http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/ Engadget Comments for AT&T accurately predicts the future, incorrectly picks delivering company http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/
The thing is, I don't believe any of these technologies were original ideas even back then. I mean this is not ancient history we're talking about here; this was the 90's. GPS existed, as did touch-screens (heck, touch-screen PDA's were already popular), and pretty much everything here was at least already being talked about. I don't remember thinking any of the things in these ads was particularly noteworthy or outlandish, although I do remember thinking it would be cool if at least a few of these ideas really did hit the mainstream.

And of course, like a modern-day Nostradamus, this campaign had just as many misses as hits. I don't know anybody that "tucks their baby in from a phone booth", for example. Or opens their door with the sound of their voice. Or carries their medical history in their wallet. In fact, all of these are now pretty horrifying ideas, as security-conscious as we've all become these days. They're all possible ideas as AT&T shows them, but there are pretty compelling reasons why we don't use them.

I also read part of the story at the "read" link, which is just inaccurate. It states, for one thing, that web browsers were "a year or two away" in 1993. In fact, NCSA Mosaic was released in February of 1993 and it was not even the first browser. AT&T's inspiration for that idea here is pretty obvious. All of these ideas no doubt have similar lineages. They were fairly new, but nothing most nerds of the day hadn't already heard of, or even that magazines like Popular Science weren't already heavily hyping.
]]>Dec 6th 2006 11:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/Dec 6th 2006 11:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/Dec 6th 2006 11:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/
In a way, AT&T _does_ bring all these things to you. They may not have invented them personally, but they do indeed provide services world-wide that make all those things they mentioned possible, yes? :) Not exclusively, sure. But they do have a big part in networking solutions of many kinds.]]>Dec 6th 2006 11:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/Dec 7th 2006 10:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZBYFljumWQ]]>Dec 7th 2006 12:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/
heck, it's definitively a lost chance for at&t for not making a huge profit on some of these technology. what a shame.]]>Dec 7th 2006 12:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/
There was one actual product in one of the commercials, not used in an actual way. The "tablet PC" was a AT&T EO, though it never had an aircard or a color screen.]]>Dec 7th 2006 12:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/Dec 7th 2006 12:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/
I saw a wide screen tv in a show Window in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1992.]]>Dec 7th 2006 12:34AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/
Thank you AT&T!]]>Dec 7th 2006 12:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://memex.org/licklider.pdf]]>Dec 7th 2006 1:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/
Evan Evans]]>Dec 7th 2006 11:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/Dec 7th 2006 2:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/Dec 7th 2006 3:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/Dec 7th 2006 3:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/Dec 7th 2006 8:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/first66.html]]>Dec 7th 2006 11:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/
These predictions were not terribly forward-thinking at the time. I believe all of these technologies were available or the obvious direction we were going, but maybe not commercially available.

My question is this.. Is that David Duchovny's voice?]]>Dec 7th 2006 6:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/Dec 7th 2006 10:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/Dec 8th 2006 1:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/06/atandt-accurately-predicts-the-future-incorrectly-picks-deliverin/Dec 9th 2006 1:47PM