Dateline: October 5 2029
Jacqueline Dubois tore open the small box from Google LastMile, placed the even smaller black box on the table in front of her, paired it with her tablet, and ran through the short set-up procedure, recording the framework for her movements and facial expressions.
Jacqueline scanned through her contact list, selected Monique Lafleur, a client from Geneva, and spoke the magic words “Beam me up, Larry!” A holographic image of Monique appeared above the black box.
Holograms were nothing new when Google’s Starline launched their latest product evolution a couple of months ago, but this time they had cracked the last hurdle: mobility. Google had cut the cord (literally) and you could now have a hologram meeting at the pub, in the park, on the yacht, or in the office ... wherever you were, without any cumbersome or fixed equipment.
A technical marvel in itself, the launch of Starline’s latest iteration was mostly felt outside the tech sphere. Airlines, conference centres and business hotels lost trillions of dollars in value overnight. Pundits on CNN, Fox and BBC compared it to the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns in 2020 that crashed the airline industry.
Thomas Brown, CEO of Airlines United, showed his frustration when he commented: “We realised back then (the Covid-19 pandemic) that we were in the ‘connecting people business’, and still we missed this new technology and its impact on our business model.”
While Google’s Starline soars, the mobile phone networks cash in on increased data usage, and the hotels and airlines are again trying to redefine their purpose. One can only wonder what else is brewing in the corporate R&D departments, and which sector will be disrupted next. /First published in Mindbullets October 3 2024
Long-distance lovers hook up in cyberspace
Couple to wed after ‘teleporting’ to romantic Valentine date in Paris
Dateline: February 15 2024
Justin and Britney are enjoying the afterglow of a wonderful night out in Paris. The evening started with a sunset cruise on a Bateaux Mouche down the Seine, moved on to a spectacular show at the Moulin Rouge, followed by cosy nightclub dancing and finally ended in the honeymoon suite of the Ritz.
And yet Justin was still on location in New Mexico, and Britney is touring Australia. The date was made possible by the latest multichannel tele-immersion system from TeleXperience, which allows two subjects to interact with each other and their environment as if they were right inside a live Google Earth iView.
“Because we beam the sensory signals from the location in real time, it’s authentic,” said Jacques Delport, president of TeleXperience. “If it’s raining in Paris, you get wet, and if your date has PMS, that’s a real problem for you.”
“It was the most wonderful night ever,” gushed Britney, “and when Justin popped the question, I just said yes!”
“It’s a bit like that old movie The Matrix,” said Justin from his VirtualMe trailer. “You know you can punch out, but it’s so real you don’t want to.”
Of course, the couple were not teleported to Paris — rather the sights and sounds of Paris were teleported to them, perfecting the illusion that they were there.
The next challenge for TeleXperience is to provide face-to-face meetings for world political leaders — on “neutral” territory of course. /First published in Mindbullets February 12 2009
Despite appearances to the contrary, Futureworld cannot and does not predict the future. The Mindbullets scenarios are fictitious and designed purely to explore possible futures, and challenge and stimulate strategic thinking.
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