Every once in a while, a new device comes along that is so powerful and so innovative that you stop for a moment of technological reflection: This is the future. The device you're holding in your hand right now is the incomprehensible technology your younger self imagined they'd see in the future world.
For me, it was the first time I used remote login software, like SplashTop and LogMeIn, to access my home computer on the East Coast from a friend's iPad across the country. In an emergency, I realized I needed access to a spreadsheet on my home computer. At the drop of a hat (and a $14.95 app purchase later), I could see, edit and copy documents that only existed on my home desktop computer. "This is the future," I said to myself.
What about you? What was your "future" moment? Was it when you realized your iPhone's FaceTime feature was like something out of Star Trek? The first time your car's built-in GPS seamlessly guided you to your destination? Or when you realized you could play video games with a best friend that moved across the world?
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Definitely DVR. I have a 10 y/o sister who doesn't know life without it. One time I told her,"Kelly did you know that you used to not be able to pause TV?" And she was like,"NO WAY." So yea, that's something.
Video chatting with Skype. I used to see that technology on Trek and thought that it would be amazing to have that when I was grown up and living away from my family, but that I wouldn't see it in my lifetime. The first time I video Skyped with someone clear across the continent, I knew the future held infinite possibilities.
Skype/FaceTime on my iPhone/iPad. My parents living halfway across the world seeing in real-time what my infant son was up to, anytime and anywhere.
Skype + livestreaming + facebook. One of my best friends is studying abroad in Spain this semester and we talk every day and I can watch him play facebook on his computer and I'm even doing design work for him, all while he's halfway across the globe.
Now that other people have mentioned it, I'd go with Skype too. I was on vacation in France, and after weeks of using payphones and calling cards to call home, we discovered we could use Skype on a computer for practically nothing. I almost didn't trust it at first, like it was too good to not be a scam.
Ahhh, forget Skype. 3-D printing. Now THAT is crazy.
Well, I am still dazzled by the jet airplane, for one. I don't like to fly, but the idea that I can get on an airplane in the morning and be in another hemisphere in the afternoon is just unreal.
The other is our ubiquitous access to the historic record on film, both documentary & in the movies. I remember as a 2nd grader walking home with my pals and talking about the future. I insisted that when I was grown there would be a way to see every movie ever made, and as often as I liked. We aren't quite there yet, but we are pretty darn close. For a film lover like me (who grew up in a small town without a theater) it is a dream come true.
I thought we'd have hunger and disease fixed by now. Big failure on that one (I think we could fix these if we would put conflict resources towards them).
Last week I took a bus from Amsterdam to a small fishing village / tourist attraction named Volendam. It amazed that this bus offered free wi-fi to the passengers.
Also, lately, Dutch trains are equiped with (for the time being) free wi-fi.
That, to me, is the future today.
Fast free internet on public transport, just awesome.
Also, good quality Skype video images via 3G network.
Last year I was travelling in Australia and showing my parents or brothers back home what I was up to in real time was something very cool.
Skype/FaceTime. I have family in the land down under, and it was so cool the first time we took them on a guided "tour" of our house via the laptop computer. And to hear their oohs and ahs at our Christmas snow was amazing. Also, my grandma can't climb stairs anymore, but I am happy I can still give her a tour of my new 2nd floor apartment over FaceTime.
FaceTime/Skype on my iPad and iPhone. It really was the combination, the simplicity and ease of use, freedom of movement that really brought home the "we are living in the future" feeling. Talking to my Mom back home while sitting on my balcony, not tethered to a desk, it's really amazing.
The iPod touch was the first time I realized I had a computer in my pocket. I used it for everything: scheduling, email, gaming, ebooks, music, videos... I even had an app for bus schedules. I couldn't live without it. When my cell phone died, I upgraded to an iPhone 4, and it does even more (It has a camera! And instant internet wherever I go!). And things have come so far even since then-- there's the tablet computer, 3D printing, Skype... who needs jet packs?
The iPad. I was born in the 60s and the first computer my family had was the Commodore 64, I think. And then I had various others through the decades; I vividly remember the first computer I bought for myself had 8 megs of ram and cost me $1800. But to have a computer the size of a small notebook (the paper kind, I mean) that I can hold in my hand and take it to meetings to take notes, look at documents or websites, and have it be able do most of the things my desktop and laptop do, is just amazing to me. I know smartphones can do the same things, but somehow the larger screen of the iPad makes it more useful for work (not to mention your co-workers looking at you funny when you take notes on your phone in meetings).
The GPS, without a doubt. Somehow the dang thing even purports to know my gas mileage... wtf???
Too many of those in my lifetime to keep track -- after no TV at all as a small kid to black and white cathode ray tubes, to color, to flat screen, to HD, to 3-D HD projection... after a while you just go, "cool" at the new thing and move on without any particular "moment".
The iPhone 4S. The combination of voice recognition, GPS, email and Internet on the go, a phone that works in other countries, productivity/time management apps, note-taking and syncing, apps like Flow or barcode/QR scanners, file storage, all the games (especially the turn-based social stuff like Draw Something), excellent calculation ability, weather, periodicals, ebooks, shopping, and the high-quality camera and video on the go (not to mention the music part)... all of it together in my pocket just blows my mind.
