "the company that [would] bring it to you" would be AT&T - though some of the services are currently facilitated by a company with that name, the ads failed to predict Ma Bell getting purchased by a Baby Bell. The technology they predict, though errant in some of the details, was actually pretty correct.

Someone has archived these ads on YouTube. You can go view them, and cast yourself back 14 years. They predicted that, in the future, you will have:

• "Borrowed a book. From thousands of miles away" - Showing someone viewing and zooming on a physical book


• "Crossed the country. Without stopping for directions" - Showing a couple with an in-dash navigation system


• "Send someone a fax. From the beach." - Showing a man using a tablet computer to send a hand-drawn note on the screen


• "Paid a toll. Without slowing down." - Showing a driver swiping a credit card through an in-dash reader (!) as he zooms through an unattended toll booth


• "Bought concert tickets. From a cash machine"


• "Tucked your baby in. From a phone booth." - Showing a mother using a television screen in a phone booth to say goodnight to a baby


• "Opened doors. With the sound of your voice".


• "Carried your medical history. In your wallet. - Showing a man giving a Doctor his wife's smart card, which contains X-rays, ultrasounds, and such


• "Attended a meeting. In your bare feet" - Showing a man attending a remote conference that blends videoconferencing and modern "webinars" on a laptop screen he's running at a beach house

The voice-activated locks aren't here, yet. And the medical device thing is probably technically possible but legally and privacy-wise impossible. Otherwise, at a high level, I've done most of that stuff, even if the details aren't quite right.

One thing that's pretty surprising in retrospect is how few of those things in the ad seem to use packet networks. The "borrowing a book" isn't reading the text of a book - it's actually using a picture of the book. You'd never send a fax from the beach, but plenty of people send emails from the beach. Maybe this was just a reflection of the disconnection between the marketers who made the ad look cool and the technologists who describe the future. Or maybe it was evidence of that famous split between "switched network" people like phone companies and "packet network" people like Internet companies. Guess who won that fight.

I'm planning on going to a Giants game this afternoon and bringing my laptop and sending email, reading documents, and the like. With my workload at the moment, in 1993 I'd've been stuck at the office, but, with ubiquitous wireless Internet - which I know of no one who was predicting 14 years ago - it's possible for me to work, there. I know in 1993 I wouldn't have predicted my 17", seven pound laptop that I could just carry with me and get online wirelessly, wherever. Speaking of which, the purchasing of "concert tickets" - if baseball tickets are close enough, the Giants sell game tickets through the ATMs at their stadium. You know. AT&T Park.