Here's a fascinating montage of 1993 AT&T ads predicting a technological future.
See web-only content:
http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2006/12/the-future-from-the-past/232019/
A reader comments:
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.
If other readers have YouTubes of old video that predicts the future shockingly well, send them in and I'll post. Misfires are also welcome, of course.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2006/12/the-future-from-the-past/232019/