I'm going to have to go off in to left field here and say Blimps with TV screens on them. It might sound a bit dumb at first but bare with me.
Last year I was driving home and it was dusk. As I was about to make a turn, and head off the interstate, I noticed something in the sky hovering over the city. As I got closer I noticed that it was a blimp with a giant TV screen on the side advertising with video. Like I said before it might sound dumb, but nothing makes me feel like I'm in the future like giant flying TVs.
I was traveling by car to attend an out-of-town theater production. My friend decided to Google the name of the Midwester small-town's theater on her Smart Phone, just to see what it was like. Her phone not only gave us info ABOUT the theater, but showed us how to get there from exactly WHERE WE WERE DRIVING at the time. Freaky.
Facetime. When a friend got an iPhone4 (a little after I did), we made a special date to video chat In The Fuuuuuture. Transporters can't be far behind!
Just yesterday I was having dinner in a restaurant and remembered there was a program I wanted to watch that was just about to start. I pulled out my iphone and set xfinity to record it. To be honest at my age there are so many things that seem like I am in the future especially when I think back to being a kid when the first handheld calculators came out! How far we've come.
I would add that the number of advertisements also make me think of the future, think "Blade Runner". These days you don't only get commercials sandwiched between segments of TV shows, but you get them during your show across the screen. They seem to get bigger and bigger, and now they aren't only static but animated. They are on my phone and pretty much everywhere I look. We're reaching the point where I think we will soon be buying products that actually advertise other products on them!
When my son showed me 6th sense technology and we agreed that it's what his computer will look like when he's my age. He's 14 now.
3D printing. On the way to that Star Trek replicator.
SKYPE!!! even before reading the comments. Growing up my family used to move every two years internationally, and now in my 30s I'm doing the same, working with hotels. Talking with my best friend in Hong Kong for an hour is something I am so grateful for. Although teleporting her over for a coffee would be so cool. Hint, hint Apple.
Agree with many of these! My latest "the future is now!" moment came when my xbox kinect got voice recognition. I can now turn on my xbox and then, just from voice commands, get it to play a video from Netflix. When one episode is over, all I have to say is "xbox, next episode" and it'll start playing the next episode. Brilliant! Technology that obeys my voice!
@ SherryBinN: I hear ya. Loud and clear.
I discovered skype when my son-in-law (at the direction of the AirForce) took my *dd +3* 3000 miles away. Forever thankful to have the future today..
Watching a movie on my housemate's iPod Touch a few years ago. A TV in your pocket was, up to that point, total science fiction.
BumpyPhoto... just featured around here
If you are a fan of JD Robb's indeath series then you're familiar with Eve's communicator and PPC. Instant video chat, always on Internet, voice commands. When I bought my iPhone 4S and started 'chatting' with Siri I realised I had the future in my hand.
I just hope we avoid the Urban Wars (fans will know what I mean)
PS I could never go back to a just makes phone call mobile/cell phone.
Skype. I remember just nine years ago that calling a friend overseas meant a phone card. Now I can do exactly the same thing, AND video, for completely free.
Tablets are pretty much the same deal, but I'm waiting for them to come way down in price. And not be dominated by Apple.
@Blandwagon - not exactly. I remember when I was younger, you could get a "pocket" TV you could carry around and pick up over-the-air broadcasts. It was only slightly larger than the pocket radio I used to listen to hockey games on under the bedcovers at night. Granted, the screen was about 2" diagonally, but it did exist.
Oh, yeah - my "the future is here" stuff...
- no longer needing to go to the library to do all my research
- buying stuff on-line
- electric cars
- NFC payments (first from my credit card, then from my phone)
I refuse to answer until I see flying cars everywhere.
My friend's three-year-old can run an iPhone or iPad just fine. She recently sat him in front of a laptop, and he had no concept of how it worked. He kept trying to touch the screen, and had no concept that the mouse is what moved the pointer on screen. This will be the next generation of "in my day" remarks. As in, "In my day, you had to use a keyboard and mouse to use a computer!"
@Bruce.Mayfield1, sounds like you would appreciate this essay:
http://www.streeterseidell.com/post/13072685650/make-the-flying-shit
I'm not sure what mine is, but a few weeks ago I was having lunch with my 73 year old dad and he idly commented on the song in the background and wondered what it was. I pulled out my phone and used Shazam to find out and it completely blew him away. Afterward, any time anything remotely technical and futuristic would come up, he'd expectantly ask me, "Can your phone do that too?"
<3 <3 Completely agree about Skype, 3D printers and streaming movies. <3 <3
The technology I *hate* is ubiquitous screens. I really, really hate seeing ads when I'm on the train platform, in a cab, or checking out at the grocery.
I had a Nokia n70 in 2005 that had video calling over 3G ... FaceTime has more to do with the past then the future. Siri is cool though
I hate Skype, consumer Internet in Australia has a long way to go before this is useful. And so often my phone plans include free calls and now free SMS.
GPS is great, 3D printers are the future. But I still want my levitating skateboard dammit
Those electronic soda machines that have one spicket and you simple press a button to choose with drink you want. Reminds me of The Jetsons.
Magic Piano on the iPad.
I played it last night for like an hour. The fact that there's games like that out there with free classical music to play with and expose people to is the perfect way to spend the future.
We didn't even have the TV on last night. It was kind of awesome.