A series of future inspired ads are starting to gain some traction across the internet - not for who directed them (which in itself is an interest footnote in movie history), but by the content of the actual commercials themselves.
The AT&T commercials, directed in 1993 by David Fincher of Benjamin Button and Fight Club fame, depict a future world tethered by a host of wireless conveniences that feel awfully familiar to ours today - all 16 years later.
Ten technologies shown in the ads, have now come to fruition in some form or another:
- Widescreen computing: Ok, it might be based on those ugly CRT monitors, but you have to give to AT&T marketers some credit for thinking outside the 4:3 box of the day.
- GPS in-car navigation: The version we see in the commercial utilises some extremely nifty looking 3D graphics, a feature just recently announced by the latest GPS models, including this one by Navigon.
- Concert tickets from an ATM: This might have taken off, had it not been for the internet. To their credit, you can top-up credit vouchers for your mobile phones from most ATM machines.
- Video calling: While we still haven't got video payphones outside of Japan, video calling is quite common now through 3G mobile phones and of course, Skype and other online apps.
- E-tutoring/E-learning: Various online websites specialise in online tuition for school and university students. Some universities and high schools now use remote conferencing to host guest lectures from the other side of the world.
- Electronic Toll roads: This may have seemed pretty far out in 1993, but now that most highways and bridges are controlled by E-tags in Australia, this would seem rather spot on.
- Medical history on a card: Various medical ID cards are in operation around the world currently. At one stage, Australia was supposed to have an Medicare style e-card too, but it was shelved by the Howard government over big brother complaints. Now, government run super computer databases do much of the work to keep tabs on your medical history.
- VOD: Video on demand services now give us access to thousands of new release movies. Foxtel are clear winners in this area.
- Fax at the beach: Faxes are so 1990's. But it does hint upon the rise of wireless email and 3G services - which would easily replace Fax services for most things.
- Wireless video conferencing: The growth of 3G technologies has made it possible to base our offices just about anywhere, making it easier to have that meeting with 'your shoes off'.
- Voice recognition: While it won't open doors just yet, it can help you control your PC, play a game or dictate a message.
Ironically, the ad's made no mention of the Internet - the big game changer in all these aspiring predictions of the future. In fact, these commericals were actually delivered on a CD, that was then mailed out to Newsweek subscribers in 1993 - the same failed delivery system that would later be replaced by the power of the Internet.
While Hollywood has been pretty off the charts when it comes to future predictions, these tech style television commercials may have quietly filled that void. But not every commercial aimed at the future gets it quite right. Witness this clunky 1989 mobile phone ad, aimed solely at the rich:
Looking at that video, it's hard to imagine that the mobile phone would become the world's most populous and useful electronic product. For more future gazing and other filmic possibilities, check out the Top 10 movies technologies we're still waiting for.